According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
Second Isaiah, writing after the demise of the monarchy of Judah, reinterpreted the divine promise regarding the Davidic Dynasty in 2 Samuel 7:(1-7), 8-11, 16 to refer to the Jewish people instead. St. Luke seemed not to have preferred that interpretation. C’est la vie.
Without getting lost in the weeds of how Jews interpret certain passages of scripture versus how Christians interpret the same passages, I note the historical problem of 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89 as a fact. One may reasonably state that many descendants of King David lived during the time of Jesus. I descend from Scottish royalty, but I am one of many people who do so. I assert, therefore, that being a descendant of King David was unremarkable in first-century C.E. Palestine.
Yet Jesus was remarkable. And he has become the defining figure of the faith of much of the world, including me. Indeed, as I read and ponder the assigned readings, I settle upon Romans 16:25-27 as a wonderfully succinct passage, as well as the keynote for this passage. As much as I push back against shoehorning Jesus into every other nook and cranny of the Hebrew Bible and reducing the Hebrew Bible to a prequel to the New Testament, I also affirm that Jesus (the incarnated form of the Second Person of the Trinity, however that works) is the face of God for me.
So, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, I wish you, O reader, a holy remainder of Advent and twelve days of merry Christmas.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 3, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TENTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONIO FRANCESCO MARZORATI, JOHANNES LAURENTIUS WEISS, AND MICHELE PRO FASOLI, FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY PRIESTS AND MARTYRS IN ETHIOPIA, 1716
THE FEAST OF SAINT GERVINUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF HENRY ELIAS FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN INDUSTRIALIST; AND HIS WIFE, ROSA ELVIRA FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA EUSTOCHIO VERZERI, FOUNDER OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)
The Christian observance of Christmas began in the West, in the 300s. At Rome, by 336, December 25 had become the beginning of the church year. Pope St. Gregory I “the Great” (d. 604) wrote of three Christmas Masses–at St. Mary Major, at midnight; at St. Anastasia’s Church, at dawn; and at St. Peter’s, during the day.
Luke 2:1-20 is not historical. I, as a student of history, cannot refute the evidence for this conclusion. However, I embrace the prose poetry of Luke 2:1-20, for it speaks of a great truth: Jesus, not the Emperor Augustus, was the Son of God and the savior of the world, regardless of what the Roman government and coinage claimed.
I have the sources and background to parce all the assigned readings. Yet I choose not to do so in this post. Instead, O reader, I invite you to frolic in divine audacity, evident in the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as a baby (however that worked). I invite you, O reader, to frolic in divine audacity, which continues to influence lives and societies for the better. I also invite you, O reader, to frolic in the mystery of divine love, to feel comfortable leaving the mystery mysterious, and to respond favorably to God daily, in gratitude.
Merry Christmas!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 9, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF JULIA CHESTER EMERY, UPHOLDER OF MISSIONS
THE FEAST OF EMILY GREENE BALCH, U.S. QUAKER SOCIOLOGIST, ECONOMIST, AND PEACE ACTIVIST
THE FEAST OF GENE M. TUCKER, UNITED METHODIST MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF JOHANN JOZEF IGNAZ VON DÖLLINGER, DISSDENT AND EXCOMMUNICATED GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, THEOLOGIAN, AND HISTORIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT PHILIP II OF MOSCOW, METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA, AND MARTYR, 1569
THE FEAST OF THOMAS CURTIS CLARK, U.S. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EVANGELIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
The presence of texts related to exile (Jeremiah 31:7-14, for example) in Advent is notable. The recollection of salvation history during Advent takes the church down the paths of exile and and exodus in glorious pericopes. The image of Yahweh as a shepherd in Jeremiah 31fits easily with imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
I have little to write about these assigned readings this week. I could put on my academic hat, of course, but I prefer to wear the proverbial hat of a devotional writer at these times. So I invite you, O reader, to read and internalize the poetry and the prose, and to let it inform who you become in God.
Happy Advent, and in a few days–for twelve days–Merry Christmas.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 8, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CLARA LUPER, WITNESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
THE FEAST OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC POET AND JESUIT PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY DOWNTON, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF ROLAND ALLEN, ANGLICAN PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MISSIONS STRATEGIST
Christmas and Easter remind me of graduation in a way; orations at each of these events are usually rehashes of old material. That is not necessarily negative, of course. Ministers, of all people, must be keenly aware that they are delivering Christmas or Easter sermon #9, frequently repeated. How can reality be otherwise?
Isaiah 9:2-7 (or 9:1-6, if one is Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox) is a familiar passage. Like so many familiar passages, it contains subtexts one might easily ignore when going on autopilot. Depending on how one reads Hebrew verb tenses, the ideal king described is most likely Hezekiah (reigned 727/715-698/687 B.C.E.), son of Ahaz. One can read of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18-20 and 2 Chronicles 29-32. One finds, however, that Hezekiah, although pious, was a deeply flawed man. The ideal king of the Davidic Dynasty, then, remains a hoped-for figure for many. Christian tradition identifies this prophecy with Jesus, born in Luke 2.
God is the King of the Earth, and salvation is available to all people, we read. Yet we know that many people refuse and will reject that offer. We also know that grace, although free to us, is never cheap to us, if it is to be effective. Divine generosity to us imposes certain moral obligations upon us. We have mandates, for example, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. That high calling leads to legal jeopardy sometimes, especially when the “king,” regardless of title, does not strive to be an ideal ruler and certainly falls far short of that standard.
Amid the reigns of wicked potentates and exploitative economic-judicial-educational systems I write
Merry Christmas!
to all of you. Remember that God is in charge and will judge people with equity and justice. That is good news for some and terrifying news for others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 16, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS
THE FEAST OF SAINT ABRAHAM KUDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CACCIAFRONTE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, BISHOP, AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MEGINGAUD OF WURZBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND BISHOP
The readings from Habakkuk 3 and Isaiah 54 exist in the context of exile. They also teach the wisdom of trusting God, even when the darkness seems darkest and hope seems lost. God is faithful, these scriptures tell us.
For the mountains may move
And the hills be shaken,
But my loyalty shall never move from you,
Nor My covenant of friendship be shaken
–said the LORD, who takes you back in love.
–Isaiah 54:10, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
In Philippians 4 St. Paul the Apostle writes of his contentment in a variety of circumstances, from hardship to ease. This is an inner freedom and a great spiritual gift. St. Paul can do all things with God’s help, we read.
In any case, it was kind of you to share my distress.
–Philippians 4:14, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Was that not what God did via the Incarnation? Did not God share our distress?
Does not God call on us to be agents of divine kindness by sharing the distress of others? To be a Christian is to follow Christ, who suffered and died for our benefit. The author of Hebrews, in 10:24, writing in the context of persecution and of faith community, challenges us to
consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
You, O reader, and I are supposed to be ambassadors for Christ. What we do might bring someone to faith, turn someone off from God, deepen his or her faith, or damage it. One way to be an agent of Christ to someone is to share in that person’s distress and offer compassion, not judgment.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 29, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS BOSA OF YORK, JOHN OF BEVERLEY, WILFRID THE YOUNGER, AND ACCA OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF TIMOTHY REES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LLANDAFF
The chronology of the Book of Daniel is frankly a mess impossible to reconcile with the rest of the Bible and with ancient history. The Book of Daniel is a collection of folktales, not history, so one ought not to mistake it for a factually reliable source of knowledge of past events. Those folktales do contain much truth and wisdom, however. We ought to interpret the Book of Daniel based on what it is, not what it is not.
Our story from the Book of Daniel affirms the wisdom of trusting God. That is a strong thematic link to last Sunday’s readings, which are generally gloomier than the pericopes for this Sunday. In fact, much of what I would like to write, based on the assigned readings, would prove redundant, compared to what I have written in the previous post in this series. Ackerman crafted his lectionary that well and tightly.
I prefer, therefore, to focus on Matthew 23:13-26.
Those much-maligned scribes and Pharisees were not mustache-twirling villains. Yes, some of them had spiritual issues pertaining to power and the illusion of control. And yes, they collaborated with Roman authorities. But no, they were not mustache-twirling villains. They were, as Henry Irving Louttit, Jr., the retired Episcopal Bishop of Georgia, said, the good, church-going people of their time. Many–perhaps most–of them sought to honor God by keeping divine commandments, as they understood them. Yet they were, in the words of Christ, “blind fools.”
How many of us are “blind fools” and do not know it?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 29, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS BOSA OF YORK, JOHN OF BEVERLEY, WILFRID THE YOUNGER, AND ACCA OF HEXHAM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS
THE FEAST OF SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF TIMOTHY REES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LLANDAFF
Sincere praise of God is a virtue and insincere spiritual speech is an affront to God. Often such insincere speech, externally pious, disguises willful and/or institutionalized social injustice, especially that of the economic variety. The mercy and judgment of God coexist. Often we prefer to hear of the mercy yet not of the judgment. That is at least as bad an error as committing the opposite fallacy.
That is a concise summary of several of the elements of the lections for Christmas Eve (Year D). One might recognize my summary as being accurate while wondering what it has to do with Christmas Eve, however. That is a legitimate question. Timothy Matthew Slemmons, in Year D (2012), acknowledges the challenge of selecting germane and neglected texts for December 24 and 25. He explains that his suggested readings contain relevant themes, such as the universality of sin.
The world that the Second Person of the Trinity, incarnated as Jesus, entered was dangerous and corrupt. That description still applies to the world, does it not? Jesus continues to come to us in the guise of the poor, the lame, the exploited, the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly. Do we content ourselves with pious platitudes while we do little or nothing to help them (as we are able, of course) and/or to justify systems that harm them? And, as we enjoy hearing about divine mercy, do we give proper attention to God’s judgment on those who exploit the vulnerable?
The celebration of the birth of Jesus, linked to his death and resurrection, is more than a time to celebrate. It is also an occasion for us to commit or recommit ourselves to living according to the incarnational principle. God is present all around us intangibly in tangible elements of creation. These tangible elements include the defenseless and the exploited. May we commit or recommit ourselves to recognizing the image of God in them and to acting accordingly, in Jesus’s name.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 22, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JACK LAYTON, CANADIAN ACTIVIST AND FEDERAL LEADER OF THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY
THE FEAST OF JOHN DRYDEN, ENGLISH PURITAN THEN ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AND TRANSLATOR
Timothy Matthew Slemmons, in creating his proposed Year D, has grouped stories of rebellion against God and cautions against opposing God together in Advent. It is a useful tactic, for, as much as one might know something, reminders prove helpful.
In Hebrews we read of the reality of apostasy (falling away from God) and the imperative of not doing so. It is a passage with which those whose theology precludes the possibility of apostasy must contend. I, as one raised a United Methodist and, as of a few years ago, converted to affirming Single Predestination, know much about the theology of free will in relation to salvation. On a lighter note, I also recall an old joke about Methodists: Not only do they believe in falling from grace, but they practice it often. (If one cannot be religious and have a well-developed sense of humor, one has a major problem.) Although I like Methodism in general (more so than certain regional variations of it), I cannot be intellectually honest and return to it, given Methodist theology regarding the denial of Single Predestination.
As Hebrews 6:19-20 tells us, the faithfulness of God is the anchor of our souls, and Jesus is a forerunner on our behalf. In John 3:22-38 we read of his forerunner, St. John the Baptist, who pointed to Jesus, not to himself. I have no doubt that
He must grow greater; I must become less.
–John 3:30, The Revised English Bible (1989),
words attributed to St. John the Baptist, are not historical. Neither do I doubt their theological truth. St. John the Baptist probably said something to the effect of that sentence, I argue. I also insist that those words apply to all of us in the human race. Jesus must grow greater; each of us must become less. To act according to the ethos of glorifying oneself might lead to short-term gain, but it also leads to negative consequences for oneself in the long term and for others in the short, medium, and long terms.
The call of God entails the spiritual vocation of humility, or, in simple terms, of being down to earth. The highest and chief end of man, the Westminster Catechisms teach us correctly, is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. To arrive at that point one must trust in and follow God, whom we ought not to forget or neglect at any time, but especially in December, in the immediate temporal proximity of the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 22, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JACK LAYTON, CANADIAN ACTIVIST AND FEDERAL LEADER OF THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY
THE FEAST OF JOHN DRYDEN, ENGLISH PURITAN THEN ANGLICAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AND TRANSLATOR
One of the great virtues of High Churchmanship is having a well-developed sense of sacred time. So, for example, the church calendars, with their cycles, tell us of salvation history. We focus on one part of the narrative at a time. Much of Protestantism, formed in rebellion against Medieval Roman Catholic excesses and errors, has thrown the proverbial baby out with the equally proverbial bath water, rejecting or minimizing improperly the sacred power of rituals and holy days.
Consider, O reader, the case of Christmas–not in the present tense, but through the late 1800s. Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas when they governed England in the 1650s. Their jure divino theology told them that since there was no biblical sanction for keeping Christmas, they ought not to do it–nor should anyone else. On the other hand, the jure divino theology of other Calvinists allowed for keeping Christmas. Jure divino was–and is–a matter of interpretation. Lutherans, Anglicans, and Moravians kept Christmas. Many Methodists on the U.S. frontier tried yet found that drunken revelry disrupted services. Despite this Methodist pro-Christmas opinion, many members of the Free Methodist denomination persisted in anti-Christmas sentiment. The holiday was too Roman Catholic, they said and existed without
the authority of God’s word.
Thus, as the December 19, 1888 issue of Free Methodist concluded,
We attach no holy significance to the day.
–Quoted in Leigh Eric Schmidt, Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), page 180. (The previous quote also comes from that magazine, quoted in the same book.)
Many Baptists also rejected the religious celebration of Christmas. An 1875 issue of Baptist Teacher, a publication for Sunday School educators, contained the following editorial:
We believe in Christmas–not as a holy day but as a holiday and so we join with our juveniles with utmost heartiness of festal celebration….Stripped as it ought to be, of all pretensions of religious sanctity and simply regarded as a social and domestic institution–an occasion of housewarming, and heart-warming and innocent festivity–we welcome its coming with a hearty “All Hail.”
–Quoted in Schmidt, Consumer Rites, pages 179 and 180
Presbyterians, with their Puritan heritage, resisted celebrating Christmas for a long time. In fact, some very strict Presbyterians still refuse to keep Christmas, citing their interpretation of jure divino theology. (I have found some of their writings online.) That attitude was more commonplace in the 1800s. The Presbyterian Church in the United States, the old Southern Presbyterian Church, passed the following resolution at its 1899 General Assembly:
There is no warrant for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holy days, but rather contrary (see Galatians iv.9-11; Colossians ii.16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel in Jesus Christ.
–Page 430 of the Journal of the General Assembly, 1899 (I copied the text of the resolution verbatim from an original copy of the Journal.)
I agree with Leigh Eric Schmidt:
It is not hard to see in this radical Protestant perspective a religious source for the very secularization of the holiday that would eventually be so widely decried. With the often jostling secularism of the Christmas bazaar, Protestant rigorists simply got what they had long wished for–Christmas as one more market day, a profane time or work and trade.
–Consumer Rites, page 180
I affirm the power of rituals and church calendars. And I have no fear of keeping a Roman Catholic holy day and season. Thus I keep Advent (December 1-24) and Christmas (December 25-January 5). I hold off on wishing people
Merry Christmas
often until close to Christmas Eve, for I value the time of preparation. And I have no hostility or mere opposition to wishing anyone
Happy Holidays,
due to the concentrated holiday season in December. This is about succinctness and respect in my mind; I am not a culture warrior.
Yet I cannot help but notice with dismay the increasingly early start of the end-of-year shopping season. More retailers will open earlier on Thanksgiving Day this year. Many stores display Christmas decorations before Halloween. These are examples of worshiping at the high altar of the Almighty Dollar.
I refuse to participate in this. In fact, I have completed my Christmas shopping–such as it was–mostly at thrift stores. One problem with materialism is that it ignores a basic fact: If I acquire an item, I must put it somewhere. But what if I enjoy open space?
I encourage a different approach to the end of the year: drop out quietly (or never opt in) and keep nearly four weeks of Advent and all twelve days of Christmas. I invite you, O reader, to observe these holy seasons and to discover riches and treasures better than anything on sale on Black Friday.
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SQUANTO, COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEING
THE FEAST OF JAMES OTIS SARGENT HUNTINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY CROSS
–Martin Luther; translated by William James Kirkpatrick
Yesterday I sang in my parish choir’s performance of the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. We dropped “His yoke is easy and his burden is light,” culminating instead in the Hallelujah Chorus. The concert was glorious and spiritually edifying for many people.
There are still a few days of Advent left. So I encourage you, O reader, to observe them. Then, beginning sometime during the second half of December 24, begin to say
Merry Christmas!
and continue that practice through January 5, the twelfth and last day of Christmas. And I encourage you to remember that our Lord and Savior was born into a violent world, one in which men–some mentally disturbed, others just mean, and still others both mean and mentally disturbed–threatened and took the lives of innocents. Names, circumstances, empires, nation-states, and technology have changed, but the essential reality has remained constant, unfortunately.
The Hallelujah Chorus, quoting the Apocalypse of John, includes these words:
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
That is not true yet, obviously. But that fact does not relieve any of us of our responsibilities to respect the Image of God in others and to treat them accordingly. We must not try to evade the duty to be the face and appendages of Christ to those to whom God sends us and those whom God sends to us. We cannot save the world, but we can improve it. May we do so for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
May the peace of Christ, born as a vulnerable baby and executed as a criminal by a brutal imperial government, be with you now and always. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIA STEWART, EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB, FOUNDER OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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