Pietism is an error-ridden system of thought. One of its gravest mistakes is the rejection of ritualism, often due to a misinterpretation of Psalm 50. The sacrificial system, commanded in the Law of Moses, is not the problem in Psalm 50. No, the divorce between sacrifices and morality is the offense. Mistaking sacrifices and other acts of public piety for a talisman is wrong. People need to walk the walk, in other words. Their acts of public piety will be genuine.
Speaking of sacrifices, the context of the Transfiguration in Mark 8-9 is the foretelling of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The prose poetry of the account tells us of Elijah (representing the prophets) and Moses (representing the Law) appearing with the glorified Jesus. This is, in context, an apocalyptic scene, as anyone steeped in the culture of Palestinian Judaism would have known. The attempt to institutionalize such a moment is always misguided, for one should keep on moving with Jesus, toward Jerusalem. Faith is a journey, not a permanent shrine.
My journey will not be identical to yours, O reader, nor should it be. Our journeys will properly contain many of the same landmarks, though. The destination will also be the same–God in Christ.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 19, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JAMES ARTHUR MACKINNON, CANADIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF CHARITIE LEES SMITH BANCROFT DE CHENEZ, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER
At the end of the Season After the Epiphany or the beginning of the Season After Pentecost (depending on the year), we finish hopping and skipping through three books–Job, Deuteronomy, and James. If we pay attention, we notice that Job granted his daughters the right to inherit from his estate–a revolutionary move at that time and place.
Overall, when we add Psalm 48 and Mark 4:1-20 to the mix, we detect a thread of the goodness of God present in all the readings. Related to divine goodness is the mandate to respond positively to grace in various ways, as circumstances dictate. The principle is universal, but the applications are circumstantial.
Consider, O reader the parable in our reading from Mark 4. The customary name is the Parable of the Sower, but the Parable of the Four Soils is a better title. The question is not about the effectiveness of the sower but about the four soils. Are we distracted soil? Are we soil that does not retain faith in the face of tribulation or persecution? Are we soil into which no roots sink? Or are we good soil? Do we respond positively to grace, which is free yet not cheap, or do we not?
Job 42:11 tells that all Job’s “friends of former times” visited him and “showed him every sympathy.” (Job is a literary character, of course, so I do not mistake him for a historical figure.) I imagine Zophar, Bildad, Eliphaz, and even Elihu, who went away as quickly as he arrived, having realized their errors, dining with Job in shalom. That is indeed a scene of grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 19, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JAMES ARTHUR MACKINNON, CANADIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
THE FEAST OF ALFRED RAMSEY, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF CHARITIE LEES SMITH BANCROFT DE CHENEZ, HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER
Psalm 6, with its references to death, fits well with the reading from 1 Samuel 28, in which King Saul, in violation of Jewish law, consults a necromancer. She is actually a somewhat sympathetic character, for she cares about the monarch’s well-being. Meanwhile, one gets the impression that Saul has neglected his duties. I do not agree, however, that committing genocide is a king’s duty.
With great power comes great responsibility, as an old saying tells us. This is true in both secular and sacred settings. In 2 Peter 2, for example, we read condemnations of certain early Christian leaders who, out of embarrassment, sought to reconcile Christianity with pagan permissiveness. As we read in Matthew 7, good trees bear good fruit and bad trees bear bad fruit.
And committing genocide is definitely bad fruit.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 3, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE-LEONIE PARADIS, FOUNDER OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY
Few details make this goy‘s eyes glaze over faster than particulars of Hebrew purification offerings from Leviticus. Professor Luke Timothy Johnson, in his Great Courses DVD series Jesus and the Gospels (2004), states plainly that the Book of Leviticus is not among the reasons that the Bible is a bestseller. Besides, the Law of Moses does not apply to me. Nevertheless, I, after having read Leviticus 5:1-13 and Luke 17:1-4 together, along with Psalm 38, detect a timeless, common theme, which is forgiveness. The author of Psalm 38 asks God for forgiveness. Leviticus 5:1-13 prescribes culturally specific rituals for atonement and forgiveness. And Jesus commands in Luke 17:1-4 that a person forgive someone who repents.
Forgiving might not help the forgiven party (or it might do so), but it certainly benefits the one who forgives. Anger is a strangely appealing burden to carry around in life. It might cause no harm to its target (or it might do so), but it definitely damages the one who nurses it. One should forgive even if the other person does not repent, apologize, or request forgiveness, for selfish reasons alone make forgiving sensible. Nevertheless, as I know well, letting go of resentment is frequently difficult. That reality, I think, has more to do with one’s self-image than with anything else.
I am righteous. I am the injured party. That S.O.B. owes me something.
It is little or no consolation, is it?
None of us can become the person God wants us to become by holding on to grudges. Also, forgiving feels better than the alternative.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 27, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER, ENGLISH EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT AEDESIUS, PRIEST AND MISSIONARY; AND SAINT FRUDENTIUS, FIRST BISHOP OF AXUM AND ABUNA OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH GRIGG, ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
Liturgical time matters, for it sacramentalizes days, hours, and minutes, adding up to seasons on the church calendar. Among the frequently overlooked seasons is the Season after Epiphany, the first part of Ordinary Time. The Feast of the Epiphany always falls on January 6 in my tradition. And Ash Wednesday always falls forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter Sunday. The Season after Epiphany falls between The Feast of the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. In 2013 the season will span January 7-February 12.
This season ought to be a holy time, one in which to be especially mindful of the imperative to take the good news of Jesus of Nazareth to others by a variety of means, including words when necessary. Words are meaningless when our actions belie them, after all. Among the themes of this season is that the Gospel is for all people, not just those we define as insiders. No, the message is also for our “Gentiles,” those whom we define as outsiders. So, with that thought in mind, I encourage you, O reader, to exclude nobody. Do not define yourself as an insider to the detriment of others. If you follow this advice, you will have a proper Epiphany spirit.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 9, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN CHEMNITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF BARTON STONE, COFOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
Bildad the Shuhite, in Job 18, implies that Job must be wicked. Why else would Job suffer so much? This is repetitive content. It was just as bogus this time as it was the previous occasions. The Lutheran lectionary, in its beauty, pairs Bildad’s speech with part of John 7, where people are plotting to do to Jesus things which Bildad describes as the fate of the wicked. This is the most powerful argument I can muster against Bildad’s words.
I will be brief, today, for most of what I might write here I have stated in previous posts in this Job and John series. Yet I do choose to make the following point here and now: In the canonical Gospels suffering is part of the destiny of the Messiah. Suffering indicates that one has been faithful to God. Thus those who follow Jesus must be prepared to suffer. And, in the Book of Tobit, the titular character suffers because he obeys God. For nearly two thousand years Christian martyrs have suffered because of their obedience. The darkness takes offense at the light shining in its midst yet can never extinguish all the candles and lamps.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET
THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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James 4:13-17 (Revised English Bible):
Now a word with all who say,
Today or the next day we will go off to such and such a town and spend a year there trading and making money.
Yet you have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life after all? You are no more than a mist, seen for a little while and then disappearing. What you ought to say is:
If it be the Lord’s will, we shall live to do so and so.
But instead, you boast and brag, and all such boasting is wrong. What it comes to is that anyone who knows the right thing to do and does not do it is a sinner.
Psalm 49:1-9, 16-20 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
hearken, all you who dwell in the world,
you of high degree and low, rich and poor together.
2 My mouth shall speak of wisdom,
and my heart shall meditate on understanding.
3 I will incline my ear to a proverb
and set forth my riddle upon the harp.
4 Why should I be afraid in evil days,
when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me,
5 The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods,
and boast of their great riches?
6 We can never ransom ourselves,
or deliver to God the price of our life;
7 For the ransom of our life is so great,
that we should never have enough to pay it,
8 In order to live for ever and ever,
and never to see the grave.
9 For we see that the wise die also;
like the dull and the stupid they perish
and leave their wealth to those who come after them.
16 Do not be envious when some become rich,
or when the grandeur of their house increases;
17 For they will carry nothing away at their death,
nor will their grandeur follow them.
18 Though they thought highly of themselves while they lived,
and were praised for their success,
19 They shall join the company of their forebears,
who will never see the light again.
20 Those who are honored, but have no understanding,
are like the beasts that perish.
Mark 9:38-41 (Revised English Bible):
John said to him,
Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and as he was not one of us, we tried to stop him.
Jesus said,
Do not stop him, for no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able the next moment to speak evil of me. He is not against us is on our side. Truly I tell you: whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you are followers of the Messiah will certainly not go unrewarded.
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The Collect:
O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
–Matthew 6:19-21, Revised Standard Version
Once, in Alapaha, Georgia, there lived a kindly elderly woman named Emily. Her house was an unofficial museum of local history. There one could find old maps and photographs, an antique telephone, et cetera. Most impressive of all was her memory of the local past, though. One day she told me a story about a doctor, a general practitioner who made house calls. He kept track of who owed him how much. The doctor died with people still owing him money, but they never had pay up because he destroyed those records. His wife, he knew, would try to collect the money, and the patients probably could not pay. The man had a good heart, and he acted accordingly.
He knew, as did St. Laurence of Rome, that people matter more than money. The doctor also knew that, as Psalm 49 reminds us in eloquent words, we cannot take our earthly wealth with us when we die.
The biblical ethic concerning money is not anti-wealth. It is, rather, opposed to the arrogance and presumption many wealthy people have. We all depend on God for everything, but some people do not realize this because of their attitude toward their money and possessions. Some people have dealt with this spiritual matter by shedding their wealth. This an appropriate corrective action for many people. Yet others can remain wealthy and have a proper attitude, with their philanthropy demonstrating their sincerity. Proper attitude is essential in this spiritual matter, regardless of the action God calls one to take.
That proper attitude is recognition and acceptance of one’s total dependence on God for everything. May this guide our actions toward ourselves, each other, and God.
Above: An Illustrated Manuscript from 1300: The Account of the Transfiguration of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark
Spiritual Blindness and Deafness Resulting from Erroneous Assumptions
FEBRUARY 23, 2019
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Hebrews 11:1-7 (Revised English Bible):
Faith gives substance to our hopes and convinces us of realities we do not see.
It was for our faith that the people old won God’s approval.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God’s command, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.
By faith Abel offered a greater sacrifice than Cain’s; because of his faith God approved his offerings and attested his goodness; and through his faith, though he is dead, he continues to speak.
By faith Enoch was taken up to another life without passing through death; he was not to be found, because God had taken him, and it is the testimony of scripture that before he was taken he had pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah took good heed of the divine warning about the unseen future, and built an ark to save his household. Through his faith he put the whole world in the wrong, and made good this own claim to the righteousness which comes of faith.
Psalm 145:1-4, 10-13 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 I will exalt you, O God my King,
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
there is no end to his greatness.
4 One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
10 All your works praise you, O LORD,
and all your faithful servants bless you.
11 They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power;
12 That the peoples may know of your power
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
Mark 9:2-13 (Revised English Bible):
Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And in their presence he was transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white, with a whiteness no bleacher on earth could equal. They saw Elijah appear and Moses with him, talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke:
Rabbi,
he said,
it is good that we are here! Shall we make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?
For he did not know what to say; they were so terrified. Then a cloud appeared, casting its shadow over them, and out of the cloud came a voice:
This is my beloved Son; listen to him.
And suddenly, when they looked around, only Jesus was with them; there was no longer anyone else to be seen.
On their way down the mountain, he instructed them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They seized upon those words, and discussed among themselves what this “rising from the dead” could mean. And they put a question to him:
Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?
He replied,
Elijah does come first to set everything right. How is it, then, that the scriptures say of the Son of Man that he is to endure great suffering and be treated with contempt? However, I tell you, Elijah has already come and they have done to him what they wanted, ans the scriptures say of him.
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The Collect:
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Hebrews 11:1-7 speaks of faith. The author of this text defines faith as that which “gives substance to our hopes and convictions of realities we do not see.” Furthermore, we read, the faithful dead continue to speak (after a fashion) because of their faith. And faith makes it possible to please God, “for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.”
Here I feel the need to make a distinction. Believing in God and accepting the the existence of God are separate. The latter is a merely intellectual jump; the former is a leap of faith. An Agnostic accepts that God exists, for example, but is still agnostic, literally “without knowledge.”
And it is not just Agnostics who lack knowledge. We who profess to follow Jesus are just as prone to spiritual ignorance as anyone else. We see the evidence of nature, but do we understand what it means? And Apostles spent time with Jesus and heard his words repeatedly, but they remained confused for a very long time. They were neither stupid nor physically blind or deaf. No, they labored under misconceptions of Messiahship, that the Messiah would be a national liberator. But Jesus did not drive out the Romans, nor did he attempt to do so. He suffered, died, and rose again; before that, he said he would suffer, die, and rise again. There was a great display of power involved in the Resurrection, but the Romans were still present as occupying power in Judea.
The author of the Gospel of Mark wrote the earliest canonical Gospel in part to dispel false expectations of Messiahship, but, as I have written in previous devotions in this series, some of us have not paid attention. On the positive side, however, many of us have learned this Markan lesson.
Let us consider the Transfiguration. I suspect that the most eloquent words are inadequate to the experience. Yet all accounts agree that there was a spectacular display of Jesus in his divine glory, that God approved of him, and that Jesus is consistent with the Law and the Prophets. Peter, duly awed, wanted to institutionalize the moment, but that was the wrong response. Jesus had work to do; he was preparing to die. And his Apostles needed to be at his side. We know how that turned out, do we not?
Sadly, we mere mortals today remain blind to many spiritual realities about which Jesus and the Prophets before him were quite plain. What is wrong with us? Why are we so dense? Why do cling to false assumptions? Why do we not see what is in front of us?
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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