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)
Job 32-37 consists of the Elihu section of that book. This is certainly a later addition to the Book of Job, for Elihu comes from nowhere and leaves without a trace. His task is mainly to pester Job for a few chapters while uttering pious-sounding yet non-helpful sentiments the three alleged friends said before. In point of fact, one can skip from Chapter 31 to Chapter 38 while missing mostly tedium.
Yet not everything Elihu says lacks scriptural parallel. He tells Job, for example, that this suffering is a divine rebuke. (It is not, according to the Book of Job.) A note in The Jewish Study Bible refers me to Proverbs 3:11-12, which, in TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures, reads:
Do not reject the discipline of the LORD, my son;
Do not abhor His rebuke.
For whom the LORD loves, He rebukes,
as a father the son whom he favors.
There is such a thing as parental discipline for the good of the child; that is true. But Elihu’s error was in applying this lesson in a circumstance where it did not apply.
Meanwhile, in John 10, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, claims to be the Son of God, rejects the charge of blasphemy, and finds his life at risk. The contrast between the God concepts of Elihu and Jesus interests me. Elihu’s God dishes out abuse and Elihu, convinced of the need to commit theodicy, calls it discipline. Yet the God of Jesus watches gives his sheep eternal life and sends a self-sacrificial shepherd for them. That shepherd’s suffering is not a rebuke for his sins, for he is sinless.
Once again, Jesus provides an excellent counterpoint to a voice of alleged orthodoxy in the Book of Job and affirms that book’s message.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 27, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF THE EARLY ABBOTS OF CLUNY
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH WARRILOW, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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