These five readings, taken together, remind individuals, communities, and populations to obey God’s laws, keep its ethical mandate of mutuality under God, and not to be arrogant while idling in obliviousness to consequences of disobeying divine ethical standards. The Assyrians were on their way in Amos 6. False teachers were troublesome in 1 Timothy 4. Sacred rituals were not talismans in John 2.
Keeping the ethical mandates from God is not a talisman either. One who reads the Gospel of John should notice that Gospel’s placement of the “Temple Incident” (as scholars of the New Testament call it) at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. Such a reader also notices that, according to the Gospel of John, different groups tried for years to kill Jesus throughout the Fourth Gospel. If righteousness were a shield against negative consequences, Jesus would have been the safest person who ever lived.
Unfortunately, old, false ideas remain persistent. (Old, true ideas persisting is positive, of course.) The idea that one is suffering, therefore must have sinned, is false. So is the proposition that one is prosperous and secure, therefore must have done something right and righteous. How many times must one read the Gospel of John, ponder the life of Christ, and read accounts of martyrs before one understands this?
The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Many of the wicked prosper. Many of the righteous struggle and suffer. It is not fair. Life is not fair. Nevertheless, actions do have consequences in this life and in the afterlife. Sometimes we also suffer because of the actions of others. The problem of suffering is too complex for simple answers.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 31, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
THE FEAST OF SAINT GIUSEPPINA NICOLI, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN AND MINISTER TO THE POOR
NEW YEAR’S EVE
THE FEAST OF ROSSITER WORTHINGTON RAYMOND, U.S. NOVELIST, POET, HYMN WRITER, AND MINING ENGINEER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZOTICUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, PRIEST AND MARTYR, 351
Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.
Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,
that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24
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The Assigned Readings:
Isaiah 46:1-13
Psalm 147:1-11, 20
Matthew 12:9-14
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Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God!
how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!
–Psalm 147:1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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An idol is anything (tangible or otherwise) which takes the place of God in one’s life. Thus an idol can be a doctrine, an activity, an object, or a figment of one’s imagination. It need not necessarily be bad; it can be inherently neutral, in fact, for how we think of it makes it an idol. I am convinced that the Bible is frequently an idol, given how many people put it in the place of God. The sacred anthology ought, of course, to function as an icon–something through which one sees God.
We read of two different types of idols in the lessons for today. There are old school false deities and images thereof in Isaiah 46. Monotheism took a long time to take hold among the Hebrews, hence the many condemnations of idolatry in the Old Testament. Our Lord and Savior confronted the idol of legalism in Matthew 12:9-14, for he healed on the Sabbath. Rules said that he should have done that on another day. To save a life and to provide the most minimal first aid on the Sabbath were “legal,” but healing was not. Yet, as Jesus demonstrated every day is a good day to perform a good deed.
I suspect that legalists think of themselves as righteous seekers after God. They are simply following the rules, I think they tell themselves. Yet they mistake the means for the end. And, as a result, they often oppose compassionate deeds on a technicality. As I wrote in the previous post, alleged orthodoxy means far less than sound orthopraxy. And, if God is love, is not compassion sound orthopraxy?
May we reject all idols, including those which seem to be of God.
DECEMBER 1, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
One of the recurring biblical themes is the coexistence of divine mercy and judgment. It is evident in 2 Kings, where King Josiah deferred yet did not cancel out via national holiness (however fleeting) the consequences of successive generations of national depravity and disregard for holiness. The Hollywood tacked-on happy ending, in the style of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) after the studio took the film away from Orson Welles, would have been for forgiveness to wipe away everything. Yet judgment came–just later than scheduled previously.
I would like to be a Universalist–a Christian Universalist, to be precise. Yet that would be a false choice. No matter how much grace exists in Jesus, the reality of the Incarnation does demand a response to the question,
Who do we say Jesus is?
(Thanks to Professor Phillip Cary, in his Teaching Company course on the History of Christian Theology for making the point that the Synoptic Gospels pose that question to audiences.) And, as C. H. Dodd, while explaining Realized Eschatology in The Founder of Christianity, wrote of Jesus in that book:
In his words and actions he made men aware of [the kingdom of God] and challenged them to respond. It was “good news” in the sense that it meant opportunity for a new start and an unprecedented enrichment of experience. But when a person (or society) has been presented with such a challenge and declines it, he is not just where he was before. His position is the worse for the encounter….The coming of the kingdom meant the open opportunity of enhancement of life; it also meant the heightening of moral responsibility.
–1970 Macmillan paperback edition, page 58
So, regardless of the number of challenges and severity thereof we might face due to our fidelity to God, may we find encouragement to continue to follow Christ, our Lord and Savior, who suffered to the point of death and overcame that obstacle.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 10, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD; AND SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
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)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple. Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly.
And one would call to the other,
Holy, holy, holy!
The LORD of Hosts!
His presence fills all the earth!
The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the House kept filling with smoke. I cried,
Woe is me; I am lost!
For I am a man of unclean lips
And I live among a people
Of unclean lips;
Yet my own eyes have beheld
The King LORD of Hosts.
Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched it to my lips and declared,
Now that this has touched your lips,
Your guilt shall depart
And your sin be purged away.
Then I heard the voice of my Lord saying,
Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?
And I said,
Here am I; send me.
And He said,
Go, say to that people:
“Hear, indeed, but do not understand;
See, indeed, but do not grasp.”
Dull that people’s mind,
Stop its ears,
And seal its eyes–
Lest, seeing with its eyes
And hearing with its ears,
It also grasp with its mind,
And repent and save itself.
I asked,
How long, my Lord?
And He replied:
Till towns lie waste without inhabitants
And houses without people,
And the ground lies waste and desolate–
For the LORD will banish the population–
And deserted sites are many
In the midst of the land.
But while a tenth part yet remains in it, it shall repent. It shall be ravaged like the terebinth and the oak, of which stumps are left even when they are felled; its stump shall be a holy seed.
Psalm 138 (Revised English Bible):
I shall give praise to you, LORD, with my whole heart;
in the presence of the gods I shall sing psalms to you.
I shall bow down towards your holy temple;
for your love and faithfulness I shall praise your name,
for you have exalted your promise above the heavens.
When I called, you answered me
and made me bold and strong.
Let all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD,
when they hear the words you have spoken;
let them sing of the LORD’s ways,
for great is the glory of the LORD.
The LORD is exalted, yet he cares for the lowly
and from afar he takes note of the proud.
Though I am compassed about by trouble,
you preserve my life,
putting forth your power against the rage of my enemies,
and with your right hand you save me.
The LORD will accomplish his purpose for me.
Your love endures for ever, LORD;
do not abandon what you have made.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you–believing anything else will not lead to anything.
Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five thousand of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.
I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.
Luke 5:1-11 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Now he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats–it was Simon’s–and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon,
Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.
Simon replied,
Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.
And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying,
Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.
For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners; But Jesus said to Simon,
Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.
Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
The Collect:
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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\My most basic prayer for anyone–including myself–is that God’s best for that person will be that person’s reality. This petition speaks of an awareness that God has a set of purposes for each person and that one’s set is not another’s. There are certain broad generalizations which apply across the board, of course. Glorifying and enjoying God forever is one of them. Loving one’s neighbors is another. But circumstances and grace dictate the specifics.
We human beings have demonstrated the unfortunate tendency to work toward keeping people different from us and therefore allegedly inferior to us “in their place.” Thus Antebellum slaves in the Southern U.S. were supposed, by law in several states, to be illiterate. And, after emancipation, powerful white people did not always provide schools for African Americans. The schools which did exist were woefully inferior in many places. Thus a large proportion of the population lacked equality of opportunity. The society suffered, for keeping another “in his place” requires someone to make sure he stays there. That monitor is therefore not far removed from his victim. Thus perpetrators victimize themselves.
But what is God’s designated place for each of us? Isaiah became a prophet. Simon Peter, James, and John became great Apostles. And so did Paul. Human sinfulness was no obstacle to grace. What is God’s designated place for you? If you, O reader, are fortunate, you are there already. If not, may you get there. Getting there requires human assistance, so may you help others arrive at God’s destination and may others help you in your sacred vocation(s).
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 13, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN
Job, early in his suffering, lamented that he had not only been born but survived the day of his birth. This was understandable, given the circumstances. (I grasp that the Book of Job is a drama and a work of fiction, yet I write of the scenes in their context.)
In John 1:35-51 Jesus calls his first disciples: Andrew and Simon Peter, brothers; Philip; and Nathanael/Bartholomew. All of them died as martyrs. The moment they began to follow Jesus was the moment they started their journeys toward suffering and death.
I think of a hymn:
They cast their nets in Galilee,
just of the hills of brown;
such happy, simple fisherfolk,
before the Lord came down.
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Contented, peaceful fishermen,
before they ever knew
the peace of God that filled their hearts
brimful, and broke them too.
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Young John who trimmed the flapping sail,
homeless in Patmos died.
Peter, who hauled the teeming net,
headdown was crucified.
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The peace of God, it is no peace,
but strife closed in the sod.
Yet let us pray for but one thing–
the marvelous peace of God.
—The Hymnal 1982, of The Episcopal Church, Hymn #661
I do not pretend to have answers I lack. Yet I do know that I prefer to keep Gods’ company in times of suffering and during times without it.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 13, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN
Ancient Hebrew View of the World; An Illustration from the St. Joseph Study Edition of the New American Bible
May We Seek and Find a Positive Relationship with God, Who Can Transform Our Human Chaos into Divine Order
FEBRUARY 6, 2023
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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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Genesis 1:1-19 (Richard Elliott Friedman, 2001):
In the beginning of God’s creating the skies and the earth–when the earth had been shapeless and formless, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and God’s spirit was hovering on the face of the water–
God said,
Let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated between the light and the darkness. And God called the light “day” and called the darkness “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning: one day.
And God said,
Let there be a space within the water, and let it separate between water and water.
And God made the space, and it separated between the water that was under the space and the water that was above the space. And it was so. And God called the space “skies.” And there was evening, and there was morning: a second day.
And God said,
Let the waters be concentrated under the skies into one place, and let the land appear.
And it was so. And God called the land “earth” and called the concentration of the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. And God said,
Let the earth generate plants, vegetation that produces seed, fruit trees, each making fruit of its own kind, which has its seed in it, on the earth.
And it was so: The earth brought out plants, vegetation that produces seeds of its own kind, and trees that make fruit that each has seeds of its own kind in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning: a third day.
And God said,
Let there be lights in the space of the skies to distinguish between the day and the night, and they will be for signs and for appointed times and for days and years. And they will be for lights in the space of the skies to shed light on the earth.
And it was so. And God made two big lights–the bigger light for the regulation of the day and the smaller light for the regulation of the night–and the stars. And God set them in the space of the skies to shed light on the earth and to regulate the day and the night and to distinguish between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning: a fourth day.
Psalm 104:1-12, 25 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
O LORD my God, how excellent is your greatness!
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.
2 You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak
and spread out the heavens like a curtain.
3 You lay out the beams of your chambers in the waters above;
you make the clouds your chariot;
you ride on the wings of the wind.
4 You make the winds your messengers
and flames of fire your servants.
5 You have set the earth upon its foundations,
so that it never shall move at any time.
6 You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle;
the waters stood higher than the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
8 They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath,
to the places you had appointed for them.
9 You set the limits that they should not pass;
they shall not again cover the earth.
10 You send the springs into the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.
11 All the beasts of the field drink their fill from them,
and the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the air make their nests
and sing among the branches.
25 O LORD, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Mark 6:53-56 (J. B. Phillips, 1972):
And when they had crossed over to the other side of the lake they landed at Gennesaret and tied up there. As soon as they came ashore, the people recognised Jesus and rushed all over the countryside and began to carry the sick around on their beds to wherever he was. Wherever he went, in villages or towns or hamlets, they laid down their sick right in the marketplaces and begged him that they might
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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AN EXPLANATORY NOTE WITH CITATIONS
I have decided to rotate the Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition of the Bible off the Monday-Saturday devotions and to bring in the work of other translators. This is a good time for that, given the end of the series of readings from the Letter to the Hebrews and the beginning of lessons from Genesis. And I will, of course, change the translations of choice a few more times before this series of devotions for Year 1 is over.
There is a danger in using just one translation of the Bible, for one can become so accustomed to the rhythms of one version that one does not really read or listen to the messages in the words. One can become stuck on the words. Did you read Genesis 1:1-19 more closely in the Friedman translation than in any other you have encountered previously? If so, you have proven my point.
Friedman, Richard Elliott. Commentary of the Torah with a New English Translation and the Hebrew Text. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Paperback, 2003.
Professor Friedman is a noted scholar of the Jewish Biblical tradition. He is famous for Who Wrote the Bible?, The Hidden Book in the Bible, and other works about the development and authorship of parts of the Hebrew Canon.
Phillips, J. B. The New Testament in Modern English. Revised Edition. New York: Macmillan, 1972.
The late J. B. Phillips was a priest of the Church of England. He began to published his translation of the New Testament in pieces in 1947, 1952, 1955, and 1957, before releasing the one-volume New Testament in Modern English in 1958. I have both the 1958 and the 1972 editions; the 1972 revision is superior to the 1958 work.
KRT
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THE DEVOTIONAL
The earliest chapters of Genesis are beautiful poetry (of a sort) but not science. Neither is Psalm 104, but that fact did not stop the Medieval and Renaissance Roman Catholic Church from citing Psalm 104:5 and other texts to declare that anyone who said that the Earth revolves around the Sun was a heretic. (As Galileo Galilei wrote, it is wrong to declare what is demonstrated to be true a heresy.) We are reading mythology in Genesis and poetry in the Psalms, so we ought not mistake them for a technical manual. Yet they do constitute profound theology, and therein lies their truth.
The adapted Canadian Anglican lectionary divides the first Creation Story (actually the second one written) into two segments, so some of what I am about to write entails getting ahead of the reading. With that disclaimer, here I go.
The first Creation Story tells of God creating order from chaos, not something from nothing (ex nihilo in Latin). The account divides the act of creating into two parts: Days 1-3 and Days 4-6. During days 1-3, God establishes the outlines of creation: night, day, skies, land, and seas. Then God spends the next three days filling out the details. And God rests on the seventh day, of course. Episcopal priest and author Robert Farrar Capon states in The Third Peacock: The Problem of God and Evil (Second Edition; New York: Winston Press, 1986), that creation results from a “Trinitarian bash.” And creation is good. So God delights in creation, of which we are part and the pinnacle. It follows logically, then, that we should delight in God.
But how often do we do that?
Now I turn to the reading from Mark.
You might have noticed, O reader, that the lectionary skipped a few verses from the Saturday devotional. To be precise, the lectionary has jumped past the feeding of five thousand men (plus an uncertain number of women and children). The lectionary has also skipped Jesus walking on water. This text has puzzled interpreters since before the days of St. Augustine of Hippo, who offered this understanding: Jesus is the master of the storm, so Christians have no reason to fear. Then we arrive at the portion of Mark prescribed for this day in the Epiphany season.
The crowds, unlike those at the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Plus), did not come to hear Jesus teach. No, they came to Jesus seeking his healing–and his healing alone. (The crush of people must have stressed Jesus.) There is nothing wrong with seeking healing, but we ought not stop there. There is nothing wrong with asking God to help ourselves and those we love and for whom we care about otherwise, but prayer should not consist solely of presenting God with a “honey do” list.
We are created to be in a healthy relationship with God. The Larger Westminster Catechism says it best in Question #1:
What is the chief and highest end of man?
Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.
There are varieties of prayer. Among these are thanksgiving and intercession. How often have you tried contemplative prayer? How often have you undertaken merely to be conscious of the presence of God without asking anything of God? How often have you just listened for God in silence? These activities help deepen a healthy relationship with God.
As for me, I have done some of this, with mixed results. I need to do better, and I keep trying. The truth is that quieting my mind is a great challenge. Over time, however, this will become easier, by grace. The world is filled with noise, but God, as the prophet Elijah discovered, speaks in the silence. The gods of ancient Near Eastern pantheons manifested themselves in natural phenomena, such as storms and volcanic eruptions, but the one God expresses self in the opposite ways.
May we enter into the silence and listen to whatever God might say to us. If God says nothing on one day, at least we were silent for a while. And there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, if God does speak on a certain day, we will be there, alert and ready to hear. That is good, indeed. And divine order will supplant human chaos.
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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