That is true. Yet what are we readers supposed to do with Romans 7:1-6?
I found the Commentary on Romans (Swedish, 1944; English, 1949) by Swedish Lutheran Bishop Anders Nygren helpful in considering that question. Nygren’s Commentary has proven to be influential and durable, for other published exegetes have quoted and/or referred to it. So why not cut out the middle man and go directly to Nygren?
Nygren argued that, according to St. Paul the Apostle, the Law (Torah) never dies. It has not expired or run its course, and Christ has neither superceded, negated, nor repealed it:
The law does not die. There is only one way to liberation. Only in the fact that the Christian has died with Christ is he really and truly set free beyond the realm of the law. Paul’s emphasis lies on this genuine liberation.
–Page 272
On page 268 Nygren presents in two columns the parallels between Romans 6 and 7:1-6. In Chapter 6 Christians die to sin so that they might walk in newness of life, in freedom from sin. When we turn to Chapter 7, we read of dying to the law for the purpose of serving in the new life of the Spirit, in freedom from the law.
This liberation has come through the death of Christ, and through the fact that by baptism we have become sharers in His death.
–Page 269
As a note in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible (2003) stated well,
The point Paul desires to make is that death ends obligations; the law has lost its claim over Christians, who have transferred their allegiance to Christ.
–Page 2019
The theme of liberation via God to live righteously in the joy of God applies also to Isaiah 61:1-7. The speaker in that text is most likely the author of the last few chapters of the Book of Isaiah. The notes in The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) identify him as Deutero-Isaiah. I think that Trito-Isaiah is the accurate label, but that is a minor issue. The prophet speaks of his mandate from God
To bind up the wounded of heart,
To proclaim release to the captives,
Liberation to the imprisoned;
To proclaim a year of the LORD’s favor
And a day of vindication by our God;
To comfort all who mourn….
–Isaiah 61:1b-2, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
The historical context of this pericope is the return of the Hebrew exiles to their ancestral homeland. Decades of captivity had understandably caused much despondency and prompted much derision, hence the necessity of the prophet’s mission.
In a broader sense, is not the prophet’s mission that of all who have known the love of God? Grace is free yet definitely not cheap; it requires a positive, faithful response. The wounded of heart and those who mourn are always around us. Captives and prisoners (both literal and metaphorical) are numerous also. The mission of Trito-Isaiah is mine as well as yours, O reader. Jesus claimed it as part of his mission in Luke 4:16-19. If he claimed it for himself, should not we who follow him?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 3, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE EVE OF THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI: PROPER FOR THE GOODNESS OF CREATION
THE FEAST OF THEODOR FLIEDNER, PIONEER OF THE DEACONESS MOVEMENT IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH
THE FEAST OF GEORGE KENNEDY ALLEN BELL, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CHICHESTER
THE FEAST OF JOHN RALEIGH MOTT, ECUMENICAL PIONEER
Image Source = Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D., New Catholic Picture Bible: Popular Stories from the Old and New Testaments (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1955, 1960)
Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ, most merciful redeemer,
for the countless blessings and benefits you give.
May we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day praising you, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 16:1-14
Psalm 86
Luke 18:15-17
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Turn to me and have mercy upon me;
give your strength to your servant
and save the child of your handmaid.
–Psalm 86:16, Common Worship (2000)
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Abram had received a promise from God that he would become the father of nations. There was just one problem: he had no children. Abram and Sarai took matters into their own hands, thereby creating a mess and causing injury immediately to Hagar and later compounding it and extending it to Ishmael. The boy, whose existence was due to faithlessness, became a pawn.
Children were people without social standing in our Lord and Savior’s cultural context. Sometimes parents even sold them into slavery to pay off debts. One function of the Kingdom of God in the Gospels was to point out the ways in which the dominant society fell short of the divine mark. Hence the Beatitudes (and, in the Gospel of Luke, the corresponding Woes) were counter-cultural. Blessed are poor? Woe to the rich? Blessed are the peacemakers? In the Kingdom of God, yes! The description of the way things ought to be condemned the way they were.
That description continues to condemn societies. For example, the exploitation of children–from child labor to sexual slavery to conscription as soldiers–constitutes current events. Some patterns never change, although the places, dates, and certain other minor details regarding them do. I live just outside the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Atlanta is a hub of human trafficking, unfortunately.
In the Gospel of Luke the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (18:9-14) and the conversation between Jesus and the rich ruler attached to his wealth (18:18-30) bookend the pericope about receiving the Kingdom of God as a little child does. The cumulative message, therefore, is that social standing counts for nothing in the eyes of God and that wealth is irrelevant in the same context. No, pride must go away and we must approach God humbly, aware of our powerlessness and limitations.
The exhortation in Luke 18:15-17 also points to inherent human dignity and links well with the plights of Hagar and Ishmael. May we never use people as pawns, for that is unfair to them. It also violates the commandments to care for one another and to be responsible to each other–orders which undergird much of the Law of Moses and are consistent with our Lord and Savior’s ethical teachings and lived example.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 20, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF RICHARD WATSON GILDER, U.S. POET, JOURNALIST, AND SOCIAL REFORMER
THE FEAST OF HENRY FRANCIS LYTE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF LEO TOLSTOY, NOVELIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT MECHTILD OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC
The laws of God which are written on hearts and minds are laws of grace, love, and responsibility for and to each other. They are laws of love for and responsibility to God. The essence of them is to love God fully and others as ourselves. The rest is commentary–mostly culturally-specific commentary–examples (bound by time, space and circumstances) of universal principles. Therefore to become so fixated on examples as to ignore or minimize the universal principles is to miss the point and fall into legalism.
This internalized covenant is for all people, not that everyone embraces it or will do so. It is for Hebrews and Gentiles alike. It is for those like us and those quite different from us. It is as much as for Hebrews as it was for a confused Ethiopian eunuch who needed a good catechist. Fortunately, God sent him one.
The reading from Exodus speaks of the Passover meal instructions and of the importance of blood in deliverance–the latter being a theme in other readings for these days. In the case of the Passover, the blood protected the Hebrews not from their own sins, but those of Egyptians. This is a point which one might overlook out of imagined familiarity with the text. Anyhow, the metaphor of the Passover as applied to Jesus (perhaps most explicitly applied to Jesus in the Gospel of John, where he dies on Passover itself–is the sacrificial lamb) carries meaning beyond just saving us from ourselves–from our sins.
A traditional American hymn speaks of
What wondrous love
that
caused the Lord of bliss
to
lay aside his crown for my soul.
May we–you, O reader, and I–respond favorably to that grace with heart and mind engaged fully, giving neither short shrift. May we understand correctly and act accordingly, helping others to whom God sends us and others whom God sends to us, to do likewise. For we are all responsible to and for each other.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF GREGORIO AGLIPAY, PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT BISHOP
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)
But suppose that God, although the time he wanted to reveal his retribution and demonstrate his power, has with great patience gone on putting up with those who are the instruments of his retribution and designed to be destroyed; so that he may make known the glorious riches ready for the people who are the instruments of his faithful love and were long ago prepared for that glory. We are that people, called by him not only out of the Jews but with the gentiles too.
This land you shall divide for yourselves among the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as a heritage for yourselves and the strangers who reside among you, you have begotten children among you. You shall treat them as Israelite citizens; they shall receive allotments along with you among the tribes of Israel. You shall give the stranger an allotment within the tribe where he resides–declares the Lord GOD.
What a difference a day makes! In the previous day’s entry in this series I wrote of the exclusion of Gentiles from parts of the rebuilt Temple. Some foreigners had joined the Jews and lived among them, living according to the covenant and embracing monotheism. Yet they were to be excluded from parts of the Temple complex. Nevertheless, in Ezekiel 47:21-23, those same foreigners were to receive the same rights of citizenship as Jews and to have the same land rights. I sense a double standard.
Paul wrote that the faithful people of God included Jews and Gentiles. In Christ, he wrote elsewhere, the barriers of hostility between the two groups cease to exist. Recently, over lunch, a friend and I discussed Paul’s inclusive view of Christian identity (transnational and transethnic) and how, for many people in the non-Western world, the sense of Christianity is quite different. For many of them Christianity and Western civilization are linked closely. This hinders the spread of Christianity where anti-Western sentiments are widespread. That is most unfortunate.
Christ is universal. May we who claim his name act according to that truth.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 30, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN CLIMACUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT INNOCENT OF ALASKA, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOAN OF TOULOUSSE, AND SAINT SIMON STOCK, CARMELITE FRIAR
THE FEAST OF KARL RAHNER, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN
Above: Saul Throws the Spear at David, by George Tinworth
Jonathan, a Good Friend
JANUARY 20, 2022
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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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1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
As they were coming home, when David returned from slaying the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with songs of joy, and with instruments of music. And the women sang to one another as they made merry,
Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.
And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; he said,
They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?
And Saul eyed David from that day on.
…(Saul tried to kill David, who lives anyway and marries Michal, daughter of Saul.)…
And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David,
Saul my father seeks to kill you; therefore take heed to yourself in the morning, stay in a secret place and hide yourself; and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you; an if I learn anything I will tell you.
And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him,
Let not the king sin against his servant David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been of good service to you; for he took his life in his hand and he slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?
And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan; Saul swore,
As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.
And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
Psalm 56 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
for my enemies are hounding me;
all day long they assault and oppress me.
2 They hound me all the day long;
truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
3 When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust and will not be afraid,
for what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they damage my cause;
their only thought is to do me evil.
6 They band together; they lie in wait;
they spy upon my footsteps;
because they seek my life.
7 Shall they escape despite their wickedness?
O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.
8 You have noted my lamentation;
put my tears into your bottle;
are they not recorded in your book?
9 Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight;
this I know, for God is on my side.
10 In God, the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust and will not be afraid,
for what can mortals do to me?
11 I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God;
I will present to you thank-offerings;
12 For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
Mark 3:7-12 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude haring all that he did, came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,
You are the Son of God.
And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
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The Collect:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
I have been watching Bobby Fischer documentaries recently. The brilliant chess master was not emotionally, mentally, and psychologically well for most of his life. And his illness grew worse as he aged.
King Saul reminds of Bobby Fischer in some ways. The Biblical authors understood the king’s mental disturbance as the result of possession by an evil spirit, but today professionals would offer a clinical diagnosis. Nevertheless, one fact remains: Saul had become dangerous to others, especially David. Fortunately, David benefited (in the short term, at least) from the intercession his good friend, Jonathan, his brother-in-law and a son of Saul.
The lectionary I am following will skip to 1 Samuel 24 for tomorrow’s purposes, so I sense the imperative of explaining part of 1 Samuel 20. Many translations of the Bible are overly polite in places. Consider the Psalms, for example. Whereas a literal translation of Hebrew text might be close to “Look, Yahweh!,” many translators have preferred something closer to “I beseech you, O Lord.” Even the Hebrew texts use euphemisms for cursing, so many a modern version of the Bible does also. Then there is The Living Bible (completed in 1971). This is how Kenneth N. Taylor described a confrontation between Saul and Jonathan, per 1 Samuel 20:30-31:
Saul boiled with rage. “You son of a bitch!” he yelled at him. “Do you think I don’t know that you want this son of a nobody to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother? As long as this fellow is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him, so I can kill him!”
A 1980s printing of The Living Bible in my library substitutes “fool” for “son of a bitch,” but Taylor captured the flavor of Saul’s outburst well the first time. “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman,” a standard English rendering, does not have the same power.
(Aside: Pay attention. This is probably the only time I will say or write anything nice about The Living Bible. The best way to communicate my attitude toward that version is to tell a story. A few years ago, in a Bible study of the Matthew Beatitudes, someone read them from The Living Bible. The ethos of TLB, so evident in that particular text, inspired me to sing, “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony….” I was, of course, echoing an early 1970s Christmas advertisement for Coca-Cola.)
In the short term, at least, Jonathan was able to shield David from his father’s violent rages. Jonathan was in a difficult personal and political circumstance, but he did the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing is both hard and risky. Yet mere human decency requires us to act properly. Are you, O reader, in a difficult and risky situation with conflicting loyalties? What does mere decency require of you? And how much might it cost you?
Remember that what I do affects others, as does what you do. What you do not do affects others, as does what I do not do. Your circumstance might seem like a small and relatively insignificant one, but it might be more important than appearances indicate, for we are all connected to others. So make the right decision and stand by it because it is the right thing to do, perhaps for more people than you can imagine.
Above: Ruins of the Capernaum Synagogue, Built in the 300s C.E.
Good Works are Lawful Every Day
JANUARY 20, 2021
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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 7:1-3, 15-17 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever.
This becomes even more evident when another priest in the likeness of Melchizedek, and who has become a priest, not according to a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life. But it is witnessed of him,
You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.
Psalm 110 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD will send the scepter of your power out of Zion,
saying, “Rule over your enemies round about you.
3 Princely state has been yours from the day of your birth;
in the beauty of holiness have I begotten you,
like dew from the womb of the morning.”
4 The LORD has sworn and he will not recant;
“You are a priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord who is at your right hand
will smite kings in the day of his wrath;
he will rule over the nations.
6 He will heap high the corpses;
he will smash heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook beside the road;
therefore he will lift high his head.
Mark 3:1-6 (Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition):
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand,
Come here.
And he said to them,
Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?
But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
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The Collect:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Is it lawful to perform a good and kind work on the sabbath? Or, to state the matter another way, is it ever wrong to do something good and kind? Jesus’ answer is that goodness and kindness are lawful in the eyes of God at all times and all places. This seems obvious to me, but why was it not obvious to our Lord’s critics in the Gospel reading?
There is much depth and subtlety in the reading from Hebrews. Part of it is this: Jesus is the great high priest because of who he is, not due to his lineage. Thus he stands apart from human religious establishments, especially priesthoods. The Gospels tell many stories of Jesus contradicting something one of the religious parties (or a representative thereof) of his time advocated or did. He stood apart from them. Many people become quite defensive about religion, and some take this mindset to malicious extremes.
Religion which is inherently self-defensive is negative, and can turn easily against any good soul who just happens to have another opinion. In the case of these certain Pharisees, they turned against Jesus (truly a good person) and enlisted the help of Herodians, natural rivals. But the enemy of my enemy is friend, as the old saying goes. Even if one were not familiar with the Synoptic Gospel narrative, one reading Mark closely should pick up some foreboding hints about the fate of Jesus by now.
These Pharisees were holding onto their traditions and egos, and others be damned. Jesus be damned, they said, in so many words. The unfortunate man with a withered hand be damned, they said, in so many words. The man with a withered hand could not use that hand to hold onto anything, so he had nothing to lose but everything to gain. These Pharisees, however, had everything to lose.
Jesus taught by his words and his deeds that good works and simple human kindness are always righteous. Today we have other cultural and legal restrictions against good works and simple human kindness. Some basic facts never change, only the details, such as names, dates, places, and clauses. Yet some facts remain constant. God is love. God commands us love God fully, and our neighbors as ourselves. The Golden Rule still applies. And good deeds and simple acts of kindness are righteous at any time and any place.
I encourage you, O reader, to devote yourself to ever-increasing good and kind works for the benefit of others, especially those who will never be able to repay you in any way. Do this for the others and for God. And know that, along the way, you will attract criticism, sometimes from people who should know better. Some things never change, but neither does the divine mandate to love each other.
Let Us Emphasize Our Common Ground and Build On It
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From Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), the hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
Isaiah 2:2-4
Psalm 122
Ephesians 4:1-6
John 17:15-23
God our Father, your Son Jesus Christ prayed that his followers might be one. Make all Christians one with him as he is one with you, so that in peace and concord we may carry to the world the message of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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Now, for my thoughts….
We Christians have divided ourselves into competing theological and liturgical tribes since the earliest decades of the Jesus movement. For confirmation of this, read the New Testament epistles. Sometimes these divisions are silly or based on ego gratification. Other times, however, the matters are weightier. Yet the tragedy of schism remains, even after stated issues which people used to justify the schism have become moot points or ceased to points of contention. Inertia preserves a high degree of divisiveness within Christianity.
Sometimes schisms remain insurmountable. Yet this fact should not prevent Christians of good will from reaching across boundaries to identify and build upon common ground, to do something positive and for the glory of God together. I do not expect the Anabaptists and Roman Catholics to reconcile, but they can cooperate. Last Sunday afternoon I listened to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio interview with a Mennonite pastor who maintains a close faith-based relationship with nearby Catholic monks, often praying with them.
And I believe that when two or more denominations cease to have good reasons to remain separate they should open negotiations to unite organically. But when issues, such as baptismal theology, prevent a merger, the groups can still cooperate on other matters. We Christians have more in common with each other than not. May we build on that.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 11, 2010
THE FEAST OF ST. BARNABAS THE APOSTLE
THE FEAST OF THE REVEREND VERNON JOHNS, U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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