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 people of God–Jews and Gentiles–have a divine mandate to be a light to the nations, for the glory of God and the benefit of the people. The ethics of the Law of Moses and the teachings of Jesus value and mandate equity and justice, both collectively and individually, as a matter of conduct and policy.
The servant in Isaiah 42:1-7 is the personification of the people of Israel, in the context of the Babylonian Exile. Yet much of Christian Tradition interprets that servant as Christ. Read Isaiah 42:6-7, O reader:
I have created you, and appointed you
A covenant people, a light of nations–
Opening eyes deprived of light,
Rescuing prisoners from confinement,
From the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
I have checked this text in five French translations. “You” is singular in all of them, for it refers to the personified servant. Yet 43:6b-7a refers to “a covenant people.”
Possible reasons for Jesus, sinless, taking St. John the Baptist’s baptism for repentance for forgiveness of sins have long filled minds and commentaries. Maybe Jesus was originally a disciple of St. John the Baptist, and authors of the four canonical Gospels attempted to obscure this potentially embarrassing fact. Perhaps Jesus was identifying with sinful human beings. (One may legitimately accept more than one rationale.)
Regardless of how one accounts for the baptism of Jesus, the baptized belong to that covenant people described in Isaiah 42:1-7. To belong to the covenant people is to carry a demanding divine mandate to serve, to live in mutuality, and to keep the Golden Rule. To belong to the covenant people, as Gentiles, is to carry the divine mandate to love like Jesus, for Christ’s sake and glory. To belong to the covenant people is to carry a glorious and crucial calling.
Yet a certain bumper sticker rings true too often. It reads:
JESUS, SAVE ME FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS.
I hear that saying and think:
Yes, I feel like that sometimes.
Perhaps you, O reader, feel like that sometimes, too. Many of the members of the covenant community have behaved badly and betrayed the mandate in Isaiah 42:6b-7a. That is sad, as well as counter-productive to the effort to aid people in their walk with God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 18, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE CONFESSION OF SAINT PETER, APOSTLE
The Book of Isaiah includes Servant Songs, the first of which is our first reading. Biblical scholars have long pondered the identity of the servant. Some see a prophecy of Christ, baptized in Matthew 3:13-17. In real time, from the temporal perspective of Deutero-Isaiah, perhaps the best guess is that the servant is the personification of the Jews–the chosen people of God.
Recently, while browsing the extensive books section of a local thrift store, I saw a volume entitled How to Find God. The author of that book was seriously mistaken, for we do not find God. Rather, God finds us. It has always been true that God, in whom is our only proper boast, is our strength and shield. It has always been true that God’s call has imposed upon the recipients of (free) grace certain obligations, such as working for justice. It has always been true that we, working with others, can be more effective in purposes (noble and otherwise) than when laboring in solitude.
“What is God calling me to do?” is a valid question. A greater query is, “What is God calling us to do?” May we identify and labor faithfully in that work, and succeed, by grace.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 19, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
Koheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, discovered that he enjoyed his wealth, but that he got nothing else out of it. That enjoyment of life’s blessings is a gift from God, he wrote.
Psychological studies have revealed the links between increased wealth and happiness. Up to a certain amount, more wealth means more happiness. Past that point increased wealth leads either to no additional happiness or to greater stress. Often people who are wealthy beyond the point at which more wealth does not increase happiness desire more money. Yet some of the most content people have had little and some of the most miserable people have been wealthy. Likewise, some of the poorest people have found poverty to be the cause of great misery and some of the wealthiest people have long known that money can stave off many indignities and sorrows.
The real issue is priorities. Wealth can insulate one from a sense of total dependence on God and of responsibilities to and for other people. This reality, I am convinced, explains many of the hard sayings regarding wealth in the Bible. Furthermore, wealth cannot shield one from all of life’s indignities and sorrows.
Another priority is choosing happiness. Being happy is a choice, regardless of one’s level of wealth, marital status, health, et cetera. Establishing the priority to notice the plethora of blessings from God and to revel in them is a positive course of action.
A negative course of action is to fail to recognize divine wisdom. St. Paul the Apostle wrote that such failure led to the crucifixion of Jesus. Christ was divine love incarnate, but that love proved threatening to human power structures built on violence and on artificial scarcity and exclusiveness. Those blinders prevented those who killed Jesus and those who consented to his death from recognizing their sin. Those people could have enjoyed God fully, but they failed to recognize God in their midst.
A habit I remind myself to nurture is to identify five blessings every day. (I should do better at this practice than I do, but often I become distracted.) To identify five blessings each day and to revel in them is a realistic goal. So is to do this for many consecutive days without duplicating any items on the daily lists. The main point of this spiritual exercise is to develop a mindset of gratitude to God and of awareness of the great number of blessings–to enjoy God more fully. Koheleth and St. Paul the Apostle would approve.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
to take on our human nature and to illumine the world with your light.
By your grace adopt us as your children and enlighten us with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 20
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The Assigned Readings:
Daniel 2:1-19 (Thursday)
Daniel 2:24-49 (Friday)
Psalm 72 (Both Days)
Ephesians 4:17-5:1 (Thursday)
Ephesians 5:15-20 (Friday)
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Thanks be to the Lord GOD, the God of Israel,
for he alone does marvellous things.
Thanks be to the glorious name of God for ever,
his glory fills the earth.
Amen and amen.
–Psalm 72:18-19, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley
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The prophecy of Daniel 2:44 seems problematic:
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
“The days of those kings” refers to the era of the successors of the empire of Alexander the Great. The conqueror had died after a brief reign.
So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory, and after his death they all put on diadems, and so did their sons after them for many years, multiplying evils on the earth.
–1 Maccabees 1:8-9, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
The last of those successor empires, the Ptolomaic Empire, based in Egypt, had ended in 30 B.C.E., becoming a province of the Roman Republic, which was transforming into the Roman Empire. What, then, could the divine kingdom of Daniel 2:44 be? Ancient Jewish speculations offered two possibilities–the Messiah and the people of Israel. Christian interpretations have included the Messiah and the Church. The latter is possible if one includes the Roman Empire as a successor kingdom to the empire of Alexander the Great, for Rome did spread Hellenism, the cultural legacy of Alexander, far and wide.
I cannot forget, however, a lament of the excommunicated Roman Catholic theologian Alfred Fermin Loisy (1857-1940). Jesus promised us the Kingdom of God, Loisy wrote, and all we got was the Church. If we understand the Kingdom of God as having been present on the Earth in a partially evident way for a long time Loisy’s lament becomes less potent yet remains relevant. Christian history contains much that brings no glory to God–the Crusades, bigotry, discrimination, slavery, misogyny, legalism, anti-intellectualism, a suspicion of science, et cetera. Much of that litany of shame exists in the category of current events. Nevertheless, much of Christian history (as well as the Christian present day) is also positive, in the style of the readings from Ephesians, where we find the theme of imitating Christ. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the incarcerated and the hospitalized, welcoming the stranger, et cetera–in short, recognizing the image of God in others then acting accordingly–bring glory to God. In those and other deeds the partially unveiled Kingdom of God becomes visible and God’s glory fills the Earth.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 20, 2015 COMMON ERA
PROPER 20–THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF HENRY COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF NELSON WESLEY TROUT, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN U.S. BISHOP
Holy God, creator of light and giver of goodness, your voice moves over the waters.
Immerse us in your grace, and transform us by your Spirit,
that we may follow after your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 17:1-13 (Monday)
Exodus 30:22-28 (Tuesday)
Psalm 69:1-5, 30-36 (Both Days)
Romans 4:1-12 (Monday)
Acts 22:2-16 (Tuesday)
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I will praise the Name of God in song;
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an offering of oxen,
more than bullocks with horns and hoofs.
The afflicted shall see and be glad;
you who seek God, your heart shall live.
For the LORD listens to the needy,
and his prisoners he does not despise.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them;
For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah;
they shall live there and have it in possession.
The children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his Name will dwell therein.
–Psalm 69:32-38, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Genesis 17 tells one version (the Priestly story) of God’s covenant with Abraham. It duplicates much material from the Yahwistic account in Genesis 15 and adds details about circumcision and Sarah’s pregnancy. The P account is a story about the graciousness and power of God and one man’s trust in the deity. Unfortunately, as the saga of Abraham unfolded, the great patriarch came to value his relationship with God so much that he acted in ways which damaged his closest human relationships. I would not have wanted to have been one of Abraham’s sons.
God approached a mortal in Genesis 17. The instructions regarding the sacred anointing oil in Exodus 30:22-28 concerned how people should approach God–with the utmost reverence, OR ELSE. There was a chasm between humans and God (the holy one) in much of the Old Testament. Much later, when St. Paul the Apostle preached about Jesus, many people wanted to cut him off from the land of the living. He had committed blasphemy, they thought.
St. Paul had a higher opinion of Abraham than I do, but the Apostle had a valid point in Romans 4, for the patriarch preceded the Law of Moses. Abraham did manifest active trust in God when he was still Abram, as the Apostle pointed out. And Genesis describes a very close relationship between God and Abraham; they were on speaking terms, face-to-face, according to the texts.
We should, while avoiding extremes (such as seeking to kill people in the name of God) approach God with deep awe and love. We worship the deity, who has not only approached us but incarnated and became one of us. And we have a commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to respect the image of God in them. May we act accordingly, trusting in God and recognizing the limits of our abilities and knowledge. And may we value being merciful more than being correct in our minds.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 17, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHANN CHRISTIAN TILL, U.S. MORAVIAN ORGANIST, COMPOSER, AND PIANO BUILDER; AND HIS SON, JACOB CHRISTIAN TILL, U.S. MORAVIAN PIANO BUILDER
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF LINCOLN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROQUE GONZALEZ DE SANTA CRUZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT ROSE-PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE
Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star.
Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands,
and accept our lives as the treasure we offer in your praise and for your service,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 21
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The Assigned Readings:
Exodus 1:22-2:10 (January 7)
Exodus 2:11-25 (January 8)
Exodus 3:7-15 (January 9)
Psalm 110 (All Days)
Hebrews 11:23-26 (January 7)
Hebrews 11:27-28 (January 8)
John 8:39-59 (January 9)
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The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The LORD will send the scepter of your power out of Zion,
saying, “Rule over your enemies round about you.
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.”
The LORD has sworn and he will not recant:
“You are a priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek,”
The Lord who is at your right hand
will smite kings in the day of his wrath;
he will rule over nations.
He will heap high the corpses;
he will smash heads over the wide earth.
He will drink from the brook beside the road;
therefore he will lift high his head.
–Psalm 110, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Tradition attributes authorship of Psalm 110 to David. One cannot be certain of the veracity of that claim, given the tendency of many people from Biblical times to attribute authorship to the famous dead regardless of who actually wrote a given text. That issue is a minor point, however. A Hebrew monarch has won a military victory, hence the content and tone of the text. One can read the poem and identify passages germane to both Moses and Jesus, as well as those irrelevant to each person. We read of Moses smiting in Exodus, for example. And Jesus, like the king in the Psalm, sits enthroned at the right hand of Yahweh.
One might also compare Moses and Jesus, as the author of the Gospel of Matthew did frequently. Both men were, for example, far more than they appeared to be; they were deliverers and princes, although not of the same variety. No, Jesus was (and remains) far greater than Moses, for our Lord and Savior’s “I am” (John 9:58) carries the same meaning as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Jesus was the human incarnation of the deity who spoke to Moses.
Both men had to decide between a faithful life and a safer, more comfortable one. They chose well, to the benefit of many people. You and I, O reader, will probably not receive the mandate to liberate a large population. We will certainly not have the vocation to redeem the world. Yet we do have to decide between following God and doing otherwise. The faithful path can be a dangerous and frequently uncomfortable one, but it is the superior way. God calls us to act for the benefit of others, even when many of them reject God and us by extension. But, as Charles William Everest (1814-1877) wrote in 1833:
“Take up thy cross,” the Savior said;
“if thou wouldst my disciple be,
take up thy cross with willing heart
and humbly follow after me.”
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Take up thy cross, let not its weight
fill thy weak spirit with alarm;
his strength shall bear thy spirit up,
and brace thy heart and nerve thine arm.
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Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame,
and let thy foolish pride be still;
the Lord refused not e’en to die
upon a cross, on Calv’ry’s hill.
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Take up thy cross and follow Christ,
nor think till earth to lay it down,
for only they who bear the cross
may hope to wear the glorious crown.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 12, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSAPHAT, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF POLOTSK, AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF CHARLES SIMEON, ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF RAY PALMER, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY, BRITISH NOVELIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
The great power of King Solomon came with great responsibility–to build up the body of the kingdom, to function as an instrument of God, and not to exploit anyone or to consent to the exploitation of anyone. Sometimes he came close to fulfilling parts of this ideal, but his royal lifestyle depended on high rates of taxation as well as on forced labor; it was inherently exploitative.
I have become increasingly conscious of how much my lifestyle–as simple as it is–depends upon human exploitation. For example, who made my consumer electronics? Under what conditions? How old were they? And did they earn a living wage? Although I purchased most of these items at thrift stores and received a flat-screen television as a gift (quite unexpectedly; I was content with the larger set I had purchased from a pawn shop in 2002), I cannot help but ask such questions. Greater responsibility resides upon the shoulders of corporate leaders, of course, but I am not innocent.
On the other hand, perhaps the only sure way to avoid such ethical issues is to live off the land, make everything myself, and live in a hut or a cave. I am not willing to do that.
All of us are plugged into certain ways of doing things. We might not have created such systems, but we are part of them. And change begins with the consciousness of the need for it. This change can come through us by grace, for there is available to us divine power which,
working in us, can do infinitely more that we can ask or imagine.
–Ephesians 3:20b, The New Jerusalem Bible
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 COMMON ERA
LABOR DAY (U.S.A.)
THE FEAST OF HANNAH, MOTHER OF SAMUEL
THE FEAST OF DAVID CHARLES, WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF NEW GUINEA
THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF ROSKILDE, ROMAN CATHOLIC 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)
One of the surest ways to misread a text–especially one from the Bible–is to read anachronistic assumptions into it. The modern psychiatric category of homosexual orientation is modern, so it could not have been an issue for Paul. So, what was “unnatural” sexual behavior? One aspect could have been the impossibility of conceiving a child. If we accept this explanation, what about the sexual lives of older couples? And, if we read the text from Romans as referring to homosexual acts yet not orientation, then those acts are unnatural for the people involved.
I chose to address that aspect of Romans 1 first because I wanted to get it out of the way and move my focus to the main idea which links the Romans and Ezekiel lessons. God commanded the prophet to speak divine pronouncements regardless of whether people listened or not, “for they are rebellious” (Ezekiel 2:7). And, in Romans, those who have rejected God behave in ways (mostly non-sexual; read the list) destructive of themselves and others. Their rebellious deeds flowed from their rejection of God; those deeds did not separate them from God.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Sometimes divine love becomes tough love, but is love nevertheless. My prayer for you, O reader, and for myself is that we–you and I–will not try the love of God very often. May we reciprocate instead.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 14, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATHILDA, QUEEN OF GERMANY
THE FEAST OF KEREOPA AND MANIHERA OF TARANAKI, ANGLICAN MARTYRS
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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