Changing circumstances can alter how one reads texts one has read many times already. The texts remain constant. What one brings to them does not.
I write this post during a pandemic that is becoming worse for a number of reasons. Irresponsible human behavior is the primary reason for the COVID-19 pandemic becoming more severe. I write this post during a time of intensified global liminality. Behaviors that were polite prior to the pandemic have become hazardous to one’s health and the health of others. Hugging and singing can be lethal now. The world is in a liminal state.
The Humes lectionary has us reading Genesis 1:1-2:3 alongside John 1:1-18, with both texts spread across three weeks. This is wonderful scheduling on a lectionary, for the first (second one written) creation myth in Genesis is the model for John 1:1-18. Likewise, adding 1 John to the mix deepens the parallels. 1 John 1:1-3 resembles the beginning of the Gospel of John.
I side with Jewish theology against Roman Catholic theology regarding the beginning of Genesis: this is a mythical account of God creating order from chaos, not something from nothing. The Jewish interpretation fits the text, as I have affirmed for years. This year, in particular, that interpretation resonates with current events. I wait for God to create order from chaos again.
The light still shines in the darkness. The darkness continues to fail to overpower the light. The darkness remains persistent, though. Its repeated attempts wear me down emotionally and spiritually. God is that light, so the darkness will never overpower the light, fortunately.
Psalm 89 is of two moods–grateful and distressed. After reading commentaries, I do not know if the text is a pre-Babylonian Exilic prayer reworked during that Exile or if it is of Exilic origin. Anyhow, the text, as we have it, feels like a prayer from a period of spiritual despair.
Waiting can be difficult. I also know the discomfort of having to endure distress. A prayer I have uttered many times is a variation on,
What is taking you so long, God?
Liminality is an uncomfortable status. Alas, it is our status as a species, O reader. May we trust God and behave responsibly, collectively and individually. Only God can save the world. We have the power, however, to help or charm ourselves and each other.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 23, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OF KANTY, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF ANTONIO CALDARA, ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER AND MUSICIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARBEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MONK
THE FEAST OF JAMES PRINCE LEE, BISHOP OF MANCHESTER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JOHN BLEW, ENGLISH PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
By your merciful protection alert us to the threatening dangers of our sins,
and redeem us for your life of justice,
for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 18
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The Assigned Readings:
Numbers 17:1-11
Psalm 90
2 Peter 3:1-18
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For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past
and like a watch in the night.
–Psalm 90:4, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Complaining frequently, rebelling occasionally, and angering God in the process are recurring motifs in the post-Exodus parts of the Torah. The people were free, had sufficient food and water, and should have been grateful. Many were, to be sure, but a large proportion of the population waxed nostalgically regarding Egyptian leftovers and kept angering God. They were impatient.
Allowing for change in God concepts from Numbers 17 to 2 Peter 3, the principle of obeying God remains constant. The context in 2 Peter 3 is the fact that expectations of the imminent return of Christ proved to be false. Many early Christians were dying without the Messiah having come back and replaced the corrupt, violent, and exploitative world order with the fully realized Kingdom of God. Many people were losing hope. Some were seizing the opportunity to live wrongly.
God is never late, but we humans are frequently impatient. We are fortunate, for God has blessed us in more ways than we can count, but often we murmur or shout our complaints. Giving thanks, not kvetching, is in order.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
–John 14:15-17, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
We need not rely on our own power to have a proper, respectful, awe-filled relationship with God, who advocates for us and does not strike us down with plagues. No, abundant grace is available. Will we accept it, maintain Christian hope, and embrace divine love, which demands much of us?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 10, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WALSHAM HOW, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WAKEFIELD AND HYMN WRITER; AND HIS SISTER, FRANCES JANE DOUGLAS(S), HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EUNICE SHRIVER KENNEDY, FOUNDER OF THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LAURENCE OF ROME, ROMAN CATHOLIC DEACON AND MARTYR
One of the great virtues of High Churchmanship is having a well-developed sense of sacred time. So, for example, the church calendars, with their cycles, tell us of salvation history. We focus on one part of the narrative at a time. Much of Protestantism, formed in rebellion against Medieval Roman Catholic excesses and errors, has thrown the proverbial baby out with the equally proverbial bath water, rejecting or minimizing improperly the sacred power of rituals and holy days.
Consider, O reader, the case of Christmas–not in the present tense, but through the late 1800s. Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas when they governed England in the 1650s. Their jure divino theology told them that since there was no biblical sanction for keeping Christmas, they ought not to do it–nor should anyone else. On the other hand, the jure divino theology of other Calvinists allowed for keeping Christmas. Jure divino was–and is–a matter of interpretation. Lutherans, Anglicans, and Moravians kept Christmas. Many Methodists on the U.S. frontier tried yet found that drunken revelry disrupted services. Despite this Methodist pro-Christmas opinion, many members of the Free Methodist denomination persisted in anti-Christmas sentiment. The holiday was too Roman Catholic, they said and existed without
the authority of God’s word.
Thus, as the December 19, 1888 issue of Free Methodist concluded,
We attach no holy significance to the day.
–Quoted in Leigh Eric Schmidt, Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), page 180. (The previous quote also comes from that magazine, quoted in the same book.)
Many Baptists also rejected the religious celebration of Christmas. An 1875 issue of Baptist Teacher, a publication for Sunday School educators, contained the following editorial:
We believe in Christmas–not as a holy day but as a holiday and so we join with our juveniles with utmost heartiness of festal celebration….Stripped as it ought to be, of all pretensions of religious sanctity and simply regarded as a social and domestic institution–an occasion of housewarming, and heart-warming and innocent festivity–we welcome its coming with a hearty “All Hail.”
–Quoted in Schmidt, Consumer Rites, pages 179 and 180
Presbyterians, with their Puritan heritage, resisted celebrating Christmas for a long time. In fact, some very strict Presbyterians still refuse to keep Christmas, citing their interpretation of jure divino theology. (I have found some of their writings online.) That attitude was more commonplace in the 1800s. The Presbyterian Church in the United States, the old Southern Presbyterian Church, passed the following resolution at its 1899 General Assembly:
There is no warrant for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holy days, but rather contrary (see Galatians iv.9-11; Colossians ii.16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel in Jesus Christ.
–Page 430 of the Journal of the General Assembly, 1899 (I copied the text of the resolution verbatim from an original copy of the Journal.)
I agree with Leigh Eric Schmidt:
It is not hard to see in this radical Protestant perspective a religious source for the very secularization of the holiday that would eventually be so widely decried. With the often jostling secularism of the Christmas bazaar, Protestant rigorists simply got what they had long wished for–Christmas as one more market day, a profane time or work and trade.
–Consumer Rites, page 180
I affirm the power of rituals and church calendars. And I have no fear of keeping a Roman Catholic holy day and season. Thus I keep Advent (December 1-24) and Christmas (December 25-January 5). I hold off on wishing people
Merry Christmas
often until close to Christmas Eve, for I value the time of preparation. And I have no hostility or mere opposition to wishing anyone
Happy Holidays,
due to the concentrated holiday season in December. This is about succinctness and respect in my mind; I am not a culture warrior.
Yet I cannot help but notice with dismay the increasingly early start of the end-of-year shopping season. More retailers will open earlier on Thanksgiving Day this year. Many stores display Christmas decorations before Halloween. These are examples of worshiping at the high altar of the Almighty Dollar.
I refuse to participate in this. In fact, I have completed my Christmas shopping–such as it was–mostly at thrift stores. One problem with materialism is that it ignores a basic fact: If I acquire an item, I must put it somewhere. But what if I enjoy open space?
I encourage a different approach to the end of the year: drop out quietly (or never opt in) and keep nearly four weeks of Advent and all twelve days of Christmas. I invite you, O reader, to observe these holy seasons and to discover riches and treasures better than anything on sale on Black Friday.
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 25, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SQUANTO, COMPASSIONATE HUMAN BEING
THE FEAST OF JAMES OTIS SARGENT HUNTINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY CROSS
–Martin Luther; translated by William James Kirkpatrick
Yesterday I sang in my parish choir’s performance of the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah. We dropped “His yoke is easy and his burden is light,” culminating instead in the Hallelujah Chorus. The concert was glorious and spiritually edifying for many people.
There are still a few days of Advent left. So I encourage you, O reader, to observe them. Then, beginning sometime during the second half of December 24, begin to say
Merry Christmas!
and continue that practice through January 5, the twelfth and last day of Christmas. And I encourage you to remember that our Lord and Savior was born into a violent world, one in which men–some mentally disturbed, others just mean, and still others both mean and mentally disturbed–threatened and took the lives of innocents. Names, circumstances, empires, nation-states, and technology have changed, but the essential reality has remained constant, unfortunately.
The Hallelujah Chorus, quoting the Apocalypse of John, includes these words:
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
That is not true yet, obviously. But that fact does not relieve any of us of our responsibilities to respect the Image of God in others and to treat them accordingly. We must not try to evade the duty to be the face and appendages of Christ to those to whom God sends us and those whom God sends to us. We cannot save the world, but we can improve it. May we do so for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
May the peace of Christ, born as a vulnerable baby and executed as a criminal by a brutal imperial government, be with you now and always. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 17, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARIA STEWART, EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF EGLANTYNE JEBB, FOUNDER OF SAVE THE CHILDREN
THE FEAST OF FRANK MASON NORTH, U.S. METHODIST MINISTER
With this post I commence new devotions for Advent 2013 and Church Year 2013-2014.
The story of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood fascinates me. For starters, it is a composite story with several literary traditions woven together. The seams are obvious to anyone who knows what to look for, where to look for it, and who uses a fine-toothed comb. So the story is not history. That part does not disturb me, for I am comfortable with mythology in the highest sense of that word: something which is true without being literally true.
The depiction of God in the composite account does disturb me, however. God–here and elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures–seems quite eager to destroy entire populations. The English word for that is “genocide.”
The theology of the composite story of the Great Flood and Noah’s Ark is that God wanted to erase sin from the face of the earth–clean the slate–and start over. So we have a story of creative destruction: a remnant survives and rebuilds. After our Genesis reading ends, however, YHWH vows never to do such a thing again (Genesis 8:20-22). God’s change of mind comes from the Yahwist (J), while the preceding nineteen verses are a combination of the Yahwist and the Priestly Source (P), mostly P.
In Romans 6 we read of a new, better way out of sin–the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Paul uses those not only as literal truths but as metaphors for our lives:
For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
–Verses 7-8, The New Revised Standard Version
This is the same Jesus for whose First Coming we prepare liturgically during Advent. So, as we rush from party to party and from store to store, may we never forget the “Christ” in “Christmas.” And may we never neglect the season of Advent. No, may it prove to be a spiritually edifying time for us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 9, 2013 COMMON ERA
PROPER 5–THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT COLUMBA OF IONA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY AND ABBOT
Advent receives inadequate attention. The season is certainly not commercial. Indeed, Christmas receives much commercial attention even before Halloween, for retailers need the money from Christmas-related sales to sustain stores through other times of the year. I admit to being of two minds. On one hand I do my rather limited Christmas shopping at thrift stores, so my deeds reveal my creed. Yet I know that many jobs depend on Christmas-related sales, so I want retailers to do well at the end of the year. Nevertheless, I am not very materialistic at heart; the best part of Christmas is intangible. And nobody needs any more dust catchers.
Observing Advent is a positive way of dropping out of the madness that is pre-December 25 commercialism. The four Sundays and other days (December 2-24 in 2012) preceding Christmas Day are a time of spiritual preparation, not unlike Lent, which precedes Easter. Garrison Keillor used the term “Advent Distress Disorder” (ADD) in a monologue last year. Indeed, finding positive news in the midst of apocalyptic tones of Advent readings can prove difficult. Yet the good news remains and the light shines brightest in the darkness.
So, O reader, I invite you to observe a holy Advent. Embrace the confluence of joy and distress, of darkness and light. And give Advent all the time it warrants through December 24. Christmas will arrive on schedule and last for twelve days. But that is another topic….
Pax vobiscum!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 6, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM TEMPLE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF TE WHITI O RONGOMAI, MAORI PROPHET
THE FEAST OF SAINT THEOPHANE VERNARD, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MISSIONARY, AND MARTYR IN VIETNAM
when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
Psalm 25:1-9 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
my God, I put my trust in you;
let me not be humiliated,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
2 Let none who look to you be put to shame;
let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
3 Show me your ways, O LORD,
and teach me your paths.
4 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.
5 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.
6 Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your love
and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD.
7 Gracious and upright is the LORD;
therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
8 He guides the humble in doing right
and teaches his way to the lowly.
9 All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 (New Jerusalem Bible):
How can we thank God enough for you, for all the joy we feel before our God on your account? We are earnestly praying night and day to be able to see you face to face again and make up any shortcomings in your faith.
May God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, make it easy for us to come to you. May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so conform your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints.
Luke 21:25-31 (Revised English Bible):
[Jesus continued:]
Portents will appear in sun and moon and stars. On earth nations will stand helpless, not knowing which way to turn from the roar and surge of the sea. People will faint with terror at the thought of what is coming upon the world; for the celestial powers will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When all this begins to happen, stand upright and hold your heads high, because your liberation is near.
Jesus told them a parable:
Look at the fig tree, or at any other tree. As soon as it bud, you can see for yourselves that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all this happening, you may know that the kingdom of God is near.
Truly I tell you: the present generation will live to see it all. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Collect:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Advent is about what God has done, is doing, and will do. God–in the form of Jesus–became human and dwelt among us. God is present with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. And we have the promise of a return of Christ. Much of the New Testament reflects the unfulfilled expectation that he would return nearly 1,900 years ago. Many times since then predicted dates for the Second Coming have passed without Jesus making a repeat appearance. God’s timing is not ours. So be it.
We who call ourselves Christians bear the responsibility to be salt and light in the world, to leave our part of it better than we found it. We are at our best when we do that rather than slaughter each other over doctrinal disputes. So may we be the best salt and the brightest light we can be, so that, regardless of what God’s timing turns out to be, we
may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father. (1 Thessalonians 3:13, The New Jerusalem Bible).
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 3, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN OWEN SMITH, UNITED METHODIST BISHOP IN GEORGIA
THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY IN ASIA
Since by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves so that you can experience the genuine love of brothers, love each other intensely from the heart….
–1 Peter 1:22, The New Jerusalem Bible
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Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and make good your vows to the Most High.
–Psalm 50:14, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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This day’s readings speak of the imperative of positive human responses to divine actions. “God will end the Babylonian Exile; get ready.” That is the essence of Isaiah 2. Gratitude is in order of course. But gratitude consists of more than saying, “Thank you!” or sending a note or card. It is really a matter of attitude, which informs how we live. 1 Peter 1:22, set in the context of Christ’s sacrifice for us, tells us, in the lovely words of The New Jerusalem Bible, to
love each other intensely from the heart.
I like to listen to radio podcasts. Recently I listened to an interview with Karen Armstrong on the topic of the Golden Rule. She said that many of us prefer to be proved right than to live compassionately. This statement rings true with me. How often have I wanted to win an argument more than to live as a merely decent human being? Too many times! One instance is one time too many.
May we–you, O reader, and I–look around. Whomever we see, may we love those individuals intensely from the heart. That is what Jesus did.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 1, 2011 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST FROM NICHOLAS FERRAR, ANGLICAN DEACON
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHARLES DE FOUCAULD, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAINT EDMUND CAMPION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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