If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Above:  Icon of St. John the Baptist

Image in the Public Domain

God With Us

DECEMBER 19, 2021

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Zechariah 2:10-13 (Protestant and Anglican)/Zechariah 2:14-17 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox)

Psalm 122

1 John 5:1-11

John 1:19-28

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The readings from Zechariah and the Psalms overlap thematically.  First Zechariah (Chapters 1-8) is a section concerned with the rebuilding of of the Jewish community after the return from the Babylonian Exile.  The legitimization of the Second Temple is a major theme in support of that goal.  In the context of the establishment of an ideal Zion, we read that God will dwell in the midst of the people.

First Zechariah also overlaps with First John thematically.  Both agree that love of God entails keeping divine commandments.  One may think also of another verse:

–John 14:15, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

In our scheduled portion of the Gospel of John, we read of St. John the Baptist pointing to Jesus, not himself.  This is a good reading to pair with the verses from Zechariah 2.  God has come to dwell among the people.

God still dwells among us.  The Holy Spirit is present, of course.  God also works through people.  The face of Jesus someone may see today may be your face, O reader.  Likewise, the face of Jesus I see today may be someone in public, as we go about our lives.  God dwells among us.  We will recognize that truth if we know where to look.

May the image of God in you, O reader, greet the image of God in those around you.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 26, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN, DEACON AND MARTYR

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/12/26/god-with-us-part-vi/

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Above:  Deborah

Image in the Public Domain

Relying on God’s Power

JANUARY 10 and 11, 2022

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The Collect:

Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit

and revealed him as your beloved Son.

Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service,

that we may rejoice to be called children of God,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22

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The Assigned Readings:

Judges 4:1-16 (Monday)

Judges 5:12-21 (Tuesday)

Psalm 106:1-12 (Both Days)

Ephesians 6:10-17 (Monday)

1 John 5:13-21 (Tuesday)

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Though God delivered them many times

they, for their part, went on planning rebellion

and so sank deeper into sin.

Yet he looked kindly on their distress

whenever he heard them cry.

To help them he recalled his covenant with them,

so deep was his devotion that he took pity on them.

He saw to it that they received compassion

even from those who had taken them captive.

Save us, LORD, our God,

gather us in from among the nations

so that we may acknowledge you as the Holy One.

and take pride in praising you.

–Psalm 106:43-47, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley

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I know that the portion of Psalm 106 I have quoted follows verse 12, but those verses seem more applicable to the readings from Judges 4 and 5 than Psalm 106:1-12.  If I had quoted from the first 12 verses of Psalm 106 I would have selected verse 10, set in the context of the Exodus from Egypt:

He rescued them from their foes,

he reclaimed them from enemy hands.

–Harry Mowvley translation

The story in Judges 4 and 5 is consistent with a motif in that book:

1. The Israelites have fallen into pervasive sin.
2. YHWH permits a foreign group to oppress the Israelites.
3. The Israelites cry out to YHWH.
4. YHWH sends a leader or leaders to resist the oppressors.
5. The oppression ceases.
6. The Israelites follow God for a time.
7. The cycle repeats.

As a note in The Jewish Study Bible–Second Edition (2014) informs me, nowhere does the text of Judges 4 and 5 identify any of the human protagonists–Deborah the prophetess, Barak the army commander, and Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite–as the deliverer of the Israelites.  Each of those individuals played a crucial role in the liberation, but God delivered the Israelites from oppression.  That theme occurs elsewhere in the Book of Judges and other portions of the Bible, as in the Exodus and the end of the Babylonian Exile.

A motif in the Bible is that God works through people much of the time.  These might be upstanding individuals or they might be scoundrels, at least on their bad days.  Some of these instruments of God are not even believers.  These realities point toward the power and sovereignty of God.

As much as I find Martin Luther to have been a morally troublesome character, his theology of relying on the faithfulness of God is beyond reproach.  We who follow God are children of God, members of the household of God, so we ought to act boldly and confidently in righteousness.  Such righteous confidence should banish faithless and selfish fears (distinct from well-reasoned fears, such as that of touching hot surfaces), enabling us to love our neighbors (both near and far) selflessly.  We have the spiritual armor of God, of which St. Paul the Apostle  or someone writing in his name imagined as being like the armor of a Roman soldier.  Every piece of the armor is God’s.  If it is good enough for God, it is good enough for mere mortals.  After the reading from Ephesians 6 comes this advice:

Constantly ask God’s help in prayer, and pray always in the power of the Spirit.

–Ephesians 6:18, The Revised English Bible (1989)

After all, we depend on God’s power, not our own.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/relying-on-gods-power/

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Above:  Thomas Merton Sign

Image Source = W.marsh

Active Compassion and the Law of God

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

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The Collect:

Lord God, with endless mercy you receive

the prayers of all who call upon you.

By your Spirit show us the things we ought to do,

and give us the grace and power to do them,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 22

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The Assigned Readings:

Deuteronomy 4:1-4

Psalm 112:1-9 [10]

1 John 5:1-5

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They have given freely to the poor,

and their righteousness stands fast forever;

they will hold up their head with honor.

The wicked will see it and be angry;

they will gnash their teeth and pine away;

he desires of the wicked will perish.

–Psalm 112:9-10, Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006)

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The two main readings for today pertain to the Law of God–a law which is not a burden (unless one treats it as such)–a law written on proverbial human hearts.  This is the law which our Lord and Savior summarized in two commandments.  Thus loving God and loving our fellow human beings as we love ourselves are part of the same process.  We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, if we do not love our fellow human beings, whom we can see.

The late Thomas Merton recalled a profound spiritual experience:  one day, in a city, he realized that he loved everybody.  This ethic informed his ethical choices.  How could it not do so?  For as we think, thus we are.

So we have a tangible standard:  the example of Jesus, who set a very high bar.  The call of Christian discipleship is the invitation to follow him–frequently a risky proposition.  Our Lord and Savior’s active compassion caused much difficulty for him with certain people.  Indeed, the Bible and the past are replete with stories of others who got into deep trouble due to their active compassion.  Many of these people faced persecution and/or death because of it.

Yet active compassion is our call.  And, even when we face persecution and/or death for following Christ in it, we may trust in God’s faithfulness, even if some of the promises (such as wealth) of Psalm 112 do not come true.  Sometimes the result of faithfulness in this world is ruin and reproach; the good news awaits us on the other side.

So, O reader, what do those around you need?  This not necessarily the same as what they want.  And whose needs is God calling you to meet, at least partially?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 8, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL, MEDICAL MISSIONARY TO NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN

THE FEAST OF ERIK ROUTLEY, HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM DWIGHT PORTER BLISS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST; AND RICHARD THEODORE ELY, ECONOMIST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/active-compassion-and-the-law-of-god/

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Above:  Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun and Her Daughter, by Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun

God Our Mother

DECEMBER 27 and 28, 2022

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The Collect:

All-powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light

into our world has brightened weary hearts with peace.

Call us out of darkness, and empower us to proclaim the birth of 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 20

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The Assigned Readings:

Proverbs 8:22-31 (December 27)

Isaiah 49:13-23 (December 28)

Psalm 148 (both days)

1 John 5:1-12 (December 27)

Matthew 18:1-14 (December 28)

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You have lifted up your people’s head,

with praise from all your servants:

from the people close to your heart.

O praise the Lord.

–Psalm 148:14, A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989)

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Wisdom, personified as female in Proverbs 8, was with God the Father from the beginning.  Those who heed divine Wisdom are wise, happy, and blessed, the text says in verses 32-36.  That Wisdom, part of the Logos of God, is accessible to all, from the weakest in society to its most privileged members.  Those who love God obey divine commandments, which hang on the hooks of love for God and love for fellow human beings, who bear the Image of God.  This is active love, not just a warm, positive feeling.

The love of God is consistent with both punishment and deliverance.  Deliverance for some entails the punishment of recalcitrant others.  And sometimes we must suffer the consequences of our actions to learn lessons, but the possibility of confession of sin and subsequent repentance remains.  And, when we confess and repent, we will find God our Mother waiting for us:

Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hand;

your walls are continually before me.

–Isaiah 49:15-16, The New Revised Standard Version

I recall that, when I lived in Statesboro, Georgia, a popular supply priest who visited Trinity Episcopal Church had a good sense of the maternal love of God.  Father Charles Hoskins, a delightful human being, spoke of mothers who spoke lovingly of their children who had committed horrible deeds.  God, Father Hoskins said, was “worse” than that.  In other words, our worst actions do not deprive us of divine love.  So may we respond lovingly in return.  May we make our divine Mother’s heart glad.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 18, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, ANGLICAN DEAN OF WESTMINSTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, WITNESS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/god-our-mother/

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Above:  Cross and Crown

Victorious Faith

 DECEMBER 11, 2023

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Isaiah 28:14-29

Psalm 33 (Morning)

Psalms 85 and 91 (Evening)

1 John 5:1-21

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The Johannine tradition, in opposition to Gnosticism, emphasizes the centrality of the Incarnation; Jesus is essential.  He was far more than a wise teacher; he was, in time and space, the incarnation of God.  The author of 1 John has spent preceding chapters writing of the centrality of detachment from the world in opposed to God, of sound Christology, and of active love.  The author is not content with theological abstractions.

Whenever I read the word “faith” in the Bible, I want to know what it means in that particular context.  Authors used that term to in at least three different ways.  So, if I am going to grasp a particular text accurately, I must know what it says in all germane contexts.  The commentaries I have consulted agree that faith, as in 1 John 5:4, is intellectual.  This understanding of faith seems closely related to that one finds in James; faith must be joined with actions.  Therein lies salvation.  That, by the way, is Roman Catholic theology.

I must also write about verse 18, which says that no child of God sins.  A child of God, as established in verse 1, is anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ.  The translations on verse 18 vary, of course, but the passage, read in contexts of 1 John 5 and the rest of the Bible, means that no child of God is a slave to sin.  We might be children of God, but we are still prone to sin.

Isaiah 24:14-29 condemns treaties the leaders of Judah made with their Assyrian and Egyptian counterparts, hardly trustworthy partners.  Such treaties are in vain, the prophet, quoting God, said.  And Isaiah was correct.  Then, at the end of the passage, we read metaphors for the fate of the northern kingdom (Israel) and the preservation of a remnant of the southern kingdom (Judah).  These are the words of Yahweh, of whom the text says:

His counsel is unfathomable,

His wisdom marvelous.

–Isaiah 28:29, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Why should one kingdom end for all time and its neighbor survive as a remnant?  And why did God come among us as one of us, beginning as a helpless child?  These are questions one can answer only in God, who has unfathomable counsel and marvelous wisdom.  There is one in whom we can and should believe both intellectually and actively, in whom we can and should have faith, both active and intellectual.  Despite the different uses of “faith” in the Bible, a consensus emerges from the texts:  Faith, essential in the context of a lack of evidence for against a proposition, such as that Jesus in the Christ of God, begins intellectually yet must find expression in works.  There is, in other words, a difference between having faith and agreeing that a proposition is true but not acting on it.  The former makes us victorious.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2011 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF OCTAVIUS HADFIELD, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF WINCHESTER

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/victorious-faith/

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Above:  Titian’s Painting of John the Baptist

Jesus Must Grow Greater; I Must Grow Less.

JANUARY 12, 2024

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1 John 5:13-20 (New Jerusalem Bible):

I have written this to you

who believe in the name of the Son of God

so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Our fearlessness towards him consists in this,

that if we ask anything in accordance with his will

he hears us.

And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him,

we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him.

If anyone sees his brother commit a sin

that is not a deadly sin,

has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother

–provided that it is not a deadly sin.

There is a sin that leads to death

and I am not sat saying that you must pray about that.

Every kind of wickedness is sin,

but not all sin leads to death.

We are well aware that no one who is a child of God sins,

because he who was born from God protects him,

and the Evil One has no hold over him.

We are well aware that we are from God,

and the whole world is in the power of the Evil One.

We are well aware also that the Son of God has come,

and has given us understanding

so that we may know the One who is true.

We are in the One who is true

as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ.

He is the true God

and this is eternal life.

Children, be on your guard against false gods.

Psalm 149 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Sing a new song to Yahweh:

his praise in the assembly of the faithful!

Israel shall rejoice in its Maker,

the children of Zion delight in their king;

they shall dance in praise of his name,

play to him on tambourines and harp!

For Yahweh loves his people,

he will crown the humble with salvation.

The faithful exult in glory,

shout for joy as they worship him,

praising God to the heights with their voices,

a two-edged sword in their hands,

to wreak vengeance on the nations,

punishment on the peoples,

to load their kings with chains

and their nobles with iron fetters,

to execute on the the judgment passed–

to the honour of all his faithful.

John 3:22-36 (New Jerusalem Bible):

After this, Jesus went with his disciples into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptized.  John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and people were going there and were being baptized.  For John had not yet been put in prison.

Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew about purification, so they went to John and said,

Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom he bore witness, is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him.

John replied:

No one can have anything

except what is given him from heaven.

You yourselves can bear me out.  I said, ‘I am not the Christ; I am the one who has been sent to go in front of him.’

It is the bridegroom who has the bride;

and yet the bridegroom’s friend

who stands there and listens to him,

is filled with joy at the bridegroom’s voice.

This is the joy I feel, and it is complete.

He must grow greater,

I must grow less.

He who comes from above

is above all others;

he who is of the earth

is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way.

He who comes from heaven

bears witness to the things he has seen and heard,

but his testimony is not accepted by anybody;

though anyone does not accept his testimony

is attesting that God is true,

since he whom God has sent

speaks God’s own words,

for God gives him the Spirit without reserve.

The Father loves the Son

and has entrusted everything to his hands.

Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life,

but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:

God’s retribution hangs over him.

The Collect:

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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From misplaced priorities (such as inflated egos) flow terrible results.  Most wars have been preventable and unnecessary, flowing from misunderstandings and wounded pride.  These have been, to borrow an explanation of the Falklands Islands War, like two bald men fighting over a comb.  Yet the proverbial bald men in question have done this out of national pride or the ego of the leader.

Often we humans seek poor substitutes for the God-shaped hole in the soul.  Out of this quest flow addictions, dependencies, preventable interpersonal conflicts, violent crimes, property crimes, and other social ills.  It would be better to seek God, assuming the humble attitude of St. John the Baptist, stating and living according the principle that Jesus must be increase but that we must decrease.

KRT

Written on June 9, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/jesus-must-grow-greater-i-must-grow-less/

Above:  The Praying Hands, by Albrecht Durer

The Imperative of Prayer

JANUARY 11, 2024

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1 John 5:5-12 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Who can overcome the world

but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

He it is who came by water and blood,

Jesus Christ,

not with water alone,

but with water and blood,

and it is the Spirit that bears witness,

for the Spirit is Truth.

So there are three witnesses,

the Spirit, water and blood;

and the three of them coincide.

If we accept the testimony of human witnesses,

God’s testimony is greater,

for this is God’s testimony

which he gave about his Son.

Whoever believes in the Son of God

has this testimony within him,

and whoever does not believe

is making God a liar,

because he has not believed

the testimony God has given about his Son.

This is the testimony:

God has given us eternal life,

and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life,

and whoever has not the Son of God has not life.

I have written this to you

who believe in the name of the Son of God

so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Psalm 147:12-20 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem,

Zion, praise your God.

For he gives strength to the bars of your gates,

he blesses your children within you,

he maintains the peace of your frontiers,

gives you your fill of finest wheat.

He sends his word to the earth,

his command runs quickly,

he spreads the snow like flax,

strews hoarfrost like ashes,

he sends ice-crystals like breadcrumbs,

and who can withstand that cold?

When he sends his word it thaws them,

when he makes his wind blow, the waters are unstopped.

He reveals his word to Jacob,

his statutes and judgments to Israel.

For no other nation has done this,

no other has known his judgments.

Luke 5:12-16 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Now it happened that Jesus was in one of the towns when suddenly a man appeared, covered with a skin-disease.  Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him saying,

Sir, if you are willing you can cleanse me.

He stretched out his hand, and touched him saying

I am willing.  Be cleansed.

At once the skin-disease left him.  He ordered him to tell no one,

But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering of your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as evidence to them.

But the news of him kept spreading, and large crowds would gather to hear him and have their illnesses cured, but he would go off to some deserted place and pray.

The Collect:

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Jesus needed to find solitude and to pray.  If this was a requirement for him, much more do we need to do this, too?

I have lived without cable television voluntarily for years.  This was partially a financial decision:  Why should I pay a bill for a service I barely use and really do not want or need?  Yet it was a spiritual choice, too.  I have chosen to read more books, listen to more Canadian radio online, and play more classical music and jazz.  And I have discs when I want to watch something.  What I watch then is probably better and more interesting than what I could find on cable TV at the time.  And I have thrown myself into blogging, of course.  To think that what I do in private can help others whom I will never meet is gratifying.

Yet I can still distract myself from the imperative of prayer.  I am no spiritual giant.

Prayer can assume many forms, the greatest of which (I am convinced) are non-verbal.  Ultimately prayer is a state of being in which we crave to be conscious of the presence of God and in which the desire for more of this oozes from our pores, so to speak.  Frequently this entails solitude and silence, or at least a suitable environment we create with music.  I have encountered God in silence, classical music, and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, for example.

We are always in the presence of God.  May we become increasingly conscious of this reality, and recharge our spiritual batteries so that we may serve God better.  In so doing we will realize that we have eternal life–knowing God via Jesus–in the here and now.

KRT

Written on June 9, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/the-imperative-of-prayer/

Above:  Colored Waiting Room Sign, Georgia, 1943

Whom Should I Love?  Everybody!

JANUARY 10, 2024

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1 John 4:19-5:4 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Let us love, then,

because he first loved us.

Anyone who says

I love God

and hates his brother,

is a liar,

since no one who fails to love the brother whom he can see

can love God whom he has not seen.

Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him,

that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ

is a child of God,

and whoever loves the father

loves the son.

In this way we know that we love God’s children,

when we love God and keep his commandments.

This is what the love of God is:

keeping his commandments.

Neither are his commandments burdensome,

because every child of God

overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world–

our faith.

Psalm 72:1-2, 14-19 (New Jerusalem Bible):

God, endow the king with your own fair judgment,

the son of the king with your own saving justice,

that he may rule your people with justice,

and your poor with fair judgment.

From oppression and violence he redeems our lives,

their blood is precious in his sight.

(Long may he live; may the gold of Sheba be given him!)

Prayer will be offered for him constantly,

and blessings invoked on him all day.

May wheat abound in the land,

waving on the heights of the hills,

like Lebanon with its fruits and flowers at their best,

like the grasses of the earth.

May his name be blessed for ever,

and endure in the sight of the sun.

In him shall be blessed every race in the world,

and all nations call him blessed.

Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

who alone works wonders;

blessed for ever his gracious name.

May the whole world be filled with his glory!

Amen! Amen!

Luke 4:14-22 (New Jerusalem Bible):

Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside.  He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did.  He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me

to bring the good news to the afflicted.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives,

sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down.  And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.  Then he began to speak to them,

The text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.

And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.

The Collect:

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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The reading from 1 John reminds us of a great spiritual truth:  we cannot love God and hate each other.  It is easy to give lip service to this statement, but acting on it can entail controversy and social transformation, which make many people very uncomfortable and sometimes violent.

The excerpt from Luke seems to have a happy ending, but reading for a few more verses reveals that Jesus’ former neighbors turned on him, becoming enraged and hustling him out of Nazareth, intending to throw him off a cliff.  These were people who, very shortly before, had been in synagogue!  This incident reminds me of a true story from a Methodist revival meeting in a Virginia barn in the late 1700s.  Thomas Coke, one of the original bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1784-1939; now The United Methodist Church) was preaching.  He turned to the topic of slavery, the abolition of which he supported.  On the spot a woman in the congregation offered to hire someone to murder Coke.  The bishop fled the barn, and the revival ended.  Bishop Coke lived for years, fortunately.

I write this post in June 2010.  One hundred years ago de jure segregation was the law of the land in the United States.  In 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation was constitutional so long as the separate facilities were equal.  Yet these facilities were not equal.  So the Court reversed itself in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), with Chief Justice Earl Warren (one of my heroes, and my favorite Chief Justice) writing that separate is inherently unequal.  In 2010 it is difficult to find a person in the political mainstream who will question the major civil rights milestones–Supreme Court rulings and acts of Congress–although one can locate a few now and again.  Theoretical arguments about the nature of Federalism might seem respectable and concerned with Constitutional imperatives, but they cannot mask racism, insensitivity to injustice, or the errors of hyper-Libertarianism, which opposes federal actions to correct injustices, such as de jure segregation.

We have received a command to love each other actively.  Thus we need to ask some hard questions and perhaps to jettison some assumptions.  No political -ism is immune from error in matters of loving others, hating others, or loving others insufficiently.  I propose, for example, that this command requires not to think of abortion as a casual matter or to excuse bombing civilian populations during wartime.  (During World War II the Allies bombed cities in Axis nations.)  I own a shirt which asks

Who Would Jesus Bomb?

I know that the first word should be “whom,” but question remains a good one.  Gospel imperatives can be challenging, indeed.

KRT

Written on June 9, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/whom-should-i-love-everybody/