Above:  The Vision of Cornelius the Centurion, by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout

Image in the Public Domain

God’s Surprises

FEBRUARY 24-26, 2022

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The Collect:

Holy God, mighty and immortal, you are beyond our knowing,

yet we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Transform us into the likeness of your Son,

who renewed our humanity so that we may share in his divinity,

Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

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

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 26

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The Assigned Readings:

Deuteronomy 9:1-5 (Thursday)

Deuteronomy 9:6-14 (Friday)

Deuteronomy 9:15-24 (Saturday)

Psalm 99 (All Days)

Acts 3:11-16 (Thursday)

Acts 10:1-8 (Friday)

Luke 10:21-24 (Saturday)

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The LORD is King;

let the people tremble;

he is enthroned upon the cherubim;

let the earth shake.

–Psalm 99:1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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The ways in which God works frequently surprise many people.  Declaring the Hebrews, who rebelled against God repeatedly, to be the Chosen People was one example.  Working through St. Simon Peter, an impetuous man, and St. Cornelius the Centurion, a Roman soldier, were two more examples.  The Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth was unique.  And what about hiding wonders

from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children?

–Luke 10:21b, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

God chooses to work in ways, many of which surprise or scandalize many mere mortals.  Certain heroic figures in the Hebrew Bible were also scoundrels.  Oblivious Apostles in the Gospels became great leaders of nascent Christianity.  The circumstances of our Lord and Savior’s conception and birth led to decades of whispering behind his back and to his face.  Some Gentiles were closer to God than certain prominent Jews.  Standard labels might not apply when God is acting.  If we have spiritual and/or emotional difficulty with that reality, we need to confess that sin to God, to apologize, and to repent, by grace.

Simply put, if one is St. Simon Peter in an analogy, who is the St. Cornelius whose invitation will lead to an epiphany.  And is one willing to have an epiphany?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 28, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/gods-surprises-2/

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Above:  Reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Herod, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

Honoring God and Respecting Persons

FEBRUARY 13 AND 14, 2012

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The Collect:

Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.

Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,

that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24

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The Assigned Readings:

2 Chronicles 26:1-21 (Monday)

2 Kings 7:3-10 (Tuesday)

Psalm 6 (Both Days)

Acts 3:1-10 (Monday)

1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1 (Tuesday)

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O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,

or discipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.

–Psalm 6:1-2, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

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My comments for the post I wrote prior to this one apply here also, I refer you, O reader, to them and pursue a different line of thought arising from assigned readings.

We ought to glorify God.  We cannot do this while committing idolatry, acting to harm another human being (physically or spiritually) other than in self-defense or the defense of another person, or being oblivious to God, who has done much over time and continues to act.  Likewise, when we act out of respect for others, we honor the image of God in them.

If you love me, keep my commandments,

Jesus said.  He ordered people to love one another and honor God.  He also provided an example to emulate.  That example points out how dangerous loving one’s neighbors can be.  Yet if we are truly to be Christians, we will follow him.

Often we humans designate some of our neighbors as people to look down upon, shun, discriminate against, murder, destroy culturally, et cetera.  This is wrong, for all people bear the image of God and therefore possess inherent dignity.  We might not get along with many of them, but we ought never to question their humanity or equality with us.  The Golden Rule stands.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/honoring-god-and-respecting-persons/

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Above:  Thermal Hot Spring

Image in the Public Domain

A Spring of Living Water

DECEMBER 18 and 19, 2023

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The Collect:

Stir up the wills of your faithful people, Lord God,

and open our ears to the words of your prophets,

that, anointed by your Spirit, we may testify to your light;

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 19

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Kings 18:1-18 (Monday)

2 Kings 2:9-22 (Tuesday)

Psalm 125 (Both Days)

Ephesians 6:10-17 (Monday)

Acts 3:17-4:4 (Tuesday)

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The scepter of the wicked shall not hold sway over  the land allotted to the just,

so that the just shall not put their hands to evil.

–Psalm 125:3, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

–The Nicene Creed, in The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 359

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The assigned readings for these two days, taken together, speak of prophets, water, and the reality of evil.

As St. Paul the Apostle reminds us, evil exists.  I harbor strong doubts regarding personalized evil (as in the Satan, the theology of which changes greatly within the pages of the Bible), but I am certain that evil exists.  King Ahab, whom the prophet Elijah accused correctly of troubling Israel, acted in evil ways toward others.

The theme of water also holds the readings together.  Water is essential for life.  The substance is especially precious in a barren wilderness.  Water occurs in the lection from 1 Kings in the context of a drought, which the text describes as divine punishment for idolatry.  The lesson from 2 Kings provides a mythological origin story for a freshwater spring crucial to agriculture.  The metaphor of a spring from the heart of Jesus occurs in the Gospel of John, where God (Yahweh) and Jesus are the sources of the Holy Spirit.  Yes, I know of disagreements regarding the proper interpretation and translation of John 7:38, but I defer to the overall context of the Johannine Gospel, in which the living water flows from God (Yahweh) or Jesus, not from the heart of any believer.

Jesus, who stands in chronological and spiritual lineage with the Hebrew prophets, invites each of us to take up his or her cross, follow him, and drink of the living water which flows from his heart.  That water surpasses the value of all substitutes.  May we drink deeply then act accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 26, 2014 COMMON ERA

PROPER 25:  THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

THE FEAST OF SAINT ALFRED THE GREAT, KING OF THE WEST SAXONS

THE FEAST OF SAINT CEDD, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF LONDON

THE FEAST OF DMITRY BORTNIANSKY, COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF PHILLIP NICOLAI, JOHANN HEERMANN, AND PAUL GERHARDT, HYMN WRITERS

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/a-spring-of-living-water/

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