According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Icon of the Baptism of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

Repentance:  The Heart’s Transformation

JANUARY 7, 2024

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Isaiah 42:1-7

Psalm 45:7-9

Acts 10:34-38

Mark 1:4-11

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Father in heaven, at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan

you proclaimed him your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. 

Make all who are baptized into Christ

faithful in their calling to be your children

and inheritors with him of everlasting life;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 15

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Father in heaven, as at the baptism in the Jordan River

you once proclaimed Jesus your beloved Son

and anointed him with the Holy Spirit,

grant that all who are baptized in his name may

faithfully keep the covenant into which they have been called,

boldly confess their Savior,

and with him be heirs of life eternal;

through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 21

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Justice is a theme that unites the readings from the Hebrew Bible.  Psalm 45, a wedding text for a Hebrew king, lists the maintenance of justice as a royal duty.  Second Isaiah’s servant of God is a personification of the Jewish people–a covenant people’s duties include maintaining and practicing justice, also known as righteousness–right relationship with God, self, others, and creation.

Much of Christian tradition interprets the servant in Isaiah 42:1f as Jesus, of whom we read in the lessons from the New Testament.  There we read of sinless Jesus accepting St. John the Baptist’s baptism for repentance–as David Bentley Hart translated the germane word:

the heart’s transformation.

That seems odd, does it not?  Why would sinless Jesus do such a thing?

I harbor no objections to competing answers to that question, so long as they remain close to the text.  Indeed, as a review of my blogging on the Baptism of Jesus reveals, I have a record of writing about different answers.  I let those posts stand.  I also take a different path in this post.  Why not?  More than one answer to the same question may be true.

Those others who accepted the baptism which St. John the Baptist offered needed the transformation of their hearts.  This rite was more than a ritual that started his ministry.  The baptism of Jesus was more than a ceremony in which he identified with the rest of us.  It was more than a way of associating himself with St. John the Baptist’s movement.  It was all of the above and more.  Jesus revealed who he was in God.  Yet throughout the Gospel of Mark, those closest to Jesus remained oblivious to who Christ was.  Yet stray evil spirits understood well.

The Gospel of Mark has two bookends about the identity of Jesus in God.  We have one in chapter 1.  The other bookend is the crucifixion.

The identity of Jesus was in God.

Likewise, my identity, your identity, and our identities are in God.  Both collective and individual identities are in God.  We human beings are in God.  We human beings bear the image of God.  Whenever we–collectively or individually–trample groups and individuals, we dishonor the image of God in each other.

Q:  What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

A:  It means that we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), 845

My regimen of daily prayer includes a petition for all individuals and groups of people, that God’s best for them will be their reality.  This is a holistic request; it includes both tangible and intangible aspects of life.  I also pray that we will, by grace, cooperate with God in this effort.  I understand not cooperating with God in this effort as constituting the definition of sin.

Jesus was–is–the Son of God, with a capital “S.”

I am a son of God, with a lower case “s.” My mother is a daughter of God, with a lowercase “d.”  God is the ground of our identities, properly.  I need to repent of not grounding my identity solely in God.

I also confess that I frequently experience difficulty recognizing the image of God in many of those with whom I have profound differences.  I admit freely that I fall short of spiritual perfection.  Yet, by grace, I recognize progress and growth.

I still need transformation of my heart.  And I trust in Jesus, who revealed his identity in God at the River Jordan long ago.  I trust in Jesus, the full identity of whom in God became apparent, even to many formerly oblivious people, at Calvary.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 3, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE TENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONIO FRANCESCO MARZORATI, JOHANNES LAURENTIUS WEISS, AND MICHELE PRO FASOLI, FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY PRIESTS AND MARTYRS IN ETHIOPIA, 1716

THE FEAST OF SAINT GERVINUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF HENRY ELIAS FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN INDUSTRIALIST; AND HIS WIFE, ROSA ELVIRA FRIES, U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA EUSTOCHIO VERZERI, FOUNDER OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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Advertisement

According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  U.S. Highway 93, Near Ely, Nevada

Image Source = Google Earth

Disappointment with God

DECEMBER 10, 2023

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Isaiah 40:1-10

Psalm 85 (LBW) or Psalm 19 (LW)

2 Peter 3:8-14

Mark 1:1-8

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Stir up in our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. 

By his coming give us strength in our conflicts

and shed light on our path through the darkness of the world; 

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 13

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Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only-begotten Son

that at his second coming we may worship him in purity;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 11

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The assigned readings for this week, taken together, are more positive in tone than last week’s readings.  God forgives us, both individually and collectively.  In Isaiah 40, the focus is on the impending end of the Babylonian Exile, followed by a second Exodus.  Yet none of this absolves us–individually and collectively–of our obligations to God and each other.  The seeming delay in divine actions is to our advantage, we read.  We–individually and collectively–need to use this gift of time well.  And, when God does act, the manner of that action may not be what we–individually and collectively–expect.  So, we may miss it if we are not properly attentive.

Expectations can be tricky.  They establish a standard of human satisfaction or disappointment.  This standard may be unfair.  We human beings are entitled to our informed opinions.  Alas, many expectations flow from uninformed opinions.  Therefore, we may unwittingly set ourselves–individually and collectively–up for disappointment.  Then we complain to God, as if God is responsible for our disappointment.

Arguing faithfully with God is my second favorite aspect of Judaism.  (Monotheism is my first.)  I, as a Christian, embrace arguing with God as part of my inheritance from Judaism.  Yet I grasp that arguing faithfully differs from merely arguing.  Merely arguing can function as a distraction from admitting how little I know.

Isaiah 40:8, in Robert Alter’s translation, reads:

Grass dries up, the flower fades,

but the word of our God stands forever.

The “word,” in this case, means what God says, not any particular canon of scripture.  The word of God, whom we can describe partially and never fully understand, stands forever.  In other words, God is faithful forever.  And God refuses to fit inside any theological box.

Does that disappoint us?  If so, it is our problem, not God’s.

I know an Episcopal priest who deals deftly with people who tell him they do not believe in God.  He asks these individuals to describe the God in whom they do not believe.  They invariably describe a deity in whom the priest does not believe either.

God created us in the divine image.  We have imagined God in our image.  Then we have become disappointed with this false image of God while mistaking it for God.  This is one of those forms of “unperceived guilt” (Psalm 19:13, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures) of which we need God to clear us.

By grace, may we perceive and frolic in the gracious surprises of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF LENT

THE FEAST OF ANNA JULIA HAYWARD COOPER AND ELIZABETH EVELYN WRIGHT, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EDUCATORS

THE FEAST OF MARY LYON, U.S. CONGREGRATIONALIST FEMINIST AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH BADGER, SR., U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST AND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER; FIRST MISSIONARY TO THE WESTERN RESERVE

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL SIMON SCHMUCKER, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND SOCIAL REFORMER

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN CASSIAN AND JOHN CLIMACUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS AND SPIRITUAL WRITERS (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS DE LEON, SPANISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND THEOLOGIAN (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

THE FEAST OF PATRICK HAMILTON, FIRST SCOTTISH PROTESTANT MARTYR, 1528 (TRANSFERRED FROM FEBRUARY 29)

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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According to the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW) Lectionary (1973), as contained in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Lutheran Worship (1982)

Above:  Dan Stamp from Israel

Image in the Public Domain

Two Stones in the Pocket

NOT OBSERVED IN 2023

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Isaiah 49:13-18

Psalm 62

1 Corinthians 4:1-13

Matthew 6:24-34

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Almighty and everlasting God, ruler of heaven and earth: 

Hear our prayer and give us your peace now and forever;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978)

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O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers,

and having set us free from the bonds of our sins,

defend us from all evil;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns

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

—Lutheran Worship (1982), 30

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One thing God has spoken,

only two have I heard:

“Strength belongs to God, 

and to you, O Lord, firmness;

You repay each man for his deeds.”

–Psalm 62:12-13, Mitchell J. Dahood, Psalms II:  51-100 (1968)

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The moral of this is that we should make no hasty or premature judgments.

–1 Corinthians 4:5a, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972)

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These four readings, taken together, present us with a seeming paradox.  Isaiah 49:13-18, in the context of the approaching end of the Babylonian Exile, depicts the Jewish exiles as beloved of God.  They are like children God can never forget.  Psalm 62, in the context of encouraging reliance on God and not on human means, especially corruption, notes the gulf between God and people:

Men of lowly birth are mere vapor,

those of high degree a delusion.

On scale, they are lighter than leaves,

together lighter than vapor.

–Psalm 62:10, Mitchell J. Dahood

People are “lighter than vapor” yet like beloved children to God.  Also, God repays each person for his or her deeds.  What we say and do matters.  Yet we ought not to think too lightly of ourselves and our powers of judgment.  Divine powers of judgment are infinitely greater.

Rabbi Bunam taught:

A man should carry two stones in his pocket.  On one should be inscribed, “I am but dust and ashes.”  On the other, “For my sake was the world created.”  And he should use each stone as he needs it.

Maintaining a balanced self-image relative to God is crucial.  Each person bears the image of God yet is mere dust and vapor.  God commands us to love ourselves then to love others as we love ourselves.  We matter because God says we do.  Or, to use the Southern vernacular,

God didn’t make no junk.

Do you, O reader, think you are junk?  Do you think anyone is garbage?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 27, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS JEROME, PAULA OF ROME, EUSTOCHIUM, BLAESILLA, MARCELLA, AND LEA OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANGELA MERICI, FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY OF SAINT URSULA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CAROLINA SANTOCANALE, FOUNDER OF THE CAPUCHIN SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE OF LOURDES

THE FEAST OF CASPAR NEUMANN, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF MARY EVELYN “MEV” PULEO, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC PHOTOJOURNALIST AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF PIERRE BATIFFOL, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, HISTORIAN, AND THEOLOGIAN

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Link to the corresponding post at BLOGA THEOLOGICA

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Above:  Figs, by Giovanna Garzoni

Image in the Public Domain

Mutuality in God

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

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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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Amos 8:1-12 or Proverbs 9:1-6

Psalm 119:1-8, 12-16

1 Timothy 5:17-25

John 3:1-21

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The evildoers in Amos 8 were dishonest.  They lived to cheat people and to exploit those who were vulnerable and less fortunate.  These evildoers were, in terms of Proverbs 9, absent from Lady Wisdom’s banquet.  No, they attended Lady Folly’s banquet.  These evildoers, in terms of Psalm 119, did not have blameless ways and did not walk in the Law of God.

I seek to be clear, as Amos 8:4f is clear.  Some people seek to obey the divinely-imposed ethical mandates vis-à-vis mutuality yet get some details wrong.  Amos 8:4f does not condemn such people.  No, it condemns those who are not even trying to obey divine law, to respect God in their fellow human beings.

Such dishonest people have always been with us, unfortunately.

A lifestyle of mutuality seeks to bring out the best in others.  It strives to build the common good, therefore to respect the image of God each person bears.  This effort glorifies God.  May we humans love one another.  May we love God, too.  May we seek to build each other up, not to build ourselves up at the expense of others.  May we glorify God, not ourselves.

This is what we should do, after all.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 2, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

THE FEAST OF JOHANN KONRAD WILHELM LOEHE, BAVARIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, AND COORDINATOR OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONS

THE FEAST OF SAINTS NARCISSUS, ARGEUS, AND MARCELLINUS OF TOMI, ROMAN MARTYRS, 320

THE FEAST OF SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SABINE BARING-GOULD, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

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https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/02/devotion-for-proper-5-year-d-humes/

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2021/01/02/mutuality-in-god-vi/

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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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Whatever it means, though, it implies that humans are understood here to share in the divine in a way that a lion or cow does not….The paradox, inherent in the divine-human relationship, is that only humans have some element of the divine, and only humans would, by their very nature, aspier to the divine, yet God regularly communicates with them means of commands. Although made in the image of God, they remain subordinates. In biblical terms, that would not bother a camel or a dove. It would bother humans a great deal.

Above:  Detail from The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Image in the Public Domain

Respecting the Image of God in Others

DECEMBER 12, 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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Genesis 1:26-2:3

Psalm 24

1 John 4:1-21

John 1:14-18

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Genesis 1:26f tells us that human beings bear the image of God.  This is not a physical description.  No, the meaning of of “image of God” is profound.

Dr. Richard Elliott Friedman, a Jewish scholar of the Bible, tells us:

—Commentary on the Torah, with a New English Translation and the Hebrew Text (2001), 12

The commandment to do love to each other, especially the vulnerable and the marginalized, has long been a controversial order.  That this has been and remains so speaks ill of people.

Dr. Robert D. Miller, II, a professor at The Catholic University of America, and a translator of The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011), adds more to a consideration to the image of God.  The Hebrew word of “image” is tselem.  It literally means “idol.”

When Genesis 1 says that humanity is the tselem of God, it’s saying if you want to relate to God, relate to your fellow man?

—Understanding the Old Testament–Course Guidebook (Chantilly, VA:  The Great Courses, 2019), 9

Biblical authors from a wide span of time hit us over the head, so to speak, with this message.  If we do not understand it yet, we must be either dense or willfully ignorant.

John 1 offers us the flip side of Genesis 1:  The Second Person of the Trinity outwardly resembles us.  Moreover, as one adds other parts of the New Testament, one gets into how Jesus, tempted yet without sin, can identify with us and help us better because of experiences as Jesus of Nazareth, in the flesh.  The theology of the Incarnation, with Jesus being fully human and fully divine, is profound and mysterious.  I know the history of Christian theology well enough to understand that Trinitarian heresies originated with attempts to explain the Trinity rationally.  I prefer to relish the mystery of the Trinity.

We bear the intangible image of God.  Jesus bore the physical image of human beings.   We reach out for God, who reaches out to us.  These are thoughts worthy of every day of the year, but especially during Advent and Christmas.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 25, 2020 COMMON ERA

CHRISTMAS DAY

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/12/25/respecting-the-image-of-god-in-others-part-iii/

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Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness; he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because darkness has blinded his eyes.

Above:  Saint John the Evangelist, by Peter Paul Rubens

Image in the Public Domain

Idolatry and Tribalism

DECEMBER 5, 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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Genesis 1:14-25

Psalm 146

1 John 2:7-12; 3:1-3

John 1:6-13

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Genesis 1 divides the first six days of creation into two groups–the creation of generalities and domains (the first three days’ work) and the creation of the specifics or the inhabitants of those domains (the work of the fourth, fifth, and sixth days).  The seventh day is the time of the creation of the sabbath.  The sovereignty of God is a theme that pervades this great myth.

God also deserves much love.  As the other three readings tell us, that love (or absence thereof) is manifest in how we behave toward other human beings.  These other human beings also bear the image of God (Genesis 1:27).  I know I am getting ahead of the continuous readings in Genesis.  I am staying on topic, though.

–1 John 2:9-11, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)

That text explains itself.

According to a story that may be apocryphal, the elderly St. John the Evangelist was due to visit a congregation somewhere.  The members gathered in great anticipation on the appointed day.  They watched as men carried the infirmed apostle into the space and sat him down in front of the congregation.  Then St. John said, 

My children, love one another.

Immediately, he motioned for the men to carry him out.  One member of the congregation ran after St. John and asked, in so many words, 

That’s all you came here to say?

The apostle replied,

When you have done that, I will tell you more.

Loving one another can be very difficult.  Deciding to love one another can also prove challenging, albeit easier than effectively acting on the goal.  We need grace to succeed, of course.  Yet grace requires our desire to love one another.  Free will and grace are partners.

I write this post during a period of prolonged and intensified political polarization.  Even the definition of objective reality, as in X caused Y, and Z happened, is often contentious.  More so than in the past, many disagreements start at the point of assuming that those who differ from one are bad, if not evil.  The more generous judgment that that those who disagree are probably good yet misinformed and misguided is increasingly rare.

I notice this unfortunate pattern in topics that range far beyond science, religion, and politics.  I detect this regarding science fiction (one of my favorite topics), too. 

Do you enjoy that series?  Do you not enjoy that movie?  What kind of person are you?  You certainly aren’t a real fan.  I’m a real fan! 

Many criteria can define tribalism.

Whenever we erect idols, whether tangible or intangible, we set ourselves up for this.  We do this to ourselves and each other.  We can choose never to do this.  We can also choose to cease and desist from doing this.  We can opt to repent of our idolatry and tribalism.

May we do so.  May we love God.  May we love ourselves and each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 24, 2020 COMMON ERA

CHRISTMAS EVE

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/12/24/idolatry-and-tribalism/

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we belong to one another as parts of one body.

Above:  King Hezekiah

Image in the Public Domain

Parts of One Body I

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

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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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2 Chronicles 29:1-10 or Joshua 7 (portions)

Psalm 79

Ephesians 4:17-32

Luke 6:1-11

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The Law of Moses teaches, among other lessons, that we are responsible to and for each other.  Experiences and the past teach us that one person can improve the situation of many people or cause unfortunate events to befall them.  As we read in Ephesians 4:25,

—The Revised English Bible (1989)

May we, belonging to one another as parts of one body, put on the new nature created in God’s likeness.  May we, therefore, build each other up every day–even commit good works on the Sabbath.  May we rejoice in each other’s blessings and support each other during times of adversity and suffering.  May those in positions of authority and power build up their countries and the world for the long-term common good, not selfishly build up themselves and boost their egos at high costs to many others.  May those who violate this principle fall from power, and may people who will honor this principle replace them.  May all of us love ourselves as people who bear the image of God then extend that love to all other human beings.  Such radical, certainly politically and socially subversive love and respect is consistent with Jewish and Christian moral teaching.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SEBASTIAN CASTELLIO, PROPHET OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

THE FEAST OF ELLEN GATES STARR, U.S. EPISCOPALIAN THEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTIVIST AND REFORMER

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA JOSEFA SANCHO DE GUERRA, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS

THE FEAST OF SAMUEL RODIGAST, GERMAN LUTHERAN ACADEMIC AND HYMN WRITER

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https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/devotion-for-proper-4-year-c-humes/

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/parts-of-one-body-i/

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Above:  Map of Ancient Israel

Image Source = Hammond’s World Atlas–Classics Edition (1957)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The Glory of God, Filling the Earth, Part II

JANUARY 9, 2022

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The Collect:

Almighty God, you gave us your only Son

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:

Numbers 24:15-19

Psalm 72

Luke 1:67-79

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May his rule extend from sea to sea,

from the river to the ends of the earth.

–Psalm 72:8, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers (1989), by Harry Mowvley

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Balaam was a Hebrew prophet who consented to prophesy for hire, to say what his new, temporary employer wanted him to say.  At the time many people thought that blessings and curses had power, so, in the context of Numbers 24, Balaam’s words mattered.  God worked through Balaam, much to the chagrin of the prophet’s temporary employer.  The Hebrews, Balaam proclaimed, would rule the Transjordan region.  That prophecy might have been an addition to the original story of Balaam (complete with the talking donkey), for, at the time of King David, the Kingdom of Israel conquered Moab and Edom.  If the prophecy in question is of later origin, my point remains unaltered.  That point is that, according to the text, the Hebrews would triumph over their enemies and that the closest thing to the Kingdom of God on the Earth would win its battles.

The hope for a literal Kingdom of God on the Earth is ancient.  Many authors of the Hebrew Scriptures echoed it repeatedly, as in Psalm 72, a coronation text.  In time the aspirations of Psalm 72 became messianic.  The prophecy of Zechariah in Luke 1:67-79 fit in well with the desire for a different world order.

My reading in Biblical studies has taught me much about the Kingdom of God.  It has been partially present on the Earth for a long time.  Attempting (as I have done) to identify how long the Kingdom of God has been present on the Earth is probably not the best intellectual exercise to undertake, for, strictly speaking, God has not, at any point in the human past, been closer to or farther away from us than at any other point in the human past.  The Kingdom of God, therefore, has not been nearer to us or more distant from us at any point of time than at another.  Nevertheless, we await the fully unveiled Kingdom of God.

As we wait for, as members of many preceding generations have awaited the fully realized Kingdom of God, may we never lose sight of the partially realized Kingdom of God among us and our roles in it.  May we love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves.  May we put away fear, hatred, bigotry, and everything else that separates us from accomplishing the goal of beloved community.  May we respect the image of God in each other then act accordingly.  Whenever we help the least of those among us we aid Christ.  Likewise, whenever we refuse to help the least of those among us, we refused to aid Christ.

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

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/the-glory-of-god-filling-the-earth-part-ii/

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Above:  Blue Marble, December 17, 1972

Image Source = NASA

The Glory of God, Filling the Earth, Part I

JANUARY 7 and 8, 2022

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The Collect:

Almighty God, you gave us your only Son

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

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/the-glory-of-god-filling-the-earth-part-i/

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