Above:  Noah’s Thank Offering, by Joseph Anton Koch

The Unworthiness of the World

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

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The Collect:

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.

By your merciful protection awaken us to the threatening dangers of our sins,

and enlighten our walk in the way of your salvation,

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:

Genesis 9:1-17

Psalm 124

Hebrews 11:32-40

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If the Lord had not been on our side,

now may Israel say:

If the Lord had not been on our side

when our enemies rose up against us,

then they would have swallowed us up alive:

when their fury was raised against us.

Then the flood would have swept us away:

and the torrent would have covered us.

Then the raging waters

would have gone right over our heads.

–Psalm 124:1-4, A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989)

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Daily Lectionary from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) skips over Genesis 8:20-22 (over J, the Yahwist, and from P, the Priestly Source) to 9:1-17 (back to P), which covers much of the same ground–plus a rainbow.  In that composite narrative many people had died because of their sinfulness.  In Hebrews 11:32-40, however, we read of people who have died because of their righteousness, people

of whom the world was not worthy.

–Verse 38a, The New Revised Standard Version

These saints, the lesson tells us,

…were commended for their faith [yet] did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better, so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

–Verses 39-40, The New Revised Standard Version

Both readings contain the element of the unworthiness of the world.  Although the world might be unworthy God vows never to flood it again.  The world might be unworthy yet God does not give up on it, hence the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth and all that followed it–especially the death and resurrection of Jesus and their spiritual implications for us.  God has not given up on the world yet; unwritten chapters in the story of grace on this planet remain for people to see unfold.

Yes, we are unworthy; I take that as a given.  But does that reality constitute a topic upon which we should dwell?  No.  God knows what we are yet has identified with us by means of the Incarnation.  Our worthiness is in God alone.  May we respond lovingly to God, who loves us.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 10, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.), 1983

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA, 1925

THE FEAST OF SAINT EPHREM OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC DEACON AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT LANDERICUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/the-unworthiness-of-the-world/

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Above:  The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge, by Thomas Cole

Erasing Sin

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

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The Collect:

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.

By your merciful protection awaken us to the threatening dangers of our sins,

and enlighten our walk in the way of your salvation,

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:

Genesis 8:1-19

Psalm 124

Romans 6:1-11

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A Related Post:

The Remnant:

http://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/the-remnant/

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Our help is in the name of the Lord,

who has made heaven and earth.

–Psalm 124:7, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

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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

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This is post #300 of this blog.–KRT

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/erasing-sin/

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