Archive for the ‘Psalm 125’ Tag
Above: Icon of Elijah
Image in the Public Domain
Arrogant People and Evildoers
DECEMBER 20, 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:
Malachi 3:16-4:16
Psalm 125
Mark 9:9-13
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Show your goodness, O LORD, to those who are good
and to those who are true of heart.
As for those who turn aside to crooked ways,
the LORD will lead them away with evildoers;
but peace be upon Israel.
–Psalm 125:4-5, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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Malachi 3:16-4:6 (as Protestant versification labels it), or 3:16-21 (as Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox versification calls it), speaks of divine judgment and mercy–the former for evildoers and the latter for the righteous. The evildoers, back in Malachi 3:14-15, had said:
It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His charge and walking in abject awe of the LORD of Hosts? And so, we account the arrogant happy: they have indeed dared God and escaped.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Certain forces of wickedness attempted to kill the prophet Elijah. Some of their successors succeeded in executing St. John the Baptist then Jesus. Yet, as Malachi wrote:
All the arrogant ones and those doing evil will become straw.
–4:1b/3:19b, Common English Bible (2008).
Jesus died, but the Resurrection followed. Elijah went to Heaven directly. St. John the Baptist remained dead, but his legacy has survived to today. Executing a person is easier than killing an idea. Arrogant people and evildoers have been slow to learn this lesson.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 27, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER, ENGLISH EDUCATOR, SCHOLAR, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT AEDESIUS, PRIEST AND MISSIONARY; AND SAINT FRUDENTIUS, FIRST BISHOP OF AXUM AND ABUNA OF THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH
THE FEAST OF THE VICTIMS OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/arrogant-people-and-evildoers/
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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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Above: Christ Pantocrator
Job and John, Part XIII: Certainty, Orthodoxy, and Orthopraxy
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 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:
Job 15:1-23, 30-35
Psalm 65 (Morning)
Psalms 125 and 91 (Evening)
John 6:60-71
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There is a certain redundancy to the speeches of Job’s alleged friends. Chapter 15, an address by Eliphaz the Temanite, exemplifies this rule. The main feature of it which I notice is its certainty–of a set of false propositions, according to the resolution of the Book of Job.
Without trying to explain everything–while affirming the reality that I do not know most things and never will–I hold that Jesus is the soundest basis of proper certainty.
Lord, to whom shall we go?
–Simon Peter in verse 68, The New Jerusalem Bible
It is in the example, life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus that I find the personification of goodness and grace. The art of proper Christian living is to approach more nearly that role model, to become a means by which the love of God is incarnate in one. This level of dedication moves beyond intellectual assent to a certain definition of orthodoxy and makes orthodoxy and orthodoxy more similar to one another. The ultimate goal is for them to be identical, but more similar than before is perhaps the best a flawed being can accomplish by grace. (I reject moral perfectionism as unrealistic.)
As Job’s alleged friends lectured and insulted him they spoke piously about the goodness of God. Yet they did not embody it. That was a grave error, one many people repeat today.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 26, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS REMACLUS OF MAASTRICHT, THEODORE OF MAASTRICHT, LAMBERT OF MAASTRICHT, HUBERT OF MAASTRICHT AND LIEGE, AND FLORIBERT OF LIEGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; LANDRADA OF MUNSTERBILSEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND OTGER OF UTRECHT, PLECHELM OF GUELDERLAND, AND WIRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES
THE FEAST OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, POET
THE FEAST OF SAINT PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF ROBERT HUNT, FIRST ANGLICAN CHAPLAIN AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/job-and-john-part-xiii-certainty-orthodoxy-and-orthopraxy/
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Above: A Soup Kitchen
Image Source = U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist Steve Johnson
Hospitality
JANUARY 23, 2024
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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:
Joel 2:18-32/3:3:5
Psalm 65 (Morning)
Psalms 125 and 91 (Evening)
Romans 11:25-12:13
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Then the LORD was roused
On behalf of His land.
And had compassion
Upon His people.
–Joel 2:18, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures
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In the service of the LORD work not half-hearted but with conscientiousness and as an eager spirit. Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship, keep praying regularly; share with any of God’s holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.
–Romans 12:11-13, The New Jerusalem Bible
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TECHNICAL NOTE:
Versification of parts of the Hebrew Bible differs depending upon whether one reads from a Protestant translation or a Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox one. Such is the case in Joel, where 2:1-32 in Protestant versions equals 2:1-3:5 in Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox translations. And Joel 4 in Jewish, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions equals Joel 3 in Protestant translations.
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Many houses in the rural U.S. South during the nineteenth century used to have a front porch, a back porch, and a connecting breezeway. That was a time before electricity, much less air conditioning, in the region, so many people designed their homes to fit nature and the technology they had. With that in mind, it was common for a kitchen to be separate from the rest of the house. If there were a fire, the rest of the house would be more likely to survive. And they could build another kitchen.
All that was quite practical. So was another common feature of many such houses: a guest bedroom which opened up onto a porch and not into any other room. If a traveler needed to spend a night, such a room offered shelter. This was both practical and hospitable, for there were no motels in many areas. Hospitality, in many cases, made the difference between life and death, or at least between relative ease and undue hardship. Hospitality was a virtue which more than one biblical writer extolled. The texts contain, in fact, condemnations of its absence. Hospitality still saves lives and eases discomfort, as many who dispense or receive it can attest.
The affirmation of hospitality does not indicate a complete lack of accountability. Read Joel and Romans, for example. But hospitality does provide a counter-force, a balance. There is a time to judge and there is a time to forgive. There is a time to punish and there is a time to extend the hand of hospitality. May we–you and I, O reader, get the balance correct.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 2, 2012 COMMON ERA
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF SAINTS JOHN PAYNE AND CUTHBERT MAYNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF HENRY BUDD, ANGLICAN PRIEST
THE FEAST OF JAMES LLOYD BRECK, EPISCOPAL PRIEST
THE FEAST OF JOHN PAUL II, BISHOP OF ROME
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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/hospitality/
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ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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