Above:  The Ark Passes Over the Jordan, by James Tissot

Image in the Public Domain

The Scandal of Grace

JANUARY 24, 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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2 Chronicles 12:1-14 or Joshua 3:7-17

Psalm 76

Ephesians 1:11-23

Luke 4:13-30

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Divine judgment and mercy come packaged together.  When the oppressed go free, what price do the oppressors pay?  We humans frequently judge ourselves and select our punishments.  Furthermore, as in 2 Chronicles 12, deliverance is partial sometimes.  To quote a cliché, God sometimes makes us lie down in the bed we have made.  Another example of the mixture of divine judgment and mercy comes from Joshua 3.  We read of the crossing of the Israelites into the Promised Land.  If we know the narrative well, we are aware that the generation that left slavery in Egypt did not enter the Promised Land.

May we be meek before God.  May we embrace the love of God for all people–including those quite different from us.  May we, unlike former neighbors of Jesus in Nazareth, never seek a claim to divine blessings just for ourselves and those similar to us.  May we celebrate the scandal of grace and the responsibilities grace imposes upon its recipients.  After all, grace is free, but not cheap.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 17, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND

THE FEAST OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT, “THE CORN LAW RHYMER”

THE FEAST OF HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAN SARKANDER, SILESIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND “MARTYR OF THE CONFESSIONAL,” 1620

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIA BARBARA MAIX, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/the-scandal-of-grace-vii/

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Above:  Statue of Jesus with Votice Candles Baltimore Basilica, Baltimore, Maryland, by Carol Highsmith

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-highsm-16721

The Light of Christ

JANUARY 6, 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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Deuteronomy 4:(9) 10-24 (25-31) 32-40

Psalm 75 or 76

John 5:31-47

1 John 2:3-29

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We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks; your name is near.

People tell of your wondrous deeds.

–Psalm 75:1, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

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Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.

–Psalm 76:4, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

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One should read Deuteronomy 4 in the knowledge that someone wrote it long after the time of Moses then placed it in the great man’s mouth.  Thus one will read that text while knowing what the real audience is a later generation of Hebrews.  “Learn from the past and refrain from repeating those mistakes,” the text really says.  Unfortunately, as we know, that message fell mostly on deaf ears, and the negative consequences of actions ensued.

Rejection of Jesus occupies the readings from John and 1 John.  In John 5 Jesus was speaking to a hostile Jewish audience.  Nevertheless, as in Deuteronomy 4, the text came from a later time and the actual audience was contemporary to the time of composition.  The text still challenges audiences.  Do we rest on our spiritual laurels while lacking the love of God in ourselves?  If we have the love of God in ourselves, we will act on it with regard to others.  We will seek their best and have compassion for them.  We will, to cite 1 John 2, keep the commandments of Jesus.  If they seem new, we have not been paying (sufficient) attention, for they are old.

Whoever claims to be in light

but hates his brother

is still in darkness.

Anyone who loves his brother remains in light

and there is in him nothing to make him fall away.

But whoever hates his brother is in darkness

and is walking about in darkness

not knowing where he is going,

because darkness has blinded him.

–1 John 2:9-11, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

The Feast of the Epiphany is about the light of Christ shining among Gentiles.  May we who bear that light do so as effectively as possible, by grace.  May we glorify and enjoy God forever, and thereby inspire others to do the same.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 2, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF ROSKILDE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF DAVID CHARLES, WELSH CALVINISTIC MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF NEW GUINEA

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/the-light-of-christ-2/

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