tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193681122024-03-17T20:04:30.940-07:00urban wilderness lectionary projectimagines all creation reclaimed,<br>restored, and transformed<br> into the reign of heaven on earth!<br><br>
Beginning March 2020:<br>
Reflections on Scripture<br> as Covid continues…leahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03501658909604910490noreply@blogger.comBlogger486125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-8059212016374346282024-03-16T21:30:00.000-07:002024-03-16T21:39:04.386-07:00Lent 5B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmp2WowTrTY3e2RsbzUAGvDWvYFQKbKEslBdWnQKq0FNV6YkruPmW4qNrlUhT5r6qDj_l1Bhux2Lj8PWEtUCmrGFucLUzG82nhMrSlnLcGfw6yOtsZfpghP1XlPo3RksjF51lDapDxH2bLjaJg4mAb8meqZDSCnH0-zmR51YiN6LLZyyKZbZp7/s1056/jeremiah31covenant.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Jeremiah 31 New Covenant" border="0" width="550" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1056" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmp2WowTrTY3e2RsbzUAGvDWvYFQKbKEslBdWnQKq0FNV6YkruPmW4qNrlUhT5r6qDj_l1Bhux2Lj8PWEtUCmrGFucLUzG82nhMrSlnLcGfw6yOtsZfpghP1XlPo3RksjF51lDapDxH2bLjaJg4mAb8meqZDSCnH0-zmR51YiN6LLZyyKZbZp7/s400/jeremiah31covenant.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>I will make a new covenant <br />
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.<br />
<br />
I will put my law within them,<br />
and I will write it on their hearts;<br />
and I will be their God,<br />
and they shall be my people.<br />
<br />
No longer shall they teach each other,<br />
or say to each other,<br />
"Know the Lord," for they shall all know me,<br />
from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord;<br />
<br />
for I will forgive their iniquity,<br />
and remember their sin no more.<br />
Jeremiah 31:31,33,34
</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">John 12:20-33</font>
<blockquote>
This was during what we call Passion Week or Holy Week:<br />
• after Mary anointed Jesus at Lazarus' home. [12:1-8] <br />
• after "the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death, as well." [12:10-11] <br />
• after Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem surrounded by hosannas and palm fronds [12:12-15]
<br />
</blockquote>
<br />
<sup>20</sup> Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. <sup>21</sup> They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." <sup>22</sup> Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. <sup>23</sup> Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. <sup>24</sup> Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit."
<br /><br />
<sup>25</sup> Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. <sup>26</sup> Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
<br /><br />
<sup>27</sup> "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. <sup>28</sup> Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."
<br /><br />
<sup>29</sup> The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." <sup>30</sup> Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. <sup>31</sup> Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. <sup>32</sup> And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." <sup>33</sup> He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. </blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">First and Second Readings</font>
<br /><br />
The readings from Jeremiah and Hebrews compliment each other and the passage from John's gospel, so you may want to study them separately.
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+31%3A31-34&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Jeremiah 31:31-34</a>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+5%3A5-10&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Hebrews 5:5-10</a>
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">The Fifth Sunday in Lent</font>
<br /><br />
On the Fifth Sunday in but not of Lent, we continue to follow Jesus to the cross. Early in Holy Week-Passion Week; the Savior and his retinue have reached Jerusalem; next week on the sixth Sunday in Lent, the church begins Holy Week, often halfway through the liturgy.
<br /><br />
This scripture describes Jesus dying on the scandal of a tree. Jesus promises to draw all to himself: the tree of death – the cross – paradoxically becomes the new tree of life. In the Garden of Eden, "Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Genesis 2:9
<br /><br />
<i> And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.</i> John 12:32<br />
<br />
In a reference to the healing snake lifted up in the Exodus wilderness from Numbers 21:8-9, we hear about Jesus lifted up—on the cross, lifted up from the empty tomb, lifted up in the Ascension. Earlier in this gospel:
<br /><br />
• And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15
<br /><br />
• So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he…" John 8:28a
<br /><br />
"I Am the snake" could be Jesus' eighth "I Am" statement!
<br /><br />
<i>They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."</i> John 12:21
<br /><br />
We see the Glory of God as we "see Jesus," the Human One, lifted up on the cross. We see the fulness of the glory of God's presence in the weakness, vulnerability and defenselessness of Jesus dying on the cross.
<br /><br />
The Apostle Paul determined to preach only Christ crucified, lifted up in glory on the cross: 1 Corinthians 2:2
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_NDb-8mu2GczlIiRW7yQsXZX3_L1NvIRYHbD6Pu6mXqp3JLbFWchjfhrDT00IKUUhryO_JmkwhRiC-Z3goq1JFh2uFUTUgM0mShnZ9C0q2F-vdPvOzfaDwUoQXNl3A5FFpPFjtmWP9QSjozvY32ZIkWXELGcQrTBysRT8RyMKt50iNcymmLI/s768/psalm51create12.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 51:12" border="0" width="350" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS_NDb-8mu2GczlIiRW7yQsXZX3_L1NvIRYHbD6Pu6mXqp3JLbFWchjfhrDT00IKUUhryO_JmkwhRiC-Z3goq1JFh2uFUTUgM0mShnZ9C0q2F-vdPvOzfaDwUoQXNl3A5FFpPFjtmWP9QSjozvY32ZIkWXELGcQrTBysRT8RyMKt50iNcymmLI/s400/psalm51create12.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Restore unto me<br />
the joy of thy salvation;<br />
and uphold me<br />
with thy free spirit.<br />
Psalm 51:12 </center>
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-56793009523433509202024-03-09T18:00:00.000-08:002024-03-09T18:45:30.722-08:00Lent 4B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQ1x3AAiGDFP4Bx3ZmRxXS7lkDNFzfo07_iBOsfvj3FeqNPzJkM8pu75dxeosbDjNZJdMBMuuQXgtLmEpGjUi7STiHkWcIUB7qGJ2lbRIC8kulH5Zwtg_2IvucvQzRpXKVn2SfhQTqGF2yF0AgX8IUJA7T5tlprKnzLxZdolGAf4NPXjSi3VF/s1344/ephesians2grace8.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Ephesians 2:8" border="0" width="550" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQ1x3AAiGDFP4Bx3ZmRxXS7lkDNFzfo07_iBOsfvj3FeqNPzJkM8pu75dxeosbDjNZJdMBMuuQXgtLmEpGjUi7STiHkWcIUB7qGJ2lbRIC8kulH5Zwtg_2IvucvQzRpXKVn2SfhQTqGF2yF0AgX8IUJA7T5tlprKnzLxZdolGAf4NPXjSi3VF/s400/ephesians2grace8.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>For by grace you have been<br />
saved through faith;<br />
and that not of yourselves,<br />
it is the gift of God.<br />
Ephesians 2:8</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Ephesians 1:20-23</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>20</sup> God put this power to work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, <sup>21</sup> far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. <sup>22</sup> And God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, <sup>23</sup> which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
<br /><br />
<font size="4">Ephesians 2:1-10</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> You were dead through the trespasses and sins <sup>2</sup> in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. <sup>3</sup> All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
<br /><br />
<sup>4</sup> But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us <sup>5</sup> even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ –by grace you have been saved– <sup>6</sup> and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, <sup>7</sup> so that in the ages to come God might show the immeasurable riches of grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
<br /><br />
<sup>8</sup> For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God– <sup>9</sup> not the result of works, so that no one may boast. <sup>10</sup>For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.</blockquote>
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<br />
<font size="4">Lent 4: Laetare, "Rejoice"</font>
<br /><br />
As we accompany Jesus to Jerusalem, to the cross, and to the day of resurrection, during Lent we've been spring cleaning and decluttering our lives, though most of us have been concentrating on only a couple of aspects, such as spirituality and service.
<br /><br />
Thursday was halfway through Lent! This midway Sunday has several traditional names and practices. In the North American church, Laetare – "Rejoice" – probably is best known. Each Sunday in Advent and Lent has a designation taken from the opening of the Latin Introit or entrance prayer.
<br /><br />
<center>
Rejoice, Jerusalem, and gather round, all who love her.<br />
Be joyful, all who were in sorrow;<br />
exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.<br />
Isaiah 66:10-11<br />
I rejoiced when they said unto me:<br />
let us go into the house of the Lord.<br />
Psalm 122:1</center>
<br /><br />
Instead of somber penitential purple, the liturgical color for vestments and paraments is lighter, brighter rose that also can be used on Advent 3. The Fourth Sunday in Lent is a special day for those planning to be baptized at the Easter Vigil; in addition, it's sometimes called Refreshment Sunday, and it's Mother's Day in the United Kingdom and some other countries.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Scriptures during Lent</font>
<br /><br />
• On Lent 1 we considered <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A8-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Genesis 9:8-17</a> – God's covenant or unilateral promise with Noah.
<br /><br />
• For Lent 2 it was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+17%3A1-16&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Genesis 17:1-16</a> – God's covenant with Abram / Abraham.
<br /><br />
• Last week on Lent 3 we reflected on the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A1-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Exodus 20:1--17</a> – Ten Words (Decalogue) – the Sinai covenant.
<br /><br />
In today's words to the Church at Ephesus, like God's promises to Noah and similar to God being the primary actor in the Abrahamic and Sinai Covenants, God's act of redemption in Jesus Christ is strongly covenantal and the language of Ephesians expresses that reality well. In the wake of considering specific biblical covenants on the last three Sundays, this passage logically continues the reality of God's grace-filled covenants or agreements with humanity and with all creation.
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<br />
<font size="4">Today's Reading and Context</font>
<br /><br />
Although in general the theology of Ephesians piggybacks on Paul's undisputed letters, some of the vocabulary and sentence structure is quite un-Pauline. However, scholars have observed it goes in a direction Paul might have taken and almost definitely would have approved. Also, in alignment with the epistles to the churches at Rome, Philippi, and Galatia, insisting on our being redeemed by God's grace at no cost to us makes Ephesians very Pauline and extremely Reformation central.
<br /><br />
Like literally every prominent city then and now, Ephesus was a commercial crossroads, facilitating exchanges and influences of ideas, merchandise, commodities, food, culture, and people. Ephesus famously had a temple to the goddess Diana—although Diana was the main deity out of thousands! Ephesus is part of present-day Turkey.
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<br />
<font size="4">Grace Alone</font>
<br /><br />
Chapter 2 starts out by acknowledging we were dead. Throughout this passage, "dead" is <i>nekros</i>, where we get words like necrology, necromancer, necrologist. All the explanations related to "in which you once lived" "once lived among them" aren't zoë or bios or psyche life; they're peripatetic, going about our daily walk, our routine, our everyday lifestyles. However, in 2:5, <i>"even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ"</i> in a word that contains the zoë / life root, God makes us alive, quickens us! You may know the version of the Apostles Creed with "the quick and the dead." In 2:6 God <i>raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.</i>
<br /><br />
We are seated with Christ at God's right hand! <i>Seated</i> means claimed or assumed authority, similar to when someone runs or stands for elective office and if they win, they've obtained the job, so then they're seated or incumbent. We refer to a sitting president. The church board or session takes their places by being seated and then governing as representatives of those who elected them when they ran or stood for office.
<br /><br />
What do you make of our being seated with Jesus Christ?
<br /><br />
In these Ephesians verses, all the words about God's activity are grace and gift—<i>grace alone through faith alone a gift of God</i>. With its emphasis on salvation and the Savior as gifts of grace, this text is strongly Reformation Central, yet it concludes by reminding us God has created us to do good works. God even already prepared those good works that help transform the world to be our way of life, our daily walking about, (peripatetic) routine, our lifestyle. Theologian of grace Martin Luther insisted he loved good works so much he'd like to be called the Doctor of Good Works.
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-21566545220922491692024-03-02T13:30:00.000-08:002024-03-02T13:42:31.893-08:00Lent 3B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEKMgUS03N66aRz0ByI3QpyrEnh6LbplCz6mG8185Q2vJcdO1jbd0LJvhew_75s2kxcgvYEfzQY-A6hzuYRhTCX_VVP_kOlvoI3MjfHXG18kj9GaxpOFILsiTcAURhFKDzlrXCIe8dyUQ0YXgc5yQceOWYmTq7OwOqnNyZ7-Xkr4E-ScKRpqrI/s1500/lent3psalm19precepts.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 19:8" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEKMgUS03N66aRz0ByI3QpyrEnh6LbplCz6mG8185Q2vJcdO1jbd0LJvhew_75s2kxcgvYEfzQY-A6hzuYRhTCX_VVP_kOlvoI3MjfHXG18kj9GaxpOFILsiTcAURhFKDzlrXCIe8dyUQ0YXgc5yQceOWYmTq7OwOqnNyZ7-Xkr4E-ScKRpqrI/s400/lent3psalm19precepts.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>The precepts of the Lord are right,<br />
rejoicing the heart.<br />
Psalm 19:8</center>
<br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Exodus 20:1-5a, 7-17</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> Then God spoke all these words: <sup>2</sup> I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; <sup>3</sup> you shall have no other gods before me. <br />
<br />
<sup>4 </sup>You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. <sup>5</sup> You shall not bow down to them or worship them...<br />
<sup>7</sup> You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses God's name. <br />
<br />
<sup>8</sup> Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. <sup>9</sup> Six days you shall labor and do all your work. <sup>10</sup> But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. <sup>11</sup> For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.<br />
<br />
<sup>12</sup> Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. <blockquote><sup>13</sup> You shall not murder. <br />
<sup>14</sup> You shall not commit adultery.<br />
<sup>15</sup> You shall not steal.<br />
<sup>16</sup> You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. <br />
<sup>17</sup> You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. </blockquote></blockquote><br />
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<font size="4">Covenant</font>
<br /><br />
This third Sunday in but not of Lent brings us halfway to Holy Week.
<br /><br />
On Lent 1 and Lent 2 we discussed the readings from Mark's gospel; the first readings those Sundays were biblical covenants:
<br /><br />
• Lent 1: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A8-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Genesis 9:8-17 – God's covenant with Noah</a> (it's actually God's unilateral promise)
<br /><br />
• Lent 2: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+17%3A1-16&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Genesis 17:1-16</a> – God's covenant with Abram / Abraham
<br /><br />
For this third Sunday the lectionary brings us another covenant.
<br /><br />
• Lent 3: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A1-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Exodus 20:1--17</a> – Ten Words of the Sinai covenant, sometimes referred to as the Ten Commandments or the Decalogue (Ten Words).
<br /><br />
Covenant comes from co and venire – a coming together agreement. The bible is full of covenants between God and creation, though just how many is up for dispute. All biblical covenants are covenants of grace; in many ways creation itself is a covenant.
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2019/04/covenant-lent-4.html" target="_blank">Biblical Covenant notes</a> from the Fourth Sunday in Lent, 2019.
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<br />
<font size="4">Chronology Leading to the Ten Words</font><br />
<br />
• Exodus 12: the Egyptian Pharaoh finally tells Moses, "Take all your people and get out of here right now." <br />
• Exodus 13: celebrating Passover; God leads the people by going before them in a cloud by day, fire by night.<br />
• Exodus 14: Israelites cross the Red Sea on dry ground.<br />
• Exodus 15: Song of Moses; Song and dance of Miriam<br />
• They arrive in the Desert of Shur. A fresh tree branch sweetens the bitter waters at Marah – nature healing nature.<br />
• Then to Elim with its 12 springs and 70 palms.<br />
• Exodus 16: another desert / wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. <br />
• Bread from heaven, quails from the sky. Manna = "what is it!" probably coriander/cilantro seeds<br />
...Sabbath-keeping<br />
...Israel receives sustaining food as gift; then they know God is Lord.<br />
• Exodus 17: another desert – Rephidim. God provides water from the rock for the thirsty people, "that the people may drink."<br />
• Exodus 18: choosing elders / judges to help Moses<br />
• Exodus 19: Israel reaches the Sinai desert in the shadow of Mount Sinai.<br />
<br />
Sabbath-keeping is a specific commandment, yet the Israelites already had been observing Sabbath before God formally gave them the Ten Words via Moses.
<br />
<br /><br />
<font size="4">These Are The Words</font>
<br /><br />
The Commandments /Sinai Covenant text in Exodus begins by telling us "God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." Therefore. This God is worthy of trust, worth obeying.
<br /><br />
God's ongoing presence and redemptive actions set up Israel to trust God's supply, to convince them this was a God worthy of obedience. Because God would provide the essentials they needed, there was no need to yearn for or covet anything they didn't have. Like all biblical precepts, counsels, laws, ordinances, counsels, and decrees, these commandments became a gift of grace.
<br /><br />
Almost every time the Apostle Paul refers to law, he means ceremonial, ritual, sacrificial law and not the commandments. However, when magisterial Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin talked about the uses of the law, they meant the commandments. Their third use of the law is about the neighbor, about the other, about neighborology. The Ten Commandments literally are the working papers for life in covenantal community they'd need to maintain their freedom when they reached the land of promise.
<br /><br />
"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all." Martin Luther, <i>On Christian Liberty</i>
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<br />
<font size="4">Sabbath</font>
<br /><br />
This Exodus passage charges us to keep Sabbath because God rested on the seventh day of creation. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+5%3A12-15&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Deuteronomy 5 says we need sabbath</a> resting, ceasing from social expectations, to temporarily quit working, earning, etc., because "You no longer are slaves—God brought you out of slavery into freedom, therefore—you shall keep Sabbath."
<br /><br />
Just as God kept Sabbath rest on the seventh day of creation, because now you are free people (as God is free) and no longer beholden to any empire, you can take a time out. Both rationales remind us God created humanity in the divine image – <i>imago dei</i> – so keeping Sabbath is part of rocking that reality and a way to participate in God's own holiness.
<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RDo4358sD4_Uy2jT9gKXQd5NJGWiovcJXEjh5s_8DXktV2qY5ZonaZHSK3elXzw7vRuQssJR_DCNW2TfV2sB36eMuPerkqG7GMGK9x9SmMwZmnTMbC7kMF0ATXWTrRqxLzaDuOC1R6xiyuQ6Oze9IEZpWynqkT03IuHJQKw9FaRaKczdWGmW/s750/2024lent3oculi.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Lent 2024 greenery" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RDo4358sD4_Uy2jT9gKXQd5NJGWiovcJXEjh5s_8DXktV2qY5ZonaZHSK3elXzw7vRuQssJR_DCNW2TfV2sB36eMuPerkqG7GMGK9x9SmMwZmnTMbC7kMF0ATXWTrRqxLzaDuOC1R6xiyuQ6Oze9IEZpWynqkT03IuHJQKw9FaRaKczdWGmW/s320/2024lent3oculi.jpg"/></a></div>
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-70554430772591807852024-02-24T15:43:00.000-08:002024-02-24T15:45:09.541-08:00Lent 2B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbcAl9pp_jiyA5v6dwAWlrluopuyqrm68jZRBvQ3AbJ1VgjRRWsl3V4AoYrCZVICL5UibLv6S1RsmMQ7fnLLJ47iNjX0Qa6Kkf7fpYzEiy8U0sMcMQlWsx7XfOumTi1IS4qTj1suLwUWKEeipVn_rnb1zk-aKjCS154NwG7BVR6RxW3aSsoXc/s900/psalm22lent2b.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 22:27" border="0" width="500" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbcAl9pp_jiyA5v6dwAWlrluopuyqrm68jZRBvQ3AbJ1VgjRRWsl3V4AoYrCZVICL5UibLv6S1RsmMQ7fnLLJ47iNjX0Qa6Kkf7fpYzEiy8U0sMcMQlWsx7XfOumTi1IS4qTj1suLwUWKEeipVn_rnb1zk-aKjCS154NwG7BVR6RxW3aSsoXc/s600/psalm22lent2b.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>All the ends of the world shall remember<br />
and turn unto the Lord:<br />
all the kindreds of the nations<br />
shall worship before thee.<br />
Psalm 22:27</center>
<br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Mark 8:31-37</font><br />
<br />
<sup>31</sup> Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. <sup>32</sup> He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. <sup>33</sup> But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
<br /><br />
<sup>34</sup> Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. <sup>35</sup> For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. <sup>36</sup> For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? <sup>37</sup> Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?"
</blockquote><br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">Overview of Mark's Gospel</a>
<br /><br />
<font size="4">Currents / Recently in Mark</font>
<br /><br />
An Old English word for the season of Spring, <i>Lent</i> refers to lengthening days in the Northern Hemisphere. Lent is a season of repentance and re-orientation; Lent is a season of awareness that we receive life as a gift of God's grace and mercy, a season freely to offer grace, mercy, and life to others.
<br /><br />
Today's reading concludes the first half of Mark's gospel. It comes before the Transfiguration event we studied two weeks ago in Mark 9:2-9.
<br /><br />
For some reason the Revised Common Lectionary didn't include Mark 8:27-29 with Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ (also prior to Transfiguration). Although it comes immediately before today's gospel, we'll hear it next autumn toward the end of the season of Pentecost.
<br /><br />
• 8:27-28 Jesus asks his disciples, "who do you say that I am?" "Some say…" "But who do <i>you</i> say I am? 8:29 Peter answers, "Thou art the Christ."
<br /><br />
Although it's important to listen to and consider what other people say, like Peter, ultimately each of us needs to talk and walk our own testimony of Jesus' identity.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Today's Gospel Reading</font>
<br /><br />
Today's scripture portion opens with Mark 8:31 that's sometimes referred to as Jesus' first passion prediction of the three in Mark's gospel. Notice that Jesus not only predicts his death; he also foretells his resurrection to new life after his death. Jesus then teaches his disciples about the way of the cross, about paradoxically losing their lives in order to gain life.
<br /><br />
verse 31: "…and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." In our parlance that would be church leaders of every level and type and persuasion, seminary professors, The Ecclesiastical Establishment.
<br /><br />
In verses 35, 36, 37 life is "psych" that we know from a wide range of English words. <i>Psych</i> implies psychological, emotional, volitional, relational, and every aspect of our humanity—similar to <i>heart</i> in Hebrew. This isn't the God-infused Zoë–life that brings us the name Zoë, nor is it the biologically basic <i>bios</i>. As with most events in Jesus' ministry that made it into the gospel accounts, this teaching probably wasn't a one-time occurrence; most likely Jesus repeated it on several occasions so his disciples heard it more than once.
<br /><br />
Jesus talks about taking up the cross and following him—about giving up our own druthers and preferences to help take care of the needs of our neighbors. Jesus' cross becomes our cross. For most of us, service to the neighbor begins where we find ourselves here and now.
<br /><br />
Jesus original context was the Roman empire that occupied his homeland and controlled every facet of existence. His ministry of love, healing, and compassion, his nonviolent resistance to religious, political, and economic powers was contrary to Rome's values and ultimately led him to the cross.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Where We Live – #Resist</font>
<br /><br />
As twenty-first disciples of Jesus baptized into his death and resurrection, our contemporary context is Jesus' current setting: We are what we eat: in the Lord's Supper we receive Jesus Christ the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, the Cup of Salvation. We are the Body of the crucified and risen Christ; Jesus' cross of service to neighbor becomes ours cross of service as we give up our druthers.
<br /><br />
Some interpretations of this text have ignored his charge to lose our lives <i>for the sake of the gospel, for the possibility of God's reign in our midst</i>. Sidelining our preferences and following Jesus means to recognize, to name, and to resist planetary and human suffering that happens because of neglect, indifference, empire, and exploitation. Denying and following means to embody God's love, mercy, compassion, and justice in the face of hatred, discrimination, injustice, and every dehumanizing force. In the contemporary vernacular, it means to #resist everything that results in death, desecration, destruction, and marginalization, etc. God calls us to act in ways that translate words into actions into results.
<br /><br />
As Pastor Eugene Peterson says in his translation of today's responsive psalm, "from now on God has the last word – down-and-outers sit at God's table and eat their fill." Does that sound like Jesus? Does it sound like us?
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Seven Marks</font>
<br /><br />
Martin Luther listed seven marks of the presence of the church—please take note of the seventh:
<br /><br />
• the proclaimed word<br />
• baptism<br />
• Holy Communion / Lord's Supper<br />
• keys and confession<br />
• ordered ministry<br />
• prayer—including the liturgy<br />
• the cross, "suffering and persecution"
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Lent 2B 2006</font>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://desertspiritsfire.blogspot.com/2006/03/lent-2-b-considerations-abraham-and-us.html" target="_blank">Sermon-Reflection from 2006</a> on the First (Genesis 17:1-7) and Second (Romans 4:13, 16) readings for Lent 2B
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRnDt8US29mMWfOfSxY7gkKCfuJCqyJeuNk_Ma67rtFOG3S91Zzo2E-oSnikYHg5hga7a9DPrceqHdgwdBHPx0-Y7usAkA1fuOs5rMgC9E9Do87tUyTypbl3oX5rJ8O9OCu1U07ZpuPlERhB38BwfuALyXwH5F_OQ17vQBsQ1aGXmrVAuhox3/s605/lent2024cross.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Spring Lent Cross" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="605" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRnDt8US29mMWfOfSxY7gkKCfuJCqyJeuNk_Ma67rtFOG3S91Zzo2E-oSnikYHg5hga7a9DPrceqHdgwdBHPx0-Y7usAkA1fuOs5rMgC9E9Do87tUyTypbl3oX5rJ8O9OCu1U07ZpuPlERhB38BwfuALyXwH5F_OQ17vQBsQ1aGXmrVAuhox3/s320/lent2024cross.jpg"/></a></div>
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-59262411964291304272024-02-17T16:30:00.000-08:002024-02-17T16:40:02.543-08:00Lent 1B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR53hAbmkCd9nitOU14Zj0xnJeKC_NzT92wcVLZdVFiIrmqFyHxvfeUMBHq5sWIzk4KlNGtcgQdtJYT1xuItvQaKikxoA1ruy7bIM5DM2VV9eXyUgG4s6dN2Hn2hnpMDSoMEUvSK7wOjmr7K9z_oqdJOonFqwIg_eQmZaXFpPIXLU-CT-4i8MK/s803/peaceable1846drybrusg.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks" border="0" width="500" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR53hAbmkCd9nitOU14Zj0xnJeKC_NzT92wcVLZdVFiIrmqFyHxvfeUMBHq5sWIzk4KlNGtcgQdtJYT1xuItvQaKikxoA1ruy7bIM5DM2VV9eXyUgG4s6dN2Hn2hnpMDSoMEUvSK7wOjmr7K9z_oqdJOonFqwIg_eQmZaXFpPIXLU-CT-4i8MK/s400/peaceable1846drybrusg.jpg"/></a></div>
<center><i>Peaceable Kingdom</i> by Edward Hicks, circa 1846</center>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">Overview of Mark's Gospel</a>
<br /><br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Mark 1:9-15</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>9</sup> In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. <sup>10</sup> And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. <br /><sup>11</sup> And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
<br /><br />
<sup>12</sup> And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. <sup>13</sup> Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.<br />
<br />
<sup>14</sup> Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, <sup>15</sup> and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Days Lengthen…</font>
<br /><br />
…in the global North. <i>Lent</i> comes from old English for spring with its gradually longer days. The slow music tempo, Lento, comes from the same root. During Lent we slow down, breathe, often take on spiritual and direct service practices and projects, sometimes "give up" a pleasure like chocolate, desserts, or social media. Lenten liturgical colors of purple and lavender reflect that seriousness.
<br /><br />
There's an individualistic aspect to Lent because if the micro-level doesn't function well, how can the whole be healthy? However, Lent especially emphasizes our position within the gathered people of God, as persons baptized into the body of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. Lent is a season of preparation for baptism or renewal of baptism at the Easter Vigil.
<br /><br />
Lent was one of the church's first set-apart seasons that probably began not long after Jesus' death and resurrection, possibly as only a several days long observance. Currently Lent goes from Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week for churches that celebrate the liturgy of the Three Days or Triduum (Maundy Thursday – Good Friday – Resurrection Sunday); for those that don't, Lent usually is from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday evening.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">The First Sunday in Lent</font>
<br /><br />
Every year the gospel reading on the first Sunday in Lent is Jesus' post-baptismal wilderness testing. Sunday "in but not of Lent" because every Sunday is a festival of resurrection, although we buried the alleluias <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2024/02/transfiguration-2024.html" target="_blank">last Sunday on Transfiguration</a>. After his baptism, the Holy Spirit takes Jesus from wilderness alongside the Jordan river into deeper, denser wilds. Matthew and Luke detail the challenges to Jesus' identity before he returns to begin his public ministry, but Mark describes all forty days with one verse of twenty-one words in Greek.
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Matthew 4:1-11</a>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A9-15&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Mark 1:9-15</a>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4%3A1-13&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Luke 4:1-13</a>
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Baptism, Identity, Resistance</font>
<br /><br />
The world has seen an endless series of political and economic empires that oppress persons, impoverish society, bankrupt creation. The Roman Empire is the context for Jesus and his disciples.
<br /><br />
For this year of Mark, the lectionary peeps included Jesus' baptism before telling about his approximately one month in the wilderness—because the wilderness testings in Mark are only two verses long, one that announces the Spirit catapulted him there, a second that says what happened there? Possibly, but (even realizing Jesus' baptism was not trinitarian as ours is) Lent also emphasizes and somewhat tests <i>our</i> baptismal identities.
<br /><br />
Martin Luther says in baptism we renounce the unholy trinity of sin, death, and devil to live bathed in grace for the sake of the world. As we follow Jesus, our baptism calls and enables us to resist empire in a multitude of ways.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Today's Gospel Account</font>
<br /><br />
Mark's story of Jesus is renowned for the word <i>immediately</i>, its brevity, and its non-stop action. On <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2024/01/epiphany-4b.html" target="_blank">Epiphany 4 we experienced Jesus' first act of public ministry</a> when he expelled an unclean spirit from a synagogue visitor to set the style for what comes next. Jesus in Mark confronts, engages, and disarms religious, political, social, cultural, economic (make your own list) powers and forces.
<br /><br />
Mark's Jesus is right in line with Colossians 2:15, <i>He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.</i>
<br /><br />
• Some <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+2%3A8-15&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Baptismal theology in Colossians 2:8-15</a>.
<br /><br />
• How does a person resist empire, corruption, deceit, poverty, and death? Can an entity such as a church, a school, or a manufacturer resist?
<br /><br />
• How do you interpret Jesus in Mark 9:29 telling us "this kind [of demon] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." Political prisoners refusing to eat? Communities of faith fasting for a cause?
<br /><br />
• What can we make of the death on Friday of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny? Will his life of resistance and hope make a difference for Russia and for the world?
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">More for Lent 1</font>
<br /><br />
The first reading for today, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+9%3A8-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Genesis 9:8-17</a>, describes God's covenant with Noah, his sons, their descendants, and with "every living thing." It says <i>every living thing</i> three times! Although we refer to this as a covenant, a covenant has two parties, but God alone makes this agreement, which makes it a Promise by God rather than a covenant between God and humanity. Surprisingly, Genesis 9:15-16 tells us the rainbow is a sign so God will remember. As twenty-first century people we often use rainbows with their full range of colors as icons or symbols of inclusiveness.
<br /><br />
Mark 1:13 says Jesus was "with the wild beasts." Richard Bauckham, in <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/the-bible-and-ecology-9781602583108" target="_blank">The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation</a> points out that elsewhere in Mark's gospel "being with" is language of love and it conveys close friendship.
<br /><br />
Bauckham suggests portraying Jesus where the wild things are evokes the Peaceable Kingdom in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+11%3A1-9&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Isaiah 11:1-9</a>. This vision of messianic peace or shalom encompasses all creation, with humans and animals living together in harmony. It belongs to the many ways God's reign comes near in Jesus—and in us, Jesus' present-day disciples.
<br /> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQYYpvuww4OHm5bDL4howQrglsqj84x395iMWAyBhU9KPt3FRTw3MYfhQOYLXkN3fRTF2NaCdc6JS55XC4pjj3f_XlqWvUtDTLorBczy-0euHa0Rlz3i4IJ90EfFsOx6nQd73tyADO8VA2X8qIz2GJ3L74ErHaOSbRrsJ5Po8XFAV3_eajFVt/s1050/psalm25lent1b.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 25:6" border="0" width="650" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="1050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQYYpvuww4OHm5bDL4howQrglsqj84x395iMWAyBhU9KPt3FRTw3MYfhQOYLXkN3fRTF2NaCdc6JS55XC4pjj3f_XlqWvUtDTLorBczy-0euHa0Rlz3i4IJ90EfFsOx6nQd73tyADO8VA2X8qIz2GJ3L74ErHaOSbRrsJ5Po8XFAV3_eajFVt/s400/psalm25lent1b.jpg"/></a></div>
<center> Remember, O Lord, they tender mercies<br />
and thy lovingkindnesses<br />
for they have been ever of old.<br />
Psalm 25:6 </center>sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-43187677967682997522024-02-10T17:30:00.000-08:002024-02-10T17:30:40.020-08:00Transfiguration 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1s1QYGVJyepoyDhEIBNAAtxFCvSf1tE49rGI_30zlIbEyyj38zs9axo9BzInvoLVpjbcVyvsXaYae27nNslj9rjJN_KuMDgv0fWhuiv4VhXjohukomVuBIzTHU9wJbo0wmAGWlUProwG-H-ebZQvC-Bm2BF9ElxNYtutGX77lq6e9nuq5_7X/s1275/tfig2024mark_square.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Mark 9:7" border="0" width="500" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV1s1QYGVJyepoyDhEIBNAAtxFCvSf1tE49rGI_30zlIbEyyj38zs9axo9BzInvoLVpjbcVyvsXaYae27nNslj9rjJN_KuMDgv0fWhuiv4VhXjohukomVuBIzTHU9wJbo0wmAGWlUProwG-H-ebZQvC-Bm2BF9ElxNYtutGX77lq6e9nuq5_7X/s400/tfig2024mark_square.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>This is my Son, the Beloved.
Listen to him!<br />
Mark 9:7</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Mark 9:2-10</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>2</sup> Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, <sup>3</sup> and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
<br /><br />
<sup>4</sup> And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. <sup>5</sup> Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." <sup>6</sup> He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. <sup>7</sup> Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" <sup>8</sup> Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
<br /><br />
<sup>9</sup> As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. <sup>10</sup> So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Up Until Now</font>
<br /><br />
All three synoptic gospels narrate the Transfiguration:
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+9%3A2-10&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Mark 9:2-10</a><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+17%3A1-9&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Matthew 17:1-9</a><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9%3A28-36&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Luke 9:28-36</a><br /><br />
John's gospel doesn't include the Transfiguration. Do you have any ideas why?<br />
<br />
In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the same events lead to the Transfiguration:<br /><br />
• Feeding a multitude with a few loaves and fishes<br />
• Peter confesses Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, the Christ of God.<br />
• Jesus' first passion prediction that he must suffer, die, be buried, and be raised<br />
• Jesus charges us to follow him and to take up his cross.<br />
<br /><br />
<font size="4">East and West</font>
<br /><br />
Jesus' nativity and his transfiguration bookend the first major portion of the church year. In Christmas or the Incarnation, the divine enters the human condition. At the Transfiguration, James, John, and Peter share divine glory with Jesus, who also is fully human. Transfiguration in Greek is <i>metamorphosis</i>. Similar to Jesus' Baptism in early January, the Transfiguration famously brings us a Trinitarian theophany, a simultaneous revelation of all three persons of the godhead. The light show on the mountain (traditionally Mount Tabor or Mount Meron, though scripture doesn't specify) continues the epiphany theme of light.
<br /><br />
This final Sunday of the Epiphany season is Transfiguration only in Western protestant churches; Eastern Orthodox, some Roman Catholic, and some Anglican churches celebrate Transfiguration on August 6th. Many Orthodox churches observe Transfiguration for an octave of eight days—Transfiguration is that important! The Roman Catholic calendar also schedules Transfiguration on the Second Sunday in Lent.
<br /><br />
Eastern culture in general hasn't become as captive to Enlightenment rationalizing as have most people in the West. They easily acknowledge there's not a logical human or scientific explanation to every miraculous happening, for every revelation of Divinity in scripture or in our daily lives. Those in the global East routinely sit and live more easily with mystery and paradox than most in the global West do.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">The Only Word: Barmen Declaration</font>
<br /><br />
Moses (representing the law) and Elijah (representing the prophets) appeared on the mountain with Jesus, the ultimate Word of God, the definitive interpreter of the Law and the Prophets.
<br /><br />
Despite all the brightness and resplendent bling, the voice out of a cloud doesn't suggest we "look at him," but it commands us <i>listen to him!</i> Mark 9:7
<br /><br />
Listen to jesus, not to Moses or to Elijah, who didn't quite get everything right all the time. In a biblical lifestyle, to listen is to hear is to obey.
<br /><br />
<i>Listen to Jesus!</i> and don't heed any other cultural, consumer, economic, ecclesiastical voices evokes the Theological Declaration of Barmen [1934] from the Confessing Church in Germany in the wake of the idolatry of nazi national socialism.<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.ekd.de/en/The-Barmen-Declaration-303.htm" target="_blank">Barmen Declaration text and background</a>
<br />
<blockquote>
Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.<br />
<br />
We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.
</blockquote>
<br /><br />
<font size="4">Christmas is Over; Lent begins</font>
<br /><br />
Opinions and practices differ as to whether the Christmas season ends at the Day of Epiphany, at Jesus' Baptism, or at his Presentation in the Temple. But with cleaning more sumptuous ingredients out of cupboards and pantries to make Shrove Tuesday pancakes, along with its parallel Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, and with Ash Wednesday three days away (Valentine's Day day this year), without a doubt Transfiguration concludes seasons that formally magnify Jesus as God incarnate and Jesus as light to the world.
<br /><br />
Advent traditions and scriptures still have a sense of repentance, yet Advent currently places more emphasis on preparation, expectation, and hope. However, Lent remains a penitential season and a time of service to others. Because of that, on Transfiguration we bury the alleluias because we usually don't sing or pray "alleluia" during Lent.
<br /><br />
Today we looked at Jesus' transfiguration. A quote from Nelson Mandela: "We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us." <br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4OEXtgh0Z1tEbRIplaxyU_h-0MqFNuWyxhXCevohSnqjfS7FZz_GSn7y7wyDLUBvotVL6xz6NE9IGSwnH5GZW9fjz8sIGM-ldS9qcsPXYZz79AhP_vnQnfuVv69t2S2-sgAwi2bhVJwFVCMP_cVLX1PlnJvgyEWVL3nIWEzMjwEP7KvhZn3Q/s1200/2corinthians4doulos.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="2 Corinthians 4:5" border="0" width="425" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ4OEXtgh0Z1tEbRIplaxyU_h-0MqFNuWyxhXCevohSnqjfS7FZz_GSn7y7wyDLUBvotVL6xz6NE9IGSwnH5GZW9fjz8sIGM-ldS9qcsPXYZz79AhP_vnQnfuVv69t2S2-sgAwi2bhVJwFVCMP_cVLX1PlnJvgyEWVL3nIWEzMjwEP7KvhZn3Q/s400/2corinthians4doulos.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>
We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord<br />
and ourselves as your slaves<br />
for Jesus' sake.<br />
2 Corinthians 4:5</center>sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-22266943933371739482024-02-02T13:30:00.000-08:002024-02-02T13:50:18.091-08:00Epiphany 5B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsGsK1iKPM0xI9WHRh2l1QbvPOpctSK3pYdJBndiDD-1zAnvn-8VC0n0bylmDulj3nWkDPg-MSOU45J48MrC8eoxoKngmciRm3V2dkmaJeLI_UqQTgDsGWTTZk1YlmBFE5giF3LhI-in9l2XA-OCU75dLUckjzF4ktVH_ZDLhIiRalxwgKnLO/s1814/psalm147starnames.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 147:4" border="0" width="550" data-original-height="1239" data-original-width="1814" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsGsK1iKPM0xI9WHRh2l1QbvPOpctSK3pYdJBndiDD-1zAnvn-8VC0n0bylmDulj3nWkDPg-MSOU45J48MrC8eoxoKngmciRm3V2dkmaJeLI_UqQTgDsGWTTZk1YlmBFE5giF3LhI-in9l2XA-OCU75dLUckjzF4ktVH_ZDLhIiRalxwgKnLO/s400/psalm147starnames.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>God counts the stars<br />
and gives each star a name.<br />
Psalm 147:4</center>
<br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Mark 1:29-34</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>29</sup> As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. <sup>30</sup> Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. <sup>31</sup> He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
<br /><br />
<sup>32</sup> That evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. <sup>33</sup> And the whole city was gathered around the door. <sup>34</sup> And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
</blockquote>
<br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">Overview of Mark's Gospel</a>
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Epiphany Continues</font>
<br /><br />
With this season of Epiphany, the church's year of grace is in a short segment of ordinary time. Light is THE Epiphany symbol; we know how far into the dark a tiny candle shines. Scripture readings for epiphany include stories of God's call to people who lived long before us, yet related to places and ministries God calls us to so our light can shine. Evangelism – reaching out to those around us with the Good News of Jesus Christ – is another focus of the epiphany season.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Healing – Resurrection</font>
<br /><br />
Today's gospel reading brings Mark's ongoing focus on resurrection and service. Mark uses the word for "raised up" we find in 1:31 sixteen times in his gospel; it means resurrection to new life. The theme of new life from death pervades both Old and New Testaments.
<br /><br />
When today's reading begins it still is the Sabbath, and they've moved from the synagogue to the home of Simon (later renamed Peter) and Andrew. Despite its being Sabbath, Jesus heals. Simon's mother in law needed to be healed, and God's time is right now.
<br /><br />
As night falls, Shabbat concludes, and another week begins. At that time they brought "all" who needed healing to Jesus and the "whole city" gathered around the door. Mark's gospel has a particularly cosmic scope! In this passage we get not an <i>unclean spirit</i> as in <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2024/01/epiphany-4b.html" target="_blank">last week's exorcism</a>, but a demon (the Greek word here is <i>demon</i>) that also knew Jesus.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Service</font>
<br /><br />
Verse 31, <i>after the fever left her, Simon's mother in law began to serve them. </i>
<br /><br />
Service is the second prominent biblical current in this passage. <i>Diakonia</i>/deacon with related nouns and verbs weaves a path through the New Testament; this includes Jesus' declaration he is with us as "one who serves."
<br /><br />
The nascent church didn't first ordain the Ministers of Word and Sacrament that people sometimes think of as the church's primary ministers; in the power of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, the church first ordained the servant class of deacons we read about in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+6%3A1-6&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Acts 6:1-6</a>.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Deacon</font>
<br /><br />
Diaconal towel and basin ministry replicates Jesus's act of foot washing that many churches demonstrate during Maundy Thursday worship. As Ministers of Word and Service, deacons draw on Jesus' model that reflects God's own servant nature.
<br /><br />
By first ordaining deacons, the newly-birthed church signaled that the church is supposed to look like people who serve. Of course, that includes Ministers of Word and Sacrament when they're out in the world, although the Minister of Word and Sacrament's primary stance is facing the church, very often in the calling or relationship of pastor.
<br /><br />
This is somewhat generic, because God baptizes everyone into places and ministries of direct and indirect service where our light can shine; God calls all of us to spread the Word of life from death in a wide range of ways; God calls everyone to share the sacramental holy ordinariness of creation.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Next Sunday</font>
<br /><br />
For Western Protestant churches, the Epiphany season concludes next Sunday with the Feast of the Transfiguration. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some churches in the Anglican tradition celebrate Transfiguration on August 6th, often for an octave of eight days. Lent, the season of lengthening, longer days that initiates spring in the northern hemisphere begins in ten days with Ash Wednesday on February 14th. Valentine's Day.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBHOzn3_GwPBq0s74bYM7SBCt3uKSBG5KjAdcHKcyJnjy8rE89-gr9r_EtQyqUUEU4G8uaajI1UphapYvgfRWmMHfGnpW2WETDaBttnsAwtveKpIpSsoWHK2lLIE3htlOXUjNGDzumR1-jBt9bbUQbr_gbBeK_tjs_3tEkSZ9w9S1ywPIMLt3/s1200/psalm147swiftword.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="500" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBHOzn3_GwPBq0s74bYM7SBCt3uKSBG5KjAdcHKcyJnjy8rE89-gr9r_EtQyqUUEU4G8uaajI1UphapYvgfRWmMHfGnpW2WETDaBttnsAwtveKpIpSsoWHK2lLIE3htlOXUjNGDzumR1-jBt9bbUQbr_gbBeK_tjs_3tEkSZ9w9S1ywPIMLt3/s400/psalm147swiftword.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>God's word runs swiftly.<br/>
Psalm 147:15</center>sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-72804611996253592182024-01-27T22:00:00.000-08:002024-01-27T22:16:00.160-08:00Epiphany 4B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eXk-KwMS9bebPe1UrpV3FxoVKl86pZqeWOg3i2lCkQIS95yokfSogl-Bav4IKYuQwMJPj0BXqJ3zIQLK1PQNubzG9chV9wquCGBxovC15yprLOw0saBDM1wVJt7UjACc7pwMmAqDwbRVR5n1CpUCwgp5_qoRS-gJpHNHlA_b5PW7PHrPCKv3/s1200/2024psalm111covenant_again.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="psalm 111:5" border="0" height="500" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="863" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eXk-KwMS9bebPe1UrpV3FxoVKl86pZqeWOg3i2lCkQIS95yokfSogl-Bav4IKYuQwMJPj0BXqJ3zIQLK1PQNubzG9chV9wquCGBxovC15yprLOw0saBDM1wVJt7UjACc7pwMmAqDwbRVR5n1CpUCwgp5_qoRS-gJpHNHlA_b5PW7PHrPCKv3/s400/2024psalm111covenant_again.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>God is every mindful of the covenant. <br />
Psalm 111:5</center>
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">Overview of Mark's Gospel</a>
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">First Acts of Public Ministry</font>
<br /><br />
Jesus' Initial Public Offering sets the theme and trajectory for the rest of each gospel. To get a full overview of the reign of heaven on earth we need to combine all four.
<br /><br />
• Luke: Jesus reads a liberation-jubilee passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 and announces its fulfillment in him. That very day. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4%3A16-21&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Luke 4:16-21</a>.<br />
<br />
• Matthew: after calling disciples and then spending time healing and teaching, Jesus embodies the new Moses! Beginning with the beatitudes in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A1-12&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Matthew 5:1-12</a>, his Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7 explicates and interprets the ten commandments. <br />
<br />
• John: Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding feast. A party! <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">John 2:1-11</a><br />
<br />
• In Mark we find Jesus in the synagogue on the sabbath and teaches. But then in a preview or foretaste of his finished work on Good Friday and Easter, he drives an "unclean spirit" out of a synagogue visitor.
<br /><br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Mark 1:21-28</font><br />
<br />
<sup>21</sup> They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. <sup>22</sup> They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.<br />
<br />
<sup>23</sup> Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, <sup>24</sup> and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." <sup>25</sup> But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" <sup>26</sup> And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. <sup>27</sup> They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."
<br /><br />
<sup>28</sup> At once Jesus' fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Unclean Spirits</font>
<br /><br />
What was the "unclean spirit"? Scholars aren't sure, but in this particular situation it definitely could have been a psychotic mental illness. It could have been addiction or substance abuse. The unclean (demonic, unwelcome) spirit was inside the person, embodied and unwelcome. It possessed him.
<br /><br />
<i>Unclean</i> also evokes the Levitical holiness codes along with the emphasis on ritual cleanness in Jesus' culture (remembering unclean is not sinful).
<br /><br />
The phrase can be a stand-in for anything that disrupts the integrity and wholeness of an individual human, of a community, of an organization or an institution. In addition, this exorcism provides a glimpse of the cosmic Christ with authority over all the powers and principalities we especially read about in Colossians and Ephesians.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Authority</font>
<br /><br />
• ...he taught them as one having authority... 1:22 <br />
<br />
The assembly in the synagogue (gathering place) has just witnessed Jesus' words driving out the unclean spirit; despite the text telling us they were amazed, their asking if this is a new teaching seems tame, although they add "with authority." The word here is <i>authority</i> rather than "power."
<br /><br />
• What is this? A new teaching … with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits…1:27<br />
What do you think of this near-conflation of teaching and healing? <br /><br />
God gives all of us, baptized into Christ, authority over unclean spirits. A new teaching? From Jesus? To us? Now what?
<br /><br />
• Textual note: the Greek uses the same word "spirit" for the Spirit of God and for the unclean spirit possessing the person in this story.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Recognizing Jesus</font>
<br /><br />
1:23 After Jesus had been teaching "just then" why do you think the man entered the synagogue? Because it was Shabbat and that was where you're supposed to be? Or maybe he wasn't devout, and had heard about Jesus? <br />
<br />
1:24 "What have you to do with us? I know who you are?" How did the man recognize Jesus? What do you make of the plural "us"?
<br /><br />
• How do we recognize Jesus?
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Disclaimer</font>
<br /><br />
I thought it was serendipitous that I discovered my notes from discussing this passage back in San Diego during 2015. I'd planned to rework, condense, and expand them some because they were in that "how did I ever do that?" category, but I had a couple of necessary and important interruptions as I tried to finish this. Maybe those ideas will filter into some of my reflections on Mark in the weeks to come.
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-27274626988373864512024-01-20T21:00:00.000-08:002024-01-22T14:42:27.830-08:00Epiphany 3B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UCglEq6fWvQDo-kHTJUtyusiXZajLOAfSKsiJgi9BZNGq1wOa2mJDMd5z7OuOZLIX-VhHYxP3S4tJDnKjCiZs6GzYUSB1Cjsa4knXr2GATaOK03FDlz36aNiNppJt0oq7sAgwwICOUS26ceBqKbFrDxpgZaaXzxzd0UmOuuwNqTu8zapOApU/s600/epiphany3psalm62.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 62:8" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UCglEq6fWvQDo-kHTJUtyusiXZajLOAfSKsiJgi9BZNGq1wOa2mJDMd5z7OuOZLIX-VhHYxP3S4tJDnKjCiZs6GzYUSB1Cjsa4knXr2GATaOK03FDlz36aNiNppJt0oq7sAgwwICOUS26ceBqKbFrDxpgZaaXzxzd0UmOuuwNqTu8zapOApU/s400/epiphany3psalm62.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Trust in God at all times, O people<br />
Pour out your heart before God<br />
God is a refuge for us. Selah.<br />
Psalm 62:8
</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Mark 1:14-20</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>14</sup> Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news the of (the gospel, of the kingdom / reign of) God <sup>15</sup> and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news [gospel]."
<br /><br />
<sup>16</sup> As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. <sup>17</sup> And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."
<br /><br />
<sup>18</sup> And immediately they left their nets and followed him. <sup>19</sup> As Jesus went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. <sup>20</sup> Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
</blockquote>
<br />
• <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">Overview of Mark's Gospel</a>
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Up to Now in Mark</font>
<br /><br />
• Mark announces <i>the beginning of the Good News or gospel</i>. People long have wondered is this first sentence the start of it all? Is the first chapter the beginning of the Good News? Or is the entire book of Mark the beginning, with the rest of us picking up and continuing the gospel? Could the beginning be all of those? <br />
• Quotes Isaiah's prediction of John the Baptist in Isaiah 40:3 that's one of our primary Advent scriptures<br />
• John proclaims (kerygma) repentance (metanoia, a literal change of mind) and offers baptism<br />
• John foretells the arrival of his cousin Jesus' <br />
• John baptizes Jesus<br />
• Jesus' forty days of post-baptismal temptations<br />
<br />
All that in only 13 verses!
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Jesus Calls his First Disciples</font>
<br /><br />
• Last week we heard <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2024/01/epiphany-2b.html" target="_blank">John's account of Jesus calling his first followers</a>.
<br /><br />
Preceding the call, we hear news of John's arrest—John was handed over or delivered up – followed by Jesus' first words in this gospel as he announces the fullness of time. This isn't linear time or <i>chronos</i> of calendars and clocks; it's <i>kairos</i> when all circumstances, all the moving parts have come together for God's reign right now and right here. It's in your face! It's <i>in</i> the person of Nazareth resident Jesus! Jesus has come back to his hometown from the Jordan; he's walking alongside the lake the gospels call the Sea of Galilee.
<br /><br />
With Mark's startling changes of scene and his legendary brevity, we don't know if artisan-handyman-tekton Jesus and the fishers previously had been acquainted. This was not a major metropolitan statistical area, so they likely knew each other by sight. Verse 20 tells us Jesus saw them, immediately (Mark's characteristic connector) called them, and they followed him.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Following Jesus</font>
<br /><br />
It's little surprise that late Pastor Eugene Peterson brings us an exceptional verse 17: "Jesus said to them, 'Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.'"
<br /><br />
<i>And immediately they left their nets and followed him. … James and John … left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.</i> 1:18, 20
<br /><br />
Mark reports they went with Jesus without looking back. In Mark and in Luke, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is especially incessant and relentless, but this first chapter says nothing about Jerusalem, arrest, trial, conviction or cross. However, as we move on in the chapter, Jesus exorcises and heals. How would those signs and wonders connect with Good Friday and Easter? How would they relate to subverting empire, with challenging – and changing – all the religious, economic, political, and social ways it always had been?
<br /><br />
Although Mark opens his gospel by announcing, "The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," and close to the end, a Roman centurion declares Jesus "Son of God" [Mark 15:39], were there many or any clues along the way to suggest or affirm Jesus as God with them, God among us? <i>Jesus called them and they followed.</i>
<br /><br />
We need to remember all the gospel accounts – even Mark, the earliest one – were written from scattered sources quite a while after Jesus' death and resurrection.
<br /><br />
<i>Jesus called them and they followed.</i>
<br /><br />
We think we know the rest of the story that includes death and resurrection. <i>Jesus called them and they followed.</i> If you were like the seaside fishers in this story with no clue about Jesus' future, what would you have done?
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHeI3HxBNaynQ985WpxGtw0maxYl6DMjDBqXYqPGmbycfTmf9-axL5KgnVQZ1sGsssyRMm2jJDP0Unmr8JjFGJwmxr7cuc4sSljJU8mOBcS0-7VWR5TOu1ZL-zuLBbkwd3Ds-Snqj1CEsFShkFE7yAmtchpTmo9HrPh6Yc6yUroDvPAptvxrop/s1000/2024follow.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="I will follow you wherever you go" border="0" height="500" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="765" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHeI3HxBNaynQ985WpxGtw0maxYl6DMjDBqXYqPGmbycfTmf9-axL5KgnVQZ1sGsssyRMm2jJDP0Unmr8JjFGJwmxr7cuc4sSljJU8mOBcS0-7VWR5TOu1ZL-zuLBbkwd3Ds-Snqj1CEsFShkFE7yAmtchpTmo9HrPh6Yc6yUroDvPAptvxrop/s400/2024follow.jpg"/></a></div>sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-57989976930474802222024-01-12T19:30:00.000-08:002024-01-12T20:04:13.338-08:00Epiphany 2B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCNW2ddLsvx3NUJueaVq4VnJN1C3PRUi6ewJkJLQMVQdsOyjOWWZ7c7XKU1hyphenhyphenATeP_y4IkHxvGaDnFo6zoczEGB0x-GXzuRznxtzSYzmyQbcw2hK6zuBWZ4quZhWd4sboZDUXklkimOv3n4-9U3SexBeVgbc9lGu61sqFhyphenhyphenUz2MUAP9YYbXfF/s1224/figs02epiphany2024.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="I saw you under the fig tree John 1L48" border="0" height="550" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="921" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCNW2ddLsvx3NUJueaVq4VnJN1C3PRUi6ewJkJLQMVQdsOyjOWWZ7c7XKU1hyphenhyphenATeP_y4IkHxvGaDnFo6zoczEGB0x-GXzuRznxtzSYzmyQbcw2hK6zuBWZ4quZhWd4sboZDUXklkimOv3n4-9U3SexBeVgbc9lGu61sqFhyphenhyphenUz2MUAP9YYbXfF/s400/figs02epiphany2024.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>"I saw you under the fig tree!"<br />
John1:48</center>
<br />
<blockquote><font size="4">John 1:43-51</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>43</sup>The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." <sup>44</sup>Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. <sup>45</sup>Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." <sup>46</sup>Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
<br /><br />
<sup>47</sup>When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" <sup>48</sup>Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." <sup>49</sup>Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" <sup>50</sup>Jesus answered, "Do you [singular] believe because I told you [singular] that I saw you [singular] under the fig tree? You [singular] will see greater things than these."
<br /><br />
<sup>51</sup>And Jesus said to him, "Very truly, I tell you [plural], you [plural] will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." </blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">The Gospel According to Saint John</font>
<br /><br />
Because Mark is the shortest gospel, during Mark's lectionary year we'll hear quite a lot from John that doesn't have its own year. John is the rogue, outlier gospel that has a different perspective than the three synoptic gospels Mark, Luke, and Matthew.
<br /><br />
Scholars believe the community gathered around John the Beloved Disciple that compiled this version of the Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ had at least two written sources: the Signs source and the I Am source.
<br /><br />
• John refers to Jesus' <i>signs</i> rather than to his "miracles."
<br /><br />
• Jesus describes himself as"I Am," referring back to God's self-revelation to Israel as "I Am."
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Time + Place</font>
<br /><br />
From now through the Sunday before Ash Wednesday (Transfiguration for Western protestants), we get a segment of Ordinary Time with the season of Epiphany. This season draws upon the primary Epiphany symbols of stars and light, and focuses on the Holy Spirit shining forth within God's people.
<br /><br />
<a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2024/01/epiphany-2024.html" target="_blank">Last Sunday for the day of Epiphany</a> we read about the religious, ethnic, and geographic non-Jewish magi visiting Jesus. You may remember visitors from the East – from the other side of the world! – found Jesus by following sky signs and by reading their own scriptures. After interpreting their dreams, they took a different route home.
<br /><br />
Recognition of God's embrace of all humanity beyond the Jewish people has made Epiphany a time for reaching out with the Good News of the Gospel. Call, vocation, and evangelism are closely linked and inextricably tied to the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. Like stars in the sky, our lives shine with the good news of God among us.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Call + Response</font>
<br /><br />
Nest Sunday we'll hear Mark's version of Jesus calling his first followers, but today Jesus calls his first disciples according to John. They include Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, and John. John includes Philip in this call story (the other gospels list him among the twelve), but only John includes Nathanael anywhere.
<br /><br />
Our baptism initiates God's call to us! Whatever our place on planet earth, whatever communities we identify with, whatever our gifts, interests, and opportunities, baptism bathes us in grace and sends us into the world. People sometimes have an overall sense of God's calling to a certain activity, ministry, or occupation. (Maybe especially) people in direct service professions such as teacher, pastor, nurse, frequently have a strong sense of call, though that doesn't exclude people who absolutely delight to balance financial books or create a beautifully presented dinner.
<br /><br />
But that's the bigger picture! We spend a lot of our time at the micro level, with one-on-one, face-to-face, five or ten minutes' worth, so our call and our immediate callings include smaller, shorter mini-ministries or micro-ministries.
<br /><br />
How do we determine long-term or shorter term callings? As the Epiphany Magi did: read the signs (who where needs what and how soon) and within us (what are my skills, interests, aspirations); interpret scripture (love your neighbor, feed the hungry, hydrate the thirsty); heed both waking and sleeping dreams.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Geography + Context</font>
<br /><br />
Today's gospel mentions Galilee, the larger geographic area of Jesus' hometown Nazareth. Andrew, Peter, and Philip were from Bethsaida; Nazareth was typical small-town. Nathanael's question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" reveals more than a little dismissive snark.
<br /><br />
Having relocated to Los Angeles from San Diego, I can tell you San Diego has a small town feel, has an inferiority complex from being in the shadow of megalopolis LA, possesses a border town sensibility in both wonderfully positive and disparagingly negative ways. Philip's "Come and see!" reply is the kind of basic invitational evangelism that pervades the gospels, that extends to "Come and see the stone rolled away" of Easter dawn, into the Acts of the Apostles, and then into our own twenty-first century.
<br /><br />
The gospel accounts, all of history, and our own lives take place in particular contexts or settings: geography; climate; time of year; time of day; biological and chosen family; religion or none; workplace; friends; class/ethnic culture… A website I follow observed how all of us now live on the worldwide continent of the internet.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Sign + Symbol + Interpretation + Figs</font>
<br /><br />
John's gospel refers to Jesus' actions as <i>signs</i>. We talked about sign, symbol, and meaning almost as much in design classes as we did in cultural anthropology! Maybe it's no surprise that linguistics is a branch of anthropology—the study of human culture, artifacts, habits, and communication. Whether words printed on a page, spoken out loud, or silently conveyed by signing with hands, arms, face, and body, languages symbolize realities beyond and other than themselves. I've heard that most interpreters don't wear masks (though at the height of Covid I noticed a few did) because facial expression is a critical aspect of interpreting the audible word.
<br /><br />
A street sign or a product label isn't the actual object, but points beyond itself to something else. Signs and symbols lead to substance. We sometimes refer to Scriptures and Sacraments as the church's symbols; theological traditions that include Lutheran and Reformed sometimes refer to their Confessions (Catechisms, Creeds) as symbolic books. As interpretations of scripture, they point beyond themselves into scripture and finally to Jesus Christ.
<br /><br />
Jesus told Nathanael he knew him because he saw Nathanael under the fig tree. I couldn't find a precise historical or scholarly consensus about the meaning of this phrase, but figs were one of the seven agricultural gifts of the promised land [<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy+8%3A7-10&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Deuteronomy 8:7-10</a>]; the sycamore fig was Israel's national tree, with fig fruit representing the people.
<br /><br />
According to Micah 4:4, during the "days to come" or Messianic age, each person would sit under their fig tree without fear (this is the famous "swords into plowshare; spears into pruning hooks" promise); and especially there was a tradition of studying Torah underneath a fig tree. Jesus' cultural background would have told him someone reading underneath the fig was a son of Abraham and a follower of the Sinai Covenant.
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-16908374767825816382024-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:002024-01-05T13:30:00.242-08:00Epiphany 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjro5TnTaiZRC0RxVzbUN31VEj9IKWfhjuqTR38w8iOsu64AJ0Rd6n2LlaysCMpFnyjxvTAhdmSZzpjzuYY_9mrzMdcNwd_ODavxd_fbEuA7Lq6YtBrw20GNXUOMnq7-I8mx3MOR-IzRBzHMbgIALJW0xY08ypJd3oDgJE47UX47BqKzV9vFcbf/s1200/Isaiah60riseshine2024new.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Isaiah 60:1" border="0" height="600" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="816" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjro5TnTaiZRC0RxVzbUN31VEj9IKWfhjuqTR38w8iOsu64AJ0Rd6n2LlaysCMpFnyjxvTAhdmSZzpjzuYY_9mrzMdcNwd_ODavxd_fbEuA7Lq6YtBrw20GNXUOMnq7-I8mx3MOR-IzRBzHMbgIALJW0xY08ypJd3oDgJE47UX47BqKzV9vFcbf/s400/Isaiah60riseshine2024new.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Arise, shine, for your light has come <br />
and the glory of the Lord <br />
has risen upon you. <br />
Isaiah 60:1
</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Matthew 2:1-12</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, <sup>2</sup> asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
<br /><br />
<sup>3</sup> When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; <sup>4</sup> and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. <sup>5</sup> They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
<br />
<blockquote><sup>6</sup> 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"<br />
</blockquote>
<sup>7</sup> Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. <sup>8</sup> Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."<br />
<br />
<sup>9</sup> When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising until it stopped over the place where the child was.
<br /><br />
<sup>10</sup> When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. <sup>11</sup> On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.
<br /><br />
Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. <sup>12</sup> And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Epiphany Day + Season</font>
<br /><br />
Combining the roots <i>epi</i> = "upon" and <i>phan</i> = "manifestation, revelation, illumination, uncovering," an epiphany is a shining out, showing forth.
<br /><br />
Days after Christmas offer several possibilities. When January 6th doesn't fall on a Sunday, many churches celebrate <b>Epiphany</b> on the nearest Sunday. Last Sunday <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-1b.html" target="_blank">I wrote about Jesus' <b>Presentation</b> in the Temple</a>; the <b>Circumcision and Name of Jesus</b> on January 1st would have worked well for this first Sunday of this new year. January 6th was Christ's birthday until the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine moved it to a few days after the solstice to correlate with the Feast of the Unvanquished Sun people already knew about. After that, January 6th became the baptism of Jesus, as it still is in Eastern expressions of Christianity. Some Western churches that follow the lectionary are observing <b>Jesus' baptism</b> today, January 7th.
<br /><br />
The day of Epiphany initiates the variable length (because the date of Easter varies) season of Epiphany that extends until Ash Wednesday. Or Shrove Tuesday. Western protestant churches celebrate Transfiguration on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, making the theophanies of Jesus' baptism and his transfiguration bookends. The entire season focuses on the light of Christ and his light reflected in us. In the global North, Epiphany arrives shortly after the winter solstice, making its symbolism of light especially full of meaning. Stars are <i>the</i> epiphany symbol.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">From the East </font>
<br /><br />
Because Matthew is the only gospel with the visiting magi, the gospel reading for the day of Epiphany always comes from Matthew. We sing "We Three Kings of Orient Are," but scripture doesn't say the gift-bearing visitors were kings, and it doesn't say how many there were. In fact, the only kings in this story are the Roman puppet King Herod and King Jesus. However, the text mentions three gifts that symbolize Jesus' identity and ministry, which is the reason the Western Church says three (although the Eastern Church says twelve).
<br /><br />
These three from the east along with their retinues probably were Zoroastrian priests, probably from Persia; they also were astrologers who studied and interpreted stars for signs and meanings. They may have been astronomers in our sense of people with expertise about the heavenly bodies. In any case, they belonged to a different culture, religion, and ethnicity than the Jews (Israelites, Hebrews), who were God's chosen, distinctive people. They were outsiders. They were not people of the covenant, bearers of God's promises. But a star led them to the Jewish baby Jesus who is savior of all, Lord of all, king and ruler for all cultures, social statuses, abilities, ethnicities, and religions.
<br /><br />
Today's narrative closely relates to Matthew's genealogy with its many non-Jews and ethnic "others." Jesus' final charge to us in Matthew 28:18-20 tells us to make disciples of all nations—all people everywhere! By water and the word, make them insiders to God's covenants, sharers of God's promises.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Discernment + Direction</font>
<br /><br />
These persons who almost definitely were guys based their decision to set out for Bethlehem and later leave for home by a different route on:<br />
• studying signs in the skies;<br />
• reading their scriptures or holy book, or maybe the Hebrew scriptures, especially Micah 5:2 and its reference to Bethlehem;<br />
• trusting and heeding messages they received in a dream.
<br /><br />
God does whatever it takes to reach out to and embrace everyone: a star for people who knew the skies and who trusted sky signs; a scripture passage for people who were biblically literate and trusted those texts; dreams for those who relied on less conscious, rational, information. Skies and scriptures and dreams all point to the savior of all persons. The reconciler of all creation.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Light + Evangelism</font>
<br /><br />
God said, "Let there be light" and light became the first element of creation. Today's passages in Isaiah and Matthew both celebrate light.
<br /><br />
Isaiah 60 announces our light is here! In 2:9 Matthew writes about a star at "the rising" of the sun, at daybreak, at dawning. Stars are scattered all over the Matthew reading with east, east, star, star (and magi in the room, not back in the stable). "From the east" is <i>anatolia</i>—the rising of the sun, and not Bruce Springsteen's 911 tribute song, <i>The Rising</i>. Latin words <i>oriens</i> and <i>orient</i> mean the same as Greek <i>anatolia</i>—the other side of the world from ours? Global East rather than *our* global West?
<br /><br />
The season of Epiphany emphasizes evangelism—letting Jesus' light shine through us as individuals, and through the church as a whole. Knowing about revealing Jesus with a star, a scripture, and a dream, helps enlighten our imaginations.
<br /><br />
This account of strangers from the East, from The Rising – where the sun opens wide a new day – opens up questions of inclusion, boundaries, people who are like us, people who are different from us. It begs binaries of us/them, insiders/outsiders, natives/immigrants. Even earlier than the three-part book of Isaiah, scripture reveals (provides an epiphany) of the God who fills heaven and earth as God for all, God with all.
<br /><br />
God has created us to be and to act in the divine image, yet we still need bounded, contained places and relationships. We really cannot leave all doors unlocked for everyone to enter. As families, as individuals, as a church, it often can be difficult to know who to let in or keep out.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Star Words + Chalk House Blessings</font>
<br /><br />
Stars are <i>the</i> epiphany symbol! As an alternate or in addition to New Year's resolutions, there's a recent tradition of choosing a star word early in the new year as a guide for the upcoming year. You can ask someone else to suggest one, or in the Spirit claim a word. I missed the past couple of years, but this year <a href="https://desertspiritsfire.blogspot.com/2024/01/starword-2024-flourish.html" target="_blank">I found my word Flourish</a> on an internet list of about fifty suggestions.
<br /><br />
Blessing your dwelling (house, apartment, office, workshop, studio, retail space, etc.) with chalk is an historical practice for New Year's Day, Epiphany, or any time. An internet search will provide resources to make the blessing short and simple or long and elaborate. The inscription for this year is 20+C+M+B+24—the calendar year with CMB sandwiched in the middle.
<br /><br />
CMB can stand for traditional magi names Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, or it can be initials for <i>Christus Mansionem Benedicat</i> / May Christ Bless this House. Although Latin "house" is similar to English mansion for a huge dwelling (or manse for the pastor's house that's not usually very big), it doesn't imply large. It's a home, a way station, a stayover place. You can bless the main entrance and/or separate rooms.
<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNul6CIGX-9cI03GPfQuniJLSBsqEW9meNwZFG4jZMdaaN_uRROiVaLsvYv2Mj5QEA4DQZZGybMg91AZZslpGblrSxf5qMQB4L_Oqqomutx8-J3CTfftK6xMPsm1QhScmNyvt584Emduuqev84oz8UIAVXW2pdPNiKXQcrGdnX9vr2Zy23UohC/s900/chalk2024blessing.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="House Blessing Blue Door" border="0" height="475" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNul6CIGX-9cI03GPfQuniJLSBsqEW9meNwZFG4jZMdaaN_uRROiVaLsvYv2Mj5QEA4DQZZGybMg91AZZslpGblrSxf5qMQB4L_Oqqomutx8-J3CTfftK6xMPsm1QhScmNyvt584Emduuqev84oz8UIAVXW2pdPNiKXQcrGdnX9vr2Zy23UohC/s400/chalk2024blessing.jpg"/></a></div>sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-40345040836061474212023-12-29T15:00:00.000-08:002023-12-30T15:27:46.639-08:00Christmas 1B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioA0MJVZhwGBQ4oou0-Su8PjhwUCCll4sW3A_7KCdzSVBfnCQSXpQYYpsSxBXS-SlSRvWeH4UZRypYLZ2cdAjpTUfXQkTVczSdw963YReVLL4_M1uBr-Rub7kqlUdNg-vlpE3YdzteWnt1nHvUH4gEnvy5wLDbnLa7gill3dih_8VdN3zBdmOO/s1350/2023christmas01b.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="the first Sunday of Christmas Galatians 4L4" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioA0MJVZhwGBQ4oou0-Su8PjhwUCCll4sW3A_7KCdzSVBfnCQSXpQYYpsSxBXS-SlSRvWeH4UZRypYLZ2cdAjpTUfXQkTVczSdw963YReVLL4_M1uBr-Rub7kqlUdNg-vlpE3YdzteWnt1nHvUH4gEnvy5wLDbnLa7gill3dih_8VdN3zBdmOO/s600/2023christmas01b.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>
Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials<br/>
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights
<br /><br />
The First Sunday of Christmas 2023
<br /><br />
But when the fullness<br />
of time had come,<br />
God sent his Son,<br />
born of a woman,<br />
born under the law.<br />
<br />
Galatians 4:4
</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Luke 2:22-23, 25-32, 39-40</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>22</sup> When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord: <sup>23</sup> as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord",
<br /><br />
<sup>25</sup> Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. <sup>26</sup> It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.
<br /><br />
<sup>27</sup> Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, <sup>28</sup> Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, <br /><br />
<blockquote>
<sup>29</sup> "Lord, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; <br />
<sup>30</sup> for my eyes have seen your salvation,<br />
<sup>31</sup> which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,<br />
<sup>32</sup> a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
</blockquote>
<br />
<sup>39</sup> When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.<br />
<sup>40</sup> The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Purification and Presentation</font>
<br /><br />
Although February 2nd is the formal date for Mary's ritual purification and Jesus' presentation and consecration, for this seventh day of Christmas, the lectionary condenses time to forty days after Jesus' birth.
<br /><br />
Today's gospel reading brings us a very Jewish Jesus with his parents fulfilling the requirements of ceremonial religious law that Luke refers to as "Law of Moses." In this passage, <i>law</i> doesn't specifically refer to the Sinai Covenant of the Ten Words or Commandments.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Paul's Birth Narrative</font>
<br /><br />
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as children of God… then also an heir." Galatians 4:4-7
<br /><br />
The Apostle Paul emphasizes death and resurrection so much that for him, the good news of the gospel <i>is</i> death and resurrection. In his only account of Jesus' birth, Paul refers to Jesus being born under the law's power, its boundaries, and the law's redemptive promise. Jesus' birth leads to our becoming God's offspring, as Paul proclaims elsewhere. Especially in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8%3A12-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Romans 8:12-17</a>, he also mentions our unearned inheritance and glorification in Christ.
<br /><br />
Paul and Luke both know a Jesus who from the start claims his place in the story of God's people Israel. Luke 2:21 tells us Jesus had been circumcised at eight days of age (the church observes the Feast of the Name of Jesus on January 1st, when this Galatians passage is the second lection), and to further meet the demands of ritual ceremonial law, Joseph and Mary dedicated Jesus back to God during the same temple visit as Mary's purification.
<br /><br />
Luke 2:39 says Jesus' parents "finished everything the law required" before returning home to Nazareth.
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<br />
<font size="4">Canticles</font>
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Luke's gospel uniquely includes three canticles or New Testament psalms; each has a place in the Liturgy of the Hours. <i>Canticle</i> comes from Latin for song or sing.
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• Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat – "My soul magnifies the Lord; he has put down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly…" at Evening Prayer or Vespers that's typically sung at nightfall.
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This is Jesus' mother Mary's song in response to angel Gabriel's announcement she will become the mother of Jesus.
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• Luke 1:67-79 Benedictus – "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; he has visited his people" at Morning Prayer, an office that generally combines elements of Lauds and Matins.
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John the Baptist's father Zechariah's sings in response to news of his son's upcoming birth. This is John the Baptist's father and not Zechariah from the book of the twelve or minor prophets.
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• Luke 2:29-32 Nunc Dimittis – "Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace; mine eyes have seen they salvation, which thou hast prepared…" this is the canticle for Compline or Night Prayer.
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Temple priest Simeon sings because he recognizes Jesus as savior of the world.
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<font size="4">God With Us</font>
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During Advent we waited and prepared for Jesus' birth as God with us – <i>Emmanuel</i> – the name the angel told Joseph to name the baby. Simeon had waited in the temple a very long time because God had promised Simeon he would experience God's Anointed One, the Messiah.
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Martin Luther at his Wittenberg Reform and John Calvin at his Geneva Reform both included the Nunc Dimittis toward the end of their Holy Communion liturgies. Like Simeon, after we receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation we are ready for anything because we know the fullness of God's promised salvation. We know it because we've seen it, tasted it, touched it, smelled it, heard it…
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-65949009954916658772023-12-23T17:30:00.000-08:002023-12-23T17:38:46.885-08:00Nativity 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmT-Sqv5Tdadad84QXljij-mhkp8nR9Zv3LVplQe2tWb8cFgC7OmbBsRSHrv10bQsCWsPdLxZJtYXl0wqz5qJIZ3ypb5pZY65z8_N4m3s-b4e_D-kUxY8GQL3AGaNhMXhlpIvvClHTAYxS6HgVocBihnnhUnhg9rzKYxGdOyrrzHpFssdusA6x/s1350/2023noel.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Christmas Wisdom 18:14-15" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmT-Sqv5Tdadad84QXljij-mhkp8nR9Zv3LVplQe2tWb8cFgC7OmbBsRSHrv10bQsCWsPdLxZJtYXl0wqz5qJIZ3ypb5pZY65z8_N4m3s-b4e_D-kUxY8GQL3AGaNhMXhlpIvvClHTAYxS6HgVocBihnnhUnhg9rzKYxGdOyrrzHpFssdusA6x/s600/2023noel.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>
Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials<br/>
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights
<br /><br />
Nativity 2023
<br /><br />
When all things were<br />
wrapped in deep silence, and<br />
night in her swift course<br />
was half spent,<br />
your almighty Word,<br />
O Lord, leapt down from<br />
your throne in heaven.<br />
<br />
Wisdom 18:14-15
</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Titus 2:11-14</font>
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<sup>11</sup> For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, <sup>12</sup> training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, <sup>13</sup> while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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<sup>14</sup> He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Letter to Titus</font>
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Martin Luther loved the anonymous letter to Titus! Written late in the first century or early in the second, with vocabulary, grammar, and overall sensibility that's clearly not from Paul of Tarsus, Titus belongs to a group of epistles from writers who used the Apostle Paul's name as a compliment to gain authority, credibility, and readers! People in that time and place didn't have our emphasis on correct attribution of intellectual or creative output and our robust legal protections. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus form a trio of what sometimes are called pastoral letters.
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Titus probably was a gentile Greek from Antioch. At the time of this letter, he was a teacher and church administrator on the island of Crete. We read about Titus as disciple, ministry, and missionary companion of Paul earlier in Macedonia in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%207&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 7</a>. The next chapter, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+8%3A16-24&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">2 Corinthians 8:16-24</a>, includes Paul's enthusiastic commendation of Titus.
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You can find an <a href="https://enterthebible.org/courses/titus/lessons/summary-of-titus" target="_blank">overview of Titus in Enter the Bible</a>.
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<br />
<font size="4">Grace Has Appeared!</font>
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In the infant Jesus, we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste God's presence and God's presents. This undeserved gift brings "salvation to all people." What does grace taste like? What does grace sound like and look like?
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I often remember some of my experiences of Christmas Eucharist, or Christ's Mass. <i>Julotta</i> starting very early Christmas morning—that thoroughly English-speaking congregation originally was Swedish. Although he probably couldn't speak more than very basic conversational Swedish, the pastor pronounced Swedish fairly well, and every year he read a sermon by Luther someone had translated into Swedish. A mostly choral festival in a Former City. Communing just after midnight in Previous City. A couple of Christmas day morning macaronic English-Spanish liturgies in Tucson, Arizona. Bright and sparkling Christmas day mornings at Church on the Hill in Previous City. And there are more, of course… what are your memories of Holy Communion on Jesus' natal day?
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In the Lord's supper, grace appears again and again. To "Body of Christ, given for you," we respond, "Amen!"
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<br />
<font size="4">Acts of the Apostles</font>
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Theologian of grace Martin Luther loved this epistle with <i>He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.</i> Titus 2:14
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Gifts of life that compel us to reach out in gratitude and offer life as gift to others. How could, why would, we do otherwise?
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In the Acts of the Apostles we hear:
<blockquote>The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When Barnabas arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.<br />
Acts 11:21-23</blockquote>
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Barnabas "saw the grace of God!" Not a splendiferous sermon. Not an impeccable liturgy. Not breathtaking stained glass windows. What was this grace that had appeared so people could see it, hear it, feel it, sense it? From what we know about the early church, it was shalom sufficiency for all. A common-wealth with enough to eat. Warm clothes to wear. A community of support. Work for those who were able. Grace offered back by God's own people who were passionate for those good deeds that offer life to all people without reservation.
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Body of Christ? Amen!
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-63999375368475922142023-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:002023-12-22T17:04:52.893-08:00Advent 4B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezCBYGyTodBwJjHMvM3LJOvPIuCtbmn1sZnl978FATFQEQgpDWVzofdkYlsOYOhr6me496DRGCmvCXeugz5AU3WG9uafYAPlu_z7ywZgO0NGZUQdcC-tSIkf3-4UNIJ1JgsDJvorfvpp3j4_jEp1pAzjZFVgsuNx5Vb_n8Cu9fHBMsdcCfVAv/s1350/2023advent04.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Advent 4 2023" border="0" width="550" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezCBYGyTodBwJjHMvM3LJOvPIuCtbmn1sZnl978FATFQEQgpDWVzofdkYlsOYOhr6me496DRGCmvCXeugz5AU3WG9uafYAPlu_z7ywZgO0NGZUQdcC-tSIkf3-4UNIJ1JgsDJvorfvpp3j4_jEp1pAzjZFVgsuNx5Vb_n8Cu9fHBMsdcCfVAv/s400/2023advent04.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>
Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials<br/>
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights
<br /><br />
The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2020
<br /><br />
The Mighty One<br />
has scattered the proud<br />
in the imaginations of their hearts<br />
and filled the hungry<br />
with good things!<br />
<br />
Luke 1:51-53</center>
<br />
<font size="4">Advent 2023</font>
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This has been the shortest possible Advent, with the fourth Sunday of Advent on Sunday morning easing into Christmas Eve on Sunday evening. Around the interwebs I've noticed that quite a few churches plan to forego Sunday morning worship on the 24th. In order to experience all four Advent Sundays, some observed the first Sunday of Advent on November 26th, or what otherwise was Reign of Christ Sunday.
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<br />
<font size="4">Scriptures</font>
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At least some time during Advent, why not listen to God's counsel and promise to David through the prophet Nathan? How can we not read Gabriel's announcement to Mary? Why wouldn't we sing Mary's Magnificat with its promise of the end of the world as we've known it—the end of death, destruction, empire, violence, exploitation? The dawn of hope and possibility?
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<blockquote>
<font size="4">2 Samuel 7:2, 4-7, 11b</font>
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<sup>2</sup> The king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent."
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<sup>4</sup> But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: <sup>5</sup> Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? <sup>6</sup> I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.
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<sup>7</sup> Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" <sup>11b</sup> Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.</blockquote>
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• <b>Despite his knowledge of the on-the-move God of the covenants</b> who journeyed with the people, David's desire to construct a quality home where God could take up residence was more than reasonable. Other divinities of the Ancient Near East (ANE) were territorial place gods; David went along with what he'd observed and with human logic, exactly as we often do. Figuring out how to contextualize ministries can be a complex process, and all of us make mistakes.
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This passage contains more than one meaning for house: a physical structure at a settled location as a dwelling place for God or people; and <i>…the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.</i>
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God promises a <i>house</i> as the biological and familial inheritance we hear about in the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. According to Luke 2:4, "Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David."
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People sometimes announce they've bought or rented a home, but we really buy or rent houses, apartments, and condos. Love, care, encounters, and time turn those spaces into homes. Stucco, wood, stone, cousins, aunts, friends, and grands, ultimately <i>house</i> is a place of belonging. In addition to Christmas carols and secular seasonal music, we've been hearing songs like "Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?" by Bon Jovi, "I'm Going to Make this Place Your Home" by Phillip Philips, "Home" by One Direction, and they fit in fine.
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<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Annunciation – Luke 1:26, 31, 34-38</font>
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<sup>26</sup> The angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
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<sup>31</sup> "And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus."
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<sup>34</sup> Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" <sup>35</sup> The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. <sup>36</sup> And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. <sup>37</sup> For nothing will be impossible with God." <sup>38</sup> Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." …
</blockquote>
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• <b>From the start, scripture reveals</b> God's initiative and grace as God chooses, calls, prepares, and sends people. This is Mary's call story! In the Eastern church Mary is <i>Theotokos</i> or God-bearer. Mary carried Jesus, God's Word of promise, in her body (the literally em-bodied Word) with her wherever she went. Mary shows us how to trust and embody God's word.
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<blockquote>
<font size="4">Magnificat – Luke 1:39, 46-55</font>
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<sup>39</sup> In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, <sup>40</sup> where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted her cousin Elizabeth.
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<sup>46</sup> And Mary said,<br />
"My soul magnifies the Lord, <sup>47</sup> and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, <sup>48</sup> for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; <sup>49</sup> for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. <sup>50</sup> His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. <sup>51</sup> He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. <sup>52</sup> He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; <sup>53</sup> he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. <sup>54</sup> He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, <sup>55</sup> according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
</blockquote>
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• <b>Every day at Evening Prayer or Vespers</b>, we sing Mary's Holy Spirit-inspired canticle. You may be aware of how well people memorized scripture – literally taking it to heart – two millennia ago. Although we have the words Luke wrote, Mary probably sang a very similar song because this passage is closely based on Hannah's song in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+2%3A1-10&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">1 Samuel 2:1-10</a>. Mary would have been able to recite and make Hannah's words her own. <a href="http://desertspiritsfire.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-minute-friday-left.html" target="_blank">A few weeks ago on Five Minute Friday</a> I reminded everyone, "Hope for the death of death starts with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth."
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<br />
<font size="4">Word in the World</font>
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Mary asks, "How can this be?" Angel (<i>Messenger</i>) Gabriel explains it will happen because the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High overshadow you.
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Pregnant Mary carried God's Word of promise (Jesus the Word) in her body everywhere she went. We have been baptized into Jesus the Christ, the one whose body he promised his followers would become. Like Mary, as the church we carry God's Word of Promise (Jesus!) with us wherever we go. How can this be? The Holy Spirit has come upon us!
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As God reminded David and Nathan, God always has traveled alongside the people. God calls us to be wherever the people are: in the 'hood, at the supermarket, beside the taco stand; in the corporate boardroom, at the dog park, in the city council meeting; embodied in the world's hopes, plans, yearnings, and dreams…
sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-17937876885387502982023-12-14T19:30:00.000-08:002023-12-14T19:35:39.635-08:00Advent 3B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYLQTxoTEvkYMvO1uctBHsBhO32pkjkkxOs3FXg8OeXycWnq_C6jB2oqbmOWNHWP0zjoHistp8I3-6WaurkaRcGA3ZePmsptdJKla9lz_2Kq3TZlpilMudaIbwpMzModlE7-4a6lrluw5bSsKLJV6hTIACwdtgwZe5IOlpPyvDKLlXvtNgkWm3w/s1350/2023advent03.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Isaiah 61:1-2" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYLQTxoTEvkYMvO1uctBHsBhO32pkjkkxOs3FXg8OeXycWnq_C6jB2oqbmOWNHWP0zjoHistp8I3-6WaurkaRcGA3ZePmsptdJKla9lz_2Kq3TZlpilMudaIbwpMzModlE7-4a6lrluw5bSsKLJV6hTIACwdtgwZe5IOlpPyvDKLlXvtNgkWm3w/s600/2023advent03.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials <br />
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights
<br /><br />
<font size="4">The Third Sunday of Advent 2023</font> </center><center> </center><center>To bring good news to the oppressed,
<br />to bind up the brokenhearted,
<br />to proclaim liberty to the captives,
<br />and the year of the Lord's favour!
<br /><br />
Isaiah 61:1-2</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11</font>
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<sup>1</sup> The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; <sup>2</sup> to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; <sup>3</sup> to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. <sup>4</sup> They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
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<sup>8</sup> For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. <sup>9</sup> Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
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<sup>10</sup> I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. <sup>11</sup> For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.</blockquote>
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<font size="4">Gaudete! Rejoice! Invitation!</font>
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The third Sunday of Advent sometimes is called Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday from the opening of the entrance prayer in the Latin rite. Taking a joy-filled break originated when Advent was mostly penitential rather than our contemporary season of hope. Blue is advent's color for the hope of newness and rebirth; blue sometimes is advent's color because of sorrow, grief, and loss. Just as on the fourth Sunday in Lent, for this third Advent Sunday, churches who have them often use rose or pink vestments and paraments to indicate a joy-filled intermission.
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Are any of my readers ready to research and present a history of Advent? Whenever we begin a new liturgical season I provide a quick overview, but It's always about current Western churches—Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and other traditions that follow the ecumenical calendar. I know that information well, but I know close to zero about non-Western churches and about the overall timeline of how the church year evolved.
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<font size="4">Isaiah, Prophets</font>
<br /><br />
Again this week God speaks through Third Isaiah, offering challenge, comfort, and hope to the southern kingdom Judah after some exiles returned from Babylon to rebuild infrastructure, community, and traditions. He (it probably was a guy) also spoke to people who'd stayed behind and never left Jerusalem.
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Prophets speak against the political, economic, social, and religious <i>status quo</i>. Prophets call people to repent, to turn around, to re-direct their lives. But more than anything, prophecy announces God doing a new thing, the inbreaking of the reign of heaven on earth, resurrection from the dead! This week's particular proclamation is exactly that: urban rebirth; rebuilding from ruins, blight and devastation; turning upside down the community's sorrow, grief, lack of initiative. (Sometimes you just feel like giving up.) Resonating with the universalism we find throughout the entire book of Isaiah, these words affirm God does all this for everyone, everywhere.
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<font size="4">Isaiah, Jesus</font>
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Along with most commentators, I had many notes and ideas about this amazing passage from 3rd Isaiah. However, I can't do everything every week or any week, so at least I'll mention that in Luke's gospel, Jesus read and affirmed these promises to initiate his public ministry.
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<blockquote>
<sup>16</sup>…Jesus went to [his hometown Nazareth] synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, <sup>17</sup> and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: <sup>18</sup> "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, <sup>19</sup> to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." … <sup>21</sup> Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4</blockquote>
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Does that sound like something we need right now? Does it sound like the ministry God has called us to?
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Fun fact: Isaiah 61:11 uses the word <i>sprout</i> three times: earth sprouts; garden sprouts; righteousness and praise sprouts. This passage also uses three different words for God/Lord: Yahweh; Adonai; Elohim
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<font size="4">Advent Music</font>
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Many churches and Christian schools hold a celebration of scripture lessons and Advent-Christmas Carols on one of the Sundays of Advent. Do you have favorite Advent and Christmas memories, music, and practices?
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• Are you ready for Christmas music? Have you been listening to carols or singing them?
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• Have you enjoyed any in-person or virtual holiday concerts, either mostly religious or mostly secular events? Or maybe you're waiting for closer to December 24th? I've enjoyed several holiday themed TV specials.
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• Are you ready with a list of favorite winter (since we reside in the northern hemisphere) holiday songs and traditions?
river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-34805776919578649302023-12-09T19:30:00.000-08:002023-12-09T19:59:11.557-08:00Advent 2B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkVh-u9a5MHcPwfAFqDPUc49wCDzUhC6WpN8za-fhLAX-V48rmcoMemJVrP1nzYck74ayvcLbUWyBMXJ6DZ7H6JhMrZQo6kNDfRCemuLULCCVAYU2AfJ5SF1ShZu7GiNAKl2__xJ2aod8noTycBNcT7-xItXMSHrYQqpyPW99Ry1Xgz9Gurnq0Q/s1350/2023advent02.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkVh-u9a5MHcPwfAFqDPUc49wCDzUhC6WpN8za-fhLAX-V48rmcoMemJVrP1nzYck74ayvcLbUWyBMXJ6DZ7H6JhMrZQo6kNDfRCemuLULCCVAYU2AfJ5SF1ShZu7GiNAKl2__xJ2aod8noTycBNcT7-xItXMSHrYQqpyPW99Ry1Xgz9Gurnq0Q/s600/2023advent02.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials <br />
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights
<br /><br />
Every valley shall be lifted up,<br />
every mountain and hill made low,<br />
then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,<br />
and all people shall see it together!<br />
<br />
Isaiah 40:4-5</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Isaiah 40:1-5; 9</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.<br />
<sup>2</sup> Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her<br />
that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,<br />
that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
<br /><br />
<sup>3</sup> A voice cries out:<br />
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,<br />
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.<br />
<sup>4</sup> Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;<br />
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.<br />
<sup>5</sup> Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,<br />
and all people shall see it together,<br />
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
<br /><br />
<sup>9</sup> Get you up to a high mountain,<br />
O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength,<br />
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;<br />
say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Advent / Isaiah</font>
<br /><br />
Scriptures on the first Sunday of Advent announced the end of the world as it always had been. I love starting a new year a month before the one on January 1st! During the season of Advent we wait and hope together for the infant Jesus. We wait and hope together. Today's first reading tells us we will experience God's glory together, too.
<br /><br />
Last week's Old Testament reading came from Third Isaiah, God's spokesperson featured in chapters 56 - 56, who's sometimes known as the post-exilic Isaiah. Back in Jerusalem and Judah after being exiled to Babylon, God's people engaged in rebuilding social, economic, and religious structures and infrastructure. In some ways they'd returned home to the land of promise, but so much had been destroyed and devastated, they'd need to do a whole lot before they again could live in safety, comfort, and shalom, before they'd recapture a sense of belonging, a feeling "we're home now."
<br /><br />
This week for the second Sunday of Advent we hear from the opening of Second Isaiah (chapters 40 - 55), who ministered with inspired poetry during the Babylonian exile. We know today's First Reading, "Comfort ye… every valley" from Handel's <i>Messiah</i>. In today's scripture, Isaiah announces God's arrival—or more accurately, God with them in a way people could see and appreciate because God never had left. God then calls the people (Zion) to announce God no longer being hidden. In exactly the same way, God calls us to proclaim and testify to God's presence in the world today.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">The Road Home</font>
<br /><br />
<i>In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.</i> Isaiah 40:3
<br /><br />
Exiles in the culturally and politically strange Babylon wanted to go home, though you may remember Jeremiah telling them to settle down and contribute to Babylon's greater good—the original "Bloom Where You Are Planted" that's written down in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+29%3A4-7&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Jeremiah 29:4-7</a>.
<br /><br />
The road second Isaiah sings about is not for the exiles' return home; maybe surprisingly, the highway is for God's journey.
<br /><br />
For most of us in this mobile, peripatetic society and culture (maybe you've heard of digital nomads?), homecoming is a street, a path, an avenue, and not a static location, even if our GPS thinks it can locate us on specific coordinates. Isaiah continues with talk about the earth moving and major civil engineering enterprises: <i>Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.</i> All that sounds easier to walk on and drive on than we'd expected or known in the past, and probably quicker, too.
<br /><br />
• How do you capture (or recapture) a sense of belonging, that feeling "I'm home now?"
<br /><br />
• Is home for you a perspective or a location, or is home both a viewpoint and a place?
<br /><br />
• Do you have a particular attachment to a childhood home or homes, to the city or town where you grew up, to a grandparent's house, or to a vacation spot you enjoyed when you were growing up?
<br /><br />
• Do you ever go back to your place of roots, desire to go back, or do you consider that chapter thankfully closed? Or maybe wistfully finished?
river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-28587939206524485692023-12-02T20:00:00.000-08:002023-12-02T20:23:52.961-08:00Advent 1B<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMm3nX3429jETJJWNHfbYGFS7pg_QTDryUDocJ6wF-ddS7SzQBZBnMm0gj_THplbEWdrQUa9CbaKJypgsgPHiH_uKNqISP2fI1iy0tNOWmT_ponRsaTc7lmmGYVbl5ACZD5LcjUGHzK3yrfRR28gAtPrt4bWvwh_SYEuMSJOmZ3ha5MrtT9FgZw/s1350/2023advent01.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Advent 1 2023 Isaiah 64L1" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMm3nX3429jETJJWNHfbYGFS7pg_QTDryUDocJ6wF-ddS7SzQBZBnMm0gj_THplbEWdrQUa9CbaKJypgsgPHiH_uKNqISP2fI1iy0tNOWmT_ponRsaTc7lmmGYVbl5ACZD5LcjUGHzK3yrfRR28gAtPrt4bWvwh_SYEuMSJOmZ3ha5MrtT9FgZw/s600/2023advent01.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Advent-Nativity designs created from Winter Essentials<br />
by Alena Bugrova with legal reuse rights</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Isaiah 64:1-9</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – <sup>2</sup> as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! <sup>3</sup> When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
<br /><br />
<sup>4</sup> From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. <sup>5</sup> You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. <sup>6</sup> We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. <sup>7</sup> There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
<br /><br />
<sup>8</sup> Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. <sup>9</sup> Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Advent Hope</font>
<br /><br />
With the first Sunday of Advent, the church begins a new year of grace as it waits for Jesus' birth. Advent means toward (ad) the coming (venire). Maybe you know <i>esperar</i> in Spanish means wait, hope, and expect? Advent is a harbinger of Easter when we celebrate hope's fulfillment.
<br /><br />
Opening each window in your advent calendar reveals a mini-surprise that brings us closer to the gift of Jesus' birth, brings us nearer the day we'll give gifts and receive gifts. At church and at home, Advent wreaths are another sign of the season that's especially welcome in the northern hemisphere as we anticipate Jesus' lighting the world at the darkest time of year.
<br /><br />
But calendars and candles are homespun and tame. They have become too familiar. Advent calls us to get to the root, literally to be radical.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Advent Apocalyptic</font>
<br /><br />
With calls to repentance and hope, Advent definitely is a season of waiting and watching. Every year's scripture readings open up Advent with a splash of apocalyptic, signaling the end of the world as we've known it—the end of death, destruction, empire, violence, exploitation. The end of despair and discouragement. The dawn of hope and possibility. Apocalyptic/ apocalypse means revealing or uncovering something that's hidden. Very broadly, apocalyptic is a type of writing that uses one concept to illustrate another and that needs to be responsibly interpreted.
<br /><br />
We're now in Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) year B with Mark as the featured gospel; <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2023/12/marks-gospel.html" target="_blank">here's a short overview of Mark</a>. I'm reflecting on the Hebrew bible passage, so here's <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+13%3A24-37&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Mark 13:24-37</a> the gospel reading for today. It's from the middle of Mark's passion narrative!
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Today's First Reading</font>
<br /><br />
Today's Third Isaiah comes from back on home land in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. Along the way from Egypt through the promised land, into exile and back, the Israelites had lived some solid theology. Like us, in their heads they knew God could not be controlled by humans or confined to a small space. They already had experienced God as an extraordinary deity who heard the people, traveled alongside, and entered into unbreakable covenant them them. In their heads they knew God never would leave them. However, similar to our experiences, events had gone down in ways that made them wonder if God had disappeared.
<br /><br />
This poetry is interesting because instead of characteristic prophetic content that addresses the people with inspired words from God, we hear the people speaking to God. Pleading with God. Begging God to remember! It's very much like the psalms! The Hebrew for "tear open" implies a rip or rupture that cannot be mended, and is similar to the Greek word used when the temple curtain tore at Jesus' death.
<br /><br />
During Advent we wait for Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, who obliterates divisions between earth and heaven. This Jesus heals creation's brokenness and prepares our future.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Memory and Hope</font>
<br /><br />
It often feels as if God has abandoned this planet. With the overall state of the world, egregious and targeted violence everywhere, climate degradation, social distancing and estrangement (in more than one sense), and psychological distress that has led almost everyone to seek some kind of solution for restoring their emotional and mental wellness, even people who routinely trust God, frequently sense God's presence, and pray a lot have serious doubts. This week's second lection from 1 Corinthians 1:7 says "we wait for the revealing [literally <i>apocalypse</i>] of our Lord Jesus Christ." In today's first reading the people beg for God's self-revelation and intervention because they have a history with this God. They remember. And they remind God.
<br /><br />
Advent calendars and candles have become almost too familiar. Advent calls us to the root – to ground zero – of our lives together as people of God. We recreate our history with God in Word and Sacrament as we join with God's people in every place, every time. Worship and sacraments make those past events present to us right here and right now. As we re-member and re-enact the past, we trust God's future redemption and astonishing actions yet to come because we have lived solid theology with this God. Getting to the taproot of our lives together with God, we actually remember the future. We wait and watch and look for signs of God's tomorrows breaking into our midst.river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-91208567021725918302023-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:002023-12-01T11:31:05.919-08:00Mark's Gospel<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRy2PvRvt30ZgnSPSPOPcYjqEv5WXN61Hlz_jDNQIUgLBnUfrzUAuwf57BYpK0MhFVIfaJoob4IIyEP0fq2KX3zsfraKWCj3SmapCrL1ODHBVCL0cwQScX35CCJrQRTpQWY128SOL0OpjDracMsOsj1tRJplBQdE3TMuCvJ16bO36nOD8qqzkj3g/s1200/mark2024header.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1" border="0" width="650" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRy2PvRvt30ZgnSPSPOPcYjqEv5WXN61Hlz_jDNQIUgLBnUfrzUAuwf57BYpK0MhFVIfaJoob4IIyEP0fq2KX3zsfraKWCj3SmapCrL1ODHBVCL0cwQScX35CCJrQRTpQWY128SOL0OpjDracMsOsj1tRJplBQdE3TMuCvJ16bO36nOD8qqzkj3g/s600/mark2024header.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1</center>
<br /><br />
<font size="4">Concept, Author, Date</font>
<br /><br />
• Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) Year B belongs to Mark's gospel. Along with Luke and Matthew, Mark is a synoptic gospel that views Jesus from a similar perspective, although each has a distinctive personality. As the shortest and most immediate of the four canonical gospels, Mark is the one for texting and tweeting (also known as posting on the app called X).
<br /><br />
• Prior to Mark, good news or gospel was the returning Roman general's announcement of annihilating the enemy. Mark subverts that into the Good News of God's victory over sin and death, the triumph of the reign of life. All known manuscripts carry the heading <i>The Gospel According to Mark</i>, but this Mark probably is an unknown person or group and not Peter's ministry companion John Mark.
<br /><br />
• Probably written to Greek speaking gentile Christians, possibly but not probably as early as 45 C.E., almost definitely no later than shortly after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 C.E..
<br /><br />
• Between them, Matthew and Luke include 631 of Mark's 661 verses. with about 90% in Matthew, 50% in Luke, making Mark's gospel an important resource for Luke and Matthew.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Sources</font>
<br /><br />
A variety of documents that circulated in the dynamic oral tradition before being written down. Scholars sometimes consider a possible source called Q for the first letter of the German <i>Quelle</i>; "Quelle" means source or river. Was there really a Q? That's still unknown. Was Mark Q? Almost definitely not.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Content</font>
<br /><br />
• Proclamation / announcement rather than history<br />
• No birth narrative<br />
• No resurrection account<br />
• Mark doesn't mention Jesus' earthly father Joseph, yet because 6:2-3 asks, 2 "…What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 2 Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?…" we identify Jesus' as a tekton, something like a multiskilled handyman. <br />
• Many miracles, healings, and exorcisms<br />
• Mark famously features the Messianic secret: Jesus tells everyone don't tell anyone!<br />
• Just as in Matthew and Luke, Mark's Jesus loves to refer to himself as "Son of Man" – the Human One.
<br /><br />
After his baptism followed by 40 days in the wilderness that Matthew and Luke also report (but in greater detail), Jesus calls disciples Simon, Andrew, James, and John; then in his first act of public ministry, Jesus casts out a demon during a synagogue service.
<br /><br />
Just as for Luke, in Mark's gospel the journey to Jerusalem and the cross is particularly intentional and incessant. For Mark, Jesus' passion and death provide the fullest understanding of Jesus' purpose and identity.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Worldview</font>
<br /><br />
Mark brings us God coming near to humanity and to all creation. God no longer is far away, behind the clouds.
Think of how central the Jerusalem temple was to economic, political, and religious life! In Jesus of Nazareth, God no longer is contained and protected in the temple. Is there a new God in town? (But then again, all four gospel accounts are about God-with-us, God-among-us, God-for-us…)
<br /><br />
Mark particularly asks, "Where do we look for God? Where do we find God?"
<br /><br />
• Not hidden behind clouds or anywhere far from earth<br />
• Not in the temple – but on the cross<br />
• Not in established religious, economic, political institutions – but outside the city limits, in the wilderness. In the stranger and outcast. <br />
<br />
During this year of Mark's gospel, let's consider: do we find God in the mainline church and in mainstream society?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfzATiOTvgzpeROfn5FTO-PhlVloK0_lbCtaxKuzA7-TqZd0fTrv_b1W0r8EVZ9RuhQQpPJBwMracm8zoxIlTMU5dG8dHY6zwdllyZSqFF4zxF29pfJKEmQyPY_4II6AkwtUgAdWge3p2ATjilKlxHSNiPqMWcPxgBgqO9yJXQ-3t0YdzUfJf2Q/s1200/mark2024footer05.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibfzATiOTvgzpeROfn5FTO-PhlVloK0_lbCtaxKuzA7-TqZd0fTrv_b1W0r8EVZ9RuhQQpPJBwMracm8zoxIlTMU5dG8dHY6zwdllyZSqFF4zxF29pfJKEmQyPY_4II6AkwtUgAdWge3p2ATjilKlxHSNiPqMWcPxgBgqO9yJXQ-3t0YdzUfJf2Q/s320/mark2024footer05.png"/></a></div>
river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-60519215923832377602023-11-25T16:30:00.000-08:002023-11-25T16:41:16.502-08:00Reign of Christ / Christ the King<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFpVCyRNXp-lluGpg392jXmJB6zUXUQ8Lndn3Ffk-gmg6BeBIN6-ntknnfqpcQYUBfREdXlSvcEUyx5wq5hP8RHMH5vcTmH_GTWotQYl8Wp-f6JNlvTEQXTb6DidWrZbK1DQQTy-_mHRaJhKP-Mmc_-HXwqPLsPRXPom5yJm_xy4akYx83xQ28A/s1200/revelation_11_17.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFpVCyRNXp-lluGpg392jXmJB6zUXUQ8Lndn3Ffk-gmg6BeBIN6-ntknnfqpcQYUBfREdXlSvcEUyx5wq5hP8RHMH5vcTmH_GTWotQYl8Wp-f6JNlvTEQXTb6DidWrZbK1DQQTy-_mHRaJhKP-Mmc_-HXwqPLsPRXPom5yJm_xy4akYx83xQ28A/s600/revelation_11_17.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Thou hast taken thy great power <br />
and begun to reign. <br />
Revelation 11:17</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Ephesians 1:15-23</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>15</sup> I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason <sup>16</sup> I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, <sup>17</sup> that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, <sup>18</sup> so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, <sup>19</sup> and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
<br /><br />
<sup>20</sup> God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, <sup>21</sup> far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. <sup>22</sup> And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, <sup>23</sup> which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Reign of Christ / Christ the King</font>
<br /><br />
A king like other nations have! <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+8%3A4-22&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">I Samuel 8:4-22</a>
<br /><br />
<i>But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, "No! We are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles."</i> 1 Samuel 8:19-20
<br /><br />
<a href="https://jameshowellsweeklypreachingnotions.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">As Pastor James Howell</a> describes it, <i>Christ's reign is only powerful by its lack of power, its gentle compassion, its subversive humility. His palace is a lowly manger, his crown one of thorns, his retinue a bunch of clueless dudes fleeing for the exits, his armies the poor and pitiful of the world.</i>
<br /><br />
Every year the church's year of grace concludes by celebrating Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Pope Pius XI instituted the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe in 1925.
<br /><br />
This King reigns from a cross: <br />
<i>"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.</i> John 12:32-33
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Reign of Christ 2023</font>
<br /><br />
Martin Luther reminds us if we want to see God's power, sovereignty, and lordship, look to the Bethlehem manger. Look to the Calvary cross. This Jesus, this Christ, rules against all ordinary human ideas of power, glory, fame. Unlike other gods of the ancient near east, Jesus reveals a god not of a particular people and place, but a God for all people and all places. Jesus' authority and reign is one of servanthood.
<br /><br />
My July 2022 reflection <a href="https://cityparadise.blogspot.com/2022/07/pentecost-6c.html" target="_blank">Colossians 1:15-20 for Pentecost 6</a> fits today well. The pre-existent Christ fills and rules the entire cosmos, subverts empire, inverts the political, social, economic, and religious <i>status quo</i>.
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Today's Second Reading</font>
<br /><br />
Jesus Christ's ascension refers to his reign, rule, sovereignty, power, authority, stewardship—his caretaking and responsiveness to creation's needs. Does Christ the King /Reign of Christ sound and look something like Ascension? Today's Ephesians passage is the second reading for Ascension Day / Sunday in all three lectionary years; it's also sometimes scheduled on All Saints.
<br /><br />
"Seated at God's right hand," [1:20] is a way of saying Jesus ascended, or assumed authority over all creation. Unlike with human governments and organizations, Jesus' authority has no checks and balances. It is supreme. It is absolute. Jesus is "King of all the earth," as Psalm 47 says.
<br /><br />
These verses from Ephesians provide three poignant (body part!) images of Jesus' ascendancy, lordship, leadership, rule:
<br /><br />
• 1:20 – seated at God's right hand <br />
• 1:22a – all things under his feet<br />
• 1:22b – made him the head over all things for the church…<br />
<br />
…1:23 which is Christ's body!
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">The Church…which is Christ's Body</font>
<br /><br />
As <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1%3A6-11&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Luke reports in Acts 1:6-11</a>.
<br /><br />
<i>So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."</i> Acts 1:6-8
<br /><br />
When the disciples ask the risen Christ if <i>now</i> he finally would "restore the kingdom to Israel," Jesus replies, "the question is wrong," and tells them to wait. They will receive power (that's the dynamite word), and then they'll be his witnesses everywhere. In other words, in the power of the pentecostal Spirit of Resurrection, Jesus' disciples (that's us!) will continue restoring the reign of heaven on earth.
<br /><br />
The <a href="https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/heidelberg-catechism" target="_blank">Heidelberg Catechism</a> asks,<br />
"Why is the son of God called Jesus, meaning Savior?" And, "Why is the son of God called Christ, meaning anointed?" <br />
And then: "But why are you called a Christian?"<br />
Answer: "Because by faith I share in Christ's anointing, and I am anointed to reign over all creation for all eternity."
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Jesus' Presence and Reign</font>
<br /><br />
You may have heard about reformers Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli in their encounter at Marburg. Arguing the eucharistic real presence, Zwingli claimed the real or authentic presence (Geneva Reformer John Calvin preferred "true presence") of the risen Christ in the Lord's Supper wasn't possible, because the ascended Jesus Christ sits (is incumbent, rules from) at the right hand of God the Father.
<br /><br />
Though along with Zwingli he acknowledged Christ's ascension to God's right hand, in response to Zwingli Luther pointed out the Right Hand of God – God's sovereignty and dominion – is everywhere and throughout: in, with, and under all creation. Thus the right hand of God to where Jesus Christ ascended and from where he now reigns is in Zurich, in London, at Marburg, in Los Angeles, in Tokyo, in Sydney—all places at all times. And, of course in Holy Communion.
<br /><br />
Amen? Amen!
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Prayer</font>
<br /><br />
<i>So that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which Christ has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. </i> Ephesians 1:18-19
<br /><br />
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord<br />
Open the eyes of my heart<br />
I want to see you
<br /><br />
To see you high and lifted up<br />
Shining in the light of your glory<br />
Pour out your power and love<br />
As we sing holy holy holy
<br /><br />
© Paul Baloche – Integrity Hosanna! Music, 1997
river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-51516934978182998932023-11-18T17:30:00.000-08:002023-11-18T17:34:40.363-08:00Pentecost 25A<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTuAQYrX58Hsnlgc_x4ehycqiKJb1U8E8Uc4p0XZQjsGILBj0QlSnulnXRlBag5uprZe2wYTMAIASiQYW9rdUm-n0aP5Fz4ALQUZm6TsmqsdZWlCDn3FHuwSp34LZJbikRqnmo_RXpgZZt1vU3puRVhGLTuacIzL6I_47L7rXVtkcbuLT9TiyjQ/s1200/pentecost25psalm90new02.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Psalm 90:1-2" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTuAQYrX58Hsnlgc_x4ehycqiKJb1U8E8Uc4p0XZQjsGILBj0QlSnulnXRlBag5uprZe2wYTMAIASiQYW9rdUm-n0aP5Fz4ALQUZm6TsmqsdZWlCDn3FHuwSp34LZJbikRqnmo_RXpgZZt1vU3puRVhGLTuacIzL6I_47L7rXVtkcbuLT9TiyjQ/s600/pentecost25psalm90new02.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>Lord, you have been our dwelling place<br />
in all generations.<br />
From everlasting to everlasting<br />
you are God.<br />
Psalm 90:1-2</center>
<br />
<blockquote><font size="4">Matthew 25:14-30</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>14</sup> "For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; <sup>15</sup> to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. <br /><sup>16</sup> The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. <sup>17</sup> In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. <sup>18</sup> But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
<br /><br />
<sup>19</sup> After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. <sup>20</sup> Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, "Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' <sup>21</sup> His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
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<sup>22</sup> And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, "Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' <sup>23</sup> His master said to him, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
<br /><br />
<sup>24</sup> Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, "Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; <sup>25</sup> so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' <sup>26</sup> But his master replied, "You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? <sup>27</sup> Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. <sup>28</sup> So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. <sup>29</sup> For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. <sup>30</sup> As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."</blockquote><br />
<font size="4">This Week</font>
<br /><br />
The next to last Sunday of this year of grace, and here's the Parable of the Talents, beloved of stewardship committees! Although parables in the gospels often begin with, "The reign of God is like, the kingdom of heaven will be like," this one doesn't mention the reign of heaven/kingdom of God. Today's good news comes between wise and foolish virgins waiting for the bridegroom and Jesus separating sheep from goats on the last day by assessing who had faithfully fed, clothed, welcomed, and visited needy people.
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Jesus told this story shortly before his arrest and crucifixion. Is it about managing finances? About overall stewardship? Is it about characteristics of the reign of heaven on earth? The reading seems to start out with a cash infusion. It goes on to tell us two of the servants increased the value of the huge sum they'd been entrusted with.
<br /><br />
Torah forbids charging interest on a loan. Not only charging <i>excessive</i> interest (usury—think of payday loans)—but any amount of interest whatsoever. So our contemporary practice of "investing" money in securities, commodities, derivatives, or another market would have been against Torah. (Two millennia later, if money is making money, someone <i>still</i> is being exploited.)
<br /><br />
Some commentaries in-your-face point out a talent isn't an ability or tendency to do a particular thing well, yet we derive our concept of talent as a special way to gift the community from the instrument of financial exchange called talent. One source said a talent was about twenty years' wages. Although it would vary depending upon the person's job and skill, in that case, five talents would be 100 years' pay!
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<br />
<font size="4">Stewardship</font>
<br /><br />
We need to contextualize scripture into our own social and economic setting. Stewardship committees love this parable. Is it about using God-given resources of talent, treasure, and time in ways that multiply the presence of the reign of God in the world?
<br /><br />
This passage isn't about entrepreneurship; it ain't Max Weber's <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/protestant-ethic-the-spirit-of-capitalism-9780199747252" target="_blank">Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism</a>; it's not investment banking or municipal bonds. On its own, money is neutral, and to keep afloat, we absolutely need ways to get what we need, with dollars, pesos, or euros; with baking for baby-sitting, or another type of exchange. Individuals, churches, governments, and other organizations need money to survive and do their things. Tracking cash flow and reserves is an important aspect of trusting God in areas of receiving and giving.
<br /><br />
When we contribute to the church's ministry and the world's future, both giver and gifted enter into the joy that results from faithful use (stewardship) of monetary and other gifts. But what is this parable really about?
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote>• The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 25:16-18</blockquote></blockquote>
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• <i>The master chides, "Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest." </i>25:27
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Torah forbids charging interest on loans, so "investing" in stocks, bonds, cryptocurrency (or likely even your neighbor's startup) not only would have been risky; it would have been morally suspect. But at least on paper, would growth of the original sum offset any apparent decrease in financial holdings of any party?
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<font size="4">Then and Now</font>
<br /><br />
In Jesus' time and place, people believed all resources were finite, so everyone assumed a zero-sum existence. If the rich got richer, the poor must have gotten poorer. If someone's social status increased, someone else's had to have decreased, and so any changes the third slave experienced would have been negative ones. Given that expectation, he logically pursued the then common practice of burying the money so his assets wouldn't decrease. However, a slave was bound to do the master's grunt work, that in this case meant growing his wealth, which explains the master's anger.
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• <i>The master chides, "Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest." </i>25:27
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Despite the master telling the guy he could have invested that money, Torah forbids charging interest on loans.
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What do you make of this parable? In his first act of public ministry recorded by Luke, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4%3A16-21&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Jesus announces the time of Jubilee</a> when debts will be canceled, when all creation will thrive in shalom-filled "enough." When that time arrives, saving, investing, and stockpiling won't be considerations. But given the size and diversity of this planet, will that ever happen? Can it happen? Besides, some inflation is necessary to maintain a healthy market economy.
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Textual note: New Testament words for <i>slave</i> and <i>servant</i> get translated into English almost randomly as either servant or slave; the Greek here is "slave," so these weren't voluntary at-will or contracted workers.
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<font size="4">Into God's Future</font>
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"Well done, good and trustworthy one, enter into the joy…" The master promises faithful servants will be in charge of (steward of) many things, "more will be given." But what is this parable really about?
<br /><br />
During formal stewardship drives the church asks for pledges of money, abilities, and linear time people will contribute to the church's ministry and the world's future.
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• Rather than identifying with one of the servants/slaves or imagining Jesus as the master, what does this passage reveal about the gifts of God?
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• God already has been to our future and waits for us there; we've received talents/gifts to contribute.
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• Does this scripture promise or imply anything about trusting God with our future?
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• Would you call this a parable of grace or a parable of judgment?
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• Jesus announces Jubilee when all debts will be canceled, and all creation will thrive in shalom-filled "enough" so saving, investing, and stockpiling won't be considerations.<br />
• What do you imagine God is doing at your future, at the church's future, and for the world's future?river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-76733434678989972982023-11-11T15:00:00.015-08:002023-11-11T15:24:17.032-08:00Pentecost 24A<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjih1jk4sIytjtDbJ4xYRFw5iomyeN8K526iF_PD936dRpm2Y7uA7N-5woEQPitRTmtKKXL68VDisvw-RH8_7xr5-oyODxY2UwxyZbP2RTkrm5lK0hIuK8HUfOCRe4jHCCJzuFI23qbY83YyD6XgZtVxoPiSXcVYtpN1qXuEC2xIJB_1VsixwI9/s1200/pentecost24joshua24.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="Joshua 24:24" border="0" width="650" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjih1jk4sIytjtDbJ4xYRFw5iomyeN8K526iF_PD936dRpm2Y7uA7N-5woEQPitRTmtKKXL68VDisvw-RH8_7xr5-oyODxY2UwxyZbP2RTkrm5lK0hIuK8HUfOCRe4jHCCJzuFI23qbY83YyD6XgZtVxoPiSXcVYtpN1qXuEC2xIJB_1VsixwI9/s600/pentecost24joshua24.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>The people said to Joshua, "The Lord our God we will serve,<br />
and the Lord our God we will obey." Joshua 24:24</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25</font>
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<sup>1</sup> Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. <sup>2</sup> And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors – Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor – lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. <sup>3</sup> Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
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<blockquote>
• Intervening verses 3b-13 narrate salvation history from Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, and Esau; to Egypt, Moses and Aaron; then to deliverance in the Red Sea to Exodus wanderings through the desert; finally entry into Canaan with the gift of the land. God's actions. God's faithfulness. This history with God's grace-filled provision forms "why" for Israel continuing to trust Yahweh as their real god.
<br /></blockquote>
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<sup>14</sup> "Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. <sup>15</sup> Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
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<sup>16</sup> Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; <sup>17</sup> for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; <sup>18</sup> and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God."
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<sup>19</sup> But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. <sup>20</sup> If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good." <sup>21</sup> And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the Lord!" <sup>22</sup> Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."
<br /><br />
<sup>23</sup> Joshua said, "Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel." <sup>24</sup> The people said to Joshua, "The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey." <sup>25</sup> So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem. </blockquote>
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<font size="4">Hearing, Doing</font>
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Today's alternate first reading from Joshua pairs well with the designated first reading from Amos 5:24 that concludes, "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos+5%3A18-24&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Amos 5:18-24</a>
<br /><br />
Joshua, the sixth book of the OT, chronicles Israel's actual entry into the Promised Land of Canaan forty years – four decades! – out of imperial slavery. Not very far into the exodus or departure trek, God and people had covenanted at Sinai to serve God by serving the neighbor that later on would include strangers, sojourners, outcasts, and people who in many ways were "very other than" Israelite. They'd be going into Canaan that already was occupied with people who worshiped many other gods of various types. Joshua 24:15 includes the famous "…as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." This is another covenant text.
<br /><br />
In an echo of the rationales for keeping covenant with the God of the Exodus, before Joshua asks the people whether or not they will serve the real God of heaven and earth, "The Lord," he gives them reasons for trusting God by retelling substantial portions of the people's experiences with God. This God hears and heeds, acts and cares; God rescues, protects, frees, and redeems. This God of signs and wonders is powerful enough to annihilate enemies. This God reliably comes through for the people every time.
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<sup>19</sup>But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. … <sup>24</sup>The people said to Joshua, "The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey."
<br /><br />
After the people affirm they will serve God, Joshua tells them they cannot serve this holy God, yet again they insist they definitely will. What does it mean to put away other, "foreign" gods (we all have them now and then—a god is anything we put before and above God at any time) and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God of Israel, God of Jesus Christ?
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<font size="4">Holy God, Holy People</font>
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What does it mean to put away other gods and put the God of presence, power, mercy, and grace first before anything or anyone else? What does it mean to serve a holy God? What does it mean to be holy people in the image of that Holy God?
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In Leviticus 19:2 God instructs Moses, "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." The chapter then summarizes the commandments and includes <i>love your neighbor as yourself</i> in verse 18b. The Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant call us to righteous lives of justice, love, and mercy, revering God by serving the neighbor and establishing a common-wealth of care, sustenance, and shalom sufficiency.
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You may have some acquaintance with holiness churches that derived from the traditions of John and Charles Wesley. Historically members of those churches don't drink alcohol or smoke nicotine; recreational drugs are off limits, too. (Some don't dance socially… just like some pietist midwestern Lutherans and Scots Presbyterians?) Those practices and prohibitions help keep head, heart, and body clear and clean for lives of service to God and neighbor, because true holiness in God's image is both inward and outward.
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<font size="4">Witness, Testimony</font>
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Seeing, hearing, telling.
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<sup>22</sup>Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."
<br /><br />
Although the people agreed to testify to their choosing to serve God, chapter 24 continues,
<blockquote>
<sup>26</sup> Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord. <sup>27</sup> Joshua said to all the people, "See, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you, if you deal falsely with your God." <sup>28</sup> So Joshua sent the people away to their inheritances.
</blockquote>
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• <i>This stone shall be a witness against us</i>, but how can a rock, a river, a plant or any natural or inanimate object testify? Stones and other objects that serve as witnesses (seeing or hearing) in the Hebrew bible would make a interesting standalone study. Who would like to prepare and present one? Let me know! I'll blog it here and on <a href="https://desertspiritsfire.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">desert spirit's fire!</a> and circulate it on social media.
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• You might enjoy Joshua chapters 16-17-18-19 where Joshua portions out inheritances of allotments (land plots and cities) to the different tribes with a poetic description of each tribe that Marc Chagall drew upon for his stained glass Jerusalem Windows.sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-71319263989573640792023-11-04T15:21:00.001-07:002023-11-04T15:22:39.599-07:00All Saints 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBkDRDbnm3wMrykDRL53X4V-eLdEs5AFaKv40FxLZdMfxYSrTOOUngjskDWLN1tFqvQQZRXpW9l23MHtvxGpE8W7UMCKr5cuxzU0sUpw_F72RIYYrlEgpGYfZUTOJDXkJEfKdJAKn4NLVsTVmwbFkmPJ-yCD321RYykX_SZ-r9RFBN741ezVA/s1350/allsaints2023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="All Saints ELCA, University City, San Diego, California" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBkDRDbnm3wMrykDRL53X4V-eLdEs5AFaKv40FxLZdMfxYSrTOOUngjskDWLN1tFqvQQZRXpW9l23MHtvxGpE8W7UMCKr5cuxzU0sUpw_F72RIYYrlEgpGYfZUTOJDXkJEfKdJAKn4NLVsTVmwbFkmPJ-yCD321RYykX_SZ-r9RFBN741ezVA/s400/allsaints2023.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>All Saints ELCA in the University City neighborhood of San Diego, California</center>
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<font size="4">All Saints Day / All Saints Sunday</font>
<br /><br />
Though we especially commemorate and celebrate those in the Church Triumphant and their forebears, All Saints also is for those of us in the visible church, a day for everyone God has chosen, called, sanctified, and sent.
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When churches observe Reformation and October 31st isn't a Sunday, the last Sunday of October becomes Reformation. You may know Halloween on October 31st as All Hallows' Eve—the day before All Saints on November 1st. A hallowed person, place, or event is a holy one.
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In Central and Latin American culture, November 2nd is <a href="https://dayofthedead.holiday/" target="_blank">Day of the Dead – Día de los Muertos</a>.
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Sanctification, theosis, and divinization all mean the same thing. Eastern Christianity tends to use "theosis" with its <i>Theo</i> or <i>God</i> word root; Western Christians typically refer to "sanctification." That <i>sac</i> prefix means holy, as in the Sanctus–"Holy, Holy, Holy" we sing during the liturgy. With its root in <i>divine</i>, "divinization" means the same. All three terms describe the Holy Spirit inspired process of claiming, growing into, and living out our divine nature of being holy, just as God is holy. Some church bodies place themselves very consciously within what's called holiness traditions.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Saints Alive</font>
<br /><br />
For All Saints many churches display pictures and mementos of beloved saints; we celebrate their lives, cherish their memories, often still feel and grieve their loss. Saints or holy ones could be neighbors, parents, friends, relatives, colleagues still on earth or in heaven. Saints can be people in scripture or universally famous ones. What saints do you especially admire, remember, and maybe try to emulate? Today's remembrance includes all of us still in the visible church. "All of us" because in baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and become hallowed or sanctified; we become saints.
<br /><br />
At the start of Leviticus 19 we hear,
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:<br />
<sup>2</sup> "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy."
<br /><br />
Holy people? Holy God? Leviticus 19 then outlines the essence of the Ten Commandments, with added details.
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Writing to the church in diaspora, 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus, "for it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"
<br /><br />
The baptismal hymn in 1 Peter declares to us:<br />
<blockquote>You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people of God's possession,<br />
So that you may proclaim the mighty acts of God who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.<br />
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people;<br />
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.<br />
1 Peter 2:9-10</blockquote>
Becoming more holy, just as God is holy. Hallowed be each of our names? Yet even as we act with greater justice, love, mercy, and righteousness, our holiness (sanctification, divinization) depends not on our actions but on God's grace and love.
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<font size="4">All Things New</font>
<br /><br />
Our Judeo-Christian scriptures are clear about the reality of death. Physical, social, emotional, financial and other deaths. Death is real but hope is real.
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The Día de los Muertos website explains, "The skulls are often drawn with a smile as to laugh at death itself."
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With many life-giving, hopeful promises, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+7%3A9-17&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Revelation 7:9-17</a> is the first reading for All Saints.
<br /><br />
Later on in Revelation 21:1-5:
<blockquote>
<sup>1</sup> Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. <sup>2</sup> And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. <sup>3</sup> And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
<blockquote>
"See, the home of God is among mortals.<br />
God will dwell with them;<br />
they will be God's peoples,<br />
God will be with them and be their God;
</blockquote>
<sup>4</sup> "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." <sup>5</sup> And the one seated upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."</blockquote>
All Saints 2023.sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-16810355202099239522023-10-28T22:00:00.002-07:002023-10-28T22:11:10.886-07:00Reformation / Pentecost 22A<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5t8g3cqKlAH_v27oU_GE_0gL5sf9bJ1bCDN9WUJMqT3gT2TQNXnZf8I7mU8Aeisy5PrNPprxuai55ZvbVIX2GZubkwlD_4oa9uS5iD-p3HJnklynbIVAjNRU-8NWn0BBzWihKaC5RYlZlbc-pdroW6-OnsD2HafDbck0AFko0pDYc_40AvdcV/s900/pentecost22reformation.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="1 Thessalonians 2:8" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5t8g3cqKlAH_v27oU_GE_0gL5sf9bJ1bCDN9WUJMqT3gT2TQNXnZf8I7mU8Aeisy5PrNPprxuai55ZvbVIX2GZubkwlD_4oa9uS5iD-p3HJnklynbIVAjNRU-8NWn0BBzWihKaC5RYlZlbc-pdroW6-OnsD2HafDbck0AFko0pDYc_40AvdcV/s600/pentecost22reformation.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>So deeply do we care for you <br />
that we are determined to share with you <br />
not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, <br />
because you have become very dear to us. <br />
1 Thessalonians 2:8 </center>
<br />
<font size="4">Reformation 506</font>
<br /><br />
Most people know about Martin Luther nailing 95 theses to the front door of the Wittenberg Church on All Hallow's Eve, 1517. The church was the community center, the door the community bulletin board and with All Saints Day on November 1st being a holy day of obligation, everyone would notice and possibly read Luther's concerns. The sale of indulgences and supposed selling and buying salvation was Luther's immediate concern. Luther also had major reservations [understatement!] about:
<br /><br />
• general papal corruption and overreach from ecclesiastical life into temporal politics<br />
• clerical corruption, incompetence, and simony (selling and buying religious positions)<br />
• essential loss of the scriptures because only hyper-educated people could read Latin and because most churches neglected interpretation and exposition of God's word, thereby also losing the essence of the sacraments <br />
• misuse of tradition that turned past practices and even Fathers of the Church into lifeless relics rather than living ideas to inspire here and now
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Reformation 2023</font>
<br /><br />
Here's a version of what I said last year for Reformation:
<br /><br />
In this ecumenical twenty-first century, it may feel unfriendly to observe the Reformation that split the church (even though it restored the gospel). Because contemporary theology and practice of most Christian traditions and denominations – including the Roman Catholic – align with Luther's demands for change and renewal despite some differences, why not a special day to celebrate the sixteenth century Reformation, <i>and</i> for a church that's always reforming? The phrase <i>Ecclesia semper reformanda</i> attributed to Karl Barth, became a catch-phrase of Vatican II.
<br /><br />
But let's not celebrate Martin Luther! Don't celebrate Jan Hus, the Czech reformer whose life bridged 14th and 15th centuries—did you know that Martin Luther said he stood "on the shoulders of Jan Hus"? Don't celebrate renewers of the church John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and Pope John XXIII. Celebrate God's grace and freedom in the love of Jesus Christ. Celebrate the church's mission and future. Celebrate the first fruits of the new creation in the reign of the Pentecostal Spirit of Life.
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">Lectionary</font>
<br /><br />
Every year's readings for Reformation are the same:
<br /> <br />
• freedom that is ours when we continue in God's word and abide in Christ – John 8:31-36 <br />
• justified before God by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – Romans 3:19-28 <br />
• the new covenant promise of God's law on our hearts – Jeremiah 31:31-34 <br />
• Psalm 46 that Martin Luther loosely paraphrased to create his hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."<br />
<br />
Claiming counsel to "preach the text, not the day," let's also look at scriptures for Sunday, Pentecost 22. At least for this year 2023, they're a great fit for a church that's always reforming. For people who always want to move closer to Jesus.
<br /><br />
• Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 As God's people we can be holy (sanctified, set apart for a purpose), in the same way God is holy by acting with justice and loving our neighbors as ourselves.<br />
• Psalm 1 tells us a blessed life means to delight in, meditate upon, and follow God's ways. That would be loving God, self, and neighbor.<br />
• In Matthew 22:34-48 Jesus summarizes the commandments into a simple love God, neighbor, and self. <br />
• The second reading continues Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica. Though he can't physically be with them, he expresses love of the gospel and of the people. <br />
• All four scriptures activate plain and simple love and concern for God, neighbor, and self.
<br /><br />
<blockquote><font size="4">1 Thessalonians 2:1-8</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, <sup>2</sup> but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. <sup>3</sup> For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, <sup>4</sup> but, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals but to please God, who tests our hearts.
<br /><br />
<sup>5</sup> As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed, <sup>6</sup> nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, <sup>7</sup> though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
<br /><br />
But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. <sup>8</sup> So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. </blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Loving our Neighbors</font>
<br /><br />
To conclude this Reformation reflection, Luther's explanations to the commandments in his Small Catechism describe life-giving love in action we can make in order to keep each command. For <i>Thou shalt not kill</i>, "We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every need and danger of life and body."
<br /><br />
For <i>Thou shalt not steal</i>, "We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or property, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business that his means are preserved and his condition is improved." sun countryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09890229386917825089noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-77246538597017299672023-10-21T17:00:00.032-07:002023-10-21T17:02:29.406-07:00Pentecost 21A<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-CNWAcwfCxgCxk4gdnKod30T6bRoWrbv2IV1y-WUQACn3v5ZjOspsmjvjKr-myE-RDfvK_aHKv59N9qsQYweovWnlW9EMXKbBrS0AEgXXshrzuaEjMNYl8Y1D3vYfdKvW7xn-UKU-Qc9DvylKzmkEGZ3RJwco7oaQngYbF18gBVGMdbYc60sRw/s900/1thess01power_spirit_conviction00.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="1 Thessalonians 1:5" border="0" width="500" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-CNWAcwfCxgCxk4gdnKod30T6bRoWrbv2IV1y-WUQACn3v5ZjOspsmjvjKr-myE-RDfvK_aHKv59N9qsQYweovWnlW9EMXKbBrS0AEgXXshrzuaEjMNYl8Y1D3vYfdKvW7xn-UKU-Qc9DvylKzmkEGZ3RJwco7oaQngYbF18gBVGMdbYc60sRw/s600/1thess01power_spirit_conviction00.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>The gospel came to you not in word only, <br />
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit <br />
and with full conviction. <br />
1 Thessalonians 1:5</center>
<br />
<blockquote>
<font size="4">1 Thessalonians 1:1-10</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
<br />
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
<br />
Grace to you and peace.
<br /><br />
<sup>2</sup> We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly <sup>3</sup> remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
<br /><br />
<sup>4</sup> For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that God has chosen you, <sup>5</sup> because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake.
<br /><br />
<sup>6</sup> And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy from the Holy Spirit, <sup>7</sup> so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. <sup>8</sup> For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. <sup>9</sup> For they report about us what kind of welcome we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God <sup>10</sup> and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
</blockquote><br />
<font size="4">1 Thessalonians and Thessalonica </font>
<br /><br />
This week the lectionary also gives us:
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A15-22&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Matthew 22:15-22</a>
Whose icon? Whose brand? The lordship of Tiberius Caesar, who was a "son of god," or the lordship, the reign of the God who creates, redeems, and sustains everything? The God whose Son embodies God's love, justice, and presence?
<br /><br />
• <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+33%3A12-23&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Exodus 33:12-23</a>
God's glory is God's goodness! God's grace and mercy. <i>God-sightings?</i> Many times we realize God was there only afterwards, as we review the incident.
<br /><br />
1 Thessalonians is probably the earliest extant NT writing and the earliest of the apostles Paul's genuine or undisputed epistles. However, Paul almost definitely didn't write 2 Thessalonians. Although the commercial, trade, and population center of Thessalonica was the Roman capitol of Macedonia, it was a free Greek city, with its own coinage and city council. In Clarence Jordan's <I>Cotton Patch</i> version of Paul's epistles, Macedonia is Mississippi is Macedonia.
<br /><br />
Paul the evangelist probably wrote this elegant pastoral letter from Athens or Corinth around the year 51 or 52 C.E.. That would have been near the end of his second missionary journey after he'd visited Philippi and established First Church there. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+17%3A1-9&version=NRSVUE" target="_blank">Acts 17:1-9</a>, verses 1- 4 describes both Jews and gentiles responding to Paul's preaching death and resurrection. And it says those people who've been turning the world upside down have arrived! Silvanus in this letter is Silas in Acts of the Apostles.
<br /><br />
This is a clear example of how reading a Pauline letter often feels like listening to half of a conversation. Scholars guess it may have been written after a positive report from Timothy after he visited the fledgling church:
<br /><br />
1 Thess 3:6 notes, "But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, just as we long to see you."
<br /><br />
Here is the young, zealous, passionate Paul. Gentile converts were a matter of urgency for Paul. Many of the Thessalonian group of Christ followers probably hadn't been Jewish; verse 9 celebrates, "how you turned to God from [dead and false] idols to serve a living and true God."
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Where We Live</font>
<br /><br />
Paul wrote beautifully and with admiration to the Thessalonian Christians. Even when we know we're hearing only one side of the conversation, it's often helpful to place ourselves inside the NT epistles. After all, they reflect God's action in Jesus of Nazareth as they offer counsel that usually applies anywhere at any time.
<br /><br />
• 1 Thess 1:2 What do we make of "your work of faith?" "Labor of love" is familiar. And <i>hope</i> is an ongoing theme in both 1 and 2 Thessalonians.<br />
• 1 Thess 1:4 – chosen, elected, by God in the Holy Spirit and look at all the evidence of the results! I sometimes think of a "choice" line of gourmet foods. A little more special, desirable, nicely done than the usual run of the mill. All good behaviors derive from love, grace, gift, and hope.
<br />
• 1 Thess 1:6-8 "Inspired by the Holy Spirit … the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it."
<br /><br />
The Thessalonian Christians' lives shone so bright … words aren't necessary! Do you remember the advice attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi to "preach the gospel, and use words if necessary?"
<br /><br />
• 1 Thess 1:10: Jesus rescues us from "the coming wrath." A new day is on the way!
<br /><br />
We often place ourselves in the position of the people the letter was written to, but if we wrote a letter to people we've served or even worked alongside, what would we say? Maybe you've been or currently are a teacher, pastor, health care worker, work in retail or construction. Would you write many drafts of your letter until it felt exactly right, or would you trust your best instincts to express everything perfectly first time around? Think about it! river songhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01544925349152380920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19368112.post-12095375141061744542023-10-13T21:30:00.002-07:002023-10-14T11:08:36.729-07:00Pentecost 20A<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hhb4LaS0whQlbbVs0pAzXLkpAKHuixhno_0GrVFbhSLR0mEyJNap8V4-EgLPOAb9gIJsDbJTHS5NL8dkSPxb6_QOOh02ZhHEcNjE3ZhDTAz3iBEb5F2k3ufO7BZHUDWgfoo400LbxgPleIlM_Q5vcvFUNVRaWDFRPYbks7JxPNc3SwWLkjL7/s808/pentecost20rejoice.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="bright flowers with scripture" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="808" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-hhb4LaS0whQlbbVs0pAzXLkpAKHuixhno_0GrVFbhSLR0mEyJNap8V4-EgLPOAb9gIJsDbJTHS5NL8dkSPxb6_QOOh02ZhHEcNjE3ZhDTAz3iBEb5F2k3ufO7BZHUDWgfoo400LbxgPleIlM_Q5vcvFUNVRaWDFRPYbks7JxPNc3SwWLkjL7/s400/pentecost20rejoice.jpg"/></a></div>
<center>If there is any excellence<br />
and if there is anything worthy of praise, <br />
ponder these things. <br />
Philippians 4:8 </center>
<blockquote><font size="4">Philippians 4:1-9</font>
<br /><br />
<sup>1</sup> Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. <sup>2</sup> I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. <sup>3</sup> Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
<br /><br />
<sup>4</sup> Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. <sup>5</sup> Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. <sup>6</sup> Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and petitions with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. <sup>7</sup> And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will protect your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
<br /><br />
<sup>8</sup> Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, ponder these things. <sup>9</sup> Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
</blockquote>
<br />
<font size="4">Philippians</font>
<br /><br />
Philippians is the "Epistle of Joy," with <i>joy</i> or its cognates at least 16 times. We refer to Philippians as a captivity letter because Paul wrote it while he was incarcerated in house arrest or possibly in a dungeon. Along with confidence in his essential identity in Jesus Christ, he assures us of God with us, God among us, God for us.
<br /><br />
When I prepare these reflections I always check out Pastor James Howell's <a href="https://jameshowellsweeklypreachingnotions.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Weekly Preaching Notions</a> and usually two or three commentaries from <a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/" target="_blank">Working Preacher</a>. Doubtless the contributor wrote it at least a couple months ago in time for publication, but <a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28/commentary-on-philippians-41-9-6" target="_blank">Jane Lancaster Patterson mentioned</a> how perfect this comforting passage of God with us and God's call to "rejoice anyway" is for now.
<br /><br />
4:2 "I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord…" often gets misinterpreted by assuming the two women had been seriously disagreeing, but it's almost definitely a style of discourse called paranaesis (encouragement or exhortation) that was common in that era and that we find elsewhere in Paul's writings and in other epistles. In addition, unlike in Corinth, there's no evidence of any particular conflict at First Church Philippi. 4:9 confirms this when Paul advises them to keep on keepin' doing everything they've learned from him, their pastor and teacher.
<br /><br />
4:8 is one of Paul's famous lists: true; honorable; just; pure; pleasing; commendable; excellent; praise-worthy…
<br /><br /><br />
<font size="4">The Lord is Near.</font>
<br /><br />
Philippians 4:5b – How?
<br /><br />
This lectionary year emphasizes Matthew's gospel. At the start of Matthew an angel tells Joseph to name the baby <i>Emmanuel,</i> God-with-us; at the end of Matthew, Jesus promises to be with us forever, "Lo, I am with you always."
<br /><br />
Through Luke we know Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit of life, of resurrection, of presence the world received in a spectacular manner on the day of Pentecost, and that we as the church bring to worlds around us. John's gospel also brings us God's abiding presence in the Spirit.
<br /><br />
The Lord is near as God self-reveals in holy ordinary stuff of creation—water, grain, fruit of the vine. The sacraments model how God comes to us in everyday physical, "means" or vehicles.
<br /><br />
• What evidence of God's presence do you especially rely on and return to?
<br />
• Do you have a favorite scripture for comfort or reassurance? A particular book of the bible?
<br />
• Is there a special place or activity that almost always helps you feel better and/or closer to God?
<br />
• How does the world know God is with everyone and with all creation? How does the world perceive God in its midst?
<br /><br />
<br />
<font size="4">Where We Live</font>
<br />
<blockquote>The Lord is near. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will protect your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. … the God of peace will be with you.</blockquote>
• Today's second reading promises God is with us; it also commands us "Rejoice in the Lord always." If you've sung in choirs, you may know Henry Purcell's "Rejoice in the Lord Alway" based on Philippians 4:4-5.
<br /><br />
• This Letter of Joy more than suggests:
<br />
<blockquote>Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable [famous or renowned – Greek is <i>euphemism</i>], if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, ponder these things.</blockquote>
<br />
• Amidst all the ugly, disappointing, devastating, and degraded, how does thinking about good and pleasing things feel?
<br />
<br />I'd seen the quote, "And shall not loveliness be loved forever?" but had to search for its source. It's from <i>Bacchae</i> by Euripides:
<br /><blockquote>
"What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour<br />
Or God's high grace, so lovely and so great?<br />
To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait;<br />
To hold a hand uplifted over Hate;<br />
And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?"
</blockquote>
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