tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23341137408152406482024-03-13T03:06:59.201-07:00Hitchhiking The WordA blog dedicated to finding meaning in the readings appointed for Sunday in the Episcopal Church. Including resources for going deeper in bible study.C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-54660132052168176242024-03-11T07:44:00.000-07:002024-03-12T18:30:14.361-07:00Easter Vigil ABC ( most of the lessons but still under construction)<strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels, and let your trumpets shout Salvation<br />
for the victory of our mighty King.</div>
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Rejoice and sing all the round earth, bright with a glorious splendour, for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.</div>
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Rejoice and be glad now, Mother Church, and let your holy courts, in radiant light, resound with the praises of your people.</div>
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All you who stand near this marvellous and holy flame,</div>
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pray with me to God the Almighty</div>
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for the grace to sing the worthy praise of this great light through Jesus Christ, his Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever amen<em>.</em></div>
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It is truly right and good, always and everywhere, with our whole heart, mind, and voice, to praise you, the invisible, almighty, and eternal God, and your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true Paschal Lamb, who at the feast of the Passover paid for us the debt of Adam's sin and delivered your faithful people by his blood.</div>
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This is the night when you brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.</div>
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This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin and are restored to grace and holiness of life.</div>
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This is the night when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell and rose victorious from the grave.</div>
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How wonderful and beyond our knowing, O God, is your mercy and loving-kindness to us that you gave a Son to redeem a slave.</div>
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How holy is this night when wickedness is put to flight and sin is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen and joy to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred and brings </div>
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peace and concord.</div>
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How blessed is this night when earth and heaven are joined, and man is reconciled to God?</div>
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Holy Father, accept our evening sacrifice, the offering of this candle in your honour. May it shine continually to drive away all darkness. May Christ, the Morning Star who knows no setting, find it ever burning--he who gives his light to all creation and who lives and reigns forever and ever. <em>Amen.</em></div>
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Some Thoughts on Genesis 1:1 - 2:2</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Genesis+1:1+-+2:4&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV First Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b></div>
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Genesis revealed for the first Christians the nature of God and God’s relationship to creation in three ways.<br />
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The first is interpreting the creative work in Genesis as a revelation of work by the eternal Word. John’s gospel offers a vision of the eternal Word at work in the creation. John’s own prologue echoes the work of God in creation. But specifically (as in Psalm 33:6, “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made), John’s Gospel ties the birth of creation to the eternal incarnation. God as Trinity is not a theological concept that comes along as a historical sorting out of Jesus’ relationship to God. Instead, Trinitarian theology recognizes and holds that the second person is eternal – the Word is eternal. All things were created through the Word, and without the Word, nothing came into being. This is different than Sophia, or wisdom; it is instead the logos – the spoken, speaking Word that is God. See John’s Gospel 1:4-5 and 7-9. (Richard Hays offers a succinct argument that parallels and mirrors accepted biblical scholarship, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 308-309.)</div>
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The second is that the unique incarnation of the Word, Jesus, is evidenced in power and master of the elements. Jesus storms the sea is the same God who divides the waters so Israel may walk through. Jesus, who divides loaves and fishes, is the same God who brings manna in the wilderness and water from the rock. Jesus, who in his death unites heaven and earth, is the same God who parts the heavens and earth.<br />
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The third of the three passages is the “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. Jesus uses the word from the creation story when speaking and looking at the coin. He plays with the notion that God has created all things; all things are God’s. Caesar can believe this or that is his, but even in the end, when Caesar lies beneath the earth, everything, even Caesar, returns to God. This is a powerful and subtle statement about God having in hand all things.<br />
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Sometimes, we approach the Genesis passage as if it is a stand-alone passage. However, the Gospel authors and early Christians understood it as revealing the nature of God and the creation and also the place of the eternal Word and incarnation in it. To speak of the creation is to speak of the eternal Word's possession of it and its creation through it. On this Trinity Sunday, it is a perfect opportunity to find in the creation story a way of unmooring the Trinity from boring sermons on doctrine and to weave the creation story into the Gospel to reveal the Trinity through early Christian eyes.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px;">Let me be honest. As I have grown older, I have become more uncomfortable with the story of the floodwaters. Rabbi Litman's words about it resonated with me:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">I find that my discomfort with the flood story is not so much with the Torah's sacred narrative, but with our modern response to it. The Torah relates a fearful epic of evil, punishment, and salvation. By ignoring the most chilling part of the story, we have trivialized and discounted the Torah's moral message. This is a common American cultural process. One only has to look as far as this week's holiday of Halloween to see how we have to come to trivialize and discount even death. It's pretty difficult to feel much genuine awe around an 8-year-old Grim Reaper complaining that it's cold outside. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The unjust suffering of the innocent still evokes moral outrage and pain in most of us. We wish and hope that the good are rewarded. But we have become uncomfortable with the reverse. We know that human evil is complex, sometimes as much a sickness as a sin. We are often unwilling to grapple with human cruelty and wrongdoing, to expect justice against those who harm others, because that justice is often very difficult to define. Even God's justice, as in the mighty flood, makes us nervous.<br />(<a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/49/story_4916_1.html" style="color: #29aae1; text-decoration-line: none;">"When Bad Things Happen to Bad People,"</a> Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman. Torah Commentary at BeliefNet.)</blockquote>When we Christians read this story, we read it through the eyes of our childhood and as a small version of our story of creation and redemption. With more than two thousand more years of reflection on this passage, I find the Rabbi's words resonate deeply. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The story of the first eight chapters of Bereishit is tragic but simple: creation, followed by de-creation, followed by re-creation. God creates order. Humans then destroy that order, to the point where “the world was filled with violence,” and “all flesh had corrupted its way on earth.” God brings a flood that wipes away all life, until – with the exception of Noach, his family and other animals – the earth has returned to the state it was in at the beginning of Torah, when “the earth was waste and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (http://rabbisacks.org/trace-god-noach-5778/)</blockquote><div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">There may be more here than another creation story - or recreation story. Perhaps there is more here than a story of an angry God at the unjust behaviour of humanity.<br /><br />As Sacks reads the texts compared to Genesis, he notes that Genesis 1 tells us God makes humanity in God's image - he and she God created them. Genesis 9 tells us that other human beings are made in the image of God. As if bringing full circle the sin of man (murder which is created by humans - see Cain and Abel story), this story reminds us that not only am I created in God's image, but you are too.<br /><br />Again, Sacks writes,</div><div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><blockquote class="tr_bq">Genesis 9 speaks about the sanctity of life and the prohibition of murder. The first chapter tells us about the potential power of human beings, while the ninth chapter tells us about the moral limits of that power. We may not use it to deprive another person of life. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">This also explains why the keyword, repeated seven times, changes from “good” to “covenant.” When we call something good, we are speaking about how it is in itself. But when we speak of covenant, we are talking about relationships. A covenant is a moral bond between persons. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">What differentiates the world after the Flood from the world before is that the terms of the human condition have changed. God no longer expects people to be good because it is in their nature to be so. To the contrary, God now knows that “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (Gen. 8: 21) – and this despite the fact that we were created in God’s image. (Ibid)</blockquote>It is not suitable for humans to be alone, and the flood narrative tells us that we are to see each other, those of our tribe and those outside our tribe, as created in God's image.<br /><br />This is a new idea and a constant theme for Christians. God is interested in a human community bound together for our everyday goodness, and in fact, when we do this, we are reflecting a kind of fullness of God. Other religions teach the fear of the other. Different religions teach the sacrifice of the other. Christianity, rooted deeply in its ancestral faith of Judaism, is about being the beloved community - a blessing of peace and shalom to the world.<br /><br />Interestingly, the New Testament does not play on this message from Genesis very much. There are no quotes and no parallel passages in the Gospels. Indeed, there is mention of "Noah's Ark" in the letters - I Peter for this day's reading is an example. Only later would Roman Catholic Theologians compare Mary to the Ark. However, one might argue that as this passage is partnered with Mark, there is something important here. That is, God in Christ Jesus continues his work of reconciliation and solidarity by breaking open the community of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, including all people. The mission to the other can be recovered and is intimately tied to a heritage that began with something other than Jesus but is deeply rooted in the ancient texts of Israel that we find in our canon. In my sermon from 2018, I point out that a theological case (beyond typology) could be made that God's saving act from a sin-sick world in the Ark is what Jesus does permanently. From the word "good" to the word "covenant", we see a story arc (pardon the pun) to Jesus and his cross, which becomes a new ark and a permanent promise. Creation, de-creation by humanity's inhumanity to man, and recreation by God.</div></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Genesis 22:1-18</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+52:1+-+53:12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b></span><br />
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The story of the Akedah makes a claim on us: All that we have, even our own lives and those of the ones most dear to us, belong ultimately to God, who gave them to us in the first place. The story of the Akedah assures us that God will provide, and that God will be present.</div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3279">Kathryn M. Schifferdecker, working preacher</a></div>
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Stanley Hauerwas, a seminary professor and theologian, says, “Christ bids a person to come and die,” and even if he meant that metaphorically, it is still not easy. Are we willing to engage in that struggle, make that sacrifice, and take that journey with Abraham and Isaac? God is waiting to find out and is patient and will wait as long as it takes.</div>
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<a href="http://heartofeugene.org/wordpress/multimedia-archive/an-uncalled-for-sacrifice/">Dan Bryant, First Christian Church, "An Uncalled For Sacrifice"</a><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><br /></strong></span>In the generations of religious following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, there was a direct connection between the Temple Mount and the site of the binding of Isaac. (Levenson, <i>Zion</i>, 94-95) It is that on this mount, God comes near and is seen. In this way, the tradition dating back to the time of the Judges was that this mountain site, like other shrines in Israel, was a place where God could be seen. The Temple became the chief place where God was present among God's people.<br />
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What takes place over the centuries is captured well in the writing of Jon D. Levenson in his book <i>Sinai and Zion</i>. He writes, "The Sinai tradition [that associated with the covenant of Moses and the shrines of Israel]...represents the possibility of meaningful history, of history that leads toward an affirmation, Zion [the tradition of David and the Temple] represents the possibility of meaning above history, out of history, through an opening into the realm of the ideal. (<i>Ibid</i>, 141-142)<br />
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Here, then, is the meaning for the early Christians of the story of Isaac. For the early Christian, the idea that a beloved son of the family would be brought into violence was, in fact, a thematic reality - an "archetypal" account, if you will. (Hays, <i>Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels</i>, 43) In this way, it is not that Jesus was the required sacrifice as the latter centuries would propose but that it was natural for the beloved son to come to a violent end. In fact, it is the very act, in the rabbinic tradition, of this violence to the sons of Israel that over and over again plays a redemptive role in the great Sinai story of historical affirmation.<br />
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We want to be careful, though. The religious theologian and philosopher is quick to remind us that while there are particular traditions that place God as the actor requiring Jesus's death, this is an offensive theology. Perhaps rooted in the story of Isaac, what we know is that Isaac's story itself is a story about how God wishes not to have child sacrifice.<br />
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René Girard writes:<br />
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Far more than we moderns generally realize, human sacrifice was a fact of life among the peoples of the ancient Near East in tension with whom Israel first achieved cultural self-definition. Israel's renunciation of the practice of human sacrifice took place over a long period of time, during which intermittent reversions to it occurred. No biblical story better depicts how the Bible is at cross-purposes with itself on the subject of sacrifice than does the story of Abraham and Isaac. ... We are told that God bestowed the blessing and promise on Abraham after the "test" on Mount Moriah because Abraham had been willing to do what God had intervened to keep him from doing -- sacrificing his son. This understanding may have had a certain coherence in the dark world of human sacrifice to which it hearkens back, and it may have some psychological pertinence, but the true biblical spirit has little nostalgia for the sacrificial past and almost no interest in psychology. What we must try to see in the story of Abraham's non-sacrifice of Isaac is that Abraham's faith consisted, not of almost doing what he didn't do, but of not doing what he almost did, and not doing it in fidelity to the God in whose name his contemporaries thought it should be done. (<a href="http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/girard-a_bib.htm#vu">Violence Unveiled</a>, p. 140)</blockquote>
So, what are we left with? Jesus, the son, falls victim to worldly sacrifice, as did so many sons and daughters during the time of child sacrifice before God said, "Stop." This is complete victimhood to the memetic, the repeating, sacrificial offerings of humanity to the lesser gods. The God we worship does not child sacrifice and instead redeems Isaac and stops it...just as God puts an end to death in the resurrection of Jesus.<br />
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Today, we will spend a good measure of time in our pulpits speaking of the near sacrifice of Isaac and questioning how faithful we are willing to be? Are we willing to journey to Mount Moriah or the mountain top of our choosing and lay down our lives? Meanwhile, the true question of faith remains for us. As followers of Jesus, are we willing to lay down our violence and willingness to sacrifice our brothers and sisters on the altar of social wars, global un-mandated wars, and doctrines of our supposed protection when the Christ we worship dies as a peacemaker and invites those who would come after to take up their cross and lay down the crosses intended for others.<br />
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Girard challenges us:<br />
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Nearly four thousand years ago, Abraham passed this test. He heard the voice of the true God telling him to stop, don’t kill. And now almost two thousand years after the voice of our risen Savior forgiving us for our numerous slaughters, all those brought together on his cross, are we ready to pass the test, too? Are we ready to stop the killing? What could happen in our world if two billion people who claim Abraham as their father could finally recognize what this test of faith is really all about?</blockquote>
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<div align="left" style="background-color: white;"><div><div style="clear: both;"><span face=""><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Exodus 14:10-15:21</b></span><br /><br /></span></div><div><i>"In silence and contemplation, we rest from all of our human striving and division and touch the deeper current of truth that runs underneath everything else, the truth that all things have already been reconciled in Christ."</i></div><a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0902&article=make-a-joyful-silence">"Make a Joyful Silence,"</a> Ruth Haley Barton, Sojourners, 2009. <a href="http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0902&article=words-about-silence">"Words about Silence,"</a> Key contemplative Spirituality terms, Sojourners, 2009.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"A people enslaved for generations can only face freedom one step at a time."<br /></i><a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/7/story_736_1.html">"Gradual Freedom,"</a> Torah Commentary by Wendy Amsellem. Beliefnet.<br /><br /><br /><i>"Despite being pressed by the weight of slavery on every side, we celebrate that our spirits were not crushed."</i><br /><a href="http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=62">Commentary</a>, Exodus 15:20-21, Yolanda Pierce, The African American Lectionary, 2009.<br /><br /><br /><i>"The God seen in this passage is a powerful god that controls the waves of the sea. This God is stronger than the gods of their oppressors—why should the Babylonians' gods be any different?"</i><br /><a href="http://www.aplainaccount.org/so/0Lvn4Ses/click?w=LS0tDQplODgwM2Q1NC0xODJhLTQzNjgtNjc0My1kZDc2YmZjOGYwNDYNCmh0dHA6Ly93d3cuYXBsYWluYWNjb3VudC5vcmcvcHJvcGVyLTE5YS1hbHQtMXN0LXJlYWRpbmcNCi0tLQ">Commentary</a>, Exodus 14:19-31 | Aimee Niles | A Plain Account, 2017.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"In your preaching, show your congregation the dry land they are walking on. Show them what place it has in God's creation. Show them the signs of ruin and devastation..."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2179">Commentary</a>, Exodus 14:19-31, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face=""><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+14:10-15:21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face=""><strong><br /></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face=""><strong><br /></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">We have seen Charlton Heston and others re-enact the grand event at the shore of the Red Sea. There are religious jokes about the parting of the Sea of Reeds. Episcopalians have spent hours rehearsing the drama at the Red Sea. We have done so in Sunday School, vacation Bible schools, and summer camp. It is part of our Easter Vigil service in the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer 1979. I had to memorize Miriam's Hebrew song when I attended seminary. It was a rite of passage for my beloved Old Testament professor, Dr. Murray Newman. It is deeply woven into our baptismal theology and liturgy. In the Jewish tradition, it is recited during the daily morning service and said after the Shema. This passage appointed for today is essential.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">As you probably know, scholars today think they crossed the Sea of Reeds (known for its papyrus production), which lies north of the Red Sea. The narrative of the event is rendered by two authors. One sees the light of God's nostrils blowing aside the waters. (Exodus 14: 22, 28-29) The second reveals that the wind (thanks to God) drove the waters back overnight. (Exodus 14: 21) One requires the suspension of the laws of nature, and the other requires honouring God for the action of the wind.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">People have been trying to reveal how this happened for many years. Cambridge University physicist Colin Humphreys wrote in <i>The Miracles of Exodus (2003</i>):<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">"Wind tides are well known to oceanographers. For example, a strong wind blowing along Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, has produced water elevation differences of as much as sixteen feet between Toledo, Ohio, on the west, and Buffalo, New York, on the east . . . There are reports that Napoleon was almost killed by a "sudden high tide" while crossing shallow water near the head of the Gulf of Suez." (pp. 247-48, As cited in Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "Beshallach (5770) – Miracles" <a href="https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5770-beshallach-miracles/" style="color: #954f72;">https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation-5770-beshallach-miracles/</a> January 30, 2010.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">I find the whole thing fascinating. However, I believe the discussion about where it happened, if it happened, and how it happened are merely two-way observable spacio-temporal questions that are not useful to us if we wish to get to the bottom of God's narrative and its meaning. So, especially as we preach this, two critical points are to be made here that move us past the typical questions of observable scientific truth and into a discussion about scriptural and theological truth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The first truth is this: In God's narrative, we learn that often, our power is not in our exceptional nature but in our apparent weakness. We see this echoed in other stories like David and Goliath (where the smaller David wins the fight) or in the case of the prophet Balaam (who discovers his donkey is a better prophet than he). This is true because the Egyptian strength is in their chariot, which proves their weakness. Likewise, the disadvantage of being on foot is the strength in getting away.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Rabbi Sacks writes, "To put it another way, a miracle is not necessarily something that suspends natural law. It is, rather, an event for which there may be a natural explanation, but which – happening when, where and how it did – evokes wonder, such that even the most hardened sceptic senses that God has intervened in history. The weak are saved; those in danger are delivered. More significant still is the moral message such an event conveys: that hubris is punished by nemesis, that the proud are humbled and the humble given pride, that there is justice in history, often hidden but sometimes gloriously revealed…. The genius of the biblical narrative of the crossing of the Reed Sea is that it does not resolve the issue one way or another. It gives us both perspectives." (<i>Ibid</i>.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">This triumph is also a paradigm of Jesus' own victory. Out of Jesus' greatest weakness, his human death comes his and our most significant victory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">This leads to the second thought of importance. We understand that Christ is continuing the work that God has always done – freeing people from bondage. Our Episcopal baptismal prayer reads:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">"Through it, you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it, your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life." (BCP 1979, p. 306)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The power of the image is that it foreshadows Christ's cross, death, and resurrection. For those who follow Jesus, it is a fundamental understanding that real bodily resurrection happens for Israel. They are made new people. They pass through the waters of death and are brought to new life. Here is the meaning of our bodily resurrection.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">This also speaks to genuine Christian work. It is not a spiritual deliverance we are after. We seek a new bodily present community in this world that speaks to the goodness of the next. Bodies matter, life matters, food, water, clothing, and shelter matter. God brought real people out of slavery. God brings a natural person of Jesus out of the grave. We, as Christians, translate this into making an actual difference in the world – one that impacts the bodies of others.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Jesus read scrolls and preached freedom, the loosening of bonds, the feeding and clothing of those with little, and good things for those with none. He spoke of wiping away tears. He said of doing good work and sharing what we have – as did Paul, the apostles, and the earliest theologians. We, as Christians, are invited to make a difference in the world authentically. We are asked to bring people out of the past into their futures – one that promises a different life.</p></span></div></div></div></div></div><div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana;"><div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana;">
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<b style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Isaiah 4:2-6</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+52:1+-+53:12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b></span></div>
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<i>"Lent is an invitation and a reminder that this surprising work of God is open to us all—wicked and unrighteous alike—if we return to the God who abundantly pardons."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2107">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 55:1-9, W. Dennis Tucker, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.<br />
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<i>To return to YHWH is to depart the Babylonian calculus and reengage the covenantal values of a neighbourly kind...The ground for such a radical re-engagement with faith is the elemental contrast between the anxious assumption of deported Jews who thought they were on their own in Babylon and the intention of YHWH, who has indeed left God’s people on their own for time (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+54%3A7-8&version=NRSV">Isaiah 54:7-8</a>), but who will now provide what they need. The poem makes a vigorous and emphatic contrast between “your ways and thoughts” and God’s “ways and thoughts.”</i><br />
<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/a-covenant-of-neighborly-justice-break-the-chains-of-quid-pro-quo-isaiah-551-9_b_9303406.html">"A Covenant of Neighborly Justice: Break the Chains of Quid Pro Quo,"</a> Walter Brueggemann, ON Scripture, 2016.<br />
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<i>"Nothing in life is free, particularly if one has grown accustomed to the harsh policies of the empire, which is set to exploit the peasants through heavy taxation."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=8/3/2008&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 55:1-5 (Pentecost 12), Juliana Claassens, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div>
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<i>"Think of it, Antonio—this thing I've been dreaming about comes true at last. I threw out the lifeline, and the one caught it was Herman Redpath in all his wealth and power. And now the lock-up. But my ways are not thy ways, saith the Lord. Antonio, you take a man who's been in prison a couple of years, and he's ready for Jesus like he's never been ready any place else."</i><br />
<a href="http://frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustration-my-ways-are-not-thy-ways">"My Ways Are Not Thy Ways,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><br /></strong></span><span face="Times-Roman">This text comes around in year 10A, Epiphany 8C (though that is rare indeed), and the Easter Vigil. In case you have not preached on the text, it is a good opportunity as it is new in our Episcopal rota. </span><br />
<span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span><span face="Times-Roman">The text is part of a section called the second book of Isaiah. It is part of the prophetic school that rose up during the exile in Babylon. It comes after the great passage where the prophet and God call out, "Comfort, comfort my people." God is giving hope to the people in exile. Our passage recalls all the other times that God did not forget God's suffering people and suggests this time will not be any different. </span><br />
<span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span><span face="Times-Roman">The prophet then gives a vision of God's living word and covenant. The prophet reminds them of God's eternal commitment to be with them, to dwell with them, and to provide for them. He proclaims, </span><br />
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I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.</blockquote>
I love the following passages. They make up the Second Song of Isaiah, which we sing or pray in the daily office.<br />
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Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. </blockquote>
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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.</blockquote>
Then we are reminded:<br />
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For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.</blockquote>
<span face="Times-Roman">God in Christ Jesus pulls these themes forward in John's Gospel chapter 6. Here is the feeding of the five thousand. This alone is the promise of Isaiah's banquet. But there is more. Jesus continues:</span><br />
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6:63 The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.65And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’</blockquote>
Jesus is here playing directly upon the prophecy of Isaiah. God does not speak, nor does God act, nor does God deliver upon God's promises in the way of humans. We might think of the fulfilment of Abraham in the mission to the Gentiles. All this is to say that Jesus himself is playing on the images of Isaiah. He sees a people without a shepherd and lost who are exiles in their own land. To them, he brings a living word and food to eat. In the end, he will deliver them out of exile, but not in the way they hope.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+52:1+-+53:12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b></span></div>
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<i>"The Bible uses “bone and flesh” as a motif for kinship. For example, in Genesis 29, when Jacob comes to stay with Laban, Laban welcomes him with these words: “‘Surely you are my bone and my flesh!’ And [Jacob] stayed with him ...” (Genesis 29:14). And the same two Hebrew words are used in Ezekiel for the bones and flesh that God brings back together in the valley."</i><br />
<a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4413">Ezekiel 37:1-14 (Lent 5A), Christopher B. Hays</a>, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2020.</div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>"This new heart is nothing the people can obtain for themselves. The new spirit is not their own, but God’s, enabling them to do what they could not before, to live as holy people before the Holy God. The prophet spells out the divine intent in these two sayings, and he shows it in the story of the dry bones,."</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3200">Ezekiel 37:1-14 (Lent 5A), Patricia Tull</a>, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.</div>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>"And it is in this sense that breathing becomes a metaphor for divine presence. Despite the exiles’ fear of being cut off from God, God is as near to them as their own breath. Ezekiel’s vision does nothing to alleviate their present difficult circumstances, though it does promise them a future in their own land."</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2070">Ezekiel 37:1-14 (Lent 5A), Margaret Odell</a>, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.</div>
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Set amid the exile of the people of Israel in Babylon, Ezekiel offers hope of God’s individual and mindful intention to each person. Ezekiel was wholly devoted to the centrality of worship on the Temple Mount and saw the people’s return to that central religious site as an ingredient to their return not only to God but also to a restoration of the kingdom. Many scholars note that this perspective is rooted in Ezekiel’s own priesthood. So, his prophecy offers a longing hope for a return to the religion of his inheritance.<br />
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From Ezekiel, we receive the obvious idea that the Temple is the centre of the people’s concern, the centre of their faith, the centre of the nation, and the centre of their world. (Jon Levenson, Sinai & Zion, 115)<br />
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It is also clear that Ezekiel, throughout the text, but especially in our text for this Sunday, believes the only solution to returning to the centre of the world where God firmly plants God’s feet is through religious practice. As a mouthpiece for religion, Ezekiel tells the people that there is great hope for deliverance. However, their attempts to make this happen politically will not work. Instead, the whole community should be put in the mind of a faithful response to God’s continued companionship. God will breathe new life into the dry bones of Israel. There is more here than resuscitation. What is needed is reanimation and a quickening of the spirit. Only then will a restoration occur.<br />
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When we read the text, as do many of Ezekiel's descendants, we see an overlay of the apocalyptic. We see a seed of the idea of resurrection.<br />
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The passage makes it clear in no uncertain terms: God will put flesh and spirit upon the bones of Israel and no other. Only God will bring about the living from the dead.<br />
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With this, many preachers will stick to inviting us to hold on with our Lenten disciplines (for this comes in Lent), for God is resurrecting us. And, because this is read at the vigil, a heavy dose of end-time resurrection talk will be combined with Jesus’ resurrected bones.<br />
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John’s Gospel rests on the idea that this new shepherd, the archetype of David who united the northern and southern kingdoms, is to join the godly and ungodly, the righteous and unrighteous, the faithful and unfaithful. The new life breathed into the community, the new life of being raised from the dead, and the new life of resurrection means that the people will be brought out of their tombs and graves into one community. Our passage today is the prefix to the passage of a united people of God from inside the religious community and from outside. The God who has come for all people and is gathering them even now is gathering them in. The Good Shepherd in John is saying, “I know my people, and my people know me.” (Hays, <i>Echoes of Scripture in the Gospel</i>, 340)<br />
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New life for those lying in death is a promise for all who come to God in Christ Jesus. Regardless of where you start your journey, this God is breathing new life into you, putting flesh and spirit on your bones, and raising you into one flock.</div>
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<div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana;"><div style="clear: both; font-family: Times;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Zephaniah 3:14-20</span></strong></span></div><br style="font-family: Times;" /><span face="Times-Roman" style="font-family: Times;"></span><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br style="font-family: Times;" /><div style="clear: both; font-family: Times;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><i>"This reading from Zephaniah is marked by hope, rejoicing, and reprieve, but it comes from the end of a three-chapter book in which the first two chapters consist of horrific warnings."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/16/2012&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Zephaniah 3:14-20, Melinda Quivik, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"This Sunday, we speak of joy, the joy of a people redeemed and restored, but also the joy of a God who is deeply invested in the world's life."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/13/2009&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Zephaniah 3:14-20, Kathryn Schifferdecker, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Zephaniah+3:14-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text</span></a></span></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"></span></strong><br /></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div>As you have now discovered, our selections for Advent for the Old Testament readings are taken from passages that remind Israel of God's hope for them. Several reflections online focus on the idea that "joy" is a particular part of the present circumstances for Zephaniah and his people. </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both;">14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. </blockquote><div style="clear: both;">However, the first several chapters indicate the people's complex challenges and fears. We only get to the joy amid the warnings and through redemption.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">As a culture, we are continually attempting to find and purchase joy. Even now, our culture is in the midst of a great buying frenzy. Yet these purchases and actions will ultimately bring little fulfilment. So, like those who receive Zephania's message, we need a little redemption. The church needs redemption.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Melinda Quivik, a liturgics and homiletics scholar, writes:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Zephaniah's announcement of the Lord's resolve to save the people carries line-by-line descriptions of why this renewal is necessary. The promise rests on the need for rescue. The flip side of the joy that is to happen on the Day of the Lord is present as each phrase of promise is coupled with the negative it implies, reminding the hearer that disaster has come as reproach for failings, oppression exists, the lame and the outcast suffer alone, shame needs to be changed into praise, an in-gathering is required because the people are scattered and fortunes have been taken away. This is an accounting of the inevitable inability of human life to follow the commands of the Lord. This is an accurate depiction of our need for God. Law is not just command but reality.</blockquote>What is difficult is to believe, I think, as the church or as individuals, that our salvation truly lies outside of ourselves. It is so hard to think that God might have a hand in it all. So it is that this passage reminds us. On that day when all that you purchased fails you... On that day when all your plans come to nothing...On that day when your machinations for self-preservation and self-reward are lacking... On that day when you, if you can get to the bottom, on that day then you can hear for the first time:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing 18as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. 19I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.</blockquote>Part of the power of the readings and their combination is that we are not only receiving the hope of God in the incarnation and salvation birthed into the world, but we also understand that none of our efforts has brought us any sense of betterment, none of our work has had the end results planned. No, only by having a good look at our present circumstances do we see that God is with us and there to save us.</div></div></div><div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana;">
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<i>"Lesslie Newbigin once said that if you do not see the kingdom, it's because you are facing the wrong direction."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3212">"Dying to Live,"</a> Bill O'Brien, The Christian Century, 2005.</div>
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<i>"When he spoke of what happened to him on the Damascus Road, Paul never knew whether to call it being born or being killed. In a way, it felt like both at the same time. Whatever it was, it had something to do with letting go."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1002">"Letting Go Down Here,"</a> William Willimon, The Christian Century, 1986. AtReligion Online.</div>
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This passage from Romans is a classic conversation between the Romans and the Protestants even today! In fact, I was engaged in just such a conversation not two weeks ago. Paul clearly states that God is a lover of humanity and creation. God gives us grace, grace, grace. Christ's death was a final blow that released grace into the world freely. Grace has a simple equation in Paul's writings: the more sin is, the more grace abounds! This is good news, my friends...this is THE GOOD NEWS.</div>
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So Paul says, rhetorically, does this mean that we can or should sin even more to receive grace? We need to remember that one of the charges against early Christians and their communities was that they were lawless. This argument would undoubtedly lead to lawlessness. Paul's answer to himself is, "Of course not." </div>
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He then makes it clear that through baptism, we die to sin and become inextricably linked to Christ's death and his resurrection. We are raised by God and made to walk in the world around us in new life. Paul clearly states that as we rise up into this new life, we are to respond to God's grace with (what one scholar called) "conscience-based ethical conduct." We would not want or desire to respond intentionally to God's love, mercy, and grace with behaviour other than that which builds up the body of Christ and reflects well upon the God who saved us.<br />
<br />Paul was clear to himself - new life means new behaviours. Just as death with Christ is given, so is life, and so our lives will reflect this new behaviour - our lives will look like the life of Jesus. I think Chris Haslaam of Canada does an excellent job of capturing the Gospel of Paul as laid out in Romans with this "cliff notes version":</div>
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Just as we have been grafted on to Christ in his death, so we too will share with him through a resurrection like his (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A5">5</a>). We know that we ceased to be dominated by sin and divine wrath (“our old self”, v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A6">6</a>) when we were baptised. This removed the effects of our waywardness, our enslavement to sin, but makes us ethically responsible for our actions. This is what baptism does (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A7">7</a>). Dying with Christ also includes living with him. Because Christ has risen, he will “never die again” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A9">9</a>) – this is unique, once-for-all-time act, an anticipation of the age to come. And then the answer to the question in v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A2">2</a>: Christ “died to sin” in the sense that sinless, he died rather than disobey the Father, and in the context of a sinful world. He was raised by the Father (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A4">4</a>) in order that he might live “to God” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A10">10</a>, as he has always done.) So, as Christ is the model for our lives, and it is he upon whom our lives are grafted, we too must leave sin behind and be “alive to God” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A11">11</a>) in Christ.</blockquote>
The miracle of life with Christ is that though we are never free from sin, we are always one step away from complete forgiveness because our God continues to reach out to us with Grace. Paul believes that those who follow Jesus will live an intentional life - through a grace-filled one. Moreover, the grace received is the grace offered to all those we meet. We, like Christ, are to be forgiving and grace-filled vessels in the world. It is not enough to live a life fully after baptism. It is to reflect and be grace agents in the world around us - ultimately enabling others to discover their grafted ness into the life of God in Christ Jesus.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" are Matthew's Gospel's principal actors. They arrive at early dawn. He omits their purpose, the anointing ritual, because, as we might remember, this was done in chapter 26. (Daniel Harrington, <em>Matthew</em>, Sacra Pagina, 409) Earthquake is a sign and motif throughout this particular gospel as a foreshadowing of apocalyptic events. While Mark's Gospel leaves the disciples with the question, "Who will roll away the stone?" as a moniker for the work of Gospel sharing, here the angel (not unlike the infant narrative) explains the stage that is set before the women as they arrive.</span></div>
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We are told and are led to understand the events, how the soldiers are powerless and how all this has happened as a completion of a long-awaited moment. The angel tells them to go and tell the Good News and to go to Galilee. Throughout our journey with Jesus in the Matthean narrative, we might well remember that Galilee is where the action is! So go....we are charged with the women and see that the resurrected Lord goes before us to meet us there, out there, where the ministry and mission field lies.</div>
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As they leave, Jesus immediately appears to them as the resurrected Lord. He, too, charges them to go to Galilee...there is the climax of our story. The action is <em>there</em>. The work is <em>there</em>. The mission is <em>there</em>. Go, and I will meet you <em>there</em>.</div>
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The Matthean scholar Daniel Harrington points out that so important is the message of <em>he is not here, go and tell, go to Galilee</em> that the words of the angel and of Jesus appear almost as a "doublet." (Harrington, <em>Matthew</em>, Sacra Pagina, 410) We can see it here:</div>
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The Angel:</div>
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1. He is not here; for he has been raised,</div>
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2. go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,</div>
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3. he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’</div>
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Jesus:</div>
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1. [He is the risen Lord] they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.</div>
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2. go and tell my brothers</div>
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3. go to Galilee</div>
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<div style="border: medium none; font-family: Times;">Scholars seem to write a lot about how Matthew "tidies up" Mark's account. My problem is that it too often takes us deep into a historical-critical deconstruction of the text. It also assumes that Mark has no reason for making his testimony in a particular manner to serve a specific context of mission or based upon his understanding of eyewitness accounts. Matthew and Mark give clear testimony, and each should be taken to their own right; neither is less or subservient to the other. I am on my soapbox now, but Mark and Matthew have integrity unto themselves, and we sometimes miss the crucial witness when we over-compare.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The second thing that seems to be dealt with in the literature is Matthew's own section of material, which serves to prepare the disciple for this message:</span></div>
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17When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’</div>
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You and I cannot preach (I don't think) with a sense of purpose if we do not preach the testimony of the resurrection in Matthew's Gospel for the purpose of bringing people to:</div>
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1. Worship the risen Lord</div>
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2. Aid people with their doubt</div>
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3. Proclaim the risen Christ as Lord</div>
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4. Make disciples</div>
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5. Understand, articulate, and offer baptism as the primary way of becoming a member of God's family</div>
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6. glorify God and love neighbor</div>
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7. walk with Jesus through life's pilgrimage</div>
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I love what Daniel Harrington writes when he describes the nature of what has taken place:</div>
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The empty tomb is the necessary presupposition for christian belief in jesus' resurrection. By itself it does no prove Jesus' resurrection, for the emptiness of the tomb can be explained in several ways. Christian must also appeal to the appearance stories and tot he growth and development of the Church as additional supports for their belief.</div>
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The controversy surrounding the empty tomb ought not to obscure the starling content of the early Christian proclamation about Jesus...An event reserved for the end of human history [as believed by most in Jesus' time and in our own] has happened in the midst of human history....To this extent the kingdom of God is among us. (Harrington, <em>Matthew</em>, Sacra Pagina, 413)</div>
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This seems to me to be the proclamation of Easter Sunday—Jesus rises for a purpose. This resurrection is an apocalyptic event in the lives of those who experience it, and they do these things. It would be great if there were ever an altar call in the Episcopal church (outside of baptism and confirmation) this Sunday!</div>
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(From Wikipedia: "The Paschal homily or sermon (also known in Greek as Hieratikon or as the Catechetical Homily) of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Chrysostom">St John Chrysostom</a> (d. 407 CE) is read aloud on the morning of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter">Pascha</a> (a.k.a. "Easter" in the West), called "the Great and Holy Pascha of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ" in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine rite. According to the tradition of the Church, no one sits during the reading of the Paschal homily. Portions of it are often done with the interactive participation of the congregation.)<span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>Are you God's friend and lover?</div>
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Rejoice in this glorious feast of feasts!</div>
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Are you God's servant, knowing God's wishes?</div>
<div style="font-family: Times;">Be glad with your Master, and share his rejoicing!</div>
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Are you worn down with the labour of fasting?</div>
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Now is your payday!</div>
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Have you been working since early morning?</div>
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You will be paid fair and square.</div>
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Have you been here since the third hour?</div>
<div style="font-family: Times;">You can be thankful, and you will be pleased.</div>
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If you came at the sixth hour without fear, you will lose nothing.</div>
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Did you linger till the ninth hour?</div>
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Come forward without hesitation.</div>
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Even if you came at the eleventh hour?</div>
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Have no fear; it is not too late.</div>
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God is a generous employer,</div>
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treating the last to come as he treats the first arrival.</div>
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God gives to the one and gives to the other:</div>
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Honours the deed and praises the intention.</div>
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Join, then, all of you, join in our Master's rejoicing.</div>
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You who were the first to come and came after,</div>
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come now and collect your wages.</div>
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Rich and poor sing and dance together.</div>
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You that are hard on yourselves, you that are easy,</div>
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celebrate this day.</div>
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You that have fasted and you that have not,</div>
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make merry today.</div>
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The meal is ready: come and enjoy it.</div>
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The calf is a fat one: you will not go away hungry.</div>
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There's hospitality for all and to spare. No more</div>
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apologizing for your poverty:</div>
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The kingdom belongs to us all.</div>
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No more bewailing your failings:</div>
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Forgiveness has come from the grave.</div>
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No more fears of your dying:</div>
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The death of our Savior has freed us from fear.</div>
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Death played the Master, but he has mastered death.</div>
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Isaiah knew this would happen, and he cried:</div>
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"Death was angered when it met you in the pit."</div>
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It was angered, for it was defeated.</div>
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It was angered, for it was mocked.</div>
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It was angered, for it was abolished.</div>
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It was angered, for it was overthrown.</div>
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It was angered, for it was bound in chains.</div>
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Death swallowed a body and met God face to face.</div>
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It took earth and encountered heaven.</div>
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It took what is seen and fell upon the unseen.</div>
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O Death, where is your sting?</div>
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O Grave, where is your victory?</div>
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Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.</div>
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Christ is risen, and evil has fallen.</div>
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Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.</div>
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Christ is risen, and life reigns.</div>
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Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the tomb.</div>
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Christ is risen indeed from the dead,</div>
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The first of all was who had fallen asleep.</div>
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Glory and power to him forever and ever!</div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-62169952539040286312024-03-10T05:41:00.000-07:002024-03-12T18:16:52.692-07:00Good Friday, Holy Week, ABC<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Quotes That Make Me Think</span></strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOO2FzhnpN5u79GzM5QHfHU2hk-bytfyr5b4h9OPBDnWNxmWdlD8L9wsxTt4GGijmgV7A0dDJfwMfzkzflBJrVp6xv4rOw9BUYjvujCcfdVlYMZ6n-bgKJ4Gm-a6y6BPnfKQ3yzO0w9zT/s1600/crucifixion-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFOO2FzhnpN5u79GzM5QHfHU2hk-bytfyr5b4h9OPBDnWNxmWdlD8L9wsxTt4GGijmgV7A0dDJfwMfzkzflBJrVp6xv4rOw9BUYjvujCcfdVlYMZ6n-bgKJ4Gm-a6y6BPnfKQ3yzO0w9zT/s320/crucifixion-1.jpg" width="205" /></a><i>"Today the Master of the creation and the Lord of Glory is nailed to the cross and his side is pierced; and he who is the sweetness of the church tastes gall and vinegar."</i><br />
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Byzantine Liturgy, Triduum, (LTP, 1996)<br />
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<i>Sunset to sunrise changes now,<br />For God creates the world anew;<br />On the Redeemer's thorn-crowned brow<br />The wonders of that dawn we view.<br />Although the sun withholds its light<br />Yet a more heavenly lamp shines here; and from the cross on Calv'ry's height<br />Gleams of eternity appear.<br />Here in o'erwhelming final strife<br />the Lord of life has victory;<br />And sin is slain, and death brings life,<br />And earth inherits heaven's key.</i><br />
Clement of Alexandria<br />
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<i>"In the end, Pilate attempts to crucify the Truth. He places a placard nearby mockingly announcing Jesus as The King of the Jews. The irony is thick, of course, because Pilate has unwittingly announced the truth."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/25/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 18:33-37, Jaime Clark-Soles, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<a href="http://www.textweek.com/festivals/friday.htm"><strong>General Resources for Sunday's Lessons</strong></a><br />
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Prostrate on the ground, your Son prayed, O God, that this hour might pass, this cup be taken away. But then he rose to do your will, to stretch out his arms on the cross, to be lifted up from the earth an to be glorified by you. Prostrate before you, O God, we ponder the mystery of your saving will. In this hour of Christ's exaltation, we beg you: Open our hearts to hear the story of our salvation, to stretch out our hands in prayer, to venerate the cross by which the whole world is lifted up to salvation, life and resurrection. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: large;">John 18:1 - 19:42</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+18:1+-+19:42&vnum=yes&version=nrsvae">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn18_19.htm">Resources for Gospel</a></strong><br />
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Raymond Brown writes: "The other gospels mark Jesus' death with miraculous signs in the ambiance: The Temple curtain is torn; tombs open and bodies of the saints come forth; and an expression of faith is evoked from a Roman centurion. but the Fourth Gospel localizes the sign in the body of Jesus itself: When the side of Jesus is pierced, there comes forth blood and later. In 7:38-39 we heard: "From within him shall flow rivers of living water," with the explanation that the water symbolized the Spirit which would be given when Jesus had bee glorified. That is now fulfilled, but the admixture of blood to the water is the sign that Jesus has passed from this world to the Father and has been glorified. It is not impossible that the fourth evangelist intends here a reference not only to the gift of the Spirit but also to the two channels (baptism and the Eucharist) through which the Spirit had been communicated to the believers of his won community, with water signifying baptism, and blood the Eucharist."<br />
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One of my mentors once remarked of how careful one must be when dealing in sermons preached in the midst of the great liturgies of the church. I have come to understand and to agree. When we address the text that is before us we quickly realize that the text itself, and the reading of it in publicworship, is carries a weight which can barely be matched by a few meager words from the pulpit.<br />
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The piece that I find the most interesting is the uniqueness of John's Gospel and in particular the last words of Jesus. There is a tremendous feeling of agony and suffering in the last words of the synoptics: "My god, my God, why have you forsaken me?" John's words echo Luke's in their triumphant nature and give us a sense that in this moment we have victory.<br />
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Jesus in the fourth Gospel accepts death, in all of its pain and suffering, as the completion of God's plan to unite the world (its earthiness and creatureliness) with the Godhead. The fourth Gospel's death scene from the cross is a song of victory. It relishes the death of death, the finality of sin, as the falling cross bridges the gap once for all between heaven and earth.<br />
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Psalm 22 gives us this victory song:<br />
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1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?<br />
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.<br />
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.<br />
4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.<br />
5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.<br />
6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.<br />
7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;<br />
8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”<br />
9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.<br />
10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.<br />
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.<br />
12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;<br />
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.<br />
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;<br />
15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.<br />
16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;<br />
17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;<br />
18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.<br />
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!<br />
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!<br />
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.<br />
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:<br />
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!<br />
24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.<br />
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.<br />
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!<br />
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.<br />
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.<br />
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.<br />
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,<br />
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.</blockquote>
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The Psalm captures both the defeat and the ultimate victory which is God's. It is John's Gospel thought that is most like the end. The words, "It is finished." are a victory cry and not some pitiful words from a dying prisoner!<br />
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Raymond Brown explains it this way, "In John's theology, now that Jesus has finished his work and is lifted up from the earth on the cross in death, he will draw all men to him. If "It is finished" is a victory cry, the victory it heralds is that of obediently fulfilling the Father's will. It is similar to "It is done" of Rev. 16.17, uttered from the throne of God and of the Lamb when the seventh angel pours out the final blow of God's wrath. What God has decreed has been accomplished." (John, vol II, Anchor Bible, 931)</div>
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If we combine this then with the images of Brown's above, Psalm 22, we see that the piercing then is the handing over of the sacramental life of the Godly community into the hands of those who will come after. The Spirit which is about to be poured out in chapter 20 is already here prefigured. Be cautious not to move into Pentecost too soon. However, I do think it is important to understand that the work of Jesus on the cross is the culmination of his earthly mission and for John it is the final death blow to the ruler of this world.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hebrews 10:16-25</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Paul has been teaching the Hebrews that the Holy Spirit has brought them to faith, and that it is the same Spirit which speaks to them in scripture. As an example he pulls from a passage that I spoke about in the Maundy Thursday meditation and that is the passage from Jeremiah chapter 31. </span><br />
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31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.</blockquote>
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The passage speaks of God's promise for a new covenant. Paul says that the promise itself is that God's action on the cross, takes away the sins of the past and moves the follower of Jesus towards a sinless life. Craig Koester (Hebrews, Yale Bible, 441), Luther Seminary professor of New Testament, writes that Paul offers to his readers the notion that "God creates a situation in which he does not allow past or present sins to define his relationship with people." God wills that such a divide is bridged by the cross.<br />
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There is justification and reconciliation between God and humanity. The work on the cross is complete and final. This is a unique Christian thought. There is no need for a temple or Colosseum where sacrifices need to be made in order to create a renewed relationship between humanity and the gods. There is no long list of law that is to be followed in order to fulfill the requirement to bridge the gulf. God's action upon the cross is what puts and end to remembering the human disobedience.<br />
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We are boldly given permission to be in God's presence. The sacrifice of Jesus, freely given for the sake of his friends and on behalf of sinners is what provides the release. This is new and it is a way of living. Paul says the sacrifice is made and the curtain removed.<br />
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New life is given through the opportunity of putting behind us anxiety, fear, death, and impurity. (Koester, 444). Instead we are given the opportunity as Christians to live a new life, to participate in the new covenant. The Holy Spirit gathers us in and sends us out. We are purified by Christ's action and with the character of boldness and hope we are sent out to confess and make known our faith. We are to "provoke" one another. [Paul here uses a negative work in a positive sense. (445) We are to encourage a new life of witness in one another. Furthermore, this new life is to look like love and good works.<br />
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Craig Koester writes, "Love is not simply an emotion, but entails care for others, including strangers and the afflicted. Love is congruent with righteousness and can be expressed in parental instruction. Good works of love are the opposite of the 'dead works' of sin....they are the saving work of Christ in the believer's actions. (445)<br />
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The Hebrews text gives us both a theological underpinning to the Johannine Gospel of victory. It defines what that victory is and it offers a vision of what the Christian is to do with their new freedom.<br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+52:1+-+53:12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The passage from Isaiah that we read is very much tied to the nativity story. It is part of the liturgical recognition of the uniqueness of God in Christ Jesus as the eternal Word. The excitement of the good news of Christ is now once again heralded on the day of the crucifixion.<br />
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The passage falls within what most Old Testament scholars call the fourth servant poem. God is speaking in this text to Israel. And, in the context of the Old Testament God is speaking to Israel’s sufferings and God’s ultimate triumph.<br />
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Dirk G. Lange, Associate Dean and Chair of Missions and Professor of Worship at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Mn, writes:<br />
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Not only is a messenger coming to announce a victory from the battlefield, but God’s self is coming in triumph. The Lord returns! The battlefield is not just any confrontation between two armies but the field of history itself in which God is triumphant, for it is not only Jerusalem that is redeemed but also all the nations. Finally, the watchmen watching for the messenger cannot contain themselves! Even before the messenger arrives they recognize the news and sing it out! </blockquote>
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The news is stated in cosmic terms: “Your God reigns!” Once again, we encounter the realignment of all earthly power and authority. The victory that is proclaimed does not belong to this or that king, to this or that country, to this or that ideology, but to God alone. Psalm 97, one of the psalms appointed for Christmas Day, also echoes this theme in song. (Read more <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1530">here</a>.)</blockquote>
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Reading this on Good Friday the text naturally shifts it to a Christian perspective revealing the “suffering servant” and the servant’s triumph as that of Christ. The suffering is Christ’s suffering on the cross. The servant’s triumph is Christ’s resurrection. The triumph is for the people of Israel but for the Gentiles as well.<br />
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Saint Athenasius writes:<br />
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They say then: “A man in stripes, and knowing how to bear weakness, for his face is turned away: he was dishonored and held in no account. He bears our sins, and is in pain on our account; and we reckoned him to be in labor, and in stripes, and in ill-usage; but he was wounded for our sins, and made weak for our wickedness. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we were healed.” O marvel at the loving-kindness of the Word, that for our sakes He is dishonored, that we may be brought to honor. “For all we,” it says, “like sheep were gone astray; man had erred in his way; and the Lord delivered him for our sins; and he opens not his mouth, because he hath been evilly entreated. As a sheep was he brought to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before his shearer, so open he not his mouth: in his abasement, his judgment was taken away.” 3. Then lest any should from His suffering conceive Him to be a common man, Holy Writ anticipates the surmises of man, and declares the power (which worked) for Him, and the difference of His nature compared with ourselves, saying: “But who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. From the wickedness of the people was he brought to death. (Read whole text <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.vii.ii.xxxiv.html">here</a>.)</blockquote>
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This text from Isaiah, Richard Hays believes, forms the background of the Good News presented in Mark’s Gospel. It is with an eye to this passage that our first Gospel author sees and understands that God has returned to God’s people in the person of Jesus. (Hays, Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, 30) Here then in the Gospel of Mark the revelation of God’s man is about the incarnation. Mark does not mention the suffering servant at all in the rest of the Gospel – not even in the crucifixion. (Echoes, 86)<br />
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For Matthew the image will come alive and dwell throughout the narrative. Keeping the Markan material, by the time Matthew writes it is clear that the correlation between the suffering servant of Israel and Jesus is essential in understanding the work of Jesus upon the cross.<br />
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Luke’s Gospel is the one New Testament narrative that draws the most from this passage. Hays points out that every bit of the narrative from the meal onward reveals Jesus as the suffering servant. (Echoes, 216ff) It might be easy to say that the arc of developed theology spans the first 5 decades of Christian writing after Jesus resurrection with an ever more pronounced and definitive understanding of Jesus as the suffering servant. Isaiah’s prophecy speaking beyond the return of the people Israel to their homeland to the defeat of death itself and the doors of heaven being opened to all humanity.<br />
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Here in all of this though is an interesting correlation worth exploring homiletically but seems to be outside of most of the discussions I have read. In fact, I have never preached on it before. And that is this: The suffering servant is an image of Israel (God’s people suffering) and God’s triumphant act. It seems a powerful image to play on the notion that Jesus, while on the one hand embodying the image of the suffering servant, also takes on the embodiment of Israel –yes – but all humanity. It seems of the utmost important to understand the catholic (the universal) nature of the suffering servant’s identity as that of the people. The suffering servant of Isaiah reveals the burden of all Israel, the suffering servant of the Gospels (Jesus) is revealed as the vessel in which is poured not the burden of any one people but the burden of the whole world.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Previous Sermons for Good Friday</u></b></span><br />
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Sermon Good Friday Year B, March 30, 2018, St. Mark's, Bellaire</div>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/reflections-the-broken-man-and-his-breaking-cross" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #77119e; font-family: lato, "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><b>Reflections: The Broken Man and his Breaking Cross</b></a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/the-crucifixion-is-a-public-warning" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important;">The Crucifixion is a Public Warning</a></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/jesus-thirsts-for-righteousness-and-thirsts-for-us" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important;">Jesus Thirsts for Righteousness and Thirsts for Us</a></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/when_death_met_christ" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important; outline: 0px;">When Death Met Christ</a></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/lives_lived_boxes_filled" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important;">Lives Lived, Boxes Filled</a></h2>
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</style>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-30441645368982476242024-03-09T10:05:00.000-08:002024-03-12T18:16:39.254-07:00Maundy Thursday, Holy Week, Year ABC<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Quotes That Make Me Think</span></strong><br />
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"Infinite, intimate God; this night you kneel before your friends and wash our feet. Bound together in your love, trembling, we drink your cup and watch."<br />
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<i>New Zealand Prayer Book</i><br />
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<i>"Oneness in love is the language of intimacy. It applies to our relation with God and Christ (and to their relationship). It is to apply also to our relationships with each other in community."</i><br />
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/LkEaster5.htm">"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary: Easter 5,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div>
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<i>"Fortunately, this passage actually has TWO new commandments: 1) Love one another as I have loved you. And, 2) Forgive one another as I have forgiven you. Christ-like-love is the goal. Forgiveness is the salve that heals brokenness and makes love possible once again."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.holytextures.com/2011/04/john-13-1-17-31b-35-year-a-b-c-lent-holy-maundy-thursday-sermon.html">Holy Textures</a>, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, John 13:31-35, David Ewart, 2012.</div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/festivals/thursday.htm">General Resources for Sunday's Lessons</a></strong><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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With joy, O God of salvation, the assembly of your holy people begins the three day pasch, in which Christ manifests the gospel in his own flesh and blood. Stir our hearts by the example of this Savior, who welcomed to his table even those who would betray, deny and desert him, the Lord who knew their weaknesses yet bend down to wash their feet. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><strong style="font-size: x-large;">John 13:1-35</strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+13:1-35&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn13.htm"><strong>Resources for Sunday's Gospel</strong></a><br />
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Much like the place of Maundy Thursday as the beginning of Christian Passover or the doorway into the Triduum, our passage is the beginning through which the disciple walks into the important teachings in following chapters which then lead directly into the crucifixion. This passage is a doorway in John's Gospel for the disciple to follow Jesus to the cross, through the grave and to Easter.<br />
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Meister des Hausbuches,</div>
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Jesus Washes the Feet of the Apostles </div>
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Most scholars including Raymond Browne see that our passage falls into three distinct sections. The action in 1-5, the interpretation to the disciples, and the further interpretation to those who read the Gospel and believe.<br />
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<em>Section One: The Action</em><br />
13Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.<br />
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We see a clear Johanine understanding that Jesus is returning to the Father. We might remember the earlier teachings on John wherein I talked about how Jesus clearly is the incarnate word come to dwell in the world. Furthermore, we see the very deep roots of our orthodox faith which understands that it is Jesus' loving of the disciples that brings them into the family of God. Despite the work of those that would destroy the community and creatures of God, Jesus will be victorious. He washes their feet. This may be a sign of baptism. What is clear is that Jesus serves the disciples and loves them as if they were his own to care for and tend. This is the first and essential piece of the Gospel; and it is radical. Jesus serves his followers.<br />
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<em>The Second Section: First Interpretation</em><br />
We shall remember that this is "Commandment day", this is the meaning of Maundy. Here we have the essential ingredient to all of Christian teachings about discipleship. While avoiding words that are liturgically connected with baptism Jesus offers this very basic exercise of cleaning and washing. Jesus is enacting a sign of hospitality. It is a welcoming into the company of God's family, formally in baptism, here signified with the tenderness of a mother or father. Jesus is uniting all of creation and all of humanity with God. We are being adopted into Christ's household as a person might be brought into one's own home (Genesis <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+18%3A4" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" onmouseover="window.status='Click here to read the text'; return true">18:4</a> 1 Samuel <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=1Samuel+25%3A41" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" onmouseover="window.status='Click here to read the text'; return true">25:41</a>; Luke <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Luke+7%3A44" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" onmouseover="window.status='Click here to read the text'; return true">7:44</a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Luke+22%3A27" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" onmouseover="window.status='Click here to read the text'; return true">22:27</a>). This is the way our community is to be like. Within the covenant community which claims Christ we are to accept the freely given grace of our Lord and share it with others by repeating the act of loving embrace to others.<br />
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We know that the outward washing of the body does not cleanse the soul, but it is clear that this love and care is to be a hallmark of the inward grace. It is the hallmark of Jesus' ministry and it is to be the hallmark of our own lives lived in the wake of Jesus' ministry. The hospitality of God is to be echoed by all who come after him. 1 Peter <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=1Peter+2%3A21">2:21</a>, the author writes: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps”.<br />
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<em>The Third Section: The Second Interpretation </em>Here it is as if Jesus stops focusing upon his disciples and steps out of the Gospel in order to focus on the reader. When we welcome, when we open ourselves up to those who have been sent by Christ into the world we too become part of the family. While certainly Jesus is to be betrayed, nevertheless we are to act in accordance to the witness we have been given. We are to “love one another”. This is the basic sign of ones salvation and knowledge of God and his Son Jesus. We witness in this text the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, the emblems of a self-giving God. We are to love and keep his commandments. While we often will spend our time in the pulpit on this Holy night speaking of love, it is important to recognize the reality that forgiveness is also part and parcel of the life lived in Christ.<br />
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And in a miraculous way, beyond all that pulls at our church, all that works to destroy and condemn us, all that we do to one another in word and action, in our most broken and most divided, it is tonight, this holy night that we pause, and remember to love and forgive. We pause and put down our destruction and remind ourselves of the service and hospitality of our God. We remind ourselves that it is his grace and love which unites us one to another and into the family of God. It is his love which binds us forever. And so, it is on this night that we are challenged to be a better people, a loving people, a hospitable people, a kind people. This is our work should we choose to follow.<br />
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"O Lord Jesus Christ, though didst not come to the world to be served, but also surely not to be admired or in that sense to be worshiped. Thou was the way and the truth - and it was followers only thou dist demand. Arouse us therefore if we have dozed away into the delusion, save us from the error of wishing to admire thee instead of being wiling to follow thee and to resemble thee."<em> Soren Kierkegaard</em></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I Corinthians 11:23-26</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+11:23-32&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a></strong></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><a href="http://www.textweek.com/pauline/1cor11.htm"><strong>Resources for Sunday's Epistle</strong></a></span></div>
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This section of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians is dealing with accusations by fellow members of the community that others are abusing the Lord's Supper. Our theologians have pulled out of the text for us to read on this Holy Thursday the passages that deal with the tradition of the "supper" itself; and Paul's interpretation of Jesus' actions at the Last Supper.<br />
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The first followers of Jesus have already formed a tradition and this tradition is given to the Corinthians from Paul. He provides the words that have been given to him and the meaning that these remembrances are to remind the follower of the first supper and the grace they receive by continuing the tradition. The elements are offered with the same words we use in our liturgy today. Thanks is offered, blessings made and the gives are shared. The bread is broken, literally, and shared. This is a very different tradition than the Aramaic formula in the Passover tradition. (Joseph Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, Yale Press, 438). Like the washing of feet in tonight's Gospel from John, it is very clear that these things are done, broken, and given to those gathered - the faithful. <br />
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Fitzmyer reminds us (443) that the "new covenant" that is mentions is a reference to Jeremiah 31:31-34. <br />
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31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. </blockquote>
It is Paul's, and the new Christian movement's, understanding that Jesus and this meal is fulfillment of this ancient prophecy and promise. For Paul the rehearsal of these things by those who follow Jesus - was essential. <br />
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In the last verse we have Pauline material which makes clear his understanding. Fitzmyer says it well:<br />
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The active sharing of the bread and the cup is a way not only of expressing one's belief in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and of commemorating the Last Supper, but also of announcing to others what the death of Jesus has achieved for all Christian believers. The act of sharing is not only memory and recollection, but above all, proclamation, based on the Passover event of old...this double aspect of the Eucharist, remembrance and proclamation, is not to be neglected....there is no worship without remembering, and there is no liturgical remembering without proclamatory narrative. (444)</blockquote>
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Therefore, the remembering and rehearsing of this ancient meal is not simply something God is doing but it is essentially something the one who follows this God does in order to remind themselves of the Gospel narrative. <br />
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Chosen on this night of Holy Thursday as our reading, it is has special meaning. The congregation rehearses and retells our sacred story. For the preacher it is an opportunity to make the connection between our weekly remembrances and the first supper of passion week.<br />
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Thoughts on Exodus 12:1-14</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+12:1-14&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times new roman";">Oremus Online NRSV Old
Testament Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.textweek.com/pentateuch/ex12.htm"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Resources for Sunday's Old Testament Lesson</span></b></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Moses has attempted to convince the Egyptian Pharaoh to let God’s people go. The Pharaoh’s heart hardened, he has refused. Again and again, God has sent signs, portents, and plagues to reveal that God intends to raise God’s people from Egypt.<br />
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The passage that is appointed for the Maundy Thursday liturgy is about the Passover of course. That moment when the people of Israel consume a goat and mark their doors in order to be spared from the last and terrible slaughter of Egyptians. Stanley Hauerwas once told me, “God is getting over God’s tendency to violence.” Regardless of how you read this horrific story, it is of paramount importance for following this last of the plagues the Egyptians allow the people of God to go free. By the blood of the sacrifice, painted upon their door mantle, they are freed…they are delivered…they are passed over by death and have life, they pass over from slavery into freedom. The story which is the “Passover” has another meaning too: God’s compassion spares.<br />
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Now, there are two very important arguments here. The Gospel narratives place Jesus’ last supper and death near the time of Passover. The first argument that is made (and I fear has won out in our present time) is that Jesus’ last meal was the remembrance meal of the Passover called the Seder. This is celebrated by many religious Jews today. J. Jeremias in his text The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, 1966, has influenced a generation of people that this is in fact the case. The argument is based upon a “conjecture” found in the text that there was an older Palestinian calendar for Passover that is now lost. Though this cannot be found anywhere or referenced specifically. <br />
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It is clear that the authors of the New Testament saw Jesus’ death and resurrection as a metaphor for the Passover. The Passover, if you will, prefigured the resurrection of Jesus. This can be seen emerging theologically in the middle of the second century in the work of Irenaeus of Lyons. <br />
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However, there is a second case made for a different root for the liturgy we now recognize as the Eucharist, and that in fact Jesus’ last supper was not the <i>Seder</i> but the <i>Chabûrah</i> or <i>Feast of Friends.</i> C. Kucharek on the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, L. Mitchell in his book <i>The Meaning of Ritual </i>both track the <i>Chabûrah</i> as a major link in the tradition. Their research taps into the ancient texts of <i>The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles</i> and <i>The Didache</i> - two early Christian texts. The biggest proponent of this tradition in the Episcopal Church is our very own Gregory Dix, who in <i>The Shape of Liturgy</i>, places Jesus’ death before Passover. And, that the <i>Chabûrah</i> was a feast kept between rabbis and their followers. (I take all of this from my longtime friendship with Richard Fabian and his work on liturgy and the Eucharist at St. Gregory of Nyssa.) <br />
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I say all of this because people will be quick to draw a direct lineage between the Seder, Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, and the modern-day Eucharist. What seems important is that rather than appropriating a perfectly good liturgy of our religious ancestors we might ought to see that what Jesus was doing in his feast with friends was an essential breaking of the specialized meal for the religious to a meal for all people. Friends here being redefined not by those who are given any particular religion by virtue of birth or by nurture of family. Friends instead are those whom God loves in Christ Jesus. Friends are those bound by love and for whom new families are structured out of their participation in a table meant for all people and not a few. This is accentuated when we take into account the nature of customary seating. Jesus was most definitely killed for eating with sinners. At the final supper, he sits with John on one side and Judas on the other – my friend John Peterson is quick to point out. Jesus places his greatest follower – the one whom he loved and his greatest detractor on both his left and right. <br />
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If we keep this in mind and return to the text and how it is used in the New Testament we see something very interesting. While there is reference to the looming Passover, there is no direct reference to this passage. This passage, the Passover passage, is used differently.<br />
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Luke uses the text, refers to the text, as a charge to Jesus’ followers to be ready. In Luke 12 Jesus tells them to be ready. His time is approaching when he will no longer be with them and they must be ready and be on the move. (Hays, <i>Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels</i>, 203) Again, Luke seems to nod in the direction of our passage from Exodus when in Acts the tradition of Jesus as being key and not passages of laws including but not limited to keeping the Passover. (Hays, 220) Finally, in John’s Gospel, often called the “book of signs” the idea that Jesus’ legs were not broken so like the pure lamb was seen as a sign of the sacrifice.<br />
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We can spend a lot of time on the kind of food served at the meal or the meaning of the meal itself. When we do so we miss, most often the fact, that it is not the meal nor the lamb that was slain in Egypt that is our deliverance. Rather that all of those stories prefigure the unique person of Jesus who will be our final deliverance. God in Christ Jesus shall bring all of us to the table of friends (where both the good and the bad shall be seated), and from the table we shall all go united in Love with haste into the world to proclaim a story of deliverance. We are delivered. We know the work of Jesus because we know the old old story of God’s deliverance of a people from death into life, from slavery into freedom.<br />
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<b style="font-family: times;"><u>Previous Sermons For This Sunday</u></b></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/bread-is-for-re-membering" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important; text-decoration-line: none;">Bread Is For Re-membering</a></h2>
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Sermon Maundy Thursday Year B, March 29, 2018, St. Mark's, Bellaire</div>
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<b style="font-family: times;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #77119e; font-family: "lato" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The Passover of God</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;">Maundy Thursday sermon preached at Trinity Church, Galveston 2011.</span></b></div>
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</style>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-30096416988673917762024-03-07T13:17:00.000-08:002024-03-12T18:16:15.419-07:00Palm Sunday, Year B<em><em style="font-style: normal;">"This Palm Sunday can we get beyond a scrap of palm we never know what to do with, & a feel- good procession that leads to nowhere?"</em></em><br />
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<em><u><span style="color: #0066cc;">Marginally Mark</span></u>,</em> by Brian McGowan, Anglican priest in Western Australia.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">O God, for whom all things are possible, you have highly exalted your suffering Servant, who did not hide from insult but humbled himself even to death on a cross. As we begin the journey of Holy Week, take our sin away by Christ's glorious passion and confirm our worship and witness, so that when we proclaim the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend and every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 11:1-11</strong></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>"Let us remember, by turning our hearts and minds to the actions of God’s dearest Son, who went not up to joy but first suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified. May God bless us in these days, that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace."<br />
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How will you bear witness to Jesus' passion and resurrection? How will you walk the way with Jesus this week?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkt7W0zYoP2SLylD3y2kO5zBj4cO4XE1xA6MdBfKP0tFLclgzj4RYT1f8ESfnLvK6EpjTlKvMIM8EsGk6Z50stR7WOx9H5iYZPOb8qK5HNDx2Yd8E2bDAyZ6Ga3tjlHqd6kTy78NawYLW/s1600/-the-Via-Dolorosa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkt7W0zYoP2SLylD3y2kO5zBj4cO4XE1xA6MdBfKP0tFLclgzj4RYT1f8ESfnLvK6EpjTlKvMIM8EsGk6Z50stR7WOx9H5iYZPOb8qK5HNDx2Yd8E2bDAyZ6Ga3tjlHqd6kTy78NawYLW/s320/-the-Via-Dolorosa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>One of the first things I want to encourage you to do this Sunday is to really pay attention to the triumphal entry and its narrative offering. All too often we rush to the foot of the cross! While we certainly have a long tradition of reading the passion this Sunday, we also have a long tradition of bypassing the triumphal entry.<br />
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Encourage your people to attend the pilgrim journey through Holy Week. Dare to preach the passion narrative as it comes. Resist the "cliff notes" version of preaching Good Friday's message Sunday. Invite people back and invite them into the life journey of Jesus as experienced in our liturgy this week.<br />
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So then, what to do with our passage from Mark 11? This carefully constructed passage parallels 14:12-16; and provides for an understanding that what is taking place is of central importance to Jesus ministry.<br />
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He has been very clear from the beginning of his ministry (in Mark's Gospel) that to walk the Way (the reoccurring theme of this Gospel) is to walk towards the cross. This is true for Jesus' own ministry. It is true in the life and ministry of all those who would follow him. Here in this passage the pilgrim way of walking leads directly to Jerusalem and to the Temple. Therefore the <em>way</em> is tied inextricably to the faithful traditions of our Abrahamic ancestors and will in the end unleash God's presence in the world, God's embrace of the world. The triumphal entry is the point at which walking <em>the way</em> TO the cross arrives on the doorstep of Jerusalem to become the the way OF the cross. <br />
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The entrance rite is royal (see Genesis 49:10-11 and Zechariah 9:9). This is an eschatological and messianic reign that is being unfurled into time. The stage and the plan are underway and the unfurling of a new creation and new order of living is at hand.<br />
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From Psalm 118 comes the imagery of a new Davidic reign. The gates are open and the people fervently receive their king; yet as the reader know this crown will be laid upon the king not in victorious triumph but complete and utter powerlessness. The worlds undoing and recreation will come from an explicit rejection of power as this world deals it out and an embrace of forgiveness and grace of which the world had yet to behold. <br />
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Note in this Gospel there is not cleansing of the Temple but only an embrace. Jesus enters, and retires to rest.<br />
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And, so we begin. We make our journey. We choose to follow Jesus along the way of the cross. We pledge fidelity not to power which overcomes, but a power which will yield unto death. Unlike those who met Jesus at the gate, we greet him this Sunday knowing that only complete submission and not a powerful revolution brings about the creative cataclysm. And, we rehearse, remind, and remake our way to the foot of the cross as a reminder that our <em>Christian</em> <em>way</em> is clearly marked by grace, mercy, and forgiveness - and not by authority, power, and abuse.<br />
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So, I charge you to remember, Walk with determination turning your hearts and minds to the actions of God. A God who went suffered pain, and entered was crucified. By walking in the way of the cross, may you find a blessing, and a way of life, and a way of and peace.<br />
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<div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">A Little Bit for Everyone</span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br />
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+11:1-11&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/palmsb.htm"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">General Resources for Sunday's Lessons</span></strong></a></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn12c.htm"><span style="font-size: small;">Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel</span></a></strong></div><br />
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<h2>Mark 11:1-11</h2>11When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage<br />
“Hosanna!<br />
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!<br />
10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!<br />
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”<br />
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11Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-57835729970630699772024-03-05T06:35:00.000-08:002024-03-12T18:31:57.851-07:00Lent 5B March 17, 2024<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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Hear, O God, the eternal echo of your Son's prayers and supplications when establishing the new and everlasting covenant; he became obedient even unto death on the cross. Through all the trials of this life, bring us to a deeper, more intimate share in Christ's redeeming passion, that we may produce the abundant fruit of that seed that falls to the earth and dies, and so be gathered as your harvest for the kingdom of heaven. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on </strong></span><strong style="font-size: x-large;">John 12:20-33</strong><br />
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<i>"Who knows how the awareness of God's love first hits people. Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who wouldn't believe in God if you paid him."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-salvation">"Salvation,"</a> Frederick Buechner, Buechner Blog.<br />
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<i>"John alerts his readers to the seductive powers of the world. There can be no compromise."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/25/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 12:20-33, Marilyn Salmon, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"During this season of Lent we follow him all the way to Golgotha, all the way to the cross, where we will stand beneath it, together with those followers who asked at the beginning of his ministry, "Where are you staying?" (1:38). It is there, in the face of the world's many ways of death (e.g., poverty, economic collapse, hunger, sickness, war) that we are drawn even closer to Jesus. It is there, in the light of the stark reality of life at its end that we begin to catch a glimpse of life at its fullest."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/29/2009&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 12:20-33, Audrey West, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+12:20-36&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div>
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Jesus has finished his public ministry. The arrival of the Greeks reminds us of 3:14ff: that the world is being saved through the lifting up of the Son. Even sheep not of his own fold are being drawn near as the time arrives. We ourselves, reading through John's Gospel arrive at the essential truth that the mission of the cross is not to be stopped. God, in Christ Jesus, is recreating the world. The grain is replanted, and new fruit is to grow and thrive; a gospel fruit of salvation. The cross is itself forever changed such that it shines a light on the disciple's life and upon the world revealing truth and making known that which has been hidden: God will not stop the drawing to himself of his creation or his creatures.<br />
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There is a great deal of debate over the Passover imagery between scholars. Yet, for the Christian there is ultimately a clear understanding that it is we who are passing over through the sheol of death into a promised land by virtue of Jesus (like Moses' own staff) being lifted upon a cross, descending into the dead, and rising on the third day. This is the vulnerability of courage and the power of love overcoming death itself.<br />
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Jesus promises all people and all things will be drawn to him through whom all things were made. While the gate is narrow, Jesus is the door. Jesus invites all and forgives all. Faith in him is the key with not much more required. This is a catholic understanding that the creator shall take us in the end under his wing and desires that all sit at the table of the lamb. Here is the core of the Gospel of John through which the rest may be read.<br />
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As Jesus' ministry comes to an end so ours in the meantime begins. Our work is to begin the sowing of the seeds, the gathering in from the streets, slums, hedgerows, that all may come to the feast. We are to scatter the birds, to remove the rocks and weeds, and to make sure that the seeds of individuals are carefully planted within the earth that they may truly be transformed and reborn; growing and bearing fruit. We are to create safe spaces for people to become vulnerable to the workings of God's love. And, we are to do this for ourselves first; making sure we are planted carefully and fed upon the wellspring of the waters of life.<br />
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At the opening of the Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, as one of the primary philanthropist spoke passionately about her desire to be apart of projects which are transformative - I was moved. I was touched by the transformation through vulnerability spoken about by Brené Brown in her TED talk which can be found <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html">here</a> or <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html">here</a>. Both women speak to me of the challenge of transformation and being involved in transformative work where "vulnerability is itself the birthplace of innovation and change."<br />
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We are to be at work releasing people from trying to get through the narrow door and accept God's forgiveness - Jesus' cross and open gate. We are to allow the work of the cross to first shine a light on our own arc of transformation and pilgrim journey. We are to engage and embrace our own vulnerability. We are to follow its direction and seek our own change by the grace of God. We are then to preach to, lead, and help organize a mission that itself transforms the world around us. This is the kind of organization we wish to be part of. This is the kind of church we long to be.<br />
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We are to be the ones - through the proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation and the witness of the uniqueness of God in Christ Jesus - bear fruit from the deep nature of our own vulnerability that is worthy of our salvation. <br />
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All of this begins with us, our own vulnerability, and our own willingness to be vulnerable to others, and to the Gospel and cross. Only then does our old life end and our new life begins. Perhaps only then will others be drawn to our witness.<br />
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For it is the world of false courage, a lack of vulnerability, and a willingness to reject transformation and rebirth that allows and leads to abuse, the crucifixion of others, and ultimately the shaming of the week and poor.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Hebrews+5:1-10&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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<i>"In actuality, the history of the high priesthood was an inglorious one, the office having become highly politicized, especially in the Maccabean and Roman periods that led into the time of Jesus. Opposition to the corrupt priesthood was one of the factors that led to the formation of the dissident Qumran community, locus of the Dead Sea Scrolls."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/21/2012&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Hebrews 5:1-10, Susan Hedahl, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"Why does salvation depend on a high priest who is subject to weakness, who prays in crisis, who learns what the human lot is like? Why does Jesus' service as high priest require his identification with us?"</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/18/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Hebrews 5:1-10, Pentecost 21, Bryan J. Whitfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<i>"...right in the heart of God there is empathetic love for each of us on our life's journey."</i><br />
<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpPentecost21.html">"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Pentecost 21, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">Each Sunday I remind myself that we have a great high priest in Jesus. This prayer, commonly said before receiving communion (BCP 834), is rooted in this particular passage of scripture from Hebrews.</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">The author is responsible for giving us the metaphor that Jesus has taken the place of the priest's office and is our great high priest. While we have chosen priests to help us and represent us before God, Jesus is the priest who is to intervene on our behalf before God. When it comes to the offering and sacrifices for the removal of sin (which would have been normal in the temple of Jesus' day) now Jesus is our offering and sacrifice.</span><br />
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The priestly role that we humans fill is always limited because of our own humanity. We are indeed to strive before God to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek (that ancient Canaanite priest who ministered to Abram and Sarai - blessing and feeding them) but we are limited. We fail, we sin, we are all too human. Jesus is our high priest.<br />
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Yet, Jesus suffers, prays that his task may be removed, has the human qualities of weakness and fear. Our author tells us this is because of his humanness. It is this humanness that enables him to know our suffering and fear - and then to take it truly into the heavenly kingdom and lay it at the altar of God.<br />
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In Jesus, we see the culmination of worship, sacrifice, and offers. We have in him perfect oblation and satisfaction (as the prayer used to say) for the sins of the world. Jesus has made the offering once and it is eternal. He remains our high priest and it is he that intercedes on our part before the great throne of God.<br />
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<i>"Lent is a time for honesty that may disrupt the illusion of well-being that is fostered by the advocates of indulgent privilege and strident exceptionalism that disregards the facts on the ground. Against such ideological self-sufficiency, the prophetic tradition speaks of the brokenness of the covenant that makes healthy life possible."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.odysseynetworks.org/on-scripture-the-bible/ferguson-forgiveness-jeremiah-3131-34/">"Ferguson and Forgiveness,"</a> Walter Bruegemann, ON Scripture, Odyssey Networks, 2015. Video: Race in America.</div>
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<i>"Hope for the future in Jeremiah involves the same divine message known from Sinai, 'I will be their God and they will be my people' (verse 33); but this time, that covenant relationship will be the defining mark of each person rather than something that must be learned."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/28/2012&tab=1&alt=2">Commentary</a>, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Amy Erickson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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We just had this passage this last summer - so if you didn't preach on it you get a second chance. It will appear again this coming year.<br />
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Jeremiah continues his prophecy saying that God will bring about a bounteous future. God has not stayed the hand of those who have undone the power of Israel as a civilization rooted in the authority of this world. Remember it was Israel's political and religious machinations that brought it down. Yet, God will in the days to come bring about a resurrection from the death they brought on themselves. God will bring about life from their rubble. </div>
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While the people have suffered and have been deported this will not be the final word. Out of lostness, leastness, and death, God brings about life. From the children whose teeth are set on edge to those who at sour fruit, God will bring about a bounteous feast and plenty for the children. Jeremiah prophesies:<br />
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"The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. </blockquote>
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God promises a new covenant - a new relationship. Christians understand this prophecy to be about the promise of God to deliver all people. The temple's politics intermixed with the state, the civil war between tribes (between the northern and southern kingdoms) has undone the original covenant that was made with God. They forgot who delivered them out of Egypt and so they thought they were responsible for delivering themselves. They forgot who fed them in the wilderness and thought that it was by their own hands that they had wealth. They forgot that God brought water from the rock and thought instead that their future and the future of their kingdoms would flow from their own power.</div>
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God speaks through Jeremiah and he writes:</div>
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But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.</blockquote>
Walter Brueggeman calls this part of the prophetic book of Jeremiah "the book of comfort." God is watching and planting and build the new community of hope. While we may well remember the proverb that the parent's sins are visited upon the children (even Jesus quotes this), we see in the passage that the people have an opportunity to begin again. The proverb is "null and void" says Brueggeman. All exiles have the possibility of the new. (Brueggeman, <i>Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming</i>, 504)<br />
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The covenant intends that people not work against one another but rather that they see one another face to face and see God face to face. Again a radical message says that God will forget all their sin.<br />
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For Christians, this is the very mission of God in Christ Jesus. That God in Christ comes and is incarnate such that they meet God face to face, and can no longer look at each other without seeing the face of God looking back. That God in Christ will be the very law himself. We are to understand that the highest law shall be the writing of commandments and actions by Jesus himself. Humanity will know, both by sight and by relationship and by story/witness God. The living word shall come and be part of the community and with him, he shall bring forgiveness of every iniquity.<br />
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While we may wonder why Jeremiah remains in the scripture because of his obvious entanglement with the Babylonian court, what we see is that his words prophesy a new faith. The first Christians, without a New Testament, understood their work as a community and the person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the prophecy of Jeremiah.</div>
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Sermon preached on 5. b Lent at Good Shepherd in Austin. With a shout out to The Rev. Dr Paul Zahl (PZ's Podcast), Rudolf Otto, and Meister Eckhart. 2015.<br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/dunstan-s-corn-or-a-grain-must-be-buried-in-the-ground" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #77119e; text-decoration-line: none;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Dunstan's Corn or A Grain Must Be Buried in the Ground</a><br /><a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/dunstan-s-corn-or-a-grain-must-be-buried-in-the-ground"></a></h2>
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Sermon preached at Trinity Longview. Mexico memories and our parrot named Dunstan. 2012.<br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/we_want_to_see_jesus" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #77119e; text-decoration-line: none;">We want to see Jesus</a>.</h2>
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This sermon was preached at Holy Spirit Houston on March 30, 2009, on John 12.20-33. 2009.</div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-36438641517535511622024-02-19T12:04:00.000-08:002024-02-20T10:55:31.397-08:00Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B, February 28, 2024<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYiwase7YoK1rEwEB-oicvPWHkL73Wo2-KzDJnReaRUYW-uX6k9yhEyQYtsKSXM-HRD2qxQjQo82afmAKukJ0zvXaegjveL3XKi-EZqEIb5yN_o-gtqpw_Tg6a69RBBQJcUq6CYVFEtRK/s1600/jesus-on-cross-05.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYiwase7YoK1rEwEB-oicvPWHkL73Wo2-KzDJnReaRUYW-uX6k9yhEyQYtsKSXM-HRD2qxQjQo82afmAKukJ0zvXaegjveL3XKi-EZqEIb5yN_o-gtqpw_Tg6a69RBBQJcUq6CYVFEtRK/s320/jesus-on-cross-05.jpg" width="264" /></a>God of mercy, who sent your Son into the world not to condemn it but to save it, open our eyes to behold Jesus lifted up on the cross and to see in those outstretched arms your abundant compassion. Let the world's weary and wounded come to know that by your gracious gift, we are saved and delivered, so immeasurable is the love with which you love the world. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on </strong></span><strong style="font-size: x-large;">John 3:14-21</strong><br />
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<i>"Nicodemus had heard enough about what Jesus was up to in Jerusalem to make him think he ought to pay him a visit and find out more. On the other hand, as a VIP with a big theological reputation to uphold, he decided it might be just as well to pay it at night. Better to be at least fairly safe than to be sorry, he thought, so he waited till he thought his neighbors were all asleep."</i><br />
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-nicodemus">"Nicodemus,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.</div>
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<i>"As a small minority, the Johannine community did not have the power or influence to marginalize others or cause harm by excluding them. In the Western world, Christianity has been the dominant religion for centuries, whether supported by the state or not, and it has the power to marginalize and exclude those who do not conform."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/18/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 3:14-21, Marilyn Salmon, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"Whatever our own solution to the issues of inclusion and exclusion, John?s gospel asks us to recognise that to reject the love and light and truth we see in Jesus is to choose death ? wherever and whenever we do it, and to receive it means life, life our world which God still loves desperately needs."</i></div>
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkLent4.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Lent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+3:14-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div>
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Raymond Brown wrote an article with advice for preaching John, he wrote in the article, "The Johannine World for Preachers,"<em> is the necessity to enter into the world of John and its symbolic universe. Brown</em>, "Do not domesticate the Johannine Jesus. It is his style to say things that border on the offensive, be puzzled and even offended; but do not silence this Jesus by deciding what he should not have said and what your hearers should not hear." (<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/18/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 3:14-21, Marilyn Salmon) With this in mind then, what are we to do with this passage?<br />
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So let us begin by remembering that these words come from a conversation that Jesus is having with the Pharisee Nicodemus. He has come to believe in God and in Jesus because of the many signs. Key to John's Gospel is not the signs themselves but the revelatory power of Jesus, who happens to be performing them. The purpose of the signs is belief in the Gospel. So it is no wonder that Jesus in our passage has moved from a previous discourse about spirit to one about God's intentions: the salvation of the world.<br />
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Second, the passage we read today follows directly upon Jesus' teaching about being born again. The baptismal conversation is important. How it plays out sacramentally is one discussion that I will not go into; nevertheless, it seems that the basic idea here is that one is born both by the spirit and through water. (Raymond Brown,<em> John vol 1</em>, p 142ff, has an excellent discussion of the details surrounding this particular piece of Johannine literature.)<br />
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What Nicodemus has heard so far is that while coming to believe through signs, entrance into the kingdom is not something humans can accomplish on their own. In other words your faith does not save you, only God saves you. Moreover, one is brought into the Kingdom of God through God's outpouring of the spirit. We believe in the Episcopal Church that such an outpouring is measured in the sacrament of baptism. Nicodemus then asks, "how does this happen?" He fades into the background as we move into the monologue we have for today's passage.<br />
<br />We receive the Holy Spirit, and we are welcomed into the Kingdom of God only through the power of Jesus' work on the cross (vs 14), his resurrection, and his ascension (vs 15). Leaning on Isaac typology (Brown, 147) Jesus explains. The purpose of not allowing death to be the final answer (just as Isaac's death was not required) is for the gathering of the world and its people. God intends the embrace of God's people and their freedom to live and be who they were created to be. The creation story will be successful. We enter the reign of God only through Jesus' work. The incarnation and Jesus' presence in the world will necessarily create a decision point for individuals: to either live life following Jesus or to live life not following Jesus - perhaps against him.<br />
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What is interesting here at this point (vs20-21) is what we typically do with this passage. While Jesus is not here to condemn the world - we do. Our human nature is to immediately divide up the world into working groups we can get our minds around. That typically means we go to the save and the not saved. We move quickly to do the judging. But it is (according to our Nicene Creed) Jesus in his second coming that will judge. It doesn't seem to stop us, so we typically take what comes next to decide who is in and who is out. I also think we do this in a way that automatically removes us from the sinning proposition and into the category of people who "do all kinds of good works." Such a missionary mindset is hardly one I think Jesus would recognize. Raymond Brown writes:<br />
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"...the purpose clauses which end vss. 20 -21 are not to be understood as giving the subjective reason why men come or do not come to the light, that is, a man does not really come to Jesus to have it confirmed that his deeds are good. Rather, the idea is that Jesus brings out what a man really is and the real nature of his life. Jesus is penetrating light that provokes judgment by making it apparent what a man is." (<em>John, vol 1</em>, 148-9)</blockquote>
Before the cross, we are all judged. And instead of condemning, we are to engage in a conversation not unlike the one between Jesus and Nicodemus. We are to let people come to the cross for their own judgment and make their own faithful pilgrim way into a relationship with Jesus.<br />
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Our work is the invitation. We are to invite people into this sacred relationship. Not unlike Jesus, we are to make the Gospel message known: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."<br />
<br />As Christians, we believe that this is the only way to salvation. To believe anything else is essentially to not be a Christian but to be a henotheist; that is believing there are many gods and many salvations. We have one language and one cultural story to tell and that is of Jesus, his cross and his resurrection. We are to engage the world in a conversation that allows people to be listened to and invited into a deeper, profoundly transformational relationship with God in Christ Jesus.<br />
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The world will be drawn into this relationship not by condemning the world but by disciples living transformed lives. Through the rebirth experienced in baptism, through the grace and mercy of God, and the empowering Holy Spirit, we are to live lives worthy of the cross and resurrection. As we do this, people will be drawn into life with Christ and may, in turn, be discipled. They are drawn in by our example. Subsequently, like our own, their lives are transformed by their own coming to terms with who Jesus is and his work.<br />
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When we as a church community move away from this singular proposition, we are apt to argue over all manner of condemnations: sex, structure, liturgy, and polity. When we begin with this singular proposition (that we are saved by grace alone), then we may all find ourselves truly transformed as we come to the foot of the cross together. <br />
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3334">"Just As I Am,"</a> Thomas G. Long, The Christian Century, 2006.</div>
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<i>"To be a Christian, says the text, is to be crucified with Jesus, to die with him, to be buried with him, to be raised with him, to be enthroned with him. Spiritual? Yes. Mystical? Perhaps. Subjective? Partially. Will-o'-the wisp? Never. Experiential but inseparable from history? Always."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2672">"From God, to God,"</a> Fred Craddock, The Christian Century 2003.</div>
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"And how long was the whole great circus to last? Paul said, why until we all become human beings at last, until we all 'come to maturity,' as he put it; and then, since there had been only one real human being since the world began, until we all make it to where we're like him, he said - 'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Ephesians 4:13). Christs to each other, Christs to God. All of us. Finally. It was just as easy and just as hard as that."</div>
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<a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-paul">"Paul,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.</div>
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<i>"The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/grace-0">"Grace,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.<br />
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Paul begins by speaking about those who received their faith, baptism and the Holy Spirit. He prays that they will receive wisdom and revelation as they continue their journey.<br />
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The reality is that the following of Jesus is a journey, a process, by which people come to understand more and more their inherited faith.<br />
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I always feel Paul is buttering them up for the one-two punch. And, here he goes...he reminds them of their life before faith. You must remember that the world in which they live is diverse and filled with a plurality of beliefs and different religions. He reminds them that this faith is typically a faith which is self-centred and focused upon their own needs - their own life. <br />
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He uses powerful language about being spiritually dead and living apart from God and under the wrath of God. This language reminds me in my time that Paul is correct that living a life focused upon my needs is to live a life oriented around a god of my own making. When I focus on my needs as the primary directing power of life, not only am I the god at the centre of my universe - I worship other gods in order to control my world - money, sex, social standing, pleasing others, and many, many more.<br />
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Then we get the grace! Even though we were far off, God loved us. A fellow blogger, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: x-small;">Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal, </span>wrote:<br />
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God loved us greatly, so greatly that he brought us life together, raised us together and enthroned us together – "with Christ". Christians have been given a new status, a new life, and new freedom, in order that, by living in this way, we may be channels through whom God shows his gifts to us to the world. We are saved by God’s freely given inestimable gift of love (“grace”, <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrsa&word=Ephesians+2%3A7">2:7</a>). Our salvation is already happening through the medium of our “faith” (<a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrsa&word=Ephesians+2%3A8">2:8</a>), but even “this” (salvation) is a gift from God, rather than a result of our efforts (“works”, <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrsa&word=Ephesians+2%3A9">2:9</a>). God’s plan has always included making Christians what we are: “created in Christ ... for good works” (<a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrsa&word=Ephesians+2%3A10">2:10</a>): being saved, we do “good works”.</blockquote>
<span face="Times-Roman">I once learned that when emotions are deep and high, it is easier to get angry than it is to get sad or feel the pain of loss and suffering. Sadness, loss, and suffering can be so painful that avoiding them with a bit of anger is an easier way to go. </span><br />
<span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span><span face="Times-Roman">Sometimes, when we get to a passage like this, we are tempted to do the same kind of avoidance. We will find it easier to focus on how we were far off and worshipping other gods, etc., etc. "Let's have a shame fest" is always an easier answer...even better with a touch of anger. We can go to anger rather than to a place of reality where we recognize, name, and honour our deeper selves, our deeper emotions, and our deeper pain. We have tremendous guilt for what we have done and left undone. Shaming people for being beyond hope will never give them the hope they are looking for now.</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">I dream of a church that is preaching, teaching, and living a grace filled life. I dream of a church that is hopeful and redemptive. I hope for a church that can be honest about the pain most people are sitting in, their hopelessness, and sense that everything they experience now is "as good as it gets". The message Paul is trying to communicate is one worth communicating today: even when we were far off, God loved us. Even when we <b>are</b> far off, God loves us. We are given the freedom to write a new story. Every day, we are surrounded by grace and given the opportunity to move beyond our sadness, loss, and suffering. We are offered, through the continuous recreative work of god, the opportunity to put behind us the guilt of things done and undone. This is Good News indeed - we have a new life, even our failures are redeemed, and our loss honoured with an opportunity for redemption. We are forgiven, we are saved, we are resurrected, and enthroned with Christ Jesus.</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Numbers 21:4-9</b></span></div>
<br /><i>"What I thought might kill me became for me the way of healing. But I have still much looking at the bronze serpent to do if I am to continue my healing. Does my story in any way resonate with yours?"</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.patheos.com//Progressive-Christian/Of-Snakes-and-Things-John-C-Holbert-03-10-2015.html">"Of Snakes and Things,"</a> John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2015.</div>
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<i>"The text for today doesn't seem like altogether good news."</i></div>
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<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/18/2012&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Numbers 21:4-9, Elizabeth Webb, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br /><i><br />"What cures us from serpents? The cure is a serpent that we call forth for ourselves , even more deeply 'serpenty' in its essence than the deadly living snakes."</i></div>
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<br /><a href="http://www.shalomctr.org/node/275">"Red Cow, Red Blood, Red Dye: Staring Death & Life in the Face,"</a> Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center.<br /><br /><i>"'Kedusha' can cleanse us totally, but if we try to yoke it, to work it, it becomes unfit."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="https://theshalomcenter.org/node/53">"Hukkat Commentary,"</a> Rabbi Michael Graetz, The Shalom Center.<br /></div>
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Let me begin by simply saying that I think this passage from Numbers fits better in Lent 5b, given the themes presented in John's Gospel. Nevertheless, the powers that be have chosen to have this fall in our teaching this week. It does allow you to weave the two gospels together using the imagery here. So, let's look at the passage first from a wisdom perspective of our faith ancestors.<br />
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The great rabbi of the Middle Ages<span style="background-color: white;"> ibn Ezra explains on </span><i style="background-color: white;">ha-seraphim</i><span style="background-color: white;">: "Figuratively they loose their tongue to bite; thus they were sent against them" (on Num. 21:6). (</span><a href="https://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/chukath/him.html#13" style="background-color: white;">Also cf. Sforno on the words, "Make a seraph figure [alt.:fiery serpent]" (Num. 21:8): "The serpent was burned by his idle words, and likewise was their sin and their retribution."</a>) Dr. Leah Himmelfarb, Bar-Ilan University, offers, "The complainers in the desert sinned with their tongues, so, measure for measure, they were struck by the same instrument."<br />
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Part of what is happening here is the idea that the complainers receive their punishment. No grumbling is allowed in the desert. Seriously, though, what is actually at work here is linked to the story that comes before. They are being punished for their words because they doubted God and Moses.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">Elizabeth Webb, Episcopalian and theologian, offers a helpful understanding of the historical background to our passage <a href="https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1225">here</a>:</span><br />
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Scholars agree that Numbers has two distinct sections, marked off by two censuses. The first census is in chapter one, in which the descendants of each of the twelve tribes are named, up to the present generation. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, none of these men will live to inhabit Canaan (14:28-30). The second census, in chapter 26, names the generation that will be poised on the edge of Canaan when the book reaches its end.<br /><br />Between the two censuses, among stories of battle and ritual regulations, the people repeatedly complain and rebel against Moses. God's anger is kindled by this rebellion, and God sends a plague (11:33), inflicts Miriam with leprosy (12:10), and more than once asserts that this complaining generation will die out before Canaan is reached (14:20-25 and 28-35; 20:12). It's as if God is picking off the older generation a little bit at a time; Moses admits as much, when he urges God not to kill them all at once (14:13-19).</blockquote>
Turning to the New Testament use of the passage we find something interesting. In John's Gospel, Jesus refers to himself as being lifted up, and those who look upon him shall be saved, not unlike the pole and bronze serpent of this story. (See next week's gospel.) Richard Hays, in Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, links this, as do many others. It is the core of Robert Farrar Capon's theology. Jesus' own lifting up is the lifting up on the cross for the sins of others. One difference is that while the bronze serpent only saved some, Jesus' promises that his lifting up will draw all to him.<br />
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John Wesley, in typical Wesleyan style, writes <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.ii.v.xxii.ii.html">in his notes on the passage</a>, "The serpent signified Christ, who was in the likeness of sinful flesh, though without sin, as this brazen serpent had the outward shape, but not the inward poison, of the other serpents: the pole resembled the cross upon which Christ was lifted up for our salvation: and looking up to it designed our believing in Christ."<br />
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Terence E. Fretheim, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Luther Seminary, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=264">offers this</a>, "Deliverance comes, not in being removed from the wilderness, but in the very presence of the enemy. The movement from death to life occurs within the very experience of godforsakenness. The death-dealing forces of chaos are nailed to the pole." I think it is this that best captures the idea. </div>
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Jesus is offering his own interpretation of this passage. He is explaining the paradox of the gospel. That which is meant to kill will bring life to the least and loss. In the wilderness, God sets God's feet down and makes his stand there. But, it is a show of weakness rather power, of suffering rather than strength, it is surrender in the service of other that in the end brings about victory. </div>
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<b style="font-family: times;"><u>Previous Sermons For This Sunday</u></b></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/how_bright_is_the_light_you_are_using_john_3_14_21" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #77119e; text-decoration-line: none;">How Bright Is The Light You Are Using? John 3.14-2</a>1</h2>
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This sermon was preached at Christ the King, Atascocita, during a Confirmation Service. The Lesson is from John's Gospel: 3.14-21.</div>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/when-did-you-meet-jesus-for-the-first-time-" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #77119e; text-decoration-line: none;">When did you meet Jesus for the first time?</a></h2>
Sermon preached on John 3:1-17, Nicodemus meets Jesus.<br />
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-60340949261456115662024-02-13T08:56:00.000-08:002024-02-13T09:39:35.595-08:00Third Sunday in Lent, Year B, February 25, 2023<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Jesus' cleansing of the Temple, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Cathedrale d'Amiens.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span></div>
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O God, the living fountain of new life, to the human race, parched with thirst, you offer the living water of grace that springs up from the rock, our Savior Jesus Christ. Grant your people the gift of the Spirit, that we may learn to profess our faith with courage and conviction and announce with joy the wonders of your saving love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you int he unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on </strong></span><strong style="font-size: x-large;">John 2:13-25</strong><br />
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"I read the cleansing of the temple as a stark warning against any and every false sense of security. Misplaced allegiances, religious presumption, pathetic excuses, smug self-satisfaction, spiritual complacency, nationalist zeal, political idolatry, and economic greed in the name of God are only some of the tables that Jesus would overturn in his own day and in ours."<br />
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<a href="http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20060313JJ.shtml">"Subtle as a Sledge Hammer: Jesus 'Cleanses' the Temple,"</a> The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation.<br />
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<i>"Followers of Jesus confess that Jesus is King and the emperor is not. If the consequence of challenging the imperial powers is death, as it was for Jesus and many of his followers, so be it."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/11/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 2:13-22, Marilyn Salmon, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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<i>"Is the community good news for the poor or is it chaplain to the rich who oppress? Mark with telling irony contrasts the widow and her poverty with the oppression of the temple authorities who exploit widows (12:38-44). Lent is also a time for the church to take a good look at itself."</i></div>
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkLent3.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Lent 3, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div>
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<strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+2:13-25&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div>
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I guess I want to begin my reflection with, "Wow." This passage never seems to get easier to read. It also challenges my thinking about who Jesus is for me...most days. So, I think it deserves some very important reflection.<br />
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First, the cleansing of the Temple is a sign. It is a sign that the messianic age is upon us, and a call for purification in the presence of the Messiah.<br />
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Second, in the face of the authority's desire for a sign, Jesus gives them one by cleansing the Temple.<br />
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There are many mixes of imagery and theology. We cannot ignore the imagery that comes to mind about our own faith and religious traditions. We can imagine the sacrifice of Christ's body in comparison to the prophecy regarding the destruction.<br />
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But as I sit here on this particular day, I ask myself what needs to be cleansed. It is Lent, and I am wondering, in a particularly reflective mood, what it is in me that I need to have cleansed by the Grace of Jesus, his mercy, and his forgiveness.<br />
<br />Not out of shame, believing that I will then be worthy...not out of a desire to be perfect...rather to ask myself the question, where do I do things, or not do things that need to be cleansed and transformed by God.<br />
<br />You see, more often than not (I think - only you preachers can tell me), we spend time talking about how everything else needs to be cleaned out...our culture, our church, our politics, our...whatever. On this day, I am reminded of that habit I have of cleaning my desk before I do the work. A necessary thing - sure - more often than not a diversionary tactic.<br />
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It is always easier to see the easy work of cleaning out someone else's temple than it is to clean out our own. Or to spend time shaking our fists at the organization, culture, or institution versus rolling up our sleeves, entering the arena and getting our hands, feet and faces dirty with the sweat and blood of ministry.<br />
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The tables that need turning over in my life are my belief that there is no power greater than myself; that I can control people's reactions; that other people are responsible for my happiness; that cynicism is an appropriate response to believing there is no good in the world; that if I am allied with the right people I will be safe; that faithfulness means attendance; that my excuses are really pretty good; that what I most often do is my "best;" that I am right; and that politics will save us.<br />
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I have to drop my shields and move out vulnerably.<br />
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I guess I want Jesus to turn my tables. I pray for grace and wisdom so that my need for self-esteem is replaced with God's forgiveness and love. I hope the tables are turned so that my sarcasm will be transformed into spiritual joy. I hope God will help me replace my selfishness with self-giving and my dishonesty with honesty. May I seek others instead of myself; seeing them as God sees them. That my fear may be overwhelmed by God-given courage. That I won't blame but be accountable. And that in all these things I will have a humble and contrite heart.<br />
<br />There is a danger in this lesson, though, and that is to let the church off the hook. We can talk about the tables being turned "out there" and the tables being turned "in my life", but does this have anything to say to the church.<br />
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Well, in fact, I think that is much the point. This is a favourite Gospel lesson to Heist. I mean that Jesus, as a prophetic voice in his time, is speaking clearly through word and action about the Temple itself. Centralized religion makes a commerce out of the gospel that is meant to heal people and the world. Centralized religion will require sacrifices to be made to uphold its system of power. It will require obedience to the priest, and in the case of this particular Temple, we must remember it requires obedience to the occupying power. Religion that supports a different kingdom than the Kingdom of God is not the faith of Jesus. So it is that we might well examine our own centralized structures of attractional church and governance-driven church structures.<br />
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The mission of God in Christ Jesus will always be limited by the time and energy spent on the structure. When the structures serve themselves more than the world in God's name, then the structure needs its tables turned.<br />
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<i>"And how long was the whole great circus to last? Paul said, why, until we all become human beings at last, until we all 'come to maturity,' as he put it; and then, since there had been only one really human being since the world began, until we all make it to where we're like him, he said - 'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Ephesians 4:13). Christs to each other, Christs to God. All of us. Finally. It was just as easy, and just as hard, as that."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-paul">"Paul,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.</div>
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<i>"What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive year after year in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the child who was born that day may yet be born again even in us and our own snowbound, snowblind longing for him."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-emmanuel-christmas-article">"Emmanuel,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.<br />
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<i>"In this week's passage, he shows how the particular divisions plaguing Corinth can be given the same diagnosis. And here is where things might start to get a little more personal."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/15/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (Epiphany 4A), J.R. Daniel Kirk, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br />
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Paul tells the truth - the non-commoditised Gospel of free love and grace does not make sense in our culture. A Gospel without shame and plenteous forgiveness is nonsense in a world of commerce where everything from feelings, narratives, personal journeys, and real products are traded based on a supply-and-demand basis. </div>
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The reality is that no matter what divides the church at Corinth or divides our own church, there is a pretty simple understanding of conflict - people who are willing to argue their own perspective vs a humble perspective that begins at the foot of the cross, offers one's whole self to God and others in response to the grace of Jesus, and opens themselves up to the movement of the spirit. There have forever been and will forever be great debaters in the church - but debaters rarely get much accomplished.</div>
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The very proof of this is God's saving work without the great debate! God acts. God depends not upon our theological wisdom. And, furthermore, God does not choose us because of what we know, understand, or are able to convey. God chooses us out of God's desire to have us as his very own. </div>
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This is what we boast in our Gospel - God chooses us. God makes us, God chooses us, God dwells with us, God invites us to dwell in harmony with one another. That is a Gospel worth boasting.<br />
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<i>"The Decalogue, when viewed as a part of this series of tests that were to shape the people's identity, is thus not only a series of laws but a fertile ground from which blessings and health and prosperity can grow from God."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2244">Commentary</a>, Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20, Callie Plunket-Brewton, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.</div>
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<i>"It has been said that we need a far more rich and comprehensive theology of marriage if we are ever to tackle effectively the epidemic of adultery. I agree, but is there still place for a sermon on adultery?"</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com//Progressive-Christian/Lets-Not-Talk-About-That-John-C-Holbert-03-02-2015.html">"Let's Not Talk about That (Adultery!)"</a> John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2015.<br />
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<i>"The Decalogue was God's direct address to Israel: 'God spoke all these words' ('words,' not commandments)."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2368">Commentary</a>, Exodus 20:1-17, Terence E. Fretheim, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br />
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Today’s Old Testament reading is the Ten Commandments. In fact this passage came up previously last summer during the season after Pentecost Proper 27A. So if you missed it, you can circle back around, or perhaps look at a different one of the commandments. I also know in the Episcopal Church there may be more liturgical use of the commandments during the season of Lent.<br />
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The work for the people of Israel (and for the people who claim to follow Jesus today) was to learn to “love as God loved and loves”, wrote Stanley Hauerwas in The Peaceable Kingdom (78).<br />
<br />What is interesting and somewhat important for us today is to, on the one hand, lean into this deep meaning offered by the passage and elucidated by Hauerwas and, at the same time, reject the Constantinian and Enlightenment/Reformed diversions from the story. Hauerwas defines these typical approaches to taking out the gospel in such passages in this way. The impact upon our reading, preaching, belief and practice is shaped by a “Constantinianism” that offers “the conviction that Christianity is about being religious in a general and diffuse sense.” Meanwhile, the Enlightenment/Reformation “makes Christians into apologists to and for the modern world. (See Hauerwas, Scripture and Ethics, 111). Moreover, he cautions us to not make this about “advice” or about how to live in particular “circumstances”. In other words, the Ten Commandments are not an ethical prescription to be filled by the loyal disciple, but instead, they are about a kind of community that is seeking to live into the blessings and grace of God.<br />
<br />For the Christian who lives between Constantine and the Reformation, we find it all too easy to embrace the scripture as a list of moral imperatives – a biblical ethic. Again, Hauerwas, “The problem of revelation aside, however, the view that the Bible contains a revealed morality that can be applied directly by the individual agent, perhaps with some help from the biblical critic, flounders when considering the status of individual commands.” (71) When we do this, it is all too easy to dismiss their meaning. What I am getting at is that the nature of the community seeking to respond to God’s freedom is essential, the tradition of handing along that response and then the response to Jesus’ ministry is essential. What this helps us to understand is that our own response is not one of a person alone. Christians inherit a tradition wherein the biblical story is part of a very real community that stretches over millennia and arcs towards the end of time. However, the ethic of such a community is one defined by holding community, tradition, and its scripture in hand. Scripture, in this way, becomes, as Hauerwas offers, “revealed reality” instead of “revealed morality”. (72) This then leads us to virtues – which is the Christian manner of approach.<br />
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So it is that when we return then to the Old Testament and read the commandments, we are able to hear them in a different manner. We may, instead of hearing a list, hear the virtues. The community today is invited to seek to learn to love as God loves. In this way then, we see a community attempting to live out that learning. We might do well to return to our own Book of Common Prayer to read our approach in just such a context.<br />
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Q. What do we learn from these commandments?<br />
A. We learn two things: our duty to God, and our duty to our neighbors. </blockquote>
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Q. What is our duty to God?<br />
A. Our duty is to believe and trust in God;<br />
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I. To love and obey God and to bring others to know him;<br />
II. To put nothing in the place of God;<br />
III. To show God respect in thought, word, and deed;<br />
IV. And to set aside regular times for worship, prayer, and the study of God’s ways.</blockquote>
Q. What is our duty to our neighbors?<br />
A. Our duty to our neighbors is to love them as ourselves, and to do to other people as we wish them to do to us;<br />
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V. To love, honor, and help our parents andfamily; to honor those in authority, and to meettheir just demands;<br />
VI. To show respect for the life God has given us; to work and pray for peace; to bear no malice, prejudice, or hatred in our hearts; and to be kind to all the creatures of God;<br />
VII. To use all our bodily desires as God intended;<br />
VIII. To be honest and fair in our dealings; to seek justice, freedom, and the necessities of life for all people; and to use our talents and possessions as ones who must answer for them to God;<br />
IX. To speak the truth, and not to mislead others by our silence;<br />
X. To resist temptations to envy, greed, and jealousy; to rejoice in other people’s gifts and graces; and to do our duty for the love of God, who has called us into fellowship with him.</blockquote>
Q. What is the purpose of the Ten Commandments?<br />
A. The Ten Commandments were given to define our relationship with God and our neighbors. </blockquote>
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Q. Since we do not fully obey them, are they useful at all?<br />
A. Since we do not fully obey them, we see more clearly our sin and our need for redemption.</blockquote>
Our New Testament refers back to the Ten Words in a very particular way. In Mark, it appears that God in Christ Jesus is the God of the first commandment. Jesus is the Kyrios and the Logos. He is living out of these commandments as God comes into contact with the people and powers of his time. (Hays, <i>Echoes of Scripture</i>, 62.)<br />
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Luke picks up the theme of this passage from Exodus more in line with the language of community. He understands that these are woven into discipleship life - as Hauerwas was reflecting. Specifically, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18, Jesus not only encourages these as a way to follow but goes on to discuss five out of the ten. Jesus goes so far as to move beyond simple coveting to ownership and sharing what we have. (Ibid, 209) God is at work in the world, and so we are to be at work in the world. Luke makes it clear that the sabbath itself is a time when God is working, and we are to echo that work by joining Christ and the Creator by releasing those bound by the religious and the powerful. (Ibid, 269 and 282.)<br />
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Again, our work is not simply to live in isolation over and against the world but to live out these ways of being in the world and free others from the powers that bind them.<br />
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Let us turn to our Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. From his Ebor lectures delivered in 2011, we discover that for Rabbi Sacks, the "words" of God to God's people are a principled foundation for a healthy society. He writes that there is a difference between a social and political contract and a covenant. These are covenant words. He says:<br />
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"A contract is about advantage, a covenant is about loyalty. A contract is about interests, a covenant is about identity, about belonging to something bigger than me. From a contract, I gain, but from a covenant, I am transformed. I am no longer the person I once was, but am part of something larger than I once was. Thus, a social contract creates a State, but a covenant creates society."</blockquote>
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"If we take the Darwin-Tocqueville story and the biblical story together, what do we learn? From Darwin and Tocqueville, we learn that species survive, and humanity survives, only on the basis that there is not only competition but also cooperation. From the Bible, we learn there is such a thing as a State and a society, but they are different things. The State is created by a contract; the society is created by a covenant."</blockquote>
First, this really is a must-read! What Rabbi Sacks is revealing is that God's words are far from being the supporter of the nation - as many pretend. Instead, they are the rood of a good and healthy society.<br />
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He writes,<br />
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"...That we must remember what we seem to have forgotten, namely, the importance of families, communities, congregations, voluntary associations and charities. It is in these groups, these arenas of cooperation, that we rehearse our altruistic instincts, which are as fundamental to what makes us human as our instincts to competition. These instincts form the ecology of freedom because without them, we would have only the market and the State, and that is not enough for human beings to survive."</blockquote>
Society itself is judged by a people who choose to live differently within its midst. The people who live by the words/commandments live within a different kind of kingdom, and by doing so, they are a different kind of people.<br />
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All of this boils down to a very important concept within our tradition. God does not have a prophet, or a leader, or even a Christ. God has a people. We are God's people and we are to be a blessing of Shalom of peace to the world.<br />
<br />We are not simply people after peace and justice, but we are people who are deeply rooted in a tradition that seeks to tell our story through the virtuous action of being peaceful and just. We are a people of character, and a particular one at that.<br />
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We are to be virtuous citizens not only on Sundays, not only within the walls of our homes; we are to be virtuous citizens at work in the political and social environs of our community. Global and national society will only work if we are a people of character caring for one another through our very relationships across the boundary of a state or the "right" of the individual. In other words, I may have the right to leave you out in the cold, but as a person in a covenant with God, I have a different responsibility.<br />
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-34370971777116951992024-02-11T06:40:00.000-08:002024-02-13T09:39:24.336-08:00Second Sunday in Lent, Year B, February 18, 2023<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">A road leading to Ceasarea of Philippi</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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God of all goodness, you did not spare your only-begotten son but gave him up for the sake of us sinners. Strengthen within us the gift of obedient faith, that, in all things, we may follow faithfully in Christ's footsteps, and, with him, be transfigured in the light of your glory.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 8:27-38</strong></span><br />
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<em>"For those, like Peter, who are hoping for a knight on a white horse to sweep in at the last moment and save the day, the messianic expectation is bound to end in disappointment."</em><br />
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<em></em><a href="http://scarletletterbible.com/authentic-human/">"Not a Super Hero, but an Authentic Human,"</a> Caspar Green, Scarlet Letter Bible, 2012.<br />
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<i>"These verses are crucial for understanding the Gospel according to Mark as a whole and for fathoming what it means to be Christian."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=9/16/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Mark 8:27-38, Matt Skinner, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"All we have to do is trade what we've been led to believe is life for the real thing."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=616">"Preaching the Anti-King,"</a> David Lose, Working Preacher, 2012.</div>
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<i>"I’m curious as to what role the “having turned and having seen his disciples” plays in this conversation..."</i></div>
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<a href="http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/09/jesus-rejects-title-christ.html">"Jesus Rejects the Title, 'The Christ','"</a> D Mark Davis, raw translation and exegesis/questions, Left Behind and Loving It, 2012.</div>
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<strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+8:27-38&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div>
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There are several things going on in this passage: Jesus is recognized as Messiah and then prophesies his death and resurrection; and his instructions to the disciples about what is gained and lost in their decision to follow him.<br />
<br />Here, on the road to Philippi, his followers take stabs at who he might be. These are certainly echoes of 6:14-15, a kind of popular notion of his ministry. While they all contain within them some element of truth, they are not the Truth. Even if we were not theologically following this discourse, we would see that a claim that they are lacking is evident in Jesus' follow-up question: But who do you say that I am?<br />
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Some exegetes, trying to make sense of this, have disputed Peter's confession. (Joel Marcus, Mark, vol 2, 612) In fact, his statement could be a Markan insertion of an ancient baptismal formula. And, certainly, the revelation of the exact nature of his messianic kingship is yet to be revealed. (Ibid, 613) Nevertheless, what happens here is more than foreshadowing a future reality as you and I read the living word. It provides us insight into the nature of the God we believe in and the nature of the Son we seek to follow.<br />
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In these words of Jesus, we receive several revelations. The first is that while these events that are to unfold are unexpected (perhaps, in Paul's words, "foolish"), they are exactly God's will and desire. God in Jesus has come to enfold humanity. The cross, the great inevitability, will not stop either the proclamation of Good News nor will it keep salvation history from breaking into the cosmos.<br />
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The second revelation is that the scriptures of Israel, the Old Testament, reveal this march towards incarnation, crucifixion, and redemption.<br />
<br />Peter's reaction to this is normal and, in point of fact, echoes our modern response to this notion. It doesn't make sense. Typically, in the face of criticism, the Christian either shuts down or retreats to a different understanding of God and Jesus.<br />
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Jesus then gathers the people towards him and tells them that there is a cost to following. The images here and the words used by our author are similar to a commander rallying his troops. They are summoned following the rebuke, gathered so they can be refocused on the work at hand. The self-sacrifice, the work, and the difficult hardships to be endured as a follower of Jesus are manifest; some are as physical as martyrdom, some social, and still others will be psychological. Jesus encourages them to have the will, fortitude, and endurance to run this race.<br />
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This Sunday is an opportunity to preach the uniqueness of God in Christ Jesus, the cross, and salvation. While I think many will like the disciples offer some turned phrase that will lesson the meaning of who Jesus is to one of the disciple's responses. We are encouraged to pick up our cross and be apologists for our theology.<br />
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I recently read an article that appeared in The Christian Century, April 19, 1995, pp. 423-428, Robert Bellah, (emeritus professor of sociology and comparative studies at the University of California, Berkeley) described the tension between Christianity and pluralism. He wrote these words regarding our current challenge of proclaiming a gospel in our Western culture:<br />
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…[W]e are getting our wires crossed if we think we can jettison defining beliefs, loyalties and commitments because they are problematic in another context. Reform and re-appropriation are always on the agenda, but to believe that there is some neutral ground from which we can rearrange the defining symbols and commitments of a living community is simply a mistake-a common mistake of modern liberalism. Thus I do not see how Christians can fail to confess, with all the qualifications I have stated, but sincerely and wholeheartedly, that there is salvation in no other name but Jesus.</blockquote>
Bella, then offers a challenge to those who would teach Christianity today. It is a challenge well worth our effort!<br />
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…Thus it would seem that a nonsuperficial Christianity must be based on something more than an individual decision for Christ, must be based on induction into the Christian cultural-linguistic system. Without such induction the individual decision may be not for the biblical Christ but for a henotheistic guardian spirit. And that is true not only for so-called new Christians, but for many of us in our own allegedly Christian society who do not understand what Paul would have required us as Christians to understand.</blockquote>
Therefore it seems to me of the utmost importance on this Sunday, with the witness of Peter given to us as the gospel, to make our cultural-linguistic case for the Gospel we Episcopalians believe.<br />
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We believe in the Episcopal Church that Jesus is the only perfect image of the Father and that he reveals to us and illustrates for us the very true nature of God.<br />
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Jesus reveals to us what I have said, and moreover, that God is love and that God’s creation is meant to glorify God.<br />
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We believe Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that by God's own act, his divine Son received our human nature from the Virgin Mary, his mother.<br />
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We believe, what is foolish to man, that God became in Jesus human that we might be adopted as children of God, and be made heirs in the family of Abraham and inherit God's kingdom.<br />
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We believe we did what humans do to prophets, and we killed Jesus. God knew this and yet freely walked to the cross in the person of Jesus, that through his death, resurrection and ascension, we would be given freedom from the power of sin and be reconciled to God.<br />
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While the ability to glorify God and live in a covenant community with God was given to us so too was the gift of eternal life.<br />
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We believe God in the form of the Son descended among the dead and that they receive the benefit of the faithful, which is redemption and eternal life.<br />
<br />We say and claim that Jesus took our human nature into heaven, where he now reigns with the Father and intercedes for us, and that we share in this new relationship by means of baptism into this covenant community – wherein we become living members in Christ.<br />
<br />In our covenant community, we have a language of faith which directs our conversations and gives meaning to our words, through which we understand we are invited to believe, trust, and keep God’s desire to be in a relationship by keeping his commandments.<br />
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.<br />
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We are to love one another as Christ loved us.<br />
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As preachers, I encourage you to preach the Gospel that is in us. Teach your people what the Episcopal Church believes of this foolish messiah, claim the cross as the symbol of our faith and Jesus as Messiah.<br />
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This is the good news of salvation we know in Jesus' name. So, take up your cross and preach.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Romans 4:13-25</span></b><br />
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<i>"The law has always been a means of pointing the way toward God, an instrument that helps us to know and do the divine will. As such it is meant to liberate. But when the means is mistaken for an end in itself, the consequence can be a state of spiritual confusion in which all hope is obscured."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=3/4/2012&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Romans 4:13-25, Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"To this day, any time we are tempted to limit God to the size of our purposes or to doubt the breadth of God's generosity or the surprising power of God's activity, we can return to Romans 4 as an astonishing elaboration of the familiar but life-changing claim: God is great; God is good."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=6/8/2008&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Romans 4:13-25 (Pentecost 4), David Bartlett, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div>
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<i>"Similar struggles emerge today when people ponder whether there can be such faith in God without the culturally specific reference to Christianity."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpLent2.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Lent 2,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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<div style="clear: both;">Abraham is, for Paul, an archetype of faithfulness. However, Paul does not believe that Abraham was blessed because of what he did - kept the law (even though it had not been given to Moses yet), was the father of Israel, and did all that God asked (left home, was willing to sacrifice his son). At the time that Paul wrote this, Abraham was seen as an example of a person who kept all the laws. He was considered God's greatest lawkeeper. Paul is crafty in turning this argument.</div>
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Paul believes that faith is something larger than keeping the law. Faith is attached to God's gift, God's promise. </div>
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Paul understands full well the human condition to be unable to achieve perfection. If faith and God's promise are dependent upon some kind of contract - covenant - then we are all in big trouble. God loves us because God has created us worthy of God's love. God gives us grace because we are made worthy of forgiveness through the work of Jesus Christ. Grace is given free to everyone everywhere, and it is not dependent upon keeping the Mosaic law. </div>
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So, Abraham becomes the father of the Christian faith - not because he kept a law - but because he believed in God's promise, he hoped in God's promise. It is here that Paul reorients faith not in keeping the law or doing good and right things but in believing in God's promise. So it is with us. We will never be perfect. We will never keep the law. We may respond to God's love and grace by choosing how to live life differently - this is true. But we receive God's promise, God's love, and God's mercy freely. And, our faith is our response to that promise.</div>
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What a gift in Lent to hear and receive these words. We are working hard to keep the Lenten laws that we have set down for ourselves. It will be interesting to preach and help people come to understand that faith is about believing in the promise and not achieving some kind of unachievable standard of perfection.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><b>Genesis 17:1-16</b></h2>
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<i>"Laughter may seem a little uncouth during Lent; after all, this is a season of spiritual practices, of discipline, forty somber days in which we pack up our Alleluias and put them in storage. Even so, we do well to remember every year that the promises of the Gospel are foolishness in the eyes of the world. "</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2384">Commentary</a>, Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Cameron B.R. Howard, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br />
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<i>"In our own day, although marriage and family may never have been more vexed as political issues, there is a steady movement towards the privatization and deinstitutionalization of sexual relations and marriage. Marriage is being shorn of a telos that exceeds the private ends of the parties within it, increasingly rendering the actual form of the union as a bespoke one and the conformity of society's behaviour to its moral norms an entirely optional matter."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/the-politics-of-abrahams-foreskin-genesis-17-1-7-15-16/">"The Politics of Abraham's Foreskin,"</a> Alastair Roberts, Political Theology Today, 2015.</div>
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<i>"It is frankly inconceivable that anyone reading Genesis 17, a text right at the heart of the long struggle for Abram and Sarai to find fulfillment with the promise of YHWH for them to have a child, could possibly leave out the quite hilarious, and yet tragic, irony to be found between Genesis 17:3 and Genesis 17:17. These two verses are nothing less than the lynchpin of the entire chapter, and the lectionary collectors have apparently missed the crucial connection."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/YHWH-the-Amazing-John-Holbert-02-29-2012.html">"YHWH the Amazing,"</a> John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2012.</div>
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<i>"A longstanding Jewish tradition sees the career of Abraham as a sequence of trials, commencing with his call to leave his homeland for an unidentified destination, and culminating in the command to sacrifice his son. Perhaps we are justified in seeing the present episode as a trial of a different sort: Had Abraham and Sarah not reacted to God's promise with irrepressible laughter, then they would have failed the test! They would have been declared unworthy bearers of God's covenant."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/Preaching/S970223_Covenant.html">"The Legacy of Sarah and Abraham,"</a> by <a href="http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/index2.html">Prof. Eliezer Segal</a>, University of Calgary.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Genesis+17:1-16&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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Scholars root Mary's song to her faith ancestors directly to this passage. Not only is all of the nations of Israel to come from the covenant with Abram and Sarai, but so too will the Messiah. That Jesus is part of this lineage is made clear as he is circumcised and presented in the Temple according to the instructions to Abram. John and Paul (Galatians) will both rest in the assurance that they are members of the Abrahamic tradition and that Jesus sees this as an aspect of the universal invitation of people to be part of God's tribe.<br />
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Without this story, we cannot help to understand what we are being invited into exactly. Christianity is, in fact, much more than a social movement against injustice. We are to be a very particular kind of people. We are, as we have said many times before, to be a people who are peaceful and a blessing to all. We are to be a people who go and a people who find God out in the world. We are a people who have a covenant with God and so see God's hand at work in the world and show it to others. We are discomforted to walk out into the world so that others might find comfort. This is the work and has been the work.<br />
<br />Truly, the journey of Abraham and Sarah is important in this story because of the legacy, the connection to the people of Jesus' own day, and Jesus' part in the arc of the story of salvation and blessing.<br />
<br />There is a part here, though, that in this particular passage hearkens back to Genesis. The first negative word spoken in the story of creation is that Adam is "lonely". This is often twisted to some idea that a woman is a mere companion - a kind of "behind every good man" theology. But that is not the way scripture speaks of it. Women and men together are the partners God creates. People need one another. There are no lone patriarchs in the kingdom of God. We are all people along the road together. This is a message Jesus repeatedly exemplifies in his calling of people and his sending out of people.<br />
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You see, the story of Joseph, Mary, Jesus and the disciples is deeply woven into the story of Abraham and Sarah.<br />
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There is some sense that perhaps Abraham thinks this is a solo act. Just as some over emphasize personal salvation...this story is not about a personal covenant with Abraham as it is with a whole family and a whole people. Abraham may think this covenant business is all about him. But it turns out it is truly about him and Sarah and a nation. For the Christian, it expands even further.<br />
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Rabbi Litman tells us that in a very old tradition of biblical study, Abraham has missed the point. She writes,<br />
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Abraham perceives these words as directed uniquely to him. He realizes that he must have an heir in order to become a covenantal nation, but he does not think that the identity of the mother is of consequence. Abarbanel, a medieval biblical exegete, explains that God responds to Abraham, "Abraham, you thought that all the good that I testified to do for you was for your sake [only], and therefore once you had your son Ishmael, you thought the birth of Isaac was unnecessary. Know that this is not so, but rather Sarah is deserving to bear you a [covenantal] son.and behold Ishmael is not her son, so from the perspective of Sarah, the birth of Isaac is absolutely necessary." (Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/judaism/2000/11/a-great-partner-for-a-great-endeavor.aspx#Skv2IHWl5x2AoiY8.99)</blockquote>Rabbi Abarbanel is clear: we are to be partners just as Abraham and Sarah are partners. Joseph and Mary are to be partners, Jesus and humanity are to be partners, and humanity is to undertake its mission with partners.<br />
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Again, Rabbi Litman writes:<br />
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Abraham's journey in Genesis is a struggle to better understand God and to discern his place in God's plan. Along the way, Abraham learns that no one person has a monopoly on God's covenant, and that great endeavors require great partners. (Ibid.)</blockquote>
The truth is, we cannot be a blessing of peace, a community of Shalom, without other people. There are no Christians outside of the Christian community. There are truly no "Lone Ranger" Christians. We are always and everywhere at our best when we are communal in our work, bound with partners, modelling reconciliation, peace, and love.</div>
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An excerpt from my book entitled <i>Vocātiō: Imaging A Visible Church</i>:</h2>
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Let’s begin with Abraham and Sarah, originally called Abram and Sarai, and renamed for their faithfulness. In many ways, this story of calling begins the narrative of God's people. Abraham and Sarah were frequently cited by the early Church as examples of God's expansive promise to all people. <br />
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God calls Abraham and says, "Go." Theologian Walter Brueggemann writes, "With this address, Abraham's life is radically displaced."<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_edn1">[i]</a> Sarah and Abraham's lives were disrupted by God's invitation and commitment to them. All of their worldly plans are set aside as they leave their homeland for God's wilderness. Brueggemann writes, "He is caught up in a world of discourse and possibility about which he knew nothing until addressed, a world of discourse and possibility totally saturated with God's good promises for him and for the world through him. (Genesis 12:1) God’s call propels Abraham into a reality that refigures his life and removes him from any purpose or agenda he may have entertained for himself before that moment."<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_edn2">[ii]</a> Abraham and Sarah offer themselves faithfully to this journey, and they will be a blessing to the world.
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I am following Brueggemann's
outline of calling and sending from the essay, adding in my own reflections and
understandings. Brueggemann, 122.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Brueggemann, 122.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-67093116157286292102024-02-06T06:20:00.000-08:002024-02-13T09:31:46.981-08:00First Sunday in Lent, Year B, February 18, 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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Gracious God, every true to your covenant, whose loving hand sheltered Noah and the chosen few while the waters of the great flood cleansed and renewed a fallen world, may we, sanctified through the saving waters of baptism and clothed in the shining garments of immortality be touched again by our call to conversion and give our lives anew to the challenge of your reign.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 1:9-15</strong></span><br />
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<em>"Believe in the good news" is better translated as 'Trust into the good news,' since the whole point is not, 'Have an opinion about the good news.' Rather, Jesus is calling for a radical, total, unqualified basing of one's life on his good news."</em><br />
<a href="http://www.holytextures.com/2012/02/mark-1-9-15-year-b-lent-1-sermon.html">Holy Textures</a>, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Mark 1:9-15, David Ewart, 2012.<br />
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<i>"To preach the temptation of Jesus in Mark is to call attention to our greatest temptation -- the temptation to think that God is not present."</i><br />
<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3537">"</a><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3537">The Greatest Temptation,"</a> Karoline Lewis, Dear Working Preacher, 2015.<br />
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<i>"The loneliness of God's servant, a theme that persists throughout the gospel, is already suggested in these verses. "</i><br />
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/26/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Mark 1:9-15, Sarah Henrich, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:9-15&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div>
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We move quickly from the image of Jesus resplendent in light at the moment of transfiguration in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 9, to his baptism and the immediate work of preaching the Gospel in Chapter 1. This is the first Sunday in Lent and we are reminded as we make our way from Ash Wednesday that we are utterly dependent upon the grace of God - the Good News of God proclaimed by Jesus on the edge of his own wilderness journey of preaching and healing.<br />
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“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (vs 15) Could our author have captured the words of Jesus and the words of an early baptismal formula? Perhaps both. What is very clear in the scholarship is that these words that Jesus offers in our passage today is key to the understanding of his message. Joel Marcus (Mark, vol 1, 176) writes:<br />
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"Repent, and believe in the good news!" - at their baptism they would have heard this exhortation as a call to bury the moribund world in the water and to rise from it to view, through the eyes of faith, God's new creation. They would in short, have been reminded by Mark 1:15 of the moment when they became disciples of Jesus."<br />
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Jesus' proclamation begins following the imprisonment of John the Baptist. This is the first public ministry of Jesus recorded in Mark's Gospel. We might remember from a previous Sunday that while Jesus has come to heal and to over power the evil of this world, ultimately he is here for this single purpose. To bridge the divide between this world and the kingdom of God - the dominion of God.<br />
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Joel Marcus (Mark, vol 1, 175) gives us a very clear suggestion of what Jesus is saying:<br />
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time has been fulfilled AND dominion of God has come near<br />
repent AND believe in the good news<br />
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The time is now, the dominion of God is near. Our response to that grace is repentance and to trust in the good news of God.<br />
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For those who now are making their way in Lent, and for those who are still seeking to be restored to the family of God, the faith reality is one that challenges us to change. To be aware. To take notice of our own selves and the way we do not live in the ways of God and to amend our lives.<br />
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I was interested recently in an interview that I did and the question that I was asked: Do you think that at times like this we especially need Ash Wednesday? Our culture is a mess the interview seemed to be saying perhaps we all needed this special day and season in order to make things right.<br />
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Human nature is the same. Ash Wednesday, as is Lent, a very personal discipline. The confrontation of this ritual life of repentance we so carefully cling to during this season as Christians is one that is not just for today but true for us year round. It is not specifically more important today than it was when Jesus invited us to respond to the dominion of God and the good news. It is only specifically so because you and I today choose to follow Jesus. Relevance to the culture and all of our want to be special is washed away somehow in this invitation of Jesus. Our season is not a time when we are to critique others, a time when we are to find the splinter in another person's eye, or blame and castigate our culture, rather (and on the contrary) it is a time when we remind ourselves personally that we have not done what Jesus asked us to do.<br />
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I claim to follow Jesus but fail. I try to amend my life and fail. I make the kingdom of God my goal and do not reach it. Yes the dominion of God is near and I rest fully upon his grace and mercy to discover it. I repent because of my continuing human frailty which is my nature. I take a moment on this Sunday to be reminded of Jesus' invitation to rise out of the depths of my failure and moribund world/life/relationships and to see before me grace, mercy, forgiveness and invitation.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">1 Peter 3:8-13</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><br /></span><i>"In our text, Peter counsels a very different response to persecution. Rather than focusing on your persecutors and being overwhelmed by fear and hatred, keep your eyes on Christ."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2310">Commentary</a>, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Judith Jones, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br />
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<i>"While talk of principalities and spirits bound in prison may strike us as a vestige of a bygone world, we should not be so quick to discount the contemporary relevance of this text, especially during this season of Lent. "</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/26/2012&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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The letter of 1 Peter is written in the midst of Christian persecution - many believe. So it is that the author concerns himself with the questions about how to be ready. Be ready to make your defense of your faith he offers. This is not to make some kind of argument though which wins the day. Instead we are to give, according to the author, our understanding of hope. We Christians have hope in our life when it is going well and we have hope in our life when we are suffering. We have hope because we know that we are not alone in this work of suffering - Christ too suffered and so God understands and knows what we go through on our behalf. But this is not where hope comes from. </div>
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Partnership with God is not the locus of hope. Instead hope is in the certain faith that death has no victory. We share in Christ's death and in Christ's resurrection. So it is that we shall on the last day enter into our heavenly habitation. We will be forever united to God through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.</div>
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Baptism is our earthly entrance into this new life believes the author. In our own baptismal words we hear the hope of people delivered out of slavery, people delivered into freedom and the promised land. We understand that for the Christian, the follower of Jesus, pain, suffering, and death do not have the last word. And, that when the end does come, in hope we make our song to the grave: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Genesis 9:8-17</b></span></div>
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<i>"The Old Testament readings for the first three Sundays in Lent give us glimpses of three covenants: God's covenant with Noah, God's covenant with Abraham, and God's covenant with Israel at Sinai."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2375">Commentary</a>, Genesis 9:8-17, Cameron B.R. Howard, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.</div>
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<i>"This is a salvation story, a tale of commitment to the opposite of genocide, commitment to preserving the diversity of life and all of life's messiness. And God is actively part of this commitment."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://biteintheapple.com/lent-the-season-of-good-news/">"Lent - The Season of Good News,</a>" Nancy Rockwell, The Bite in the Apple, 2015.</div>
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<i>"Contemplating the destruction of an entire civilization is disturbing, and so it should be."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/49/story_4916_1.html">"When Bad Things Happen to Bad People,"</a> Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman. Torah Commentary at BeliefNet.<br />
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Let me be honest. As I have grown older, I have become more uncomfortable with the story of the flood waters. Rabbi Litman's words about it resonated with me:<br />
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I find that my discomfort with the flood story is not so much with the Torah's sacred narrative, but with our modern response to it. The Torah relates a fearful epic of evil, punishment, and salvation. By ignoring the most chilling part of the story, we have trivialized and discounted the Torah's moral message. This is a common American cultural process. One only has to look as far as this week's holiday of Halloween to see how we have to come to trivialize and discount even death. It's pretty difficult to feel much genuine awe around an 8-year-old Grim Reaper complaining that it's cold outside. </blockquote>
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The unjust suffering of the innocent still evokes moral outrage and pain in most of us. We wish and hope that the good are rewarded. But we have become uncomfortable with the reverse. We know that human evil is complex, sometimes as much a sickness as a sin. We are often unwilling to grapple with human cruelty and wrongdoing, to expect justice against those who harm others, because that justice is often very difficult to define. Even God's justice, as in the mighty flood, makes us nervous.<br />
(<a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/49/story_4916_1.html">"When Bad Things Happen to Bad People,"</a> Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman. Torah Commentary at BeliefNet.)</blockquote>
When we Christians read this story we read it through the eyes of our childhood and a small version of our story of creation and redemption. With more than two thousand more years of reflection on this passage I find the Rabbi's words resonate in a deeply powerful way. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says:</div>
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The story of the first eight chapters of Bereishit is tragic but simple: creation, followed by de-creation, followed by re-creation. God creates order. Humans then destroy that order, to the point where “the world was filled with violence,” and “all flesh had corrupted its way on earth.” God brings a flood that wipes away all life, until – with the exception of Noach, his family and other animals – the earth has returned to the state it was in at the beginning of Torah, when “the earth was waste and void, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (http://rabbisacks.org/trace-god-noach-5778/)</blockquote>
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Perhaps there is more here than another creation story - or recreation story. Perhaps there is more here than a story of an angry God at the unjust behavior of humanity.<br />
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As Sacks reads the texts compared to Genesis he notes that Genesis 1 tells us God makes humanity in God's image - he and she God created them. Genesis 9 tells us that other human beings are made in the image of God. As if bringing full circle the sin of man (murder which is created by humans - see Cain and Abel story) this story reminds us that not only am I created in Gods image but you are too.<br />
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Again Sacks writes,</div>
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Genesis 9 speaks about the sanctity of life and the prohibition of murder. The first chapter tells us about the potential power of human beings, while the ninth chapter tells us about the moral limits of that power. We may not use it to deprive another person of life. </blockquote>
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This also explains why the keyword, repeated seven times, changes from “good” to “covenant.” When we call something good, we are speaking about how it is in itself. But when we speak of covenant, we are talking about relationships. A covenant is a moral bond between persons. </blockquote>
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What differentiates the world after the Flood from the world before is that the terms of the human condition have changed. God no longer expects people to be good because it is in their nature to be so. To the contrary, God now knows that “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood” (Gen. 8: 21) – and this despite the fact that we were created in God’s image. (Ibid)</blockquote>
It is not good for humans to be alone and the flood narrative tells us that we are to see each other, those of our tribe and those outside our tribe as created in the image of God.<br />
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This is a new idea and a constant theme for Christians. God is interested in a human community bound together for our common goodness, that in fact when we do this, we are reflecting a kind of fullness of God. Other religions teach fear of the other. Other religions teach sacrifice of the other. Christianity rooted deeply in its ancestral faith of Judaism is about being the beloved community - a blessing of peace, of shalom, to the world.<br />
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Interestingly, the New Testament does not play on this message from Genesis very much at all. There are not quotes, no parallel passages in the Gospels. Certainly there is mention of "Noah's Ark"in the letters - I Peter for this day's reading is an example. Only later would Roman Catholic Theologians compare Mary to the Ark. However, one might argue that as this passage is partnered with Mark there is something important here. That is: God in Christ Jesus continues his work of reconciliation and solidarity by breaking open the community of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit including all people. The mission to the other cannot be lost and is intimately tied to a heritage that did not begin with Jesus but is deeply rooted in the ancient texts of Israel that we find in our canon. In my sermon from 2018 I point out that a theological case (beyond typology) could be made that God's saving act from a sin sick world in the Ark is what Jesus does permanently. From the word "good" to the word "covenant" we see a story arc (pardon the pun) to Jesus and his cross which becomes a new ark and a permanent promise. Creation, de-creation by humanity's inhumanity to man, and recreation by God.<br />
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<b style="font-family: times;">Previous Sermons For This Sunday</b></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/moving_into_the_desert_to_meet_jesus" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 17, 158) !important; outline: 0px;">Moving into the Desert to Meet Jesus</a></h3>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-75051828995822958092024-02-05T08:49:00.000-08:002024-02-06T20:39:02.773-08:00Ash Wednesday, Year ABC<br />
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At this, the acceptable time, O God so rich in mercy, we gather in solemn assembly to receive the announcement of the Lenten spring, and the ashes of mortality and repentance. Let the elect, exulting, to the waters of salvation; guide the penitent, rejoicing, to the healing river; carry us all to the streams of renewal. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Some Thoughts on Matthew 6:1-21</u></span></strong><br />
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<i>"In Jesus' prayer we are connected and bonded with each other. We find our health, our integrity, and our righteousness; that is true piety."</i><br />
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<a href="http://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/10-1_Catechism/10-1_Arnquist-Flessner.pdf">"Preaching on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:1-8),"</a> Irving J. Arnquist and Louis R. Flessner, Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, Luther Northwestern Theological School, 1990.<br />
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<i>"What are we praying for when we pray for God's kingdom to come?"</i><br />
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<a href="https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-19241302/thy-kingdom-come-living-the-lord-s-prayer">"Thy Kingdom Come: Living the Lord's Prayer,"</a> N.T. Wright, The Christian Century, 1997.</div>
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<i>"That piety should be a private matter is a radical not to say revolutionary idea. It goes totally against the cultural grain. For traditional piety is something performed for others to see. In Roman culture, pietas referred to the public veneration of the gods. Without such a display from prominent citizens, what would happen to the traditional values that were associated with the gods? Pietas was the cultural glue, holding all things in place. How could there be law and order without it?"</i></div>
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<a href="http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-2/Religion-Online.org%20Books/Purdy%2C%20John%20C.%20-%20Returning%20God%27s%20Call%20-%20The%20Challenge%20of%20Chr.pdf">"The Call to Secret Service (Matthew 6:1-18),"</a> John C. Purdy. Chapter 4 inReturning God's Call: The Challenge of Christian Living. At Religion Online.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+6:1-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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If we were reading along in the scripture and we arrived at our passage for this Ash Wednesday we would see the continued conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day. The religious hierarchy have set themselves above the faith and have become, if you will, arbiters of piety. They are the intermediaries between God and God's people.<br />
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Jesus has been expanding and expounding on the nature of the law revealed by the messiah and now he turns to talk a little about how Christians should live with one another. What we have in our passage are the characteristics of a Christian community according to Jesus; and they are contrasted with the practices of these other religious leaders. Of course we are doomed to exhibit the same tendencies at our very worst but we have here some outlined behaviors that should at least set our trajectory.<br />
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Don't get in other people's faces about how you are better than them when it comes to prayer, believing, and the rest of it. After all, living a Christian life benefits God and others. Here are a couple of examples of what not to do...<br />
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Example One: Just be a good steward and don't brag about it.<br />
Example Two: Don't be verbose in your praying. It is a real turn off to God an others.<br />
Example Three: Please pray privately and sincerely.<br />
Example Four: God knows what you need so you don't have to always be telling God out loud.<br />
Example Five: Don't look dismal and sad. Look happy and enjoy your relationship with God.<br />
Example Six: Remember that what matters is the love of God, the love of neighbor - these are the treasures worth having.</blockquote>
All of this is because good works are done for God and on behalf of others. This service is purely for the reward of doing what is good and well in the eyes of God and not for a community's lauds or glory.<br />
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What we have in our reading today is very good and it is the parenthesis between Matthew's teaching on the Lord's prayers.<br />
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I say this because in my mind it helps to frame what Jesus is teaching about prayer. The reality is that Jesus' prayer is very powerful when seen through the eyes of the overall passage and its meaning is much greater than the by rote version we say without thought most Sundays. So, here is a meditation on Jesus' Prayer with an eye to Matthew's Gospel and to the passage for Ash Wednesday.<br />
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<b>Jesus’ Prayer</b><br />
In the Episcopal Church, the Lord’s Prayer--the prayer Jesus taught his disciples--is central to our common life of prayer. It is present in all of our private and corporate services of worship, and is often the first prayer children learn. With the simplest of words, Jesus teaches those who follow him all they need to know about prayer, as they say:<br />
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“Our Father”: Our Father, because we are to seek as intimate a relationship with God as Jesus did. We are can develop this intimate love with God, recognizing we are children of God and members of the family of God.<br />
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“Who art in heaven”: We are reminded of our created nature as a gift from heaven. Life is given to us from God, who is quite beyond us. We recognize in this short phrase that we are not God. Rather, the God we proclaim is a God who makes all things and breathes life into all things.<br />
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“Hallowed be thy name”: In response to the grace of being welcomed into God’s community, bowing humbly and acknowledging our created nature, we recognize the holiness of God. We proclaim that God’s name is hallowed.<br />
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“Thy kingdom come”: We ask and seek God’s kingdom. The words of Jesus remind us that, like the disciples’ own desires to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, this is not our kingdom. The reign of God is not what you and I have in mind. We beg, “God, by your power bring your kingdom into this world. Help us to beat our swords into ploughshares that we might feed the world. Give us strength to commit as your partners in the restoration of creation, not how we imagine it, but in the way you imagine it.”<br />
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“Thy will be done”: We bend our wills to God’s, following the living example of Jesus Christ. We ask for grace to constantly set aside our desires and take on the love of God’s reign. We pray, “Let our hands and hearts build not powers and principalities but the rule of love and care for all sorts and conditions of humanity. Let us have a measure of wisdom to tear down our self-imposed walls and embrace one another, as the lion and the lamb lay down together in the kingdom of God.”<br />
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“On earth as it is in heaven”: We ask God to give us eyes to see this kingdom vision, and then we ask for courage and power to make heaven a reality in this world. We pray to God, “Create in us a will to be helping hands and loving hearts for those who are weary and need to rest in you. May our homes, our churches, and our communities be a sanctuary for the hurting world to find shelter, to find some small experience of heaven.”<br />
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“Give us this day our daily bread”: In prayer we come to understand that we are consumers. We need, desire, and just want many things. In Christ, we are reminded that all we need is our daily bread. So we pray, “O God, help us to be mindful that you provide for the lilies of the field and you provide for us. As we surrender our desires, help us to provide daily bread for those who have none today.”<br />
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“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”: Sanity and restoration are possible only because God forgives us. Because of that sacrificial forgiveness--made real in the life and death of Jesus--we can see and then share mercy and forgiveness. Then we can pray, “God, may I understand your call to me personally to offer sacrificial forgiveness to all those I feel have wronged me. I want to know and see my own fault in those broken relationships. May I be the sacrament of your grace and forgiveness to others.”<br />
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“Lead us not into temptation”: As Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge and replaced God with their own understanding of reality, we need help turning away from our own earthly and political desires and turning toward the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus. So we ask, “We are so tempted to go the easy way, to believe our desires are God’s desires. We have the audacity to assume we can know God’s mind. Show us your way and help us to trust it.”<br />
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“And deliver us from evil”: Only God can deliver us from evil. There is darkness in the world around us. We know this darkness feeds on our deepest desire: to be God ourselves. That deceptive voice affirms everything we do and justifies our actions, even when they compromise other people’s dignity. It whispers and tells us we possess God’s truth and no one else does. We must pray, “God, deliver us from the evil that inhabits this world, the weakness of our hearts, and the darkness of our lives, that we might walk in the light of your Son.”<br />
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“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen”: Without God, we are powerless. So we devote our lives to God, resting in the power of God’s deliverance. We humbly ask, “Help us to see your glory and beauty in the world, this day and every day. Amen.”<br />
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Using prayers like this one, Jesus modeled a life of prayer as work, and work as prayer. The apostles and all those who have since followed him have sought a life of prayer. They have engaged in prayer that discerns Jesus’ teachings and then molded their lives into the shape of his life. We can take up the same vocation and become people whose lives are characterized by daily and fervent prayer. Indeed we reflect and acknowledge the centrality of prayer and work in our own commitment to God when we say, “I will, with God’s help, continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.” [This is an excerpt from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Unabashedly-Episcopalian-Proclaiming-Episcopal-Church/dp/0819228087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360704884&sr=8-1&keywords=unabashedly+episcopalian">Unabashedly Episcopalian</a>.]</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Some Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:20</u></span></strong></span></div>
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<i>"First, what does Paul mean about reconciliation in this passage? How does the church today demonstrate in various ways the practice of reconciliation -- including liturgically, ethically, practically and theologically?"</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/13/2013&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Susan Hedahl, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.</div>
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<i>"When we receive the cross on our forehead on Ash Wednesday, we are invited to remember that it is in Christ (5:17, 19) and through Christ (5:18) that reconciliation is possible. Yet, we are also invited to remember that as we leave the church with the seal of the cross of Christ, we are Christ's ambassadors of reconciliation."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/25/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-16:10, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Corinthians+5:20+-+6:10&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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One of the things that has happened to us in our culture is that we think not about whom we represent. Yet, we represent (as Christians) Jesus Christ to the world. This lack of mindfulness is complex; yet for the world in many respects God in Christ Jesus is not the problem for Christianity but rather it is his followers that create the stumbling block. This passage is about the life of Grace which transforms the Christian first.<br />
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We are ambassadors for Christ. In Paul's setting this would have meant that we are the oldest and wisest of Christ's children. We represent Christ but not in the worst way but on behalf of him in the very best of manners. This is difficult to do if we are always at war with ourselves. It is hard to be Christ's representative if we can't represent Christ to one another; which means forgiving one another and offering Grace. We are the great law givers rather than the donors of grace. So what do we do? How do we get there? How do we make room for the other?<br />
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We like Christ must give grace, make room for grace, and offer grace. However, before we can do this we must receive Grace. This is easier said than done. We must really and truly receive the saving Grace of Christ; this means allowing God to love and save us in our mess and not waiting for perfection. We are truly saved and perfected through the grace we receive. We are made a new creation by God if we will but let him. Instead of performing for God or hoping that God will deliver us out of our "labors and sleepless nights" we are invited instead to live under the umbrella of God's Grace; within the saving embrace of God. When we do this Paul believes the other things will fall into place.<br />
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We don't become the new creation and then we get grace. Instead we allow ourselves to receive God's Grace and we become new. We don't live and so we don't die. We die to our desire to be perfect and so we live in the Grace of God who takes us just as we are. It is this reversal of the world's economy of salvation that enables us to be alive, joyful, satisfied, and content.<br />
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When life is lived with the mantle of God's Grace upon our shoulders then we are beautiful and resplendent ambassadors of Christ to the world. When we live in Grace we give grace freely, we share life freely, we embrace the other freely, we see there is enough and offer plenty of good things freely. This is the life lived as a new creation, this is the life of Grace. This is the life of ambassadorship.<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 18pt;">Some Thoughts on Isaiah 58:1-12</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<i>"We've been hearing about incarnation and God-with-us throughout Advent and Epiphany. Lectionary passages during Epiphany tell us something about this God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/6/2011">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Amy Oden, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br />
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<i>"Given that the Gospel Lesson for this Fifth Sunday after Epiphany reminds us that Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets, we might consider one of these ancient, Hebrew Scriptures for our ...."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3153">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Tyler Mayfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times new roman";"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+58:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text </a></span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Remember, that we have this passage from Epiphany 5A. Here are my reflections on the passage, now adapted for Ash Wednesday:<br />
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This passage is written while the Israelites are divided, most in exile in Babylon and a few in the homeland. The prophet invites, and God invites the people to remain faithful. God is faithful and God will move on behalf of God’s people.<br />
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While the people see faithfulness as turning inward and to God by fasting, God and Isaiah offer these words:<br />
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“[God desires a fast that] looses the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” God offers a mirror to the people an is clear – when you do none of these things you are most unlike your God and the people you are meant to be.<br />
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Remembering Jeremiah and other prophets over the past months, we know that God see righteousness not as simple religious faithfulness but as acts of bounty where people take care of the oppressed, loosen the yoke of another, help with food for the hungry, roofs for the homeless, and clothing for the naked. Here Isaiah prophesies that these are the kinds of true fasting and sacrifices that God declares as righteousness.<br />
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When this happens Isaiah tells the people: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”<br />
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God desires that people, “remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” Light is the light of God’s actions through his people. Light comes by means of work of the faithful for the other.<br />
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When nations forget their most vulnerable they shall lie in ashes and sackcloth. When the vulnerable are cared for light, life, and the rebuilding of community are the results. Foundations of generosity will lead to generations of strength among the people.<br />
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The Luke writes in his Gospel that this release of people who suffer is key to the very nature of God and especially to the person and mission of Christ Jesus. When in chapter 4, Jesus opens the scroll to read in the temple it is Isaiah 61 with the addition of this passage. What is made clear in Luke’s analysis and use in the narrative is that God has been about the work and care of the poor, oppressed, homeless, helpless, and most vulnerable. God in Christ Jesus continues this mission of righteousness (the caring of others). The jubilee promised to the slaves in Egypt, and the jubilee promised to the people in Babylon is the same jubilee promised for all people under the yoke of Christ. (Richard B Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 224ff)<br />
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Release is not only for prisoners (Isaiah 61) but release for all people who are broken and burdened (Isaiah 58). This is a freedom bought on the cross and given through the Holy Spirit to all people. As we smudge ashes upon our foreheads it is to remember deeply the gift of the Holy Cross and the gift we are to be for others in bringing release. The promise to Abraham and the of Moses and Isaiah now is to be fulfilled in ministry of Jesus and the inclusion of the whole world. Moreover, that the disciples in the wake of Jesus’ ministry are to continue the work of release – this same faithfulness and righteousness will be the hallmark of the every continuing body of Christ in the world.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 18pt;"><u>Some Thoughts on Joel 2:1-8</u></span></b></div>
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"Judah has been crippled by an agricultural drought sent by God through locusts. So, they need literal rain. However, they and we need spiritual rain much more. This is the greatest gift that we can receive in spite of all of our other perceived needs."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=133">Commentary</a>, Joel 2:12-17, Martha Simmons, The African American Lectionary, 2010.</div>
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<i>" We, like Israel in the time of Joel, are in need of repentance, for their lives and ours are far from the paths that God has established for us.</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2011/02/locusts-and-lent-reflections-on-ash-wednesday-john-holbert-02-25-2011">Locusts and Lent</a>, Reflections on Ash Wednesday from Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2011.</div>
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<i>"Joel has confidence that ritual repentance can change the course of the history of God's people because he believes the old confessional formula: [God] is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, And relents from punishing. (2:13)."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/25/2009&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Joel 2:1-12, 12-17, Rolf Jacobson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div>
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<b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "times new roman";"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Joel+2:1-18&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Old Testament Text </a></span></u></b></div>
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Some of you may chose to go a different route and preach on Joel this Ash Wednesday. Let us remember that Joel, while not mentioned any where else, is a prophet and is one focused on the centrality of the Temple. There is a lot of conversation about when he wrote among scholars, but most think it was after the Babylonian captivity and during the rebuilding of the culture of Israel.<br />
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In our passage today Joel introduces himself, then immediately calls the people into a time of repentance - priests and all. The end is near, he says, sound the alarm, and repent. Joel reminds his hearers that god is gracious and merciful but if their evil ways continue God will not hold back the end that is coming. Signs, plagues, locusts...these should be a warning that God is not happy with what has become of his people.<br />
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There is a real sense here that when the world is good to a few, God will judge against them. The history of Israel is one that has repeatedly reminded the chosen that God requires of them mercy and to do good works. The society, the community, is to take care of the least and lost. When it does not do this it will bring its own destruction down upon them. This is an underlying theme here in this passage. The judgement of the reign of God will not fall kindly upon those who have had theirs in this life.<br />
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This is a good lesson if you intend to really bring down the fire and brimstone upon the heads of the congregation. And, yet there is a piece here we don't want to forget.<br />
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Joel's warnings often get the highlight. Read again God's invitation, God's desire, God's want for his people to be in relationship with him. Hear again, how God wants amendment of life so that the community will be well and within God's embrace.<br />
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Joel prophesies:<br />
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Yet even now, says the Lord,<br />
return to me with all your heart,<br />
rend your hearts and not your clothing.<br />
Return to the Lord, your God,<br />
for he is gracious and merciful,<br />
slow to anger,<br />
and abounding in steadfast love,<br />
and relents from punishing.</blockquote>
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While Joel's invitation on God's behalf to repent takes up a lot of space in this passage. I also find these words, nestled amongst the plagues, weeping, and fasting) some of the most beautiful and touching words of scripture. Words worth memorizing in fact. Words to be heard and whispered in the good times and in the bad. Words, themselves which might very well bring us to our knees in gratitude for the mighty things God has done.<br />
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<u>The Work of the People</u></h2>
Please follow the link <a href="http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/feature/lent">here at TWOTP</a> to resources for Ash Wednesday and Lent.<br />
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<b style="font-family: times;"><u>Previous Sermons For Ash Wednesday</u></b></h2>
<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/you-know-i-know-god-knows">You Know, I Know, God Knows: Ash Wednesday Sermon St. Thomas College Station, 2016</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/welcome-to-humanity-ash-wednesday">Welcome to Humanity: Ash Wednesday sermon preached at Episcopal High School Houston, and Christ Church Cathedral 12:05 Service</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/dust-ashes-dry-bones-and-gods-whisper-of-love">Dust, Ashes, Dry Bones, and God's Whisper: Sermon preached at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Tx on Ash Wednesday 2014</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/learning-to-pray-with-jesus">Learning to Pray with Jesus: Ash Wednesday Sermon, Christ Church Cathedral, 2013</a></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-36612469333090102872024-02-04T12:52:00.000-08:002024-02-06T20:35:51.646-08:00 Transfiguration of Our Lord, Last Sunday after Epiphany Year B - February 11, 2024<br />
<strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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God of life, in a blaze of light on Mount Tabor you transfigured Christ, revealing him as your Beloved Son and promising us a share in that destiny of glory. But in a blinding flash we, children of the promise, annihilate life, disfiguring the face of Christ and mocking his Gospel call to gentleness and peace. Let the beacon of that gospel pierce again the clouds enshrouding the earth, so that even in the darkness of these times we may believe your day will dawn. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 9:2-10</strong></span><br />
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"Mark's use of the story connects so strongly to what follows that we can scarcely interpret it without reference to what Jesus? disciples were to ?listen to? in the chapters which follow, namely lowliness and compassion. It is not just any elevation of Jesus which will do, but this particular one, which we appreciate when we know the whole story. Mark?s story reminds us that disciples, then and now, frequently get it wrong, through fear and ignorance and much else."<br />
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkTransfig.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> The Transfiguration of Jesus, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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<i>"The Transfiguration, then and now, is a shining mountaintop experience amid scenes of violence and suffering."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Shining-Reflections-on-the-Transfiguration-of-Jesus-Alyce-McKenzie-02-13-2012.html">"The Shining,"</a> Alyce McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos, 2012.<br />
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<i>"Transfiguration is one of those 'non-holidays' that appears in lectionaries with its own particular set of readings, but doesn't draw much attention from local congregations."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/19/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Mark 9:2-9, Sarah Henrich, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+9:2-10&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div>
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The passages that come before this are filled with a pounding and unrelenting march by Jesus to proclaim the good news and to overturn the forces that now bind God's people. He knows this proclamation and action campaign (to use the military imagery of the Greek text) which is the Way will ultimately lead to the cross. Therefore, everyone who is on the Way must be prepared to pick up his cross and follow. (8.34)<br />
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Yet here in this passage we have a vision of the God's glory and in the last two verses the connection of this mission with the resurrection.<br />
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Jesus in this moment of transfiguration is revealed as the new Adam, the new Moses, the great prophet, the Son of God and is clearly the Messiah. He is God in all his glory revealed in the person of Jesus to the disciples sitting at his feet, to the first hearers of this Gospel, and to us. And, this work is well pleasing to God. <br />
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We are reminded perhaps of the words of Enoch and his response to his own heavenly vision.<br />
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And there I saw another vision of the dwellings of the righteous and the resting-places of the holy. <br />
And there my eyes saw their dwellings with the angels And their resting places with the holy ones...<br />
And I saw their abode beneath he wins of the Lord of Spirits, <br />
And all the righteous and elect were radiant like the brightness of fire before him....<br />
There I desired to dwell and my spirit longed for that abode. (I <em>Enoch</em> 39:4-8, trans. Marcus, <em>Mark</em>, 638)</blockquote>
While Peter echoes Enoch's vision in this world, the disciple and follower of Jesus along the way (with the certainty of the cross before them) sees instead the great hope of Resurrection and our eternal dwelling beneath the wings of our "father hen when he calls his chickens home" - to quote Johnny Cash.<br />
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The transfiguration is a theophany in which the followers of Jesus and the generations that follow are able to glimpse their future. <br />
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In the months to come our people will enter Lent, we are in tax season, election time, our economy is slow, people are suffering and hurting. They are pretty sure that this is not heaven! <br />
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Our preaching is to so move those who listen that they may have a glimpse of the transfigured risen Lord. That they may see the promise of their future and understand that the present sufferings in this world are ones that will eventually be swallowed up by the glory of God.<br />
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We are to so move our hearers that on this Sunday, they like Jesus and his first followers, will be moved through their vision of things to come to change the world around them. We are to move our people to understand that their glimpse of the heavenly family and our place under God's embrace is not something to be waited for in some distant future, but that we are to make our drum beat loud and to act in this world building up stone by living stone the kingdom of heaven.<br />
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But there is more here...let me offer a bit of reflection about how often we heist this particular gospel from its broader message of a gospel mission to the world.<br />
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Taken from my book entitled the <u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Heist-Recovering-Gospel-Church/dp/081923351X/ref=sr_1_1/130-4586552-2953335?ie=UTF8&qid=1517239781&sr=8-1&keywords=jesus+heist">Jesus Heist</a></u>.<br />
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Let’s take the story of the transfiguration, for instance. This is a passage that appears in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. The story comes shortly after the revelation that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die. Jesus heads up a high mountain with a few friends: John, Peter, and James. Jesus is “transfigured” there. He is changed and his face and clothes shine dazzling white. This is a mystical event of great power where the disciples see Moses and Elijah (two great Sinai prophets) standing there with Jesus. They are clear that this is a great sign, a revelation, about the person of Jesus. Peter says, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matt. 17:4). Immediately, their human nature kicks in to make a holy shrine because of their experience. They would build booths; people would come and visit. Here on this mountain people would come to worship Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. But Jesus heads back down the mountain. We don’t get much from Jesus. only that the real work isn’t happening on that mountain. He goes right down the mountain and begins a ministry of healing in the town. We see very clearly that the ministry is among the people who are in need of God.<br />
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In Matthew’s Gospel [Mark's too], a man had gone to the disciples, but they couldn’t help. Jesus says, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me” (17:17). It is as if Jesus says, “Look, you guys want to go around and replicate a new system of religion, build booths, and set up pilgrimages. The work of this community I keep teaching you about is in the midst of the people.” This is right before the wonderful passage where Jesus rebukes the idea of a religious ingathering and sends Peter to go find a fish with a coin in its mouth. In every passage the disciples are to listen to Jesus, follow Jesus, and do what Jesus tells them to do. It has always struck me as funny that Jesus does not say, “Great idea. Let’s build a building where people can come and worship God; after all that is the highest form of love.” But instead Jesus takes them out into the world to be with people. So, I have always found naming a church “The Church of the Transfiguration” a bit odd given the story. Jesus’s ministry of loving God is always in the midst of helping people.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on 2 Corinthians4:3-6</span></strong></span></div>
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<i>"Third in a series of lectionary texts which at first blush appear to consist of insider-trading for homileticians, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 wrestles, in what is just small part, with what is a huge issue for the church..."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/22/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, Karl Jacobson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<i>"Paul plants himself firmly on the cross side of life; the resurrection is to come (4:13-15). Cruciform ministry constitutes his self understanding as an apostle and invites us to see our ministries in the same light."</i><br />
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpTransfiguration.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Transfiguration, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Corinthians+4:3-6&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></h3>
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It has been a while since we have been into the letter of Paul to the church at Corinth...so lets have a little refresher. It is written sometime in the late 50's; and possibly from Macedonia or on the way to Ephesus. Paul is out and about traveling to his communities and supporting them. He is also quick to correct misunderstandings. In particular this letter is addressed at problems within the community. One can easily imagine a letter being written to Paul with myriad complaints. As a priest, pastor or bishop today...we know letters like these from our folks. We have to be careful to not normalize Paul's letters as they are meant to be specific guidance for specific contexts and situations.<br />
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We might infer that Paul is dealing with some who are not happy with his own teaching. It is almost as if someone wrote and said, "Paul you are making this all too complicated. It is this complicated theology of yours that keeps us from growing."</div>
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Paul's response goes something like this. God's gospel doesn't work like the rest of the world. If you are all caught up in a world that trades loyalty for power, bribes officials, or is working a hustle to get you ahead in life...well then this Gospel of God in Christ Jesus is simply not going to make sense. </div>
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Remember, this isn't news. The book of Deuteronomy describes God as one who has no partiality and cannot be bribed! And, this God loves the lost, least, fatherless, widow, and the sin-sick soul. </div>
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So, this is not about you liking me, or getting me to like you as your leader. This is not about getting God to like you. This is not about appeasing lesser gods on family altars for good harvests, wealth, and children. That isn't the way our God works. </div>
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God came in the form of Jesus Christ - a human being. Weakness proves to be power in this Gospel, death is life, and the least will be the greatest. In this way Jesus is flipping the old religion game. </div>
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So, yes, if you are hustling then you will be blinded. Because, all this God invites you to do is believe that God will save you and you can stop all that religious business. For all of us stuck in the world of exchange rates for love and success this Gospel is a gift. Paul writes:“Let light shine out of darkness." At the end of the day I am a desperate man...give me some of that light!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on 2 Kings 2:1-15</span></strong></span></div>
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<i>"The opening verse of this pericope hints at the focus of the following narrative, reminding the reader that everything that follows must be read in light of the end of the story."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=2/22/2009&tab=1">Commentary</a>, 2 Kings 2:1-12, W. Dennis Tucker, Jr., Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<i>"Our reliance on technical reasoning to fix whatever the problem d'jour plots us in the narrative in a circumstance similar to faithless Israel, albeit on a much more powerful and grandiose scale."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/?p=1839">"The Politics of 2 Kings 2:1-12,"</a> Timothy F. Simpson, Political Theology, 2012.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Kings+2:1-14&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV OT Text</a></strong></strong></span></div>
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The reading for this Sunday is the transition from Elijah to Elisha. The mantle of Sinai prophet is passed along. They are on their way to one of the holy Sinai cult sites - Bethel. They make their way down to Jericho. There they are met by local prophets and keepers of the tradition. So it is they the go on to the Jordan. Elisha travels the whole way with Elijah. </div>
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When they arrive at the Jordan Elijah takes up his mantle and strikes the water with it. Here then the waters divide and they are able to cross on dry ground. The mantle is the great shawl that was worn across his shoulders.</div>
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We are meant to see in this journey a walking and claiming of the land promised by Elisha. They crossing over is no mere crossing over but a reenactment of the crossing over the Jordan into the land that is promised.</div>
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On the other side Elijah plainly passes on a double spirit of his prophetic powers to Elisha. After this a chariot of fire and horses come down and take Elijah away in the whirlwind. Elisha is left grieved by the event. He then picks the mantle and puts it on. He then reverses the river Jordan crossing. </div>
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We know historically that the prophetic Sinai tradition was strong, especially in the North, but as some scholars now point out in the South as well. Jeremiah certainly being one of those great southern prophets. Nevertheless what we see here is a deep connection with all that is past, with the covenant theology rooted in their tradition.</div>
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Elisha's very passing over is not only meant for us readers to see that he will also be a great prophet, or that he is the inheritor of Elijah's spirit, or that he is welcomed by the local prophetic schools. There is, you see, a message we are meant to receive. God makes way, God delivers, God will take care. The prophet themselves is not some kind of inheritor of a magic mantle as he is a very participation in the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. His prophecy and his ministry is rooted in the delivering act of the God who frees Israel and hears the cries of his people.<br />
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Now, here is what is interesting about this text. We are fascinated with the story of Jesus as a parallel story to the Exodus. And, if we read through Luke we get very confused when this doesn't happen. Why? Well, because Luke is appears very interested in connecting Jesus with Moses only, but with the prophets. And, especially Elijah narratives.<br />
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I very much like what Richard Hays says about this. He offers that Luke repeatedly is avoiding a typology here. Where as John seems to reject typologies and seek to accentuate uniqueness, and Matthew and Mark seem to create typologies... instead Luke allows for Moses and the prophets to hover int he background. Hays writes:<br />
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"Luke does not permit his readers to linger over either one as a distinctively privileged precursor or typological pattern. Instead, they appear on the flickering backdrop, lending depth and resonance to the story of Jesus; then the images shift again, and the story moves on." (Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, p 202).</blockquote>
What I want to say here is important, I think the lectionary makes a mistake. Mark is playing with images from the Psalms, Daniel, Deuteronomy, and Exodus. Attaching this passage from 2 Kings makes for an odd choice. In Mark's Gospel the connecting person to the Elijah stories are connected to John the Baptist. (Ibid.) Preacher be warned not to mix too much the Old and New Testament story this week!<br />
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<b>Previous Sermons For The Transfiguration</b></h2>
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/transfiguration-go-and-grow">Go and Grow: Transfiguration Sunday Sermon at Church of Holy Apostles, Katy and St. Paul's, Katy</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/you-are-awesome">You are Awesome: Mediations on the Transfiguration and the Lego movie, St David's Austin, Last Epiphany A</a><br />
<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/family-traditions-not-worth-passing-on-vs-the-absolute-good-news-of-salvation-and-god-s-love"><br /></a><a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/tenemos-una-vida-con-jesus">Tenemos una Vida con Jesus: Sermon preached on the transfiguration in Spanish at San Pedro Episcopal Church, 2015</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/i-am-pretty-sure-god-wanted-us-to-have-a-lot-of-meetings">God wants us to have more meetings: Sermon on the Transfiguration at St. Christopher's Houston 2013</a><br />
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<a href="http://adoyle.libsyn.com/building-the-alamo-for-8th-grade-school-project-transfiguration-lessons-from-matthew">Building the Alamo: Preached at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, Waco, Tx on March 6th (Alamo Day). Matthew 17:1-13</a></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-29955569674382894842024-02-01T14:31:00.000-08:002024-02-06T20:34:03.204-08:005th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, February 4, 2024<em>"You could surmise that Mark is making a point here by having the kingdom start at home. That may not be in Mark?s intention, but its truth stands nevertheless."</em><br />
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkEpiphany5.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Epiphany 5, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9ORWgs7xyspV4hiLfQnrt0HHrECrb8PZZeG1oleeK_I21gDrlBfmEuW_Xk6lopKXWkhasXAj-LlVOkTjIvMRRUbfFHlFs-u-NAQ12BuRVckrB7vbmCEkPU-Rpqrq0LlO8e87i9E3EQv4/s1600/08-13-10_art_John_Bridges_Christ_healing_the_mother_of_Simon_Peter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9ORWgs7xyspV4hiLfQnrt0HHrECrb8PZZeG1oleeK_I21gDrlBfmEuW_Xk6lopKXWkhasXAj-LlVOkTjIvMRRUbfFHlFs-u-NAQ12BuRVckrB7vbmCEkPU-Rpqrq0LlO8e87i9E3EQv4/s320/08-13-10_art_John_Bridges_Christ_healing_the_mother_of_Simon_Peter1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>With a father's care and a mother's compassion, you embrace as your own, O good and loving god, the sufferings borne by the whole human race, and you join these to all that your Son endured in his Passover from death's bitter pain to risen life. In all our time of trial and testing, purify our hearts and fortify us deep within so that, bearing the light of unfailing trust in your power to heal and save, we may hasten to the support of our brothers and sisters as they face the mystery of illness and pain. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 1:29-39</strong></span><br />
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After reading and studying this passage I have these two questions for us preachers: Are we bringing people a glass of cold water on the battlefield of life? Or are we delivering them off the battlefield?<br />
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Jesus is here to teach (vs 38) and specifically to offer Good News. Joel Marcus points out that this is decidedly the most important message of the verses which follow the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. (Marcus, <em>Mark</em>, vol 1, 201ff)<br />
Jesus is invited to come and heal Simon Peter's mother-in-law. He touches her hand and she is healed and is so revived that she begins to serve them. Jesus does many works of healing and casting out demons and these are important to show his power and his might over and against the strong man of this world. He is a doer of great deeds. Yet this is not the purpose of his coming (vs38). <br />
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Jesus does not come to heal us. He does not come to cast out the demons. He does do these things but they are specifically acts that show his strength and his power. And, in so doing draw us to his teaching and preaching. He has come to proclaim a gospel of Good News. As one scholar put it, to give us the good news from the battlefield. (M. E. Boring, <em>Beginning</em>, 56; see also Marcus, <em>Mark</em>, 146) This ties into Isaiah's prophetic voice of offering good news for the captives.<br />
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He has come to tell us the good news. And, that good news is accompanied with mighty acts that free people from their lives. Lives are changed, the world is different.<br />
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I wonder what battlefields will be brought into our churches this Sunday morning? What battlefields will you be bringing in with you? How easy it is to stay on the battlefield and to remain captive to our fear and anxiety. How easy it is to be imprisoned by our anger at someone. How immobilizing it is to be so angry that we might avoid our real work. <br />
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What about the battlefield where people are hungry, naked, and in prison? What about the battlefield of raising kids alone? Yes...there will be many battlefields carried laboriously into the church sanctuary this week. Can we let the mighty Jesus heal us as he heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law, so that we may hear the good news of deliverance, and serve him in mission?<br />
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<div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">A Little Bit for Everyone</span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br />
<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:29-39&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/epiphb5.htm"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">General Resources for Sunday's Lessons</span></strong></a></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left"><strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark1f.htm"><span style="font-size: small;">Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel</span></a></strong></div><br />
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<h2 class="passageref">Mark 1:29-39 </h2><br />
29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. <br />
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32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And 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. 35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-9685526038201719332024-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:002024-02-06T20:30:38.736-08:004th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 28, 2024 <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>In Christ your Son, O God, you impart to us a new teaching from one who speaks with authority, for Jesus is the unique master of wisdom, and our only liberator from the forces of evil. Make us convinced and courageous in professing our faith, so that by word and deed we may proclaim the truth and bear witness to the happiness enjoyed by those who center their lives and put all their trust in you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 1:21-28</strong></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><em>"The kingdom of God in Mark is good news because it brings liberation at a number of levels. The central thing is enabling people to be how God made them to be."</em><br /><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkEpiphany4.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages from Mark in the Lectionary,"</a> Epiphany 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. </div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UGhwCcQcO-5wg0LykOulVgnYy2itmxTfbzrqZxrFdHu2HD9W8FZom2Y-h4nUYM6hGuBHBvsHUVtLp2MxQLUAqCTwD9M7GmvFF07nIaxPq-5L9VwIFHHBqECiDGqBBaTiAHF2xaHrOWlp/s1600/capernaum+synagogue+rubel.jpg" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" gda="true" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UGhwCcQcO-5wg0LykOulVgnYy2itmxTfbzrqZxrFdHu2HD9W8FZom2Y-h4nUYM6hGuBHBvsHUVtLp2MxQLUAqCTwD9M7GmvFF07nIaxPq-5L9VwIFHHBqECiDGqBBaTiAHF2xaHrOWlp/s320/capernaum+synagogue+rubel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Byzantine church was built on top of <br />a synagogue in Capernaum</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:21-28&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><span style="font-size: small;">Oremus Online NRSV Text</span></a></strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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What is unbound in us? This is the question that I am taking with me into the Gospel reading from Mark appointed for this Sunday.<br />
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This is a very dense and important passage. The author of the Gospel is very much laying a firm foundation upon which he is building his revelation of who Jesus was and the import of his mission in this world and in the world to come. <br />
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First, let me caution the reader and preacher against taking this simply as a story about healing. I think this is an important caution as there are people in our congregations who are prone to seizures and epilepsy. They, like their loved ones, are very wounded by preaching on this lesson that does not embody Good News for all people. We as pastors and leaders should not do anything in our teaching or in our preaching that implies that these people are filled with some demonic spirit when what we know is that they are ill. In point of fact to say that this story is solely about healing and the casting out of demons from a person is to miss a great deal of what is going on in the passage and in the entirety of the Gospel according to Mark. <br />
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Is this a story about healing? Yes, by all means, it is. But what is it that we are being healed from? What is it that is being unbound in us? How and for what are we being freed? These are the questions that must be answered as you prepare your sermon for Sunday.<br />
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A couple of things to note: First is that this passage parallels the passage in Mark 5:1-20; wherein Jesus heals the Gerasene demoniac. It parallels the passage EXACTLY. The difference is that this passage takes place in the midst of the Jewish community and the passage in chapter 5 takes place in the midst of the gentile community.<br />
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The second note is that the community of Mark was indeed a community oppressed on every side. Joel Marcus writes:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">For Mark's community, which feels itself to be the focus of the hatred of the whole world because of its preaching of the good news about Jesus (13:9-13), this feature of the initial exorcism would function as a reassurance that eh world's reaction of convulsive hatred does not invalidate the community's claim that its preaching imparts God's eschatological message. (Marcus, <em>Mark</em>, vol 1, 195)</blockquote>In keeping with most of the scholarly perspectives around this passage, it is my opinion that Mark's community feels bombarded by hatred from both the religious leaders of the day and the political leaders of the day. As the passage in chapter 5 reflects the political attacks and adversity to the Jesus message; so here in our passage for this Sunday, we can see the attack from the religious leaders of the day.<br />
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Let us look at the passage closely. We remember that John the Baptist is now faded to the background. Jesus is taking up his full teaching mission. He is calling people to follow him and he is proclaiming the absolutely good news of God and the kingdom of God. We find ourselves then in this Sunday's passage following him into a major center of religious life - Capernaum. It is the sabbath and so he goes and he teaches in the synagogue.<br />
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They are astounded at his teaching in part because his teaching is good news but also because he teaches with authority. This kind of teaching is different than the leaders of religion that they normally hear from. <br />
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As if to sharpen the distinction between the different messages and preaching a force enters the synagogue. Characterized in a demon-possessed man, this force challenges Jesus' teaching. This is essential. We can get caught up in the demon part and not realize that the dialogue here is of the utmost importance. The man says, in the midst of this religious center filled with people: <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">24 “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.” </blockquote>We might remember that the earliest manuscripts had no punctuation so that these may not be questions at all. We might read this as: What are you doing. Why are you teaching here? This is not good. <u>You have come to destroy us</u>. And, yet too in the enmity cast on Jesus (and for Mark's community anyone who is proclaiming Jesus as Lord) we see recognition and proclamation of Jesus as the son of God - the Holy One of God. Let us also remember the rest of the story and how these same religious authorities will decry Jesus' ministry and that of his followers.<br />
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Jesus unbinds the man from his rejection of the Gospel and his preaching.<br />
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The response to this is that people are amazed. Amazed at the freedom to believe? Amazed at the revelation of Jesus as Holy One? Amazed at his power over and against the religious authorities? "Yes," I say. All of these and there is in verse 27 a recognition that this is a new teaching and one that comes from God. The response of the people is one that affirms Jesus as preacher and teacher of this new movement. He is bringing reform to the old way. He is in fact leading a new way of being disciples of God.<br />
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I am currently reading the Bonhoeffer biography by Metaxis. In it, the author makes a persuasive case that Bonhoeffer while on the one hand believed in the importance of the Christian community he also recognized the reforming nature of Jesus' words and ministry upon a Christianity that was simply religious.<br />
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Yes, people who trust in Jesus do experience the healing of life. I have seen it. I know it is true. But the passage for this Sunday is about the reform of religion. The Gospel of Jesus Christ challenges all Christians and their communities to remember the Holy One of God and the Good News of Salvation at the core of its life. It challenges Christian communities to boldly proclaim the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. It challenges the Christian community to hear the absolute and grace-filled message of love. <br />
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I want to take a moment and ask you to think about your religion. Now I am not talking about your denomination. I am not talking about your church. I am talking about your personal religion? I am wondering if you might make a list of certain things that are required for you when you go to church. Only men as priests or women as priests, incense or no incense, lots of vestments or no vestments, Rite One language or Rite II language or non-gender-specific language, ancient hymnody in Latin or guitars... I can tell you these are not the requirements of Jesus. None of these are mentioned in his teachings. Yet people are constantly at war over these or other lists of required religious iconography in order for the true gospel to be preached. The Gospel is there every Sunday and Jesus is present but I wonder what shackles we bring into the church that keeps us from hearing it and proclaiming it.<br />
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Let us think of our own church now. As a church embattled in structure and economy, in a church struggling with the different orders of ministry and asking questions about how we do our mission, we must hold the mirror of Mark's Gospel up and ask some serious questions about reform. Has religion become more important than the message? Is the benefit of the Christian community lost in the chaos of faith at war with itself? <br />
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As Christians, as Episcopalians, we are imprisoned by our religion.<br />
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Jesus Christ comes into our midst. He comes right down into the center of every congregation this Sunday. He challenges us to teach our faith with authority. To boldly claim the Holy One of God as our own. To proclaim that God is love and that we are to love one another. We are challenged to teach our response to that love is the mission.<br />
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Jesus comes in and this Sunday looks at our heart's religion and he seeks to free us from it. Jesus offers us unbounded love, free from the shackles of our inherited religion, and challenges us to be at work in the mission field. <br />
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I am an Episcopalian and I love being an Episcopalian and I want other people to meet Jesus in our church and worship him as Episcopalians. To do that we must be freed from our heart's religion and our church's religion that says it is my way or the highway. We must be freed and unbound from those ties that bind us to a certain death that our faith and our communities may be part of the kingdom that is coming.<br />
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And, like the demoniac in that synagogue and the religious leaders of Jesus time you and I both know our religious heart and our puritanical faith rejects this invitation be to be free.<br />
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Jesus keeps coming though. Again and again he invites us along the way just like his disciples and those he first goes to in Capernaum. He invites us to allow those parts of ourselves that do not glorify God to fall to the wayside and invites us to be freed for the mission. We are invited to live lives in communities where the Holy One of God is present and alive and proclaimed. He invites us most of all to change the nature of our dying religion, that all that is around us (in our neighborhoods and cities) might be amazed at our proclamation of freedom and our teaching with authority -- the unbounded love of Jesus and the freedom to lay our religious shackles down and follow him.<br />
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<div align="left"><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Some Thoughts on </strong><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1 Corinthians 8:1-13</b></span></div></div><div align="left"><strong style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><i>"Paul suggests, in reply to the Corinthians, a new reason for caution about eating such food, and that is a concern for the effect that doing so might have on others who lack the knowledge that the Corinthian church claims keeps them safe from harm."</i><br /></div><a href="http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/the-politics-of-food-sacrificed-to-idols-1-corinthians-81-13/">The Politics of Food Offered to Idols</a>, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Richard Davis, Political Theology Today, 2015.<br /><br /><br /><i>"The passage gives us a glimpse in the manner in which Paul understood the world, and in particular the space between God and human beings."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2340">Commentary</a>, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Frank L. Crouch, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br /><br /><br /><i>"The problem develops when we let football (or other sports, or a military, or corporations, or other forces) define strength in terms of dominance."</i><br /><a href="http://www.odysseynetworks.org/on-scripture-the-bible/the-super-bowl-and-the-church-in-a-culture-of-dominance/">"The Superbowl and the Church in a Culture of Dominance: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13,"</a> Matthew L. Skinner, ON Scripture, Odyssey Networks, 2015. Video: 5 Things You Didn't Know About America and Violence.<br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+8:1-13&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><p>If you know this text well, or you have it open in front of you, you will see that Paul is continuing to answer the questions posed by the situation in Corinth. </p><p>The issue at hand is eating meat that had been an offering at a pagan festival. Those who ate this meat were believed to be "weak believers." The issue seems trite in today's world, though we can easily think of religious traditions that continue with strict dietary rules of life. So, the weak believers and their counterparts are disruptive to the community. </p><p>Paul, as he does in other texts, comes at the issue as an apostle offering wisdom to the community. He points out that Christians should not be so convicted by knowledge so as to miss the commandment to love. For Paul, the "necessary knowledge" is that of "love."</p><p>He then offers a different way of seeing the problem. He turns the problem on its ear and points out that if people in the community were wise they would understand that there is only one God and no lesser gods. That because there are no lesser gods then nothing is happening to the meat. This act of worshiping other lesser gods is nonsensical. He then performs a mic drop. He suggests that those who do not understand this (clearly he means those who are suggesting the community has "weak believers") still maintain that the lesser gods of Greece and Rome are powerful. The weak are those who have not let go of the power of the gods of the world. They are the ones being disloyal to Christ. </p><p>He concludes by suggesting that if the meat, and we might add the conversation about the meat, draws you from the "love" of each other and of Christ then one should abstain. </p><p>In an age of "doing right," we in the Christian Church today have similar issues. Our partisan politics, our social wars, are all examples of our weakness. </p><p>I suggest the church should be clear and vocal about those things that draw us from the love of God and the love of each other. At the same time, we should be careful not to judge such that we are drawn from the love of Christ as well. It is a very easy thing in the age of partisan politics and litmus tests for faithfulness that we get wrapped up in doing right rather than serving the one who good or doing good. We need to be wary of those things about living in the community and in the world that draw us from the love of each other and the love of Christ.</p></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Some Thoughts on </strong><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Deuteronomy 18:15-20</b></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><i>"Who speaks for God? The answer requires discernment and prayer."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2353">Commentary</a>, Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Kathryn Schifferdecker, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015<br /><br /><i>"Maybe Moses was remembering” even as he spoke these words ”his own failure at the rock some years ago. God told him to speak to the rock, he whacked it with his staff instead, and even that little switch-up of the divine message was enough to get Moses banished from the Promised Land for good."</i><br /><a href="http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/epiphany-4b-2/?type=the_lectionary_gospel">Sermon Starters, Textual Points and Illustration Ideas</a>, Scott Hoezee, Center for Excellence in Preaching, 2015.<br /><br /><br /><i>"All of this is relevant to our thinking of Jesus, the word of God incarnate, and to our pondering of his teaching and what the church has proclaimed about him."</i><br /><a href="http://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/EpiphanyB/Epiphany4.html">Deuteronomy 18:15-22</a>, Epiphany 4, The Old Testament Readings: Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.<div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Deuteronomy+18:15-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div><div><br /></div>This passage is about how the people of God are to remain faithful to God. They are entering a land of many gods. Moses is the chosen one, the prophet, who will be their go-between. Moses will have a vocation of going on behalf of God to the people, and speaking on God's behalf to the people. In this way, the people will be able to be in contact with God.</div><div><br /></div><div>I suggest there are two facets of rabbinic tradition worth considering before we consider the Gospel application to our Gospel mission today. The first consideration is: what does it take to be a faithful people? The second is: how does the prophetic word work? Let me begin with the first consideration.</div><div><br /></div>In Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman’s <a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/2000/09/The-Torah-Survival-And-Survivor.aspx?p=2">Torah commentary</a> we discover that part of becoming the people of God is not about individually besting others but about a shared experience of communal flourishing with God. She writes, <div><blockquote>"<i>Deuteronomy teaches, 'If there is a needy person among you in any of the land Adonai your God gives you, do not harden your heart. ... Rather, open your hand and lend what your neighbor needs' (15:7-8). The tribal world of the Torah isn't a dog-eat-dog competition. The 'primitive' society of the ancient Hebrews is interdependent--all members of the community jointly support each other and their religious and political institutions.</i></blockquote>Rabbi Litman offers that the key to the ethic of a survivor mentality is the notion of competition for scarce resources accompanied by personal bias. The Torah community of Deuteronomy on the other hand has a different set of values that have an orientation to justice for all in the community. There is a turning to God in humility and a turning to each other without partiality in this deuteronomistic vision of the whole. I propose that this actually rejects individual flourishing that comes at the cost of others or the wider community. The theology of the deutoronomists is that there can be no individual flourishing that does not include the whole of the people. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a vision of a community that is wholistic before God and will depend not only upon Moses as intercessor but upon one another to live out the faithful invitation of God.<br /><br />The second consideration is the prophetic vision of a faithful people who together will inherit a land of milk and honey. What we know of prophecy in the rabbinic tradition is that negative prophecies that do not come true do not prove the prophet's worth. Only the prophet who foretells good things may be tested. In Yesodei haTorah 10:4 it is written, "But if the prophet, in the name of G‑d, assures good fortune, declaring that a particular event would come to pass, and the benefit promised has not been realized, he is unquestionably a false prophet, for no blessing decreed by the Almighty, even if promised conditionally, is ever revoked..." (See Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, <a href="http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2290655/jewish/Testing-Prophecy.htm">Testing Prophecy</a>)<a href="https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2290655/jewish/Testing-Prophecy.htm#footnoteRef2a2290655"><br /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Vollkorn, serif; font-size: 16px;">As Richard B. Hays wrote regarding the people of God and its connection to the first followers of Jesus: “There can be no question here of a purely individualized spiritual formation. </span>Matthew is strongly ecclesially oriented.” (Hays, <i>Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels</i>, p. 97) We have here a rabbinic notion of <i>The Shekinah</i> meaning to ‘settle’ or ‘dwell’ and is an attempt in rabbinic teaching to speak about the presence of God among the people. As Christians, we understand that Christ has come and dwelt with us in the manner described by the deuteronomists. God has manifested God's self in Emmanuel. In this way God has revealed in the person of Jesus not only God's presence or <i>shekinah</i>, and also the manner of living with one another. Jesus Christ brings forward the lesson from Deuteronomy, it does not exist as a past notion of communal life but as the template for the ministry, teaching, and life. It is the structure upon which Jesus Christ offers the sermon on the mount - as an example.</div>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-18989389930932849802024-01-15T07:38:00.000-08:002024-02-06T20:30:24.160-08:003rd Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 21, 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmwl5tP8AIknSLWmfkZQngNB1fDzRQX-bv6uW-5CY0nK0fQSCQ43MFNSm8KF-5UtcaONfQqszzSXsZ1NdT71Ow0Ip3v6LBYrAAqq6MVLO8cEbQ-ZPkzOrhE06f2Ky4-nimzTsxQVzCnOl/s1600/iStock_000030350848Small.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmwl5tP8AIknSLWmfkZQngNB1fDzRQX-bv6uW-5CY0nK0fQSCQ43MFNSm8KF-5UtcaONfQqszzSXsZ1NdT71Ow0Ip3v6LBYrAAqq6MVLO8cEbQ-ZPkzOrhE06f2Ky4-nimzTsxQVzCnOl/s1600/iStock_000030350848Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong></div><div><br /></div><div>In your Son, O God, you have given us your word in all its fullness and the greatest of all your gifts. Rouse our hearts to grasp the urgent need of conversion, and stir up our souls with longing to embrace your gospel. May our lives proclaim to those far away from you and to those filled with doubt that the one Savior of us all is your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">Mark 1:14-20</span></b></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"How ready are we to encounter people, share our truth and then instead of manipulating, cajoling and trapping them, allow them the freedom to re-enter the waters of life and make up their own minds about the truth we have shared?"</i><br /><a href="http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/hooking-up-with-jesus/">"Hooking up with Jesus,"</a> Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2012.<br /><div><br /></div><div><i>"What would make you drop everything and pursue an entirely new life?"</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=546">"The Call of the Disciples and the Decline of the Church,"</a> David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"People in the New Community would derive their identity not from their present economic condition or their past familial relationships, but rather be given a new identity as followers of the 'way' of the 'kingdom of God' as taught and lived by their leader, Jesus of Galilee."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2012/01/lectionary-blogging-mark-1-14-20.html">Lectionary Blogging</a>, John Petty, Progressive Involvement, 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:14-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="clear: both;"><b><br /></b><br />
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We begin this passage as Mark clearly breaks from the testimony of John the Baptist and focuses directly on the work of Jesus. Jesus is now the focal point of the Gospel and of Mark's witness.<br />
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A second theme emerges directly as Galilee. We are beginning to read Mark more regularly in this year's cycle of Gospel readings. In Mark's Gospel Galilee is the "land of salvation" while it is contrasted throughout the story with Jerusalem; which is the place of rejection. (This was pointed out by such great New Testament scholars as Lohmeyer and Lightfoot; and has been repeated throughout most Markan commentaries.) In Galilee, great and miraculous things happen. Healings, exorcisms, teaching, and the growth of the Jesus movement all hallmark Galilee as the place of salvation. Mark as a Gospel author so focuses on this theme that it is the primary and driving force behind his confusing geography. For the Gospel author, the story and miraculous works are more important than factual place.<br />
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In our passage, John is handed over, Jesus comes from Galilee, and he proclaims "good news." I love Mark's Gospel and I have studied it quite a bit. What stood out for me in this reading is Joel Marcus' point that this is "good news" really stood out. In his exegesis of the text (Marcus, Mark, vol 1, 171) Marcus points out that the word "God" and "kingdom of God" were later added and not necessarily part of the early Christian witness to Jesus' ministry. Marcus even reminds us that John's Gospel does not even use the term "euangelion," or Good News. This is Good News! It is not good news <u>and</u>, or good news <u>but</u>. The early Christian testimony preserved in Mark's account is that what we have is Good News.</div>
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Then Jesus teaches our response. Our response to the Good News that God is near, that God claims us, that God reinserts himself into the world, that God invites our relationship is to discover that we are in a new age of God; we are now in an age of the kingdom or dominion of God...our response is repentance and belief.<br />
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What seems very inspiring here is the notion that this is not a one-time event. We are not to repent and believe, but rather we are to live a life of repenting and believing. These words of good news and repenting/believing are words that would have resounded in the ears of the newly baptized Christian. They are words deeply connected with the earliest Christian tradition. We are a people who recognize our relationship with God; we celebrate the grace of God and the goodness of God. We then are constantly responding attempting to glorify God in this world by moving our lives closer and closer to the life of God.<br />
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We are a people who are not satisfied with the old age or the past; we are a people who want to come ever closer to God's kingdom. We are a people not satisfied with the world as we experience it for we know that when we try and work and repent and move ever closer God's love and grace transforms us and the world around us. It does this through kindness, charity, and good works. This is the center of living a life virtuously. The virtuous life is one that is constantly trying to remove the old and dead life; letting it fall away. And, consequently attempting to live a life where belief matters and affects how I am going to act in the next moment.<br />
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This opening reading from Mark's Gospel would have reminded the first hearers of the first moments when they followed Jesus. (Marcus, 176) As we read it today and think about our words for Sunday morning we must recognize that we have the opportunity to stir up and reinvigorate our discipleship. We have the opportunity to see again for the fist time what it means to turn and follow Jesus. <br />
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Good News of our salvation and the unique proclamation of God's kingdom and our invitation to be a part is good news indeed!</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br />
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<div style="clear: both;"><i>"Paul's word may jolt us into asking whether we have in the process lost God and lost ourselves - let alone the real interests of others."</i><br /><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany3.htm">"First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Epiphany 3,"</a>William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"And so, the challenge for us today who are in the world is not merely to divorce ourselves from it. And I use the word “merely” intentionally here."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/?p=1559">Changing the Form of the World</a>, Amy Allen, Political Theology, 2012.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"In the end, the primary message of this text is that nothing in this world can compare to the eternal fellowship we have with God and Christ."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/25/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Arland J. Hultgren, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+7:29-31&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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Almost all of our historical understanding of Corinth points to the fact that it was a major port during Jesus' time. Because of the Peloponnesus peninsula, it also was an essential land route. It was a commercial center, a center for the arts, and the crafts of shipbuilding, and trade.<br />
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Into this cultural mix, we know that the church there has asked for help and is having some trouble. So it is that Paul sits down to write.<br />
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The point of the passage seems to be at first glance centered on the relationships between husbands and wives. Marriage is important and somehow their faith is causing problems within families. Based on my own experience my feeling is that people are in each other's business and have asked Paul to intervene. Paul has done so BUT he is desperately trying to redirect their attention from what he believes are cursory matters.<br />
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Corinth is caught up in issue conversations. They are important but for Paul, they are not as important as the mission.<br />
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So it is that Paul reminds them they are living in an in-between time. They are waiting for Christ who is to return. Their work is clear - the few Christians in Corinth are to work hard together to share the Gospel and teach others about Christ. They are to bring people into the family. They are to work with God to bring salvation to as many people as possible.<br />
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Paul certainly believed this was all going to be over before he himself died.<br />
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How often we look at and focus upon those things which really are the things of this world and issues of our time, instead of being attentive to God's reconciling love and his ministry of grace.<br />
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<br /></div><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Jonah 3:1-10</span></b></div><br /><i>"As you preach this sermon, you might ask your listeners to think of a person that they find difficult to love. (Be sure, of course, to make clear that they are not called to stay in abusive situations.) Then proclaim to them that God loves that person, and that God loves them, too."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2347">Commentary</a>, Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Kathryn Schifferdecker, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br /><br /><br /><i>"Maybe we are not actively awaiting and licking our lips over the potential destruction of this or that group, but if certain types of people did come to us (as they are), would we generate the kind of joy over this one might wish for?"</i><br /><a href="http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/epiphany-3b-2/?type=old_testament_lectionary">Commentary and Illustrration Ideas</a>, Scott Hoezee, Center for Excellence in Preaching, 2015.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><i>"Jonah challenges the perspective of the righteously indignant to put aside moral superiority and take on the character of God, whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/22/2012&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Callie Plunket-Brewton, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br /><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> <br /><br /><br />God invites Jonah to go, he gives him a vocation, to go and speak on God's behalf. Jonah does not go out and do God's work in part because they don't see eye to eye. Jonah felt it was unjust they should suffer the consequences and be punished and not be forgiven so easily. Jonah did not like that God was going to forgive the people because they repented after hearing the prophet's words. Jonah believed Jonah had a sense of retributive justice. God then teaches Jonah a lesson about how God is concerned for the people and concerned that they learn and change their ways. <br /><br />I suggest this is more than doing right or a moral idea of acting rightly. God is interested in the people <br />coming to understand how to serve the one who is good and the good itself. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote:<br /></div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div><div><div><div style="clear: both;">God teaches Jonah to care by giving him something and then taking it away. Loss teaches us to value things, though usually too late. What we have, and then lose, we do not take for granted. The religious vision is not about seeing things that are not there. It is about seeing the things that are there and always were, but which we never noticed, or paid attention to. Faith is a form of attention. It is a sustained meditation on the miraculousness of what is because it might not have been. What we lose and are given back we learn to cherish in a way we would not have done had we never lost it in the first place. Faith is about not taking things for granted. (<a href="https://rabbisacks.org/unasked-question-taken-koren-sacks-haggada/">The Unanswered Question</a>.)</div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><p>For early Christians, Jonah prefigures the three-day resurrection of Jesus. (See Matthew 12:38-41.)</p><p>These are two themes that I think you can easily preach about. </p><p>I am interested in the story of Jonah as a call about vocation. there is the story of Jonah. I mention Jonah because he flat out rejected God’s invitation at first. God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah’s response was to go to Tarshish. He went to Joppa, got on a boat, and attempted to flee from God’s call. A storm came up, the sailors threw Jonah overboard, a big fish swallowed him, and then, upon being spit upon the shore, Jonah heard God again: “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” Jonah went to Nineveh to be God’s messenger (Jon. 1–3).</p><p>The reason that Jonah did not want to go was because God was too forgiving! Jonah knew that if he did what God wanted, then God would simply forgive the people. Jonah complained angrily when God proved him right. He cried out in prayer, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jon. 4:2).</p><p>God’s invitations are very persuasive. Through visions, voice, and the advice and counsel of friends, God invites God’s people to go. The specific circumstances of this going vary across different contexts, but there is always a purpose behind God’s invitation to go. People are always being sent. There is a hinge here in the language—a double meaning: going and being sent are about both the invitation and the purpose. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">God called Abraham and Sarah to become a people that bless the world, which is a habit of God’s throughout all of scripture. Jonah reflects a similar habit. Faithfulness is the act of accepting the invitation and opening oneself to becoming the blessing. Those whom God invites, God also blesses, in order that they might bless others. God said to Abraham and Sarah, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Their promised family would outnumber the stars of Abraham’s counting and be a blessing to the world. Brueggemann ponders the meaning of this blessing and says, “‘Blessing’ is not a religious or moral phenomenon in the world,” it is a “characteristic feature of creation that is fruitful and productive.” (See <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Voc%C3%A3ti%C3%B5-Imaging-Visible-Andrew-Doyle/dp/1640651179/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1610480307&sr=8-5" target="_blank">Vocātiō: Imaging a Visible Church</a>.)</div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Excerpt from Võcatiõ on The Call of the Disciples</span></b><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Voc%C4%81ti%C5%8D-Imaging-C-Andrew-Doyle-ebook/dp/B07H46R1PQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=vocatio+doyle&qid=1611252879&sr=8-1">You can purchase the book here.</a></span></b><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><div><div><div><div><div><div style="clear: both;"><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">Chapter Three: Disciples of Peace</div><div align="LEFT">I love to think of them at dawn</div><div align="LEFT">Beneath the frail pink sky,</div><div align="LEFT">Casting their nets in Galilee</div><div align="LEFT">And fish-hawks circling by.</div><div align="LEFT">Casting their nets in Galilee</div><div align="LEFT">Just off the hills of brown</div><div align="LEFT">Such happy, simple fisherfolk</div><div align="LEFT">Before the Lord came down.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">William Alexander Percy, Poet </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">The gospels differ in their account of how Jesus and his disciples begin their ministry. Nonetheless, a common pattern emerges: Jesus' ministry begins after his baptism and his journey in the wilderness, as John the Baptist is fading away. Jesus boldly renounces worldly power and violence during his conflict with the devil in the desert. This powerful renunciation foreshadows the choices Jesus makes throughout his ministry: The community he founds, and the reign he reinvigorates will demonstrate God’s intentions. Through Jesus, God will create an intentional community of shalom. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The first two disciples that Jesus brought into this community are two brothers, Simon (who is Peter) and Andrew. Jesus came across them as he walked by the Sea of Galilee. They were fishing from the shore. Jesus invited them to follow. (Mark 1:16-18, Matthew 4:18-19) They dropped their nets and followed immediately. A little further along, they picked up James and John - the sons of Zebedee. (Mark 1:19-20, Matthew 4:19-22) John's Gospel tells us that Andrew brought Peter to Jesus after John the Baptist points him out. Jesus said to Andrew, "Come and see." (John 1:35-42) The disciples took Jesus’ invitation because they believed that he had inherited the mantle of John the Baptist. Jesus was the one about whom John had been preaching. John's Gospel continues with Philip in Galilee. Philip and his brother Nathanael came to Jesus. Jesus is proclaimed as the one "about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote." (John 1:43-51) Significantly, Nathanael believes that Jesus was to be the king of Israel. Jesus flatly rejected the revolution Nathanael implied. Jesus’ kingdom is to be a reign of peace, and not borne from the world of violence. (John 1:10; John 14:17) As the disciples came and saw, they discovered that they too were called to inaugurate a reign of peace, and reject the world of violence. (John 15:18; 17:20-26) </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The first disciples Jesus encountered beside the Sea of Galilee were invited to be "fishers of people." This is not a general invitation to follow. It is not a mere pun. The Church's unconscious habit of reading scripture as legitimating text for a vast institution has made these call stories about bringing people to Jesus and church growth. The call stories represent how church members should bring other people to church where they can meet Jesus. Within the narrative arc of the shalom community, these stories have a different meaning. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">"Fishers of people" create the shalom community itself. By calling his disciples to become, fishers of men Jesus harkens back to the holy narrative of the Old Testament and the patriarchs and matriarchs God called to make a community for all people. The first mention of this metaphor in the narrative of God is found in the prophecy of Jeremiah: "Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks." (Jeremiah 16:16) The people of Israel have forgotten their call to build a community of shalom. Jeremiah is reminding them that they were to be a community of blessing to the world. They were to take care of the poor and the least and the lost. The blood of the innocent poor are on Israel's hands. (Jeremiah 2:35) Through Jeremiah, God says that the leaders of God’s people have been poor shepherds, scattering the people when they were supposed to gather them. (Jeremiah 23:1-6) God pledges to overturn Israel because it has forgotten itself and its God. (Jeremiah 18:15; 30:14) God intends to gather God's people anew, and frustrate those who prey upon the poor. The image of “fishing for men” returns in the prophesies of Amos (4:2). Through the prophet Amos, God declares that those who forget the needy and live upon their backs will be taken away by fishhooks. And, again in Habakkuk (1:13-16), God will catch the people up in his dragnet. Ezekiel prophesies that the people are the fish and shall be gathered in (29:3b-4),. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">Jesus uses the image of fishing for people to convey that his mission is in line with God’s mission of ancient days. Using the Old Testament and language of Palestine, Jesus declares his intention to gather God's people into a new reign of peace (Matthew 23:37-39). This gathering will include the rich and the poor, the found and the lost. All people will be gathered into a community of peace exploitation, injustice, and violence of any sort are unknown. In this community, neither the poor nor the rich will become scapegoats. God’s people will be gathered in like fish caught in a dragnet. Jesus’ message is consistent with the scriptural narrative from Abraham and Sarah to Mary. So when Jesus called these fishermen from the Sea of Galilee, Jesus invited them to be part of a different community doing a different kind of work. Their habit in life was to be different from the world of violence that surrounded them. They were joining Jesus in his work of shalom. Remember, the reign of God is near. The captives were to be released, the blind receive sight, and the oppressed to be unbound. God's blessing is proclaimed, all are to be gathered in, and a new order of living is to be established. (Luke 4:16-19)</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">Let us pause here and speak of this word “vocation” because what Jesus is definitely not doing is inviting these fishermen into a church job or an engaging hobby, which is how must of us understand vocation for the Church today. If we aren’t careful, our ingrained expectation of a professional class of clergy quickly sabotages our ability to understand the ministry of Jesus and the disciples. Our bias builds churchy furniture into this story where there is none. We put our church goggles on and read back into the scripture the idea that the disciples called on that seashore were the first priests of the church. They used to make money as fishermen now they are going to make their money as ministers. (Luke 10:4-11) This is not the case. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The root of the word vocation is the word “voice”. A related term is vocāre which means “call”. To be “called was to be invited to do this or that. The meaning of vocation as we have been using it is a call to "go" on God's behalf. Vocation is about being sent to be the voice of God. This is not a professional obligation, but rather a dynamic partnership of humans with God that has persisted from the very beginning. Adam and Eve worked with God in the caretaking of the garden and creation. God walked with them in the evening to survey the work they were doing together. Humans have always been invited to join God and to "work it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15) We are possessed by God's invitation to speak and be a blessing to the world. We are occupied with undoing the violence of the world by ending the cycles of sibling rivalry. Humans are uniquely suitable to this vocation. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">Martin Luther and John Calvin regularly thought of vocation as a community at work, though they were not the first. The Middle Ages imbued vocation with an expectation of special training or craft skill. The guilds promoted this idea of vocation, and bound up the practice of the professions in religious ritual. Only after the sixteenth century would the term vocation be regularly used to describe the priesthood. Modern Christians and humanist philosophers strained the sacred meanings out of the idea of vocation over time, and eventually participation in the church became an optional avocation unless you were part of the clerical hierarchy, and then church work would be your vocation - your professional work. Such a partitioning between religious obligation and professional obligation is foreign to the Scriptures. The disciples are called into the community of God's peace. They are being invited to be God's voice and to cooperate with Jesus in making a different community that rejects violence.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">We return now to our disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Luke's Gospel tells the story of the calling of the first disciples as a fishing miracle. Jesus came by and taught the people using the boat as a platform. He then invited the disciples to cast out into the sea and to put their nets in. The fishermen doubted, as they had been fishing all night with nothing to show for their efforts. They did as Jesus said and a great multitude of fish was brought aboard. Luke tells us that their nets were breaking. They called other boats to come and help. Peter immediately told Jesus he was not worthy to follow. Jesus told Peter, James and John to join him and he would teach them to fish for people. (Luke 5:1-11) At the end of the John’s Gospel we have a similar story, where Jesus appeared on the seashore and called out to his followers who had gone fishing, ordering them to cast their net on the others side of the boat. Again, they did so, and multitudes of fish were brought in. They joined Jesus for breakfast and he was revealed as the risen Christ on the shore in the breaking of the bread. Jesus then invited them to be leaders in the new community of shalom. He says to them, "Follow me." (John 21:1-19) These two miracles gesture towards the work of fishing for people, and demonstrate that the reign of God is a community of shalom.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter thirteen, Jesus returns again to fishing images when he taught that the kingdom of peace is like a dragnet. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind." (Matthew 13:47) This parable is the last among a long series of parables about the kingdom of peace. Robert Farrar Capon uses this parable to speak eschatologically about the kingdom to come at the end of the age. I think Jesus must also be speaking of the reign that is at hand in this world. So, while I concur with Capon’s interpretation, I want to broaden it to fit into a wider discussion of the disciples’ work as peace builders, because followers of Jesus are doing work in this world that will remain at the end of the age. Jesus uses the dragnet as a metaphor for this peace-making enterprise. The community the disciples build is to be universal, catholic, with everyone included.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">Dragnets gather in everything because they dredge the sea floor. They capture wood and plants as well as fish. They capture inedible fish as well as edible fish. The community of peace that Jesus inaugurates in this world has the same characteristic of "indiscriminate-ness". God is making a community that connects, or net-works all kinds of people. While we normally think of this kingdom-net only containing fish, and good fish at that, it truly contains everything: the weeds, the detritus of dysfunctional relationships and human brokenness, the debris of daily life lived in service to the masters of economies and political power-mongers. The community of shalom, our dragnet, "touches everything in the world: not just souls, but bodies, and not just people, but all things, animal, vegetable, and mineral." God in Christ Jesus is in this very world gathering into the community of shalom the whole of creation. As God in Christ is lifted up on the cross, the great crossroads of community is bridged - heaven with earth, man with God. All is drawn to God's self. (John 12:32) As the book of Revelation indicates: all of creation is drawn to God in Christ - not just people. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The disciples are called to participate in the transfiguration of the world. This is partly why they are led down from the mountainside after Jesus’ transfiguration. They are to be the transfigured Christ in the world. The work of transfiguring creation only happens down in the village where demons are cast out and people are healed. (Matthew 17:1-27) The mystery of the community of shalom is that it includes God and people and must include the whole of creation. Secular moderns, imprisoned as we are in the immanent frame, will want to differentiate between what is worth capturing in the net and what is not, but no such distinction is made in the parables of the kingdom in the Gospels. The dragnet rejects nothing in the sea and encompass all things. The only people missing from God’s dragnet when it is hauled ashore will be those who carve themselves out of the net with their own sickle of judgment. This is what the scriptures imply when they say that the sickle will soon enough come for those who refuse the community of peace and instead choose power, abuse of the poor by neglect, and do violence to others and creation. (Matthew 25:31-46; and Revelation 14) The sickle comes for those who cannot live with the least, the lost, and the unclean. They have spent their whole life being different from those “other” people. They hold too much judgment in their heart, keeping track of the negative marks against others. It is very hard for people who routinely use power and authority to keep others down and out, to accept that God has invited all into the reign of peace. I pray that it will be very difficult indeed to resist God’s grace, to deny God’s sacrifice is enough even for my enemy, and to reject God’s love when I come face to face with God’s eternal peace. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The story of scripture also tells us that this separation of judgment will not take place before the transfiguration at the end of the age. There is always time. In this hope we live and work and have our being. Between now and the end of time, the disciples of Jesus can reject nothing, for the dragnet rejects nothing, and the community of peace has no "business setting itself up in the judging business. And, neither, a fortiori, does the church." The disciples are to follow Jesus and learn from him, as regular members of the great narrative of God's shalom. They are to learn how this new dragnet of community is to hold all kinds of people. This is how the band of Jesus followers become a "sacrament", the continuing body of Christ in the world. They will have to "avoid the temptation to act like sports fishermen who are interested only in speckled trout and hand-tied flies," says Capon. No, the disciples are to be the worst kind of fishermen. The only thing they are to discard is the temptation to reject the mess of creation and humanity. Their community of shalom in this world participates in the reign of God at the end of the age if it remains in relationship with all the "old boots, bottles, and beer cans" that a truly random dredging of humanity must be. The Church will be transfigured to the extent that it is one and the same with the mess it intends to drag in. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">To point out how important this work is, Luke follows the call story of the disciples with an encounter with a leper. Lepers were shunned from the religious community of the day. Their illness made intimacy and belonging impossible. Lepers were seen as sinful and not worthy of community membership, but Jesus restores one such leper back to the community by engagement with the God of creation. God's Living Word made the leper whole, rejecting the status quo. God in Christ Jesus engaged someone who was not to be engaged. (Luke 5:12-16) Moreover, Jesus tied his healing of the leper into the story of Moses. </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">After the call story in Mark, Jesus went to the home of Peter where they found his mother-in-law on death's door. Jesus brought the dragnet of peace into Peter's home, and there restored the woman into community. (Mark 1:29-31) </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">In Matthew's version of the call story there is a fight between Jesus and the religious powers that be. They were concerned about Jesus’ congregating with sinners. In Matthew’s version of the gospel, Jesus' next action was to call a sinner to participate in the community of shalom, a tax collector named Levi. (Mathew 9:9) Levi participated in the systemic oppression of the poor, supported the Pax Romana, and the religious powers in league with Rome. He participated in a system of “peace” enforced by religious and political violence. Levi collected the seven layers of taxes that oppressed the people while lining the purses of the powerful. Of course he would have added some cost into the mix for his own trouble, as was the tradition for tax collectors. Jesus invited this sinner, this corrupt player in the systems of violence and oppression, to follow and to join a different community - the community of God's shalom. Levi received the call and left his table. (Matthew 9:9) Jesus then took Levi with him into a home. Again, Jesus placed the new community of shalom within a home and at a table. Here Levi, one of the undesirables, an inedible fish, joined Jesus and other tax collectors and sinners and they ate together a meal. (Matthew 9:10) Jesus responded to the critics, explaining that the community of shalom is going to be like the dragnet. It will be made up of many who the religious and the political establishment see as unfit. Levi's call is a powerful witness to this dragnet kingdom that Luke made the call of Levi the first call of all the disciples. (Luke 5:27-32) </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The community of shalom and God in Christ Jesus is not populated with worthy heroes resplendent in glory. The community of shalom is composed of unworthy and unlikely human beings who renounce systems of violence out of a hunger for peace. They reject sibling rivalry. They are random contents of the dragnet- the good fish and bad.</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The only place in the Near East where such a heterogeneous community could be assembled was in the Galilee, in Nazareth, Capernaum- places outside of orbit of Jerusalem. Jesus’ work is only possible at the margins of society, for it is there that the mixture of misfits is found. In the Gospels the kingdom of peace always takes root in the wilderness - out in the countryside. As the reign of peace begins to take root, it immediately comes into conflict with the powers of state and religion. Its very existence challenges the accepted norms of social behavior that protect the powerful. Transgressing these norms brings violence. So to accept the call to speak the voice of shalom brings the violence of the systems of oppression down upon the follower of Jesus. Mark's Gospel provides an example. From the beginning Jesus eats with sinners, challenging accepted religious and social boundaries. (Mark 2:15) Jesus challenges religious purity codes by being in contact with lepers. (Mark 1:41) He gives food to the hungry. (Mark 2:23) All of this creates conflict with the authorities (Mark 1:22; 1:43; 2:6; and 2:15). By the time Jesus and his disciples have traveled for three years building their community of peace, the Roman political machinery, the Jewish religious hierarchy, and the most revered clerical powers decide that violence is the only solution to the threat that Jesus’ community poses to their power and they plot Jesus' death. (Mark 3:1-6)</div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><div align="LEFT">The reign of peace demands a transfiguration of the community and portends radical change for the institutions that enforce order. Jesus’ own experience demonstrates that building the kingdom of shalom will require direct confrontation with the powers of this world. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus takes on the powers of religion that prey on humanity and in the next moment he takes on the powers of the state which do the same. Jesus wants to show all who follow him what work is in store for them. New Testament scholar and activist Ched Myers writes, "Thus at the heart of Mark's Gospel is the assertion that the messianic vocation--and our discipleship as well--is defined by redemptive suffering, not triumph.” </div><div><br /></div></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sermon Preached on these Texts</b></span></p><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 left-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; height: auto !important; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px !important; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_3324280" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/the-perfect-meal-and-perfect-christianity" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 189, 185) !important; text-decoration-line: none;">The Perfect Meal and Perfect Christianity</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_3324280" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3324280/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="The Perfect Meal and Perfect Christianity" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Jan 27, 2015</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sermon preached at Holy Apostles, Katy and Hope, Houston on 3 Epiphany Year B, the calling of the disciples in Mark's Gospel.</span> </p>
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</div>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-86969063953053662502023-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:002023-12-14T11:03:31.076-08:002nd Sunday After the Epiphany, Year B, January 14, 2023<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong></div><div><br /></div><div>O God, you reveal the signs of your presence among us in the church, in the liturgy and in our brothers and sisters. Let no word of yours ever fall by the wayside or be rendered ineffective through our indifference or neglect. Rather, make us quick to recognize your saving plan whenever we encounter it, and keep us ready always to serve as prophets and apostles of your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">John 1:43-51</span></b><br />
<br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"But let the humble, gentle, patient love of all mankind, be fixed on its right foundation, namely, the love of God springing from faith, from a full conviction that God hath given his only Son to die for my sins; and then the whole will resolve into that grand conclusion, worthy of all men to be received: 'Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith that worketh by love.'"</i><div><a href="http://gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/serm-090.stm">An Israelite Indeed</a> (John 1:47). Sermon by John Wesley.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Adeste fidelis. That is the only answer I know for people who want to find out whether or not this is true. Come all ye faithful, and all ye who would like to be faithful if only you could, all ye who walk in darkness and hunger for light. Have faith enough, hope enough, despair enough, foolishness enough at least to draw near to see for yourselves."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/come-and-see">"Come and See,"</a><a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/nathaniel">"Nathaniel,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"What can we do to alleviate some of those fears that may well keep our neighbors and friends from ‘coming to see Jesus’ for themselves?"</i></div><div><a href="http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2012/01/it-seems-like-it-should-be-so-simply-so.html">"It Seems Like It Should Be So Simple...So Why Isn't It?"</a> Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+1:43-51&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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This week we shift across to one of our Johanine readings for the year. The passages in John's Gospel, according to most scholars, follow a carefully crafted narrative that steers people away from the proclamation of John the Baptist and towards the revelation of Jesus.<br />
The passage also refers to the calling of the two disciples. In reading the whole account, you can see that they bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah - the "Son of Man." In this theme, we have the notion of the promised king of Israel being presented in the holy titles being used. At the same time the competing notion that such a vision of Jesus' ministry is all too narrow.<br />
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Another theme has to do with the calling of the disciples. The image of Philip and Nathaniel who being seen by Jesus, were called by him, and then the blessings of life as they do so. Moreover, their own witness to Jesus as the "Son of Man." Seeing and proclaiming who he is and revealing to the world that this is the one to come and see.<br />
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Now what has most intrigued me about this passage comes from Raymond Brown's text on <em>John</em> (vol 1, 59ff). And those are the images that are linked to this story from ancient Israel's story. Brown illustrates well, I think that Jesus in the story is connected to the image of Jacob's ladder (shekinah), the image of the divine chariot (merkabah) of Ezekiel, Bethel itself, or the rock (the first rock God created upon which Jacob laid his head). What a wonderful set of traditions, none of which in and of themselves are completely convincing scholastically. Nevertheless, I love them!<br />
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What really resonates with me as I hold in tension the symbols floating in the text and the movement away from John the Baptist combined with the "seeing" imagery of Philip and Nathaniel is that we have quite a wonderful passage about Jesus as the centre of Christian life and discipleship. Jesus is central, and he is out in the world for us to see.<br />
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What I thought is that we preachers spend a lot of time telling folks we don't see Jesus. Think about that for a moment. We tell them we don't see Jesus in their actions, in their spending, in their lives. We don't see Jesus in the church. We don't see Jesus in the world. We don't see Jesus here, and we don't see Jesus there. Think about the last 10 sermons you gave, and I wonder how many of them spent time telling people how we don't see Jesus.<br />
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In fact, I wonder if the amount of preaching about not seeing Jesus in people's lives has to do with the number of people who don't want to listen to us preach about not seeing Jesus and so don't come to church.<br />
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What if this Sunday, we actually told our Episcopalians and those who might be visiting with us that we see Jesus? We see Jesus in them. We see Jesus in their lives and in their stories. We see Jesus out in the world. What if we made a concerted effort this Sunday to not give "Bad News" and we tried to avoid telling people how we don't see Jesus? What if this Sunday we gave them "Good News?"<br />
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What if this Sunday, we preachers were solidly about seeing Jesus Christ out in the world? If we, like Philip and Nathaniel, were able to tell our neighbours, brothers, sisters, and fellow churchgoers that we see Jesus and we want them to see Jesus too?<br />
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It would be news if we and our churchgoers went looking for Jesus in the world and found him in places, images, and things like rocks and said, "Look here is God out in the world. Here is how God connects us. We call this connection to the most high God - Jesus." Generous and holy naming would become our work out in the world, and people would hear from us a new story, perhaps a story they have been longing to hear. <br />
<br />Our work as evangelists is not sitting around waiting for people to come into our churches and ask us to show them Jesus, then, in some theological discourse via negativa, telling them where we don't see Jesus. Or even worse, preaching to them about how they aren't doing it right and how we don't see Jesus at all in their lives and in the world.<br />
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Our work is to go out and generously listen, generously name Jesus in the lives of others, and generously invite people to come and see the good news as proclaimed in our Episcopal Church.<br />
<br />I wonder if we might together, as preachers and parishioners, promise that for the next month, we are going to take on as our Epiphany discipline the work of seeing and announcing Jesus to those around us and that we would do that with positive and affirming statements.<br />
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<br /><div style="clear: both;"><br /><i>"Paul stresses that the believer in Christ also belongs to that same Lord. There is no such thing as being one's own. Each of us has commitments that bind us to other persons or ways of thinking and living."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/18/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, Arland J. Hultgren, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"...Paul regularly shifts our focus from morality to relationships, just as he shifts our focus from law to freedom. But his notion of freedom is wise to issues of power and confronts the splitting and compartmentalization which refuses to let God be God and love be love in everything."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany2.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Epiphany 2,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+6:11-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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This is a very important passage in the discussion of Grace. Basically, Paul's take is, simply put, that: “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.<br />
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Rowan Williams once told me: "We don't experiment with our bodies."<br />
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Certainly, Paul is not speaking to our particular issues and culture wars. Paul is speaking specifically to Corinth - which was not a healthy place. It was a Licentious place. <br />
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They perhaps have embraced freedom too much. It isn't that we aren't free, but not all things are good for the body or good for the community. As one fellow blogger, Chris Haslaam, put it: "He quotes a slogan from his opponents: 'All things are lawful for me'. (They are saying I can do anything I like.) He does not disagree - for Christian living does not depend on observing a set of rules, but on God who accepts even those who break his laws – but he adds a qualification: some things may not be 'beneficial' for the person or in the community."<br />
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The issue for Paul is when the individual is enslaved by their indulgence. Christian Liberty is not a license to destroy one's body or another's. It is not to be disruptive or destroy a community for the sake of your own beliefs.<br />
<br />The key here for everyone to hear is that when we are too focused on our will, our want, and our desire, we are taking our focus away from God.<br />
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We are not only in a spiritual relationship with God but also a physical one. Overeating, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual abuse, in fact, any abuse of the body (though it will be remade in the resurrection) is a divide/chasm created between God and ourselves.<br />
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We are not separate bodies and then separate spirits - we are intermingled, entwined. Our lives are as well. There is no secular and profane but instead a great connection of all things - and that connection is intimately tied to God too.<br />
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I believe all of us would agree that Paul's understanding of how the body works is a bit outdated. We know more about how we work, how our bodies get their shape, and how they go together with other bodies. We have new thoughts about what a person is and how that person is truly connected to the body and spirit/psyche.<br />
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None of this new thinking, which is important and VERY different from 1st-century understanding of biology and psychology, lessens Paul's clarity about how while we are free because of God's Grace, our freedom is not always good for us.<br />
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I think the preacher this week has an opportunity to reclaim this passage from the sexual debates and cultural debates of our time and talk about how to re-engage a spirituality that includes the body.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Some Thoughts on </b><b>1 Samuel 3:1-10</b></span></div><br /><i>"The Lord was with Samuel, but somehow, this divine appointment does not at all diminish the totality of the human experience."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2305">Commentary</a>, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Roger Nam, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br /><br /><br /><i>"From the very beginning, God has been fully present to everyone and everything in this world. And God is still with us because the Spirit of God still "hovers" and "resonates" over and around and in us all."</i><br /><a href="http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2012/01/sacred-space-1-sam.html">"Sacred Space,"</a> Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.</div><div><div style="background-color: white;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Samuel+3:1-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong><br /><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;"></div><div></div>In our Episcopal tradition, the call of Eli and Samuel is one of those passages that are most frequently read at the celebrations of the new ministry. And, what happens is that we hijack the scripture by making it about us and how much we are like Samuel. In this way, we miss the message of the old existing religious tradition.<br /><br />Let us think through the passage from a missional perspective and try to envision a word for God's church.<br /><br />In a time when we flounder as a religion, it is hard to hear the word of the Lord. It becomes stale. It is a tradition of the dead instead of the living tradition. (3.1) Remember, Jaroslav Pelikan, wrote, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.” (The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities) At such times it is hard for the people stuck to see, our eyesight, our vision, dims. (3.2) Yet God is present, and people are listening. Typically, they are different, younger, and eager. (3.3)</div><div><br /></div><div>Note that we know quite clearly that part of what is happening is that Eli's sons are keeping the best of the offerings for themselves and not passing that along to God and to the poor. (Verse 3:13 is coming.) "For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”</div><div><br /></div><div>People who hear God's calling in times like this can easily get everything confused, believing that it is the ancient tradition and religion that is calling. So, we go, and we say...here we are. But the tradition says clearly: we did not call you. We are resting in our traditionalism. (3.4-3.8) The traditionalists sometimes have to be awakened several times by the visions and hearings of the young in order to truly realize - God is not dead. In fact, God has come calling. And, when the tradition like Eli awakes it is awakened and listens carefully. </div><div><br /></div><div>Eli tells Samuel to listen - and he does so respectfully. He will then speak the words to Eli and offer the vision that God has spoken. Eli receives the news faithfully. "So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.” (3:18). We are told, now that Samuel has figured out how to listen anew, that the word is with him and "none of it falls to the ground."</div><div><br /></div><div>It will be Samuel's work to give voice to the people's cry for help and to God's desire to comfort. He will preach against systems that abuse the weak. And, when God gives in to the monarchy, he will remind the monarchy that it is their work, indeed their calling, to seek the good of the people in his care and to help God care for the weak, powerless, and hungry.</div><div><br />Callie Plunket-Brewton, who is a Campus Minister at the University of North Alabama, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1185">wrote</a>:</div><div><div><div><div style="line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 15px;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Just as the call of Samuel sets the tone for his prophetic career and foreshadows the oracles he will deliver against the human leaders of the people, the song of Hannah represents the central focus of YHWH's leadership of the people: concern for the poor and powerless, and judgment of those who prey on the vulnerable and abuse their power.</blockquote>Samuel received a vision about religion that revealed to him that it nor the powers of this world may take advantage of the poor. Ageing religions, ageing monarchies, and ageing governments lose sight that they are merely tools and vessels with the opportunity to do good. They have the power and authority to serve the weakest. So often, they chose systems of death and corruption over the other. So often, they lose sight of the reign of God. Sometimes, religions and principalities, need new prophets to help them here.</div><div style="background-color: white;"><strong><br /></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></div></div></div></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgDNFJTUT1RnK0VnVI_XkZzTO1yfJZhBmHDQ-mt2lQde2L57cXAiQ_Kuc1Ne45rMC3pCN7Pcmlby8k4RwBhaEhl_NCk8YHGQdfeS9VURqWzfrvYf0gTWI0jBf_o2XzCaOihjnIbuvKx2K/s1600/the-baptism-of-jesus.jpg" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgDNFJTUT1RnK0VnVI_XkZzTO1yfJZhBmHDQ-mt2lQde2L57cXAiQ_Kuc1Ne45rMC3pCN7Pcmlby8k4RwBhaEhl_NCk8YHGQdfeS9VURqWzfrvYf0gTWI0jBf_o2XzCaOihjnIbuvKx2K/s320/the-baptism-of-jesus.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Chinese artist He Qi depicts the baptism of Jesus.</em></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Prayer</strong></span><br />
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Lord our God, O Holy One of Israel, to the waters you call all those who thirst, to the feast of your covenant you invite all the nations. As once at the Jordan your Spirit tore open the heavens, and your voice proclaimed Jesus your well-beloved sons and daughters; lead us by your Spirit through the water and the blood, that our love for you may strengthen us to obey your commandments, and our love for one another be the victory that forever conquers the world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Mark 1:4-11</strong></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>"<em>Baptize me, who am destined to baptize those who believe on me with water, and with the Spirit, and with fire: with water, capable of washing away the defilement of sins; with the Spirit, capable of making the earthly spiritual; with fire, naturally fitted to consume the thorns of transgressions. On hearing these words, the Baptist directed his mind to the object of the salvation, and comprehended the mystery which he had received, and discharged the divine command; for he was at once pious and ready to obey."</em> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf09.xv.iii.v.xxxi.html#_Mark_1_9_0_0">"On the Holy Theophany Or On Christ's Baptism,"</a> (4th of Four Homilies) by Gregory Thaumaturgus (3rd century). </div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:4-11&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
We are now heading into the season which follows the Episcopal Church's celebration of Epiphany. The first Sunday after Epiphany is traditionally the Baptism of our Lord, and the reading is taken from the Gospel for that year. As such then we see that the baptism narrative is taken from the Gospel of Mark. It actually has three parts to it. The first part is the preaching of John. The second part is the baptism itself. The third portion is Jesus' vision.<br />
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The beginning of our reading today falls in the very earliest of passages in Mark's Gospel and it includes the tail end of John's preaching and flows easily into the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist is preaching that the "strong man" is coming. The combination of Greek words and how Mark opens his narrative make it unmistakeably clear that Jesus is the eschatological (end time) figure that Israel has been waiting to arrive. John's ministry has been to prepare the people and to be a moniker of the signaling the Lord's arrival. In language and clothing, he appears as a voice heralding a new time and a new mission. (You might refer to the post for the second Sunday of Advent to read more about this part of our passage. You may also want to read Joel Marcus' work on Mark, page 163, specifically.)<br />
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The baptism of Jesus implies that perhaps Jesus was a follower of John the baptist. Such ideas and wrestlings with who baptizes who are age-old and should not take away from the idea that the incarnation, God in human form, comes and is present with us and that he himself is baptized. I find myself drawn less to the idea of authority and whose student was whose and ever more closely invited to see that as John proclaimed there is a new Way being formed. There is a new structure to the world being made. Jesus and his baptism, like our own baptism is a part of that structure.<br />
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The action takes place on the edges of society, in the wilderness, not in the safety of sacred space. And, the act itself challenges us to ask where are we as a church doing the work of baptism? Where are we doing the work of heralding a new structure and a New Way to the world? Are we locked away where only a few can hear or are we out in the world, on the edges, inviting and encouraging people to see that there is a different way a new and every revealed way of being the kingdom of God?<br />
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The third part of the narrative today, following the proclamation and baptism, is the vision. Reading through the scriptures we might remember or rediscover Isaiah 64:1-2:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Oh that you would tear the heavens open and come down<br />
to make known your name to your enemies,<br />
and make the nations tremble at your presence,<br />
working unexpected miracles<br />
such as no one has ever heard before.</blockquote>
The images that are before us also remind us (I think intentionally) of the deliverance of Israel from the army of Pharaoh through the waters of the Red Sea. Certainly, this is part of our own baptismal liturgy. But we know what is coming next... Jesus is to go into the desert wilderness for a time of temptation. <br />
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The baptism is the launching of Jesus' ministry. It is the first cornerstone of the new structure. It is the first step along the way for every Christian. It is a movement through the waters from sin and imprisonment to freedom and life eternal. There is another image here that is rooted in scripture and repeated in our baptismal formula and that is the death of Jesus on the cross.</div><div><br />
Like bookends the beginning of the Gospel offers a vision of the end, wherein here at the baptism the heavens are ripped apart, the spirit descends, and God pronounces that this is his Son. We can compare this to the temple curtain which is ripped apart, Jesus breathing his spirit out, and the centurion making his proclamation. (Donald Juel, Mark, 34-35) Just as Jesus is baptized here in the waters of the Jordan so does every Christian man, woman, and child find their baptism at the cross of Christ.</div><div><br />
Today as you look out over your congregation you will see a group of people who more than likely believe that the government is not the way it was meant to work, that power rests in the hands of the most wealthy people in the country, and that the current state of politics promises no change. They sit there also with the knowledge that they work hard and help their community and their neighbors; as do most Christians which Pew research says make up the majority of those who give time and treasure for this work. They are also worried about their future economically and they are concerned about who will take care of them. The holidays are over. Many have returned from vacation needing a vacation and the promises of what the shopping season promised are not what they expected.<br />
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It is a lie to pretend that our world mirrors the wilderness world in which John made his proclamation or Jesus was baptized. We live lives in the Episcopal Church that are foreign to most of the people in the rest of the world. It seems to me there are two very real places though in this gospel that hit right in the heart of where most folks are. The Gospel today recognizes that the world is not the kingdom of God and a new time is before us in this instance to turn, change, and make things different. We are the inheritors of God's vision and we are the ones who by walking the Way of Jesus make so transform the world around us that we shall in the days to come experience something new and different. We are a part of this building, Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the living stones being built up into the kingdom of God.<br />
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The second thing is this. In a world where not belonging is the norm and secret boundaries divide people clarity about living in the family of God and how you become a member is Good News. In most places you will not be told how to belong. In most places, you will not have the opportunity to be invited to be a part. The "in" crowd is small and not many people are sharing the secret entrance rites. But in the family of God, everyone is a member. In fact, the moment a person recognizes the Grace of God moving in their lives they are "in." Baptism is the public rite of initiation which reminds them and the church that they are already God's sacred possession. They are God's sons or daughters, they are God's beloved, they are the ones upon whom Jesus breathed the breath of life, and for whom Jesus died on the cross. Baptism is the clear sign that reminds us (not God) that we are his people and the sheep of his hand.<br />
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That my friend in the wilderness of this world is VERY Good News.<br />
<br /><br /><span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on </strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Romans 6:1–11</b></span><div style="font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><div><div><i>"Lesslie Newbigin once said that if you do not see the kingdom it?s because you are facing the wrong direction."</i><br /><a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3212">"Dying to Live,"</a> Bill O'Brien, The Christian Century, 2005.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"When he spoke of what happened to him on the Damascus Road, Paul never knew whether to call it being born or being killed. In a way, it felt like both at the same time. Whatever it was, it had something to do with letting go."</i></div></div><a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1002">"Letting Go Down Here,"</a> William Willimon, The Christian Century, 1986. At Religion Online.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans+6:1-11&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><br />This passage from Romans is a classic conversation between the Romans and the Protestants even today! Paul is clear God is a lover of humanity and creation. God gives us grace, grace, grace. Christ's death was a final blow that released grace into the world freely. Grace has a simple equation in Paul's writings: the more there is sin the more grace abounds! This is good news, my friends...this is THE GOOD NEWS. <br /><div><br /></div><div>So Paul says, rhetorically, so does this mean that we can or should sin even more in order to receive grace? We need to remember that one of the charges against early Christians and their communities was that they were lawless. This argument posed would certainly lead to lawlessness. Paul's answer to himself is "of course not." </div><div><br /></div><div>He then makes it clear that through baptism we die to sin and become inextricably linked to Christ's death and his resurrection. We are raised by God and we are made to walk in the world around us in new life. Paul is clear that as we rise up into this new life we are to respond to God's grace with (what one scholar called) "conscience-based ethical conduct." We would not want or desire to respond intentionally to God's love, mercy, and grace with behavior other than that which builds up the body of Christ and reflects well upon the God who saved us.<br /><br />I believe that Paul was clear to himself - a new life means new behaviors. Just as death with Christ is given so is life and so our lives will reflect this new behavior - our lives will look like the life of Jesus. I think Chris Haslaam of Canada does an excellent job of capturing the Gospel of Paul as laid out in Romans with this "cliff notes version":</div><div><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Just as we have been grafted on to Christ in his death, so we too will share with him through a resurrection like his (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A5">5</a>). We know that we ceased to be dominated by sin and divine wrath (“our old self”, v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A6">6</a>) when we were baptised. This removed the effects of our waywardness, our enslavement to sin, but makes us ethically responsible for our actions. This is what baptism does (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A7">7</a>). Dying with Christ also includes living with him. Because Christ has risen, he will “never die again” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A9">9</a>) – this is unique, once-for-all-time act, an anticipation of the age to come. And then the answer to the question in v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A2">2</a>: Christ “died to sin” in the sense that sinless, he died rather than disobey the Father, and in the context of a sinful world. He was raised by the Father (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A4">4</a>) in order that he might live “to God” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A10">10</a>, as he has always done.) So, as Christ is the model for our lives, and it is he upon whom our lives are grafted, we too must leave sin behind and be “alive to God” (v. <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Romans+6%3A11">11</a>) in Christ.</blockquote>The miracle of life with Christ is that though we are never free from sin we are always one step away from complete forgiveness because our God continues to reach out to us with Grace. Paul believes that those who follow Jesus will live an intentional life - though a grace-filled one. Moreover, that the grace received is the grace in-turn offered to all those whom we meet. We like Christ are to be forgiving and grace-filled vessels in the world. It is not enough to live a life full after baptism it is to reflect and be grace agents in the world around us - ultimately, enabling others to discover their grafted-ness into the life of God in Christ Jesus.</div></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></div><br style="font-size: medium;" /><strong>OR</strong></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><br /></strong></span></span></div><div><span><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Acts 19:1-7</strong></span><div style="font-size: medium;"><br /></div></span><i>"As Mae Gwendolyn Henderson observes, What distinguishes black women’s writing, then, is the privileging (rather than repressing) of 'the other in ourselves.' ...Through the multiple voices that enunciate her complex subjectivity, the black woman writer not only speaks familiarity in the discourse of the other(s), but as Other she is in contestorial dialogue with the hegemonic dominant and subdominant or "ambiguously (non)hegemonic" discourses."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2320">Commentary</a>, Acts 19:1-7, Jacob Myers, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><i>"A sermon cannot do everything, but as a congregation celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord, it is an opportunity for the preacher to speak about the many levels of baptism. One can teach, not only about its obligations (as above), but also about baptism's significance as an event where we are incorporated into Christ and, consequently, share his destiny."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/11/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Acts 19:1-7, Arland J. Hultgren, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br /><span><div style="font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Acts+19:1-7&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><br /></div></div></span></div><div>It is a curious question to ask what baptism have we baptized into? The baptisms in Acts have been used for a long time to reveal the importance of connectedness with the original mission of Jesus. We might well remember scholarship that seeks to separate the mission from Jesus from the mission of John the Baptist as well. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Liturgical language creates by amplifying meaning and providing a sense of potentiality. In this way the liturgical act is always unfinished as it moves further into the lives and community of those who participate. It is also is never a full distillation of action. We might think of baptism, confirmation, or ordination services. They are certainly liturgical events in the sense that they happen at a given time with a particular group of people. Yet we recognize in our liturgical theology that what has happened has meaning within the backward facing narrative that is active in the present past of the celebration. The action of the meaning making liturgy is one that includes the present future. This continuation of liturgical action and meaning making continues to extend the enterprise into the future, reflecting God’s narrative into the present and into differing contexts. It also continues the work through the extension of liturgical narrative across the life span of individuals adding meaning to birth, life, work, marriage, loss, and death. Liturgy as a meaning making narrative provides a “way of experiencing” God’s narrative in the midst of a lived life. Liturgy is not an individual’s work alone, but is proper to the participation of the whole gathered community. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Let us think how the Eucharist does not stand on its own but has the theological undercarriage of baptism always present in its nature. In her exploratory essay on” Baptism and Bodies,” Andrea Bieler points out that bodies at baptism matter. Historically and expressively what is done to the body in baptism shapes the experience itself. This is true across ancient baptismal theologies in “liturgical texts, baptismal homilies, and personal reflections.” Baptism is a corporeal rite “such as standing naked, anointing, signing the cross, and immersion.” There is a direct connection between the baptismal ritual action, words, and embodiment that echoes the Incarnation of the Word that is made flesh and bone. The human body at baptism is dynamically connected through sacrament of water into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. In baptism we recognize that it is the human body that becomes the site for salvation. When we consider the baptismal rite of Cyril of Alexandria we see a bodily enactment of Romans 6:6ff. The individual is buried in the waters of baptism with Christ and raised to new life in the full body of Christ, the Church. “In baptism the mystery of the incarnation is celebrated.” </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If we turn to Augustine’s theology of baptism we understand that two things arev happening: the Church is the embodiment of Christ that does the baptizing while at the same time it is the body into which one is being baptized. Therefore, it is an expression of two roles. Theologian Luis Vela summarized Augustine’s baptismal ecclesiology: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><blockquote>St. Augustine’s doctrine of Baptism as a sacrament of regeneration and incorporation is wonderful and extraordinarily beautiful. . . . According to the marvelous will of God the Father through the Word, in an action of both the Spirit and the Word, God incorporates humanity [into the life of the Trinity]. . . .Through Baptism, the church incorporates us into the great family of Christians, and she is our loving mother, who through Christ, the living head, structures our life and shares our ministry. </blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Both Biehler and Augustine help us imagine the reality that the baptismal footprint is always at work in the action of Eucharist, which means it is not a private act. Eucharist, like baptism, cannot take place alone or in the privacy of one’s own home. Just as you are not baptized alone there must always be someone else present, so too with the eucharist. Here again proximity to others – to the gathered church comes into play. The eucharist is an embodied act, it is about consuming, but this happens only when one can receive and participate with others in a community of the faithful. Something is always missing in virtual Eucharist, especially when one person is alone in the privacy of their home: the world and other people. The Christian is always being immersed into community as part of the eucharistic act. It is never an individual act. The person is embodied in the midst of others for the sake of a particular gospel proclamation out and into the world. The eucharist, like baptism, is always enacting a dual action. It is not the individual who blesses eucharist but always the church that does so. It is also the church into which the individual is coming into community as they receive the bread and wine. Matter and spirit, knowing and being, are all connected horizontally in this action with the gathered faithful, just as there is a vertical dimension to the action of eucharist too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Embodied liturgies make community.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I say all of this because it is not mere apostolic hierarchy that Paul is speaking about. It is not about having the "right" baptism. Instead I propose that it is about Paul seeking to explain that when one is baptised they enter a greater community. It is not enough to be baptized by John for the individual's sake. Instead it is essential to understand that in baptism we are grafted into Christ.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The first thing we must grasp is that liturgy is not merely another action in a series of weekly actions, or even historical actions. It is an action, like baptism that, while including finite participation, is an act by the infinite within creation. Christ’s action in the liturgy and in the Eucharist itself is not a historical act because it is infinite in quality and eschatological in nature. Christ, in baptism and the Eucharist especially, establishes a “visible sacramental fellowship” that is shared during the embodied gathering of humans. I am suggesting that it is in liturgy—where we gather together, sing, read, listen, act, receive, and celebrate in a complex sharing of schemas anchored in creation—that we incarnate God’s narrative and Christ’s visible sacramental fellowship. (See Rowan Williams's work <i>Christ at the Heart of Creation</i>, 56) This is a creative effect of the liturgy. It does not merely provide a word about our condition and nature; it is linked to the hypostatic union of the matter and spirit, being and knowing. Our understanding of the sacraments is that they are a link (physically and spiritually) to the infinite Trinity, and Christ specifically, within that relationship. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here then we see that baptism is a physical act that both connects us horizontally and vertically with the community of Christ followers today and with the infinite community of God. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">[The above notes are taken from my new book entitled <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Embodied-Liturgy-Liturgical-Theology-Conversation/dp/1640654356/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=embodied+liturgy+doyle&qid=1609356207&sr=8-1">The Embodied Liturgy</a>.]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on Genesis </strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1:1 - 2:4</b></span><div><br /></div><div><br /><i>"The Spirit who broods over the primordial waters descends on Jesus in the waters of the Jordan and names him 'Beloved.' That same Spirit then drives him out into the wilderness, the wild and wasteland (Mark 1:12)."</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2328">Commentary</a>, Genesis 1:1-5, Kathryrn Schifferdecker, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.</div><div><br /><i>"From the very beginning, God has been fully present to everyone and everything in this world. And God is still with us because the Spirit of God still "hovers" and "resonates" over and around and in us all."</i></div><div><a href="http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2012/01/god-is-here-gen.html">"God is Here!"</a> Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"In what ways are the writings of an ancient people and their perception of God relevant to us?"</i></div><div><a href="http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/archive/uncategorized/baptismofourlordot/">"Writing the Back Story,"</a> Russell Rathbun, The Hardest Question, 2012.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Today's lectionary reading is the first five verses of the chapter, but as a confession, it should be heard as a full piece. Heard in this way, it confirms that God is indeed great and the creator of all things."</i><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/11/2009&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Genesis 1:1-5, Beth Tanner, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Genesis+1:1+-+2:4&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div></div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div>Genesis revealed for the first Christians the nature of God and God’s relationship to the creation in three ways. <br /><br />The first is the interpretation of the creative work in Genesis as a revelation of work by the eternal Word. John’s gospel offers a vision of the eternal Word at work in the creation. John’s own prologue echoes the work of God in creation. But specifically (as in Psalm 33:6 “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made), John’s Gospel ties the birth of creation to the eternal incarnation. God as Trinity is not a theological concept that comes along as a historical sorting out of Jesus’ relationship to God. Instead, a Trinitarian theology recognizes and holds that the second person is eternal – the Word is eternal. All things were created through the Word, and without the Word, nothing came into being. This is different than Sophia, or wisdom, it is instead the logos – the spoken, speaking Word that is God. See John’s Gospel 1:4-5 and 7-9. (Richard Hays offers a succinct argument which parallels and mirrors accepted the biblical scholarship, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 308-309.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The second is that the unique incarnation of the Word, Jesus, is evidenced in power and master of the elements. Jesus storms the sea is the same God who divides the waters so Israel may walkthrough. Jesus who divides loaves and fishes is the same God who brings manna in the wilderness and water from the rock. Jesus who in his death unites heaven and earth is the same God who parts the heavens and earth. <br /><br />The third of the three passages is the “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”. When speaking and looking at the coin Jesus uses the word from the creation story. He plays with the notion that God has created all things, all things are God’s. Caesar can believe this or that is his, but even in the end when Caesar lies beneath the earth everything, even Caesar, returns to God. This is a powerful and subtle statement about God having in hand all things.<br /><br />Sometimes we approach the Genesis passage as if it is a stand-alone passage. But the Gospel authors and early Christians understood it as revealing not only the nature of God and the creation but the place of the eternal Word and incarnation in it. To speak of the creation is to speak of the eternal Words possession of it, and its creation through it. On this Sunday it is a perfect opportunity to find in the creation story a way of unmooring the trinity from boring sermons on doctrine and to weave the creation story into the Gospel in order to reveal the God in through early Christian eyes.</div><div align="left"><br /></div></div></div>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-68510033038032097772023-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:002023-12-14T10:54:41.794-08:00Epiphany, January 6, 2024<strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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This week I am including for my prayer before preaching one of my favorite hymns: <em>Brightest and Best of the Stars of the Morning</em> by Reginald Heber (118 in the 1982 Hymnal). It was first sung in 1827 and is normally sung to the tune of Star of the East.</div>
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1. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,<br />
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;<br />
star of the east, the horizon adorning,<br />
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.<br />
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Refrain:<br />
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,<br />
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;<br />
star of the east, the horizon adorning,<br />
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.<br />
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2. Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining,<br />
low lies his head with the beasts of the stall;<br />
angels adore him in slumber reclining,<br />
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all. (Refrain)<br />
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3. Shall we then yield him, in costly devotion<br />
odors of Edom, and offerings divine,<br />
gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,<br />
myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine? (Refrain)<br />
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4. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,<br />
vainly with gifts would his favor secure;<br />
richer by far is the heart’s adoration,<br />
dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. (Refrain)<br />
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5. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,<br />
dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;<br />
star of the east, the horizon adorning,<br />
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.<br />
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<strong style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Matthew 2:1-12</span></strong></div>
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<em>"The story of the magi foreshadows later developments in Matthew's narrative. Even in infancy Jesus inspires both worship and hostility, responses that are repeated throughout the story."</em><br />
<em><br /></em><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/6/2008&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Matthew 2:1-12, Mark Allan Powell, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.<br />
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<em>The narrative of Epiphany is the story of these two human communities: Jerusalem, with its great pretensions, and Bethlehem, with its modest promises. We can choose a "return to normalcy" in a triumphalist mode, a life of self-sufficiency that contains within it its own seeds of destruction. Or we can choose an alternative that comes in innocence and a hope that confounds our usual pretensions. We can receive life given in vulnerability. It is amazing -- the true accent of epiphany -- that the wise men do not resist this alternative but go on to the village. Rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganize their wealth and learning and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with no credentials.</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2103">"Off By Nine Miles,"</a> Walter Brueggemann, The Christian Century, 2001.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+2:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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This week is unique because Epiphany falls on a Sunday and we are able to celebrate and preach on texts which normally stay hidden amongst the twelfth night celebrations. The Feast of the Epiphany has a wonderful history and traditions which are many and varied around the world. You can see some of these in the Wikipedia article on the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(holiday)#Ireland"> Feast of the Epiphany</a> - which isn't too bad. When we lived in Mexico we remembered the feast by placing our shoes outside our door with straw in them. Then the wise men would leave little gifts as a trade for helping them get on their way. It has also always been our household tradition (since I was a child) to bring the wise men to the nativity scenes which were scattered around the house, and we would take down our Christmas tree.<br />
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My father always loved to ask us questions about the bible at dinner. It was like a little test. Actually he probably only had about 20 different questions but they were always enough to keep us busy thinking and figuring out the answers. Recently I ran across an article which talked about Brent Landau's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Magi-Lost-Journey-Bethlehem/dp/0061947032/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291066261&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem</em></a>, the first-ever English translation of an ancient manuscript that tells the famous story from the Magi’s perspective. In it he shares five things you didn’t know about the Magi - this is exactly the kind of stuff my dad loved to use to trip us up. So here are the five things Landau offers:<br />
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"1) The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t say how many Magi there were. Three became the most popular answer because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But some paintings in Christian catacombs have two or four, the Revelation of the Magi has a list of twelve Magi with names, and other Christian writings imagine an entire army of Magi!<br />
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2) Early Christians didn’t agree on where the Magi were from. The most popular answer was Persia (modern Iran), but others thought they were from Babylon or Arabia. In the Revelation of the Magi, they come from a land called Shir, which, because it is located at the eastern edge of the inhabited world, is probably equivalent to China.<br />
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3) Nobody knows what the Star of Bethlehem really was. Some early Christians thought it was an angel or the Holy Spirit, and more recent theories include a comet or a supernova. In the Revelation of the Magi, the star is none other than Christ himself in celestial form.<br />
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4) Opinions differ about how long it took the Magi to reach Bethlehem. Based on Herod’s asking of Magi when the star appeared, coupled with his subsequent command to kill all male infants under the age of two, many Christians thought it took them two years. Some imagined a much faster journey of twelve days, based on the “twelve days of Christmas” between December 25th and the celebration of Epiphany on January 6th. Their journey is even faster in the Revelation of the Magi, since the star “carries” the Magi to Bethlehem in the blink of an eye.<br />
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5) A number of answers were proposed for how the Magi knew that a star signified the birth of the King of the Jews. Many Christians thought that they knew the prophecy of Balaam, a prophet who predicts in <a href="http://ebible.com/query?utf=8%E2%9C%93&query=Numbers%2024%3A17&translation=ESV&redirect_iframe=http://www.patheos.com/ebible">Numbers 24:17</a> that “a star shall come out of Jacob.” In the Revelation of the Magi, the Magi are descendants of Seth, who learned about the prophecy of the star from his father Adam -- since the star used to stand over the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden."</blockquote>
So, let us now turn out attention to the actual text for this Sunday's Gospel. Not unlike Luke, Matthew gives us a time frame for Jesus' birth. We are told that magi or some kind of astrologer or dream interpreters were paying attention to the night sky and so they understood from their studies that a king had been born. This, of course, takes us back to both Isaiah 60 and even further back to Numbers 24. Numbers <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrsa&word=Numbers+24%3A17-24">24:17-24</a>
prophesies that “... a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of
Israel”, and that this ruler will conquer surrounding nations. <br />
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So we see in this birth a new reign of God is revealed, a new king coming into the world. This king will draw many to him, even wise men and the nations will bow down to him. <br />
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This is certainly cause for alarm if you are the local earthly king and so Herod's fears and anxiety are woven into the tapestry of the story.<br />
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It foretells the reality that this God-king is not found in high places, or among the royal families of the day, rather he is found in the lowliest of places. He will threaten the mighty not with great armies and power but with peace and love. It is the lowliest place Bethlehem, it is the poor family, it is the barnyard stall and the poorest of means that reveals the lordship of Christ. <br />
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In seminary, I learned a wonderful word: <i>Heilsgeschichte</i>. It is a German word that means salvation history. One of the things I love about Epiphany is the many levels in which the passage from Matthew is working. The first is the tradition found in Numbers, the Psalm, and Isaiah. These are the ancient <i>heilsgeschichte </i>prophesies which reveal something to us about the person of Jesus. Then there is the context of the story in which the signs and symbols are presented and God in Christ Jesus is revealed to the magi by way of a language and imagery which they can understand. Then there is the first community to hear or read Matthew's good news of salvation. The narrative is reinterpreted again and reveals to them the nature of this new community founded upon the Christ; who will draw to him a varied people. Then there is our community today.<br />
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So, we ask ourselves how does the church present the revelation of the good news of salvation today? How are we revealing Christ and his work? We are challenged I think to continue the sharing of the story in a contemporary form and through contemporary images. We are to use contextual narratives to reveal the reign of God. We are to remember that the kings were not fooled by the aristocratic means of Herod nor his court or majestic realm, but rather the integrity of the message of God's lordship was found in the humblest of places, the poorest of families, and the weakest of citizens - a child. Our preaching and teaching of the salvation history of God will always be measured by the parallel life of our church's mission in the most marginal of settings with the weakest of people. AND vice versa, our mission will always be measured by the presentation of salvation history through the unique offering of God in Christ Jesus through the eyes of our own church's tradition. <br />
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It is a both-and proposition. We are about the work of revealing this God and the uniqueness of Christ, to do this in word and work, in such a way that both the shepherds and magi of our day may be drawn to him.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Ephesians 3:1-12</span></strong></span></div>
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<i>"The need for unity and equality continues to paralyze both the human family and the Church."</i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3941">Commentary</a>, Ephesians 3:1-12, Israel Kamudzandu, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2019.<br /><br /><i>"The writing style of the author of Ephesians seems at first glance more sing-able than preach-able. Set it to music and let the organist have at it!"</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2323">Commentary</a>, Ephesians 3:1-12, Sarah Henrich, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.<br /><br /><i>"The great celebration of the Incarnation, according to Paul, flows into the great celebration of the church."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/6/2013&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Ephesians 3:1-12, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.<br /><br /><i>"'Mystery' is the term that runs throughout this passage from Ephesians. It fits the day in the liturgical year because an 'epiphany' is a manifestation of something. And in this case what is revealed has been a mystery."</i><br /><a href="http://www.nwumf.org/images/radical_gratitude/year_c/radical_gratitude_jan0107.pdf">Radical Gratitude</a>, lectionary-based stewardship, Northwest United Methodist Foundation. (.pdf)<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/6/2008&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Ephesians 3:1-12, Craig R. Koester, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.<br /><br /><i>"Here is no cringing model of humility before a God who is looking for people on which to put his feet. Rather here is a theology which sees God wanting us to be bold, confident and forthcoming."</i><br /><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CEpEpiphany.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Epiphany,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ephesians+3:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><strong>Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</strong></a></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">We find in the letter to the Ephesians that Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and his belief that God had called them into the family of Abraham as equal members of the church has led to his imprisonment. In our passage, this Sunday Paul is telling the community about his work. His words tap into the revelation that is also present in the Gospel for Epiphany. Paul writes, "</span>In former generations, this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." <br />
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Like Paul, the community at Ephesus is invited to participate in the sharing of this revelation. Paul talks about how God was revealed to him. And, he repeats his conviction that both Jews and Gentiles are to be at work in the saving activity of sharing the good news of salvation; of Christ and his kingdom. Paul does a little work in translating the salvation history for the church at Ephesus, the <i>heilsgeschichte,</i> he talks to them about the revelation of old and God was at work to draw other nations to him. The prophets of old and the apostles of his day offer a vision that all are invited to be<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"> </span><em style="font-family: Times-Roman;">co</em><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">-heirs, </span><em style="font-family: Times-Roman;">co-</em><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">members, and </span><em style="font-family: Times-Roman;">co-</em><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">partners. (In Greek each word begins with </span><em style="font-family: Times-Roman;">syn</em><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"> as in
</span><em style="font-family: Times-Roman;">synchronous</em><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">It is here that we find something unique and important to the Gospel in our tradition as Christians who are Episcopalians. Paul was an unlikely choice, he offers, to be an evangelist of this gospel. But that is the point. The good news of salvation is that all are invited into the work of evangelism (sharing the good news in words) and mission (sharing the good news in work). More importantly, this salvation story has always come to the least likely people, the most unexpected persons, and the ones to whom the powers of the day never expect much of anything - other than remaining in their place. The newcomers to the family, in this case, the Gentiles, are always to be integral members of the family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power.</span><sup class="ww" style="font-family: Times-Roman;">8</sup><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,</span><sup class="ww" style="font-family: Times-Roman;">9 </sup><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things;</span><sup class="ww" style="font-family: Times-Roman;">10</sup><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.</span><sup class="ww" style="font-family: Times-Roman;">11</sup><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,</span><sup class="ww" style="font-family: Times-Roman;">12</sup><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Paul, a Jew, has become an unlikely evangelist to the Gentile. His work is to share the abundant "riches" of Christ with whoever will listen. He is to tell the salvation story, that from the beginning God's plan was established, those who are outside of the family of God now have a place as an integral part of the ever-evolving family of God - the new community - the new Israel. The work of the community, the church at Ephesus, the work of the Christian community today, the work of the Episcopal/Anglican church is to share the good news of salvation (all are welcome and included) and the uniqueness of Christ (he is a light to the world and a challenge to the powers of this world). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;">Whenever I read Paul I am constantly challenged to wonder who are the gentiles in our context? It is not us! We are more like the Abrahamic family, the Jews in Paul's letter. So, who are the ones who this day stand outside the family of God, who are we being challenged to invite in? Who are we to offer the story of salvation history - a salvation history that includes them? I think this is the most challenging aspect of our faith. You and I are the most unlikely of evangelists, yet you and I have been given the revelation and offered a vision of God's unveiling salvation history. As unlikely as we are, we are the ones to carry the banner today and to invite the most unlikely of recipients into the family. I find that is always good news for them, the "other", and rather challenging news for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Isaiah 60:1-9</b></span></div>
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"We often call it the 'bridge' We look at the gap, or chasm, between the text and the contemporary situation, while wondering how we can leap from the inspiring words of scripture to the present reality."<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2285">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 60:1-6, Charles L. Aaron, Jr., Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2019.</div>
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"As we celebrate this festival, affirming the message that God’s presence is fully manifested in Jesus, whom Matthew pictures being born in Bethlehem, and to whom the nations gather bearing gifts, what forms of darkness do we confront?"</div>
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<a href="http://www.bobcornwall.com/2018/12/gathered-at-light-lectionary-reflection.html">"Gathered at the Light,"</a> Bob Cornwall, Ponderings on a Faith Journey, 2019.</div>
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"Preach it, talk about our hope in God's ability to remake our fractured world, and to reconcile on earth what has already been reconciled in heaven"<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2285">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 60:1-6, Michael J. Chan, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.</div>
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"Every prophetic oracle is spoken within a historical context. I believe that, as preachers, we must always begin from this simple but poignant realization."<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/6/2013&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 60:1-6, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.</div>
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"Bleak midwinter seems a fitting stage for this lectionary text that likely dates to the early days of Israel's return from Babylonian captivity. Those days are cast easily in hues of grey..."<br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/6/2008&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 60:1-6, Christine Roy Yoder, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.<br /><span style="font-family: Times-Roman;"></span><br />
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<br />Here are the words from the passage that stands out so clearly to me on this day:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.</blockquote>
This is just a beautiful and amazing passage of hope. It is a passage that reminds the hearer of God's presence and God's ultimate design of embrace. It is a passage of worship and glorification of God. It is a passage of beauty with a rich woven tapestry of images.</div>
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Isaiah is offering an image of the future. It is an image that suggests that once again the people who return from Babylon will have a great city. It may not be a shining city on a hill presently, but it will be in the future. Isaiah is casting an image of a city at the center of trade and power. </div>
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Writing about the same time as Jeremiah was...this part of Isaiah is speaking about the return of the people to a city ravished by war and left with a small population. Isaiah is prophesying in line with Jeremiah, that God will have the last word...not the conquering Babylonians. God imagines Isaiah continues, a great city restored beyond its original glory and so too a people restored.<br /><br />Walter Brueggeman plays with this image of the great city and the difference of nine miles between Jerusalem and Bethlehem when he writes, <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Matthew is not the first one to imagine three rich wise guys from the East coming to Jerusalem. His storyline and plot come from Isaiah 60, a poem recited to Jews in Jerusalem about 580 b.c.e. These Jews had been in exile in Iraq for a couple of generations and had come back to the bombed-out city of Jerusalem. They were in despair. Who wants to live in a city where the towers are torn down and the economy has failed, and nobody knows what to do about it?"</blockquote>
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The narrative of Epiphany is the story of these two human communities: Jerusalem, with its great pretensions, and Bethlehem, with its modest promises. We can choose a “return to normalcy” in a triumphalist mode, a life of self-sufficiency that contains within it its own seeds of destruction. Or we can choose an alternative that comes in innocence and a hope that confounds our usual pretensions. We can receive life given in vulnerability. It is amazing—the true accent of epiphany—that the wise men do not resist this alternative but go on to the village. Rather than hesitate or resist, they reorganize their wealth and learning, and reorient themselves and their lives around a baby with no credentials. </blockquote>
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Bethlehem is nine miles south of Jerusalem. The wise men had a long intellectual history of erudition and a long-term practice of mastery. But they had missed their goal by nine miles. It is mind-boggling to think how the story might have gone had Herod’s interpreters not remembered Micah 5. </blockquote>
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Our task is to let the vulnerability of Micah 5 disrupt the self-congratulation of Isaiah 60. Most of us are looking in the wrong place. We are off by nine miles.(See his article here: <a href="https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2001-12/nine-miles">Brueggemann, Walter, "Off by Nine Miles," The Christian Century, 2001</a>.)</blockquote>
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What is interesting about Matthew's use of the text that it is more than a prophetic link to the past. It is more than a story lifted from one part of scripture into another part. It is more than a simple analogy...the wise men are looking in the wrong place...so too we are looking in the wrong place...</div>
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Let me pause to say that Brueggeman is brilliant here. He is tapping into one of the key Gospel paradoxes. The king does not come as a king just as his victory will be defeat and life will come from death! Jerusalem our happy home is not a restoration of a past projection but a complete turning over of the past ideas about the centrality of religion and where God resides. </div>
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But there is more here. Matthew uses this part of Isaiah to point out that Jesus' mission is to the gentiles. This is an expansive move on Matthew's part. (See Richard Hays, Echoes, p175ff.) The Gospel author is setting the stage firmly in these first passages that Jesus has come not only as a messiah for the people of Israel but that Jesus' mission is cosmic in scope and meant for all people.</div>
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The Gospel author does this by tying in Isaiah 9:2 and 42:7 with 60. He draws in this story from the servant passage (42:7) and the fulfillment of light for the gentiles (9:2).</div>
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The passage is not merely about where we shall find our spiritual home but where the world might find its deliverance. The Gospel is good news for the whole world and it challenges us to see that our transformation is linked to the poor, the lame, and the dying. It is linked to the small town of Bethlehem - the least of outposts. The world's deliverance is linked to the restoration of people who today find themselves enslaved by powers, principalities, and systems. It is linked to children. </div>
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We will often seek to find our light and our deliverance in many places - most of which are connected more to the powers of the world's corrupt machinations. We are challenged not only to look in a different place but that such a different place is itself meant for the whole world. </div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-20339300130221325952023-12-11T10:01:00.000-08:002023-12-14T09:31:37.761-08:00First Sunday After Christmas, All Years<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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May we welcome this mystery of your love and thus delight in the joy that will be ours as children and heirs of your kingdom. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">John 1:[1-9]10-18</span></b></div><div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"For an alternative approach, rather than helping our hearers to see the light of Christ shining in the darkness, preachers might help them to hear Jesus as God’s love song, singing life into the world’s babble, chaos, and voices of death."</i><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/25/2012&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 1:1-14, Craig a. Satterlee, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br /><br /><i>"The gospel message does not go forward without witnesses like John, and one of the tasks in this sermon is to help show what it looks like to point our fingers towards Jesus. In the age of talk of missional churches, how does that work out practically? How can we point towards Jesus in mission in such a way that others come to know him and come to know and love God?"</i></div><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/3/2010&tab=1">Commentary</a>, John 1:(1-9), 10-18 (Christmas 2), Ginger Barfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.</div><div><br /></div><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><i>"It would be truly horrendous to be in the hands of an all-intrusive God who never left us alone, and who, when it came time to send his messiah, sent one who ruled the earth like some heavenly Mussolini. In the very unobtrusiveness of the light of Christ, God honors our finite freedom."</i></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=970">"Penetrating the Darkness,"</a> Ronald Goetz, The Christian Century, 1988. Atreligion Online.</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+1:1-18&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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I like how Raymond E. Brown approaches this text. There is first the Word with God (1-2). The opening verses of this Christ hymn used to frame an entrance into the Johannine Gospel are brief, and it is completely, or I should say, “seemingly”, uninterested in a metaphysical conversation about the nature of God. It is, however, very clear that Salvation history begins with the relationship between God, revealed through the living Word, and Man. Quite simply, God reveals God-self to us in the work of creation – and by John’s usage here, creation also reveals something about the salvation of man as well. Creation is by its very nature a revealing act. (John, vol. 1, 23, 24)<br />
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Secondly, there is the Word and Creation. “All creation bears the stamp of God’s Word,” Brown writes. (Brown, 25) Here we see the author reflecting and re-imagining the opening lines of Genesis. We can see that what is clearly of importance is that creation itself existed primarily for the glory of God and the revelation of who God is. The problem is that the creation is broken; it does not fulfil its purpose as God intended. It is not a sustainable creation. Instead, it is one where there is a constant battle to supplant the power and revelation of God. We can return to the creation story in Genesis, certainly this seems on the author’s mind. However, it is not really that hard or difficult to see and imagine as we read the paper or watch television how humanity has created a non-sustainable kingdom for ourselves and that we wrestle for power with God, placing our needs above our creations' explicit purpose to glorify God.<br />
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The third portion of our Gospel selection is the portion where we are re-introduced to John the Baptist. I say reintroduced because we spent several Sundays reading passages from Matthew that dealt with him and his ministry. Yet here we get a slightly different attempt to speak about how John responded to the living Word, the Light in the world. How he was clearly not the one everybody was looking for, but that he dutifully gave witness to the revelation of God. Moreover, that John the Baptist called everyone to a time of preparation and repentance for the light itself, the living Word was entering the world.<br />
<br />We come to the final and fourth portion of our reading, and we return to the relationship between God and humanity, specifically in how the community of God (God’s people) responds to the living Word. God is dwelling with his people. He has made a “tent”, he is incarnated, and he is present within the community. (Brown, 35) The images here in this last section return not to Genesis but play on our remembrances of the Exodus and the idea that God came and dwelt among the people as they made their way in the wilderness. Here, too, is an expressed intimacy between God and people. God is not simply outside, having wound the clock tight and is now letting it run. On the contrary, just as God was intimately involved with creation and the people of Israel, God also is involved in the new community post-resurrection. God has come and is dwelling with the people in wisdom and in truth. God is the living Word is making community within God’s tent and is revealing himself and the purpose of creation to all those who would call him by name: Jesus.<br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7</b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span><span face="Times-Roman"><i>"So insidious is Sin that even the good gifts of God, like the Law (Galatians 3:21) or even the gospel, can be easily misused."</i></span><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2274">Commentary</a>, Galatians 4:4-7, Erik Heen, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.<br /><br /><i>"The Spirit that God pours into all our hearts is a Spirit of compassion. It is a Spirit that embraces us and makes us a part of a family defined by God's love. It is that compassion that gives us our meaning and purpose in this life."</i></div><div><a href="http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2012/01/love-came-down-1-by-now-christmas-has.html">"Love Came Down,"</a> Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.<br /><span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span><span face="Times-Roman"><br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Galatians+4:4-7&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div></span>The theologian Robert Farrar Capon in his book on parables (<i>Kingdom, Grace, Judgement</i>, 2002) offers that God in Christ comes to us in the incarnation as both our savior and judge. But his act of redemption and reconciliation is one of grace, forgiveness, and mercy. He judges with love, and so we are presented to God through the eyes of our beloved Jesus. It is the eyes of his heart that redeem us. </div><div><br /></div><div>Capon, though, also says that it is our renunciation and rejection of this coming which judges us guilty. It is our rejection of the spirit of God in our hearts, it is our rejection of our forgiveness, and the rejection of Jesus AND our focus upon the law which, in the end, finds us guilty. </div><div><br /></div><div>Paul in Galatians is offering a vision of God who comes and blesses and redeems us. Jesus undoes the power of the law over us. Jesus enables us to be God's children. We are no longer slaves to the law. This is our new reality.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, the truth is the longer we live focusing on the law and our own failure and the failure of others - the longer we struggle outside the family. Our message is clear God loves. God forgives. God invites us. In this season of incarnation may we offer a message that does the same and enables us to live in the grace which has come into the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>May we know in faith our deliverance is real. May we receive it in remembrance of the first Advent and Jesus' birth? May we live it.</div></div></div></div><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;">
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<br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div><span face="Times-Roman"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts </span></strong></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>on Isaiah 61:10-62:3</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><i>"The mission given to the prophet of Isaiah 61:10-62:3 is still needed today, so long as the world is populated by those who are brokenhearted, mourning and in captivity."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=1/1/2012&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, Michael J. Chan, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.<br /><br /><i>"In other words, the people as a whole will be entrusted with the former monarchical function of administering God's justice and righteousness in the world."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/28/2008&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, J. Clinton McCann, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.<br /><br /><i>"The messages from both Isaiah and Luke have some points in common. As well as the overwhelming joy in the coming of the lord to his people, both have an ethical note to them."</i><br /><a href="http://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/ChristmasB/Christmas1.html">The Old Testament Readings</a>: Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3. Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Howard Wallace Audrey Schindler, Morag Logan, Paul Tonson, Lorraine Parkinson, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.<br /><br /><br /><i>"This "righteousness" stands, likewise, in parallel position to the "salvation" of the previous clause. There, again, the salvation to be achieved by the Messiah is metaphorically portrayed as "garments" (bigdhey-yesha^Ñ [BDB, 447]) with which He has simply "clothed" us [BDB, 527). The hiphil perfect of lbshis, here likewise, employed with the force of a present perfect explaining the basis of the future joy of the church."</i><br /><a href="http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/judisch/christmas2c.htm">"Christmas 1b - Exegetical Notes on Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3,"</a> Douglas MacCallum Lindsay Judisch, Concordia Theological Seminary (LCMS - Indiana).</div><div align="LEFT"><br /><br /><div><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+61:10+-+62:3&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><br />"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord..." sings out the prophet. The people are to be delivered and have been changed through their estrangement, captivity, and enslavement in Babylon. The prophet sings out in joy in receiving the God who abhors injustice. The mixed images of wedding garments and the continued eschatological imagination of Isaiah play on the joy and heighten the joy. The prophet "is completely absorbed in his intense expectancy, and it is clear that he will continue to speak until the dawn of the day of salvation." (See the comments by Australian exegetes on this passage <a href="https://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/ChristmasB/Christmas1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.) The passage is about the present and future joy of the people at God's deliverance. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">I suggest the passage is a character of <i>prophetic joy</i>. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us that the Greeks and the Romans believed in fate. He gives this example:</div><br /><div align="LEFT"><blockquote>This was a major difference between ancient Israel and ancient Greece. The Greeks believed in fate, <i>moira</i>, even blind fate, ananke. When the Delphic oracle told Laius that he would have a son who would kill him, he took every precaution to make sure it did not happen. When the child was born, Laius nailed him by his feet to a rock and left him to die. A passing shepherd found and saved him, and he was eventually raised by the king and queen of Corinth. Because his feet were permanently misshapen, he came to be known as Oedipus (the “swollen-footed”).<br /><br />The rest of the story is well known. Everything the oracle foresaw happened, and every act designed to avoid it actually helped bring it about. Once the oracle has been spoken and fate has been sealed, all attempts to avoid it are in vain. This cluster of ideas lies at the heart of one of the great Greek contributions to civilization: tragedy. (See Sack's article on prognosticating the future <a href="https://rabbisacks.org/on-not-predicting-the-future-vayechi-5776/" target="_blank">here</a>.) </blockquote>There is a present fatalism in our society too. Superhero movies and comics promise a Greek ethic of fate.<br /><br />Against such fate, I suggest <i>prophetic joy</i> stands out. Sacks speaks about how <i>joy</i> is such an "unexpected" word used by the prophet Moses, and I would add Isaiah. Not unlike the Israelite's escape from Egypt and their wandering in the desert, the Babylonian captivity and the feelings of God's silence have been anything but categorically joyous. I offer that Isaiah, like Moses, reminds us that prophetic joy is what "the life of faith in the land of promise is about." No less than a return and commitment to an old Israel is Isaiah's imagining. (See Sacks' article on Moses and collective joy <a href="https://rabbisacks.org/collective-joy-reeh-5779/" target="_blank">here</a>.) Rabbi Sacks reminds us of the ancient Deuteronomic instance of the idea of collective joy.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /><div align="LEFT"></div><blockquote><div align="LEFT">The central Sanctuary, initially Shilo: “There in the presence of the Lord your God you and your families shall eat and rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.7?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.7?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 12:7</a>).</div><div align="LEFT"><br />Jerusalem and the Temple: “And there you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.12?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.12?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 12:12</a>).</div><div align="LEFT"><br />Sacred food that may be eaten only in Jerusalem: “Eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns – and you are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.18?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.12.18?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 12:18</a>).</div><div align="LEFT"><br />The second tithe: “Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine, or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.14.26?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.14.26?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 14:26</a>).</div><div align="LEFT"><br />The festival of Shavuot: “And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His name – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows living among you” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.11?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.11?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 16:11</a>).</div><div align="LEFT"><br />The festival of Succot: “Be joyful at your feast – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.14?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.14?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 16:14</a>).</div></blockquote><blockquote><div align="LEFT">Succot, again. “For seven days, celebrate the feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete [vehayita ach same’ach]” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.15?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.15?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 16:15</a>).<br /></div></blockquote></div><div align="LEFT">Sacks suggests that even given the journey that has been made by the people, Moses emphasizes joy because he has a vision of the whole course of Jewish history unfolding before him. Sacks paraphrases this moment "It is easy to speak to God in tears. It is hard to serve God in joy. It is the warning he delivered as the people came within sight of their destination: the Promised Land. Once there, they were in danger of forgetting that the land was theirs only because of God’s promise to them, and only for as long as they remembered their promise to God." The point being made is that left to any one of us the promise and joy will be forgotten. This is then a collective act of joy. again Sacks writes, "What Moses is articulating for the first time is the idea of <i>simcha</i> as communal, social, and national rejoicing. The nation was to be brought together not just by crisis, catastrophe, or impending war, but by collective celebration in the presence of God. "<br /><br />I want to pull from Sacks' work the idea of <i>collective joy.</i> Isaiah is offering a prophetic joy in that he is inviting the people to look up and see the horizon before them, and like Moses before, he is suggesting that the work of joy is collective. I propose then that far from being a joy experienced by individuals, scriptural <i>joy</i> is prophetic and collective. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Then prophetic joy is collective. It is about what God has done and what God will do. Christ adds a new dimension to this collective <i>prophetic joy</i> by making it present in the world through the incarnation. It is true that the Old Testament (Indeed Moses and Isaiah, but we might add Hosea and Malachi, too) offer a vision that the collectivity of joy means sharing with the poor and hungry. Prophetic joy is a collective act not simply because the tribe comes together but because the family shares the goodness of the joyful table with others. “Be joyful at your feast – you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the strangers, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns” (<a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.14?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker"></a><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.16.14?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Deut. 16:14</a>). See also <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Hosea.9.4?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Hosea 9:4</a> and <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Malachi.2.3?lang=he-en&utm_source=rabbisacks.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker">Malachi 2:3</a>. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">The <i>prophetic joy</i> of Christ and the incarnation is not a mere congregational event but one intended from the earliest days to not be mere individual deliverance or religious corporate observance. The <i>prophetic joy</i> of Christ is meant to look behind and look forward. But from the perspective of Scripture (old and new), it is to be collective in the moment of its reading. A <i>prophetic joy</i> that is transformed into a collective joy that includes strangers, fatherless, motherless, widows, lost, and lonely. </div></div></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-12794840117426455052023-12-10T13:12:00.000-08:002023-12-14T06:52:01.348-08:00Christmas Eve/Day December 24/25<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEskvppt2lFyllmapLw_7aeULMGhvplTsfWw3OfCMBCOALjjc4SArWIH_m0LpgnQ9E0eQgMf0NqBKeUIXoATygAXDEp7WFmoL1Oau139AcgRFLuPZ6CwlJfDuOMHuI1RZ_Z1sFzR4gCzi/s1600/nativity.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVEskvppt2lFyllmapLw_7aeULMGhvplTsfWw3OfCMBCOALjjc4SArWIH_m0LpgnQ9E0eQgMf0NqBKeUIXoATygAXDEp7WFmoL1Oau139AcgRFLuPZ6CwlJfDuOMHuI1RZ_Z1sFzR4gCzi/s320/nativity.jpg" width="320" /></a><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Abiding with you forever in glory, O God, your only-begotten child is born among us in time.. May we ever welcome your Son to the warmth of an earthly home and so open for all earth's children a path that leads us home. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Luke 2:1-20</span></strong><br />
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<em>"This holiday familiarity is a particular problem for preachers. We must keep in mind that for some, the Christmas story has been regularly heard since childhood. And yet, these annual rehearsals have failed to reveal to contemporary audiences the jarring display of ancient culture the episode describes."</em><br />
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Commentary, <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/24/2011&tab=4">Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]</a> / <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/25/2011&tab=4">Luke 2[1-7] 8-20</a>, Joy Moore, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br />
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<em>"Nonetheless, it is to these unlikely and unworthy shepherds that the first news of the birth of Jesus is given, and not to the Kings, Caesars, and Governors mentioned at the beginning of this passage."</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.holytextures.com/2010/11/luke-2-1-20-2-1-7-8-20-2-1-14-15-20-year-a-b-c-christmas-eve-day-sermon.html">Holy Textures</a>, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 2:1-20, David Ewart, 2010.<br />
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+2:1-20&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><strong>Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</strong></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazah once wrote, “Human perfection resides in this, that
the love of God should conquer the human heart and possess it wholly, and even
if it does not possess it wholly, it should predominate in the heart over the
love of all things.”</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> And so, the incarnation comes in Christ Jesus to conquer the human heart and to possess it wholly. In an eternal return to the garden, God comes in Jesus to find us, once hidden on the eve of the day, amongst the flora of our garden world. The goal, as in last week's epistle to the Hebrews, is that we might be about the work and will of God.<div><br />
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Today, we pause, we think, and we ponder. What is the world around us like? What are our lives like? We live in a time when we want to know God is present. We desire to be rid of our fear and our anxiety. We hope, and we wish for a sign. We don't know who to believe anymore because everything is relativized. There seems no assurance that we won't hurdle off the fiscal and mental cliff of our time. We feel shame and unworthiness, which we hide behind consumption and business. We still long for some kind of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding. And, we offer our sacrifices to the God of our day, hoping perhaps this year will be different. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I am most certain that this is not the same time and nor are these the same issues that faced the shepherds. They were probably cold, hungry, and without shelter in the desert at night. They were most likely a lot like most of the rest of the developing world that exists far beyond our concerns and thoughts this Christmas.</span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>Yet into this ancient world and our world, today comes the message that the prophecy is fulfilled. God is in our midst. Do not be afraid. In fact, rejoice and be glad. Look for God in the least of these, in the form of a child. Here you will find him. </o:p></span></div>
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Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”</blockquote>
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so all over the world, we gather on this holiest of nights to celebrate the mystical
union of God and humanity in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, Savior,
Messiah, Blessed One, Son of Man, Jesus the Christ Child born of a woman called
Mary – Miryam of Nazareth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I have for a long time been touched by this mystical poem from
Ann Johnson’s collection of sacred poetry <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magnificat of
the Stable:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></div>
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My soul rests confidently in the animal warmth<br />
And the lantern light of the simple place, Yahweh,</div>
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And my spirit rejoices in the privacy of this time of birthing<br />
We share with you, O God of Creation,<br />
For you come alive again tonight<br />
In the blood and water of your people.<br />
Yes, this is the time we have waited for.<br />
This is the moment of blessing.<br />
Holy is birth,<br />
And you shall show yourself from age to age<br />
In those who enter into creation with you.<br />
You have shown the power of a dream enfleshed<br />
And we are humbled.<br />
You have pulled down all our strivings<br />
And lifted up this simple, common moment.<br />
This stable is filled with good things,<br />
New life and happy people.<br />
Are those in the inn rooms as satisfied?</div>
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You have come to Israel,<br />
Mindful of our shared nature,<br />
. . . according to the promise of Eden. . .<br />
mindful of our nature to seek the wisdom of new life together<br />
as long as we walk the earth.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ftn5">[2]</a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Rehearsing our sacred story reminds us of God's presence in our lives. We are invited to this holy feast to remember that this God we believe in enters the world in human form and comes to the margins of life, to Mary and Joseph, who are essentially homeless and wandering.</span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We are invited on this day to retell the story of the nativity so that we may rehearse the beginning of the reign of God, where people without a coat are given clothing, where people with no roof over their heads find shelter, where people with nothing to eat are given good things. We retell the story to remind ourselves that the work of Christians is kindness, gentleness, and hospitality, like the innkeeper.</span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We are invited to retell the story on this day so we remember what it means to discover a living God and how we, like the shepherds, will search for him wherever he will be; so tenacious is our hearts' hunger for God.</span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>We are invited to retell the story so that we might be reminded of our work to be heralds of good news and glad tidings for our family, our friends, and our neighbours.</o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>And, we are invited to retell the story because, in it, we are reminded that the child wrapped in linen and laid in a manger shall be our saviour wrapped in cloth and lain in a rock tomb. </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>This is our God; this is our Messiah. In this Christmastide, may we be aware that God has come and that we are his followers. </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">For those who intentionally choose to remember, we recognize that the birth of Jesus was a prophetic challenge to the world order and that those who find they're being in his sacred story and follow his way are to challenge the world order with ethical and moral sensitivity. </span>We are to speak the truth
and act in a world hungering for deliverance from greed, poverty, oppression,
malnutrition, abuse, illness, war, and all the other dark and evil powers we
have created and come to know. It is not to Caesar Augustus or Quirinius that this God comes to, but the God we believe in comes to the lowly. So it is that we are to open our hearts to this God that our own lowliness and shame may be transformed. So it is that we are to open our hands and lives to those around us. We are like the angels, the shepherds, the innkeeper, and the holy family to make room for this God in our lives and, in so doing, to make room in the world for the kingdom of God.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Quoted by
Kabir Helminski in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Knowing Heart, p. 4.</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2334113740815240648#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Johnson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miryam of Nazareth</i>, p 81.</span></div>
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<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Times-Roman"><div style="clear: both;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">John 1:1-18</span></b></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"If last week we met the camel hair wearing, locust and honey eating John the Baptist, this week we do a 180 degree turn and meet a whole different John."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/11/2011&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 1:6-8, 19-28, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011. <br /><br /><i>"Much of the pain and suffering around us comes from people imagining that they are the light themselves. In psychological terms, my mind turns to Carl Jung when thinking about light and darkness within us. Jung warned of the dangers of trying to live only in our light. The shadow within is dangerous when ignored."</i><br /><div><i><br /></i><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071011220633/http://bloomingcactus.typepad.com/bloomingcactus/2005/12/john_168_1928_a.html">John 1:6-8, 19-28</a>, Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+1:6-28&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br /><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy; I see by your outfit you are a cowboy, too; We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys. If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too. (listen to it <a href="http://youtu.be/WeGzPohkyew">here</a>)</blockquote>I grew up listening to the Smothers Brothers, and this was their version of The Streets of Laredo. I have always loved it.<br /><br />Who are you? I can tell you who I am by telling you my life story. Ultimately, you will guess it by my clothes and by my car and by my house...the rings on my fingers and bells on my toes. Today's Gospel lesson asks, who are you?<br /><br />To get to the bottom of this, we must take a good look at what is going on this week in the Gospel Text, especially since we have taken a dog leg into John's Gospel from Mark!<br /><br />This week's Gospel reading is really in two parts. Those of you preparing a sermon (if doing so on this text) will find that it is really two different parts of John's introduction. The text for Sunday is 1:6-8 and 19-28.<br /><br />The first piece falls well within what many scholars believe to be the greatest part of the New Testament. Raymond Brown, in his first volume, writes this about the prologue, which stretches from 1:1-18.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"If John has been described as the pearl of great price among the NT writings, then one may say that the Prologue is the pearl within this Gospel. In her ccomparisonof Augustine's and Chrysostom's exegesis of the Prologue, M. A. Aucoin points out that both held that it is beyond the power of man to speak as John does in the Prologue." (18)</blockquote>I think it is important to think of these first verses well within this first piece of writing which has both a form and a purpose. Brown breaks it up this way... The first section is 1:1-2, This is the Word of God section which offers a poetic vision of God's very being. The second section, verses 3-5, reveals the Word's work in creation. It is the light shining in the darkness, shining through man's sinfulness, shining in the birth that flows from the fallen woman Eve in Jesus. Then, and only then, do we arrive at our piece, which is nestled quite nicely here. The third portion is verses 6-9 and is John the Baptist's, witness. As Brown points out the second part is about the Word's work throughout creation, here that comes to fruition in the proclamation of God's incarnate Word Jesus. (Brown, <em>John</em>, vol 1, 18-17) Many bloggers this week noted the difference between the John of Mark and the John of this Gospel. I think the reason for the striking difference is primarily this Gospel's tightly focused presentation of God in Christ Jesus. The only reason to even have John in this section is to make clear he is preparing the hearts of humankind for the incarnation, and proclamation of the Word made man. Brown tells us that following this proclamation, we return to the fourth section (continuing the ancient hymn outlined in the text), which is about the Christ of God working his mission in the world. This is followed by the community's response. The last of the five sections is another few words by John the Baptist, but here in 14, 17-18, is John's proclamation that the Word spoken before time is this Jesus. He is the pre-existent one. A radical, revolutionary, and prophetic revelation is being offered in this last section, for in this time, the common person would have understood that God is invisible, so it makes sense that the Word spoken, the Son is the only one who has seen this God. The unique relation between Son and God not only helps with the contemporary thought of the day but it gives rise to our common understanding of who Jesus is: God's only Son. (For my theological followers, there is a great discussion in Brown's Vol 1 on pages 35 and 36 about this last section, and it is well worth reading.)<br /><br />To summarize then, we have in the first two verses of our reading a very clear focus on God in Christ. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Word made manifest, and the Word at work in the world. As if marching to a drum, we hear for the first time in these very first words what we have faithfully memorized as Christians and Episcopalians who have a Common Prayer Book, and that is that the only Son of God has come into the world to save the world. Such comfortable and hopeful words. Everything in this first section of our reading verbally illustrates that John the baptist is someone they knew but now is so transparent to the Gospel that all they see now is the coming of Christ.<br /><br />On the first day of John's ministry in the Gospel, he disappears as the living Word and Jesus take centre stage. On the second day, he offers a vision of who Jesus is; he is the transparent vessel of a living Christ - of light in the world.<br /><br />In this third week of Advent, a number of things are going on in our context here in the U.S. One is what I would call the <em>holiday breather</em>. We began the holiday with a Thanksgiving mad dash to fill our bellies and our shopping carts. We redoubled our efforts to get to church. And we are now in the slump; it is the week-long Wednesday between Holiday and Christmas Day. Unfortunately, preachers are in the same predicament.<br /><br />Into this slump, we re-read a passage about John the Baptist. Now, you and I both know that is not precisely true. This Sunday's passage is very different from the last. Brown and practically all modern scholars recognize that John the Baptist in John's Gospel is completely different from the one portrayed in the Synoptics. He looks different than the previous version we preached on last week. This week he is the transparent vessel of God's grace - Jesus Christ. He points only to God and to Jesus.<br /><br />Just as John the Baptist in John's Gospel, you and I are, as Christians, intimately tied to who we say God is.<br /><br />You might remember Stephen Colbert's radical statement that caused so much attention recently:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"If [America] is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."</blockquote>I will tell you that not being who we say we are is a crippling missionary stumbling block in a world that is seeking some kind of authentic view of God and Grace and hoping someone will be a true voice of transformation and life in a world of gifts and purchases whose shimmer and shine will fade a few weeks after their delivery.<br /><br />The truth is that as Christians, we proclaim and reaffirm that the pre-existent Word of God is Jesus Christ, who is God's only son. And that we are, as a people and as individuals (as is proclaimed in the Isaiah passage for this Sunday), inheritors of a divine relationship with the unseen God through the waters of baptism. And, that we DO believe we are related as brothers or sisters of God's family. And, therefore we are to treat people in a certain way, with special attention to God's most intimate friends - the poor.<br /><br />We say and affirm as a defining part of who we are that we, as Christians, believe we meet God in the text of scripture and in the faces of our neighbours.<br /><br />We meet God in John's proclamation. We meet this unseen God in the very speaking and retelling of the story of the incarnation of God offered here on the other side of the Jordan, just as it is offered from the ambos and pulpits of our churches.<br /><br />Moreover, like John, we meet God by venturing out across the doorway of our church onto the other side of the sidewalk, where we have the opportunity to meet the living Word in the storied lives of the people we find out in the world. We encounter God and his Son in the words of scripture, which helps us to hear the same living incarnate God spoken in the story of our neighbour.<br /><br />This week we did a bible study with this passage at our meeting of the governing board of the diocese. A friend and fellow clergyman said he had been praying and thinking about this passage. He realized and offered to the group that, quite frankly, we were simply to be at work being witnesses to Christ (like John the Baptist and John the Gospeller), and if we were not, then we were being witnesses for something or someone else. In the latter, he had in mind those folks who travelled all that way to meet John the Baptist in the desert and to shut him down for not bearing witness to what they stood for.<br /><br />This religious stuff is a dangerous thing. The world right now is taking a breather from its holiday consumption. It is quiet before the holiday storm. We have an opportunity to tell the truth. The truth is that how we live out our holiday will reveal if we are bearing witness to God in Christ Jesus, or if we are representing something else. Yes, what we say and what we do are incarnational symbols of the living God or something else entirely.<br /><br />Religion on a Sunday like this is dangerous because when we don't tell the truth about the world we live in (the addictions we have, the way we attempt to purchase our belongings, and how we are stewards of God's things), we sell a little piece of our corporate soul to the secular world; creating a consumer faith.<br /><br />How will the church, how will you, the preacher, how will the people answer the essential question asked on the shore of the Jordan River so many years ago, and which is still relevant today: "Who are you because you look like someone I once knew?"</div></span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<i>"Living zealously, wisely, righteously, godly, and expectantly may, in some situations, appear as gentleness and align with the general mores of the wider society. At other times, however, that way of life may manifest as boldness and challenge to the narrative of the good life the present culture embraces."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/24/2012&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Titus 2:11-14, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.<br />
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<i>"This passage stands out as a theological gem in the midst of the moral exhortations of Titus."</i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/24/2011&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Titus 2:11-14, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div>
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<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Times-Roman">In the Epistle lesson from Titus, Paul is writing about the household code, a moral code by which the church is to live. They are to be a community. This community is to be acceptable to the society around it, and most scholars see parallels between Paul's code for community and the code for community espoused by the philosophical leaders of his day. In other words, much of what Paul offers is a reflection of basic ethics for individuals and morality for a community that is at work within a wider social construct.</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">That being said, there is an underpinning theology that is important and separates how the Christian community is to live from other communities. Paul's prevailing theology looks back at God's acts and sees that our God is defined by his one saving act - the Exodus and the Sinai revelation. God is holy and we are to be God's people and God's people will be holy. Moreover, the way of this community is defined at its foundation by God's commandments, which marks the group as special and of a higher household standard than the prevailing notion of such codes in Paul's day. Paul adopts this saving action and the nature of God's people to the emerging Christian community.</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">In our passage appointed for Christmas day, we see this clearly. God in Christ Jesus has appeared in the incarnation. Christ Jesus, in his own actions, has modelled a higher way of being in the world. We, like the ancient ancestors of Israel, are to be formed by his example. We are to "renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. God in Christ Jesus is himself redeeming us even in our failure to live this life. We are given Christ, for he gave himself fully. Christ is redeeming us, and we are being purified by his grace.</span></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman">I would add then that we are to do the same. We are to give ourselves over to the other, we are to give ourselves over to God and to our neighbor. The very basic and essential work is to be "zealous for good deeds."</span><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman">Paul's list (which comes above and below this passage)is filled with directions for the household code. It is true that some we would agree with and some we would not. Yet they offer us a challenging view of a life lived in the shadow of God's saving embrace. Most of all, we are to live no longer for ourselves but for God and for God's people. We are the gift to this world. As followers of Christ, we are the gift to a world in need, and we are to be about our father's work: good deeds. </span></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Times-Roman"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Some Thoughts on </strong><b>Hebrews 1:1 - 2:12</b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /><br /><i>"In the city of Macon, Georgia, the Harriet Tubman African-American Museum honors the memory of the 'Black Moses,' the best-known conductor on the Underground Railroad..."</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=10/4/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Pentecost 18, Bryan J. Whitfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="clear: both;"><i>"...Hebrews holds together a profound image of Jesus as God's very reflection with a very earthy and human figure just like us. That reinforces also our understanding of God and of the spiritual life not as something from or in another world, but as something which fully enters the here and now of flesh and blood."</i></div><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpPentecost19.html">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"</a>Pentecost 18, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"The concept of incarnation is an affirmation that Jesus really and truly does show us what God is like. When we look at Jesus, we see him embracing the ones nobody else would embrace. We see him confronting the religious people with the falseness of their self-righteousness. We see him forgiving sinners and restoring people to their right mind. And we see him freely and joyfully playing with children!"</i></div><div style="clear: both;"><a href="http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2009/10/we-see-jesus-ps.html">"We See Jesus,"</a> Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2009.<br /><br /><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Hebrews+1:1+-+2:12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a></span></strong></div></div><br /><br />In seminary, we were taught that there is no such thing as a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament. Yet, Christians have struggled to always put into context the reality of violence throughout the scripture, including in the New Testament. Somehow we have never really quite figured out how to deal with the various rules, covenants, demands, and variety of things God wants or doesn't want for us. Even Walter Brueggeman, when asked about such things, says something like, "I like to think God is getting over his use of violence." <br /><br />The author of Hebrews is certainly trying to figure out how to speak of these things and to parse clearly the trajectory of a God who is both alpha and omega while at the same time exhibiting different behaviours and desires. <br /><br />God communicates to Israel, and God communicates to us. We believe, as theologian Ben Johnson once remarked, a God who raised Jesus out of death and raised Israel out of Egypt. <br /><br />What is clear for the author of Hebrews and for Christians is that all is to be defined now through the words and actions of God through Christ Jesus. It is his work and words that are to define and radically focus our attention across the great expanse of God's communication with his creatures.<br /><br />The Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus is a particular vision of God - revealing to us God's intent to be with us and to bridge the chasm between heaven and earth. Sin and death will not be victorious over this divide. Moreover, this person of Jesus is a forerunner of our humanity.<br /><br />We are in some miraculous and mysterious way to become like Jesus in this world making here heaven on earth - just like we pray in the Lord's Prayer. We are to make here God's neighborhood.<br /><br />What is an interesting part of this passage is the unique and important reality that the author offers a special place for humanity within the cosmos. Using the words of the psalmist (Psalm 8:4-6), the author reminds us, "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor..." I once mentioned that the angels are jealous of humanity for what we have in Jesus and in the holy communion and how special this is for us in the order of things. We are blessed as humans to experience God in and through Jesus in this world and through the inbreaking of God in the incarnation and in the bread and wine. I really got skewered online when I said this. People thought it was heresy. I am of course in good company with the psalmist, the author of Hebrews<br />and the Polish Roman Catholic St. Maximilian Kolbe, who once said, "If Angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."<br /><br />We are to see who God is and how God is moving in the world through Christ Jesus, as is present in scripture and in the communion itself. And what do we see? We see a God who lowers God's self and breaks God's self-open for the sake of those other than God or even godlike. God becomes one with the other and so raises the other up into the community. Here is the Gospel.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts Isaiah 9:2-7</span></strong><br />
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<i>"As far as I know, there is only one good reason for believing that he was who he said he was. One of the crooks he was strung up with put it this way: 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39). Save us from whatever we need most to be saved from. Save us from each other. Save us from ourselves. Save us from death both beyond the grave and before. If he is, he can. If he isn't, he can't. It may be that the only way in the world to find out is to give him the chance, whatever that involves. It may be just as simple and just as complicated as that."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustrations-messiah">"Messiah,"</a> sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.</div>
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<i>"Over the next couple of weeks leading from Christmas to Epiphany, the three readings from Isaiah come from all three sections of 'Isaiah' -- First Isaiah, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah. All three readings speak out of vastly different contexts.</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/24/2012&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 9:2-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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<i>"This commentary will explore the interpretive history leading to its presence at this powerful moment of the Christian year."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/24/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 9:2-7, Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+9:2-7&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a></span></span></strong><br />
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<div style="clear: both;">The beginning of Isaiah is not all sweetness and light, but this passage holds within it a spark of hope that is to be brought to God’s people in Babylon. Here, Isaiah prophesies that in time, that which is dark will be filled with light. That those who struggle and suffer will have the mantle of slavery lifted from their shoulders. The season wherein the powers of this world continue to inflict suffering upon God’s people will come to a close. This will all be brought about by a continuation of the Davidic royal line.<br />
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This passage is particularly important to Matthew in his gospel. He does something interesting with it. Matthew weaves this passage with Isaiah 42:7. He changes the “walking” (in the original passage) to “sitting” (from 42). By doing this, Matthew links the two passages. What he is doing is reading that the light is Jesus, that Jesus is the one to continue the Davidic line, that all the nations will know and bear witness to this light, and that God’s people (all people – universally speaking) are to be brought into the light by Jesus.<br />
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What originally was read as a prophecy about the Northern Kingdom of Israel and God’s deliverance of his people enslaved to foreign powers now is read through the eyes of the Gospel as identifying the work and mission of Jesus.<br />
<br />In other words, the passage is about revelation - it is about the mission to the Gentiles. The light that comes into the world is the brightness of the Christ who will draw not only the people of Israel to him but the light that will, in fact, draw all people into the embrace of God.<br />
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Christ in this way is not simply a Christ for Israel, or even for Christians in our own day...but a Christ that is present in the world as ruler of all, as king of all, as lord of all. His kingdom is marked with love, mercy, kindness, and peace for all who enter and become its citizens.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Sermons Preached</span></strong><br />
<div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 left-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_1802343" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/jeffrey-steals-the-show" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; text-decoration-line: none;">Jeffrey Steals the show</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_1802343" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/1802343/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="Jeffrey Steals the show" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Dec 25, 2011</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Christmas Sermon, Christ church Cathedral 2011</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 left-side libsyn-item-2167431" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_2167431" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/christmas-eve-awash-in-god-s-love-and-fruitcake" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; outline: 0px;">Christmas Eve: Awash in God's Love and Fruitcake</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_2167431" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2167431/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="Christmas Eve: Awash in God's Love and Fruitcake" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Dec 25, 2012</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"></p><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"><div class="col-md-12 text-right show_more" style="box-sizing: border-box; direction: rtl; float: left; font-size: 15px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; text-align: right; text-indent: 25px; width: 855px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_2167431" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/christmas-eve-awash-in-god-s-love-and-fruitcake" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; text-decoration-line: none;">Read More</a></div></div></div></div><div><span face=""lato" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""lato" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px;"><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 left-side libsyn-item-3261493" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_3261493" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/15-songs-that-define-a-life" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; text-decoration-line: none;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />15 Songs that Define a Life</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_3261493" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3261493/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="15 Songs that Define a Life" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Dec 25, 2014</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Christmas sermon at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, 2014</p></div></span></div>
</div>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-67555710261928180272023-11-24T09:59:00.000-08:002023-11-24T10:45:08.704-08:00Advent 4, Year B, December 24, 2023<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Quotes That Make Me Think</span></strong><br />
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<i>"It is no small thing to be regarded, to be favored, especially when you are exceedingly aware that you should not be."</i><br />
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/18/2011&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Luke 1:26-38, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br />
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<i>"It's an incredible thing to be noticed, to be called favored, to be invited into meaning work. This is the gift we can give our people this week, Working Preacher."</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=536">"Favored Ones,"</a> David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2011.</div>
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<em>We may call the </em><a href="http://bustedhalo.com/podcasts/are-you-hiding-from-god"><em>Annunciation</em></a><em> a “joyful” mystery, but surely the experience was a mixed one for Mary herself. I believe that saying “yes” to God did indeed bring joy to Mary, but that “yes” was also the beginning of terrible responsibility and heartache for her, heartache that would extend all the way to Calvary. In the meantime, she had all of the usual anxieties of the unexpectedly pregnant (and then some). Through all the uncertainty, in the face of every overwhelming obstacle, she was able to trust that God loved and guided her, whether she sensed God’s presence or not.</em><br />
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<em>Certainly this isn’t the only or the best way to interpret the Annunciation. Nevertheless, it was the version I needed that day.</em><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://bustedhalo.com/features/waiting-for-god">Waiting For God</a></span> <em><span style="font-size: small;">by </span><span style="font-size: small;">Elizabeth Desimone</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></em></div>
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<strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/yearb/adventb4.htm">General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com</a></strong><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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Great and merciful God, from among this world's lowly and humble you choose your servants and call them to work with you to fulfill your loving plan of salvation. By the power of your Spirit, make your church fertile and fruitful, that, imitating the obedient faith of Mary, the church may welcome your word of life and so become the joyful mother of countless offspring, a great and holy posterity of children destined for undying life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.<br />
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<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">Luke 1:26-38</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+1:26-38&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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<strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/lk1a.htm">Resources for Sunday's Gospel</a></strong><br />
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Are we confused? So what is the meaning of Advent and Christmas? As we wait, we might ponder and think about the meaning of our life and the life of those closest to us. If we stop for a moment we might look and around and ask what are we doing and for what are we making this great effort? If the bumper sticker wisdom is true and Jesus is the reason for the season, we might pause on this Sunday and ask ourselves do our actions tell that story or a different story?</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">I am not talking about doing right, I am talking about serving the good and the God who is good.<br />
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Life moves along through this season. We are getting by. We are making our way towards another Christmas. The anxieties about family and being together are growing. Perhaps financial stress and strain are pulling on our souls. It is complicated by the reality of continued family separation. We are ramping up, and we are wondering if this or that is really important? What will we do? What new traditions will be created? What old traditions will pause or not continue?<br />
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We are going to Christmas parties and making the rounds, and something in the midst of those conversations and relationships may actually seem more real, more worthwhile, than the rest of the business of the season. <br />
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We are confused. It is, in fact, a confusing time of year with competing messages. It is a confusing time economically. It is a confusing time as people look to the past and then forward into the future. We are a bit confused, and we are hoping someone might offer some good news.<br />
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I think that is what we are waiting for...a little bit of good news. We are waiting for a little direction. On this Sunday, as the fervour is building, I believe people are hoping our preachers will somehow give us some wisdom, some direction, and perhaps interpret what we are experiencing and what it all means. What does it mean to serve God in this time - our time.<br />
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Mary was confused, to be sure. Luke Timothy Johnson translates Mary's response to the angel's words as "utterly confused." (Luke, p 38) At the same time, it is likely that all those who heard this story were not confused but rather expected it to be so; this is the way great births happen. This is true in other parts of scripture, and it was true in the writings and storytelling of Jesus' own day. We might look at the birth of Samson in Judges 13:2-7 as an example of such writings. (38)<br />
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Mary is a woman with no special position within the body of faithful people like most of us. Mary is not a particularly righteous person (according to Luke); she is not known as a pious woman but rather an ordinary citizen like most of us. "She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy. Furthermore, she has neither husband nor child to validate her existence." (Luke Timothy Johnson; Luke, 39) She actually is of very little value at all. I think that is actually how most people feel about themselves.<br />
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In a society that has more, spends more, consumes more, and prides itself on liberty, freedom, and happiness, we are today a body of individuals who feel pretty miserable, imprisoned by our stuff, and of very little value.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Some leaders are even suggesting caution be thrown to the wind in order to shop.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">I think that is why there is so much unrest in our culture. We are confused about our place in the world, and our place in relation to one another. In this world, there are those who are poor in spirit and poor in individual wealth. While most Americans may not be the latter, we are more often than not poor in spirit. And, in that recognition, we discover how much we need one another and how much we are bonded to those who, in this holiday season, will go without.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Even the Starbucks drive-thru suggests - "Cheer this way." As happy as my local barista makes me feel on a workday morning with a smile, where do we look?<br />
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It is to Mary, and to humanity that God comes and gives grace. God gives grace and favour to all people in this moment of annunciation. God conceives in the world grace and love incarnate.<br />
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Unlike Zechariah who demands proof of this coming Christ, Mary simply wants to be less confused. She just wants to know, in a simple way, how can this be? How is it that such a simple person with no seeming value can be a bearer of God's grace and favour in the world?<br />
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After all, that may be the question to which we are all seeking the answer.<br />
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Such a simple question, and we seem so adrift. I think this is a great travesty in our church, that we may have forgotten the answer to this question. We in our church have forgotten that everyone, ALL people, those like us, those unlike us, those we agree with, those we don't agree with, those who worship like us, those who do not worship like us, those with money and those without money...ALL people are created in such a way that through God's power (and God's power alone), we are vessels of grace in the world.<br />
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In a world where reputations, wealth, and personal identity are more often than not built upon tearing others down, we desperately need to be reminded of this simple truth - god chooses Mary particularly and in so doing, God chooses all of us.<br />
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We in the mainline denominations in this world have spent a lot of time making clear who the righteous and who the righteous are not. We have chosen to use our pulpits publicly to require proof of people's righteousness. And, we have chastised used our power to make others feel bad about themselves. I believe that preachers (both liberal and conservative) do this. And, in so doing, what has happened is that the rest of the plebes sancti dei (the sacred people of God) have born witnesses and are left wondering if they, too may not be good enough. Who is? We have echoed consumerism's maxim that we are not worthy enough alone; we must need something else to make us special. We have translated right-belief (whatever you define that as) to be the status criteria for all believers, and in the end, we have preached the leaving out of one another from God's embrace.<br />
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When we make Mary out to be anything other than the poor, culturally worthless, outsider she is - we distil a message that is not good news at all.<br />
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This Sunday, across the globe, Episcopalian and Anglican preachers will stand in pulpits and in front of their congregations and look into the eyes of virtually every kind of person that God has created. And, we have a moment. Sure, some will preach for 8 minutes, others longer, but in that sermon, there will be but one moment in which we have an opportunity to offer God's people an answer to the questions and concerns they bring with them and set before God and God's church. They are asking, they are wondering, is it possible...is it just possible... that God's grace and favour, if meant for the likes of Mary, is meant for me? Overwhelmingly the answer must be a loud cry of "YES."<br />
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May we have the courage to look our people in the eye and see their hearts and speak to them and say: "Yes, you are chosen like Mary, and God's Holy Spirit is upon you, and you are of value to God, for in you and through you God has chosen to make his Grace, favour, and love known in this world. Yes, you are the one. You have been chosen."<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Some Thoughts <span face="Times-Roman">on</span> Romans 16:25-27</b></span></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Romans+16:25-27&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://www.textweek.com/pauline/rom16.htm">Resources for Sunday's Epistle</a></strong></span><br />
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<i>"The image of God has been restored and believers now live in that image, witnessing and inviting all into this covenantal relationship."</i></div>
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/18/2011&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Romans 16:25-27, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div>
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<i>"This passage places the incarnation, which we will shortly celebrate, in the broad arena of God's never ending, always existent desire for humanity to live in peace. The reconciliation that is offered in the gospel is the reconciliation to what humanity was created to be."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/21/2008&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Romans 16:25-27, L. Ann Jervis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div>
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<i>"... 'obedience of faith' ... suggests rather an ongoing relationship which includes involvement in God's life and compassion reaching out into the world."</i></div>
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpAdvent4.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Advent 4,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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The passage for today is the doxology for the letter to the Romans and is a routine way Paul brings his correspondence to an end - in accordance with the custom of the day. <br />
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It is a blessing and a kind of proclamation from which we have insight into Paul's understanding of his work - and perhaps our own. Paul believes that God is the one strengthening him to proclaim Jesus. Paul himself is dependent upon the Gospel itself. The living word empowers him as it has empowered the work of God on earth since the very beginning. He is making it clear that the letter is not simply Paul writing - but God speaking through Paul to the church. God is in Paul's own ministry and writing, expanding the kingdom of God on God's behalf and through the power of God.<br />
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Paul is clear that his mission is God's mission. God's mission is the inclusion of the gentile into the kingdom and it is this inclusion and expansion which is obedience.<br />
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Moreover, the God who is involved in this expansive vision of the kingdom of God is the God of the Hebrew bible - the creator God who is wise and has set all things into motion.<br />
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As we think and ponder, it is wise to remind ourselves that for the Christian, the incarnation is not some add-on to an ancient tradition. The incarnation is itself the reconciliation moment of God's historical movement to embrace and fulfil his covenant with creation.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">2 Samuel 7:1-6</span></b><br /><br /><br /><i>"It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of this passage for both Jews and Christians."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2528">Commentary</a>, 2 Samuel 7:1-14a (Pentecost +8), Ralph W. Klein, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Israel's hope does not rest in a dynasty but there is hope that from the house of David will come forth trustworthy leadership, attentive to the voices of those in need, and in faithful service to God's goals for Israel and the world."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/18/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, 2 Samuel 7:1-11 (Advent 4), Elna K. Solvang, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"...the Lord maintains divine freedom to the point which allows him to lead his people and all creation to new life. This is what we anticipate in the annunciation of the birth of Jesus."</i><br /><a href="http://hwallace.unitingchurch.org.au/WebOTcomments/AdventB/Advent4.html">The Old Testament Readings</a>: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16. Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Samuel+7:1-16&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus NRSV Text</a><br /><br />2 Samuel 7 is an important chapter for Christological reasons. God is soon to make a covenant with David. Chapter 7 will connect all that has come before with all that is about to come after. God's next covenant is with David, and commits to bringing about a kingdom and offspring. shortsightedness allows us to see this is about David and Solomon before the fall of the kingdom. But as Paul will make clear, the great Dravidic rule will be unravelled and given away to Jews and gentile alike through the grace and power of God in Christ Jesus. Romans 1.3ff:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...</blockquote>This is not an otherworldly expectation. Read through the lens of the gospel authors we see clearly that the first Christians believed that this was their inheritance. They were the ones to receive the Davidic promise. "The Son of David" or the lineage found in the gospels was not some mere happenstance but a revelation of the fulfilment of this very promise from 2 Samuel.<br /><br />God in Christ Jesus was before time and with the Israelites. It was his Word that the patriarchs and matriarchs heard speak from burning bushes and in the whisper of a Temple's night. God was with the ancient faith ancestors of David, with David, and now is with all people through the unique birth of the incarnation into the world. The hidden power of God was to be found in the man from Galilee; we see that he has come to free them from the evil powers of religious and political oppression. The first followers are the offspring of David, God in Christ will unleash God's love and not take it from them. It is Christ's Davidic thrown poured out that, in the end, will reign.</div>
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<br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Excerpt from my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Faithful-Discipleship-Partisan-World-ebook/dp/B0821X4W3G/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=doyle+citizen&qid=1607094766&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Citizen</a> on Mary:</b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="clear: both;">Reversing the origin story whereby God creates humanity from man, the New Testament takes up the narrative with God recreating humanity from a woman: Mary. God spoke to Mary (Luke 1:26) and rehearsed the words used with Abraham. The messenger used words of peace (shalom) and said that she was to be a blessing. Sometimes we translate the words as “grace.” Mary accepted her role as a citizen prophet in this new kingdom-making. She agreed to serve God’s mission. She would be responsible, accepting both the privilege of service and the accountability that goes with it. Not unlike the people at the foot of Mount Sinai, she accepted the invitation to be part of God’s story and sealed the covenant with the words, “Let it be done.” In that moment she began her journey as an engaged citizen in both God’s reign and in the reign of the religious and political powers of her day.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Mary’s “yes” begins a slow-motion unravelling of the cult of imperial authority. Roman emperors were worshipped as gods. Their legitimacy to rule was grounded in the mythical stories of gods copulating with mortal women and birthing demigods. In these mythical narratives, one of the gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon forces himself upon a mortal woman. Modern retellings of these tales often omit or obscure the implications of rape, but such was not the case in the first century when Luke wrote his Gospel. René Girard calls these Greco-Roman narratives “monstrous births of mythology.” The mating of the gods with mortals was a violent oppression by a dominating power, undertaken by the gods and then repeated throughout the social orders of Hellenistic humanity. The story of Mary’s invitation and acceptance to serve God’s mission parallels these stories but also turns them on their heads. Mary’s call narrative rejects violence by gods in favour of the peace of God. Girard writes: </div><blockquote><div style="clear: both;">No relationship of violence exists between those who take part in the virgin birth: the Angel, the Virgin and the Almighty. . . . In fact, all the themes and terms associated with the virgin birth convey to us a perfect submission to the non-violent will of the God of the gospels, who in this way prefigures Christ himself.” </div></blockquote><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">There was no violence done to Mary by God. She was the lost and least and was raised up. Mary did not resist her calling. There was no rape or sexual domination. More recently, artists have portrayed the overshadowing of Mary as a kind of sexual ecstasy, but these interpretations say more about us than they do about Luke or Mary. The other modern trend, which is to “demythologize” Mary’s experience by arguing that Luke has derived her calling narrative from those other more monstrous mythologies, misses the point. When we remove the mystery of God’s invitation and Mary’s acceptance and flatten Luke’s narrative into an unremarkable recapitulation of Greek myth, we miss the message of shalom that is woven into the story of the Incarnation from the outset. When we deconstruct Luke’s story in order to privilege our modern sensibilities about science, we rob Luke’s Gospel of any chance of transforming us. Nonetheless, this was a predominant trend among many Biblical exegetes writing when the gravitational pull of modern rationalism was at its peak. Episcopal Bishop John Spong rejected Mary’s call narrative as worthless mythology. Theologian Paul Tillich had no interest in the mythic birth of Jesus. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">The story of God’s invitation and Mary’s willingness to serve is significant, not in the ways it mirrors the monstrous births of Hellenistic mythology, but in the ways it differs from those competing pagan narratives in order to undermine both the domination culture of antiquity and the domination culture of modernity. The total rejection of violence that was characteristic of New Testament Christianity is one of the reasons the early Church struggled to achieve legitimacy within Greco-Roman society. God and the conception narrative of Jesus do not adhere to any of the mythic tropes known to paganism and undermine all such tropes with a story of shalom. Our own sexually oriented culture, also consumed by violence, rejects the story, too. God soundly refuses to appease the violent expectations of either epoch.</div><div style="clear: both;">If we had any remaining doubt about the radical message of peace that Mary entered into, her visit with Elizabeth dispels it. In the home of Elizabeth, who was to give birth to John the Baptist, we hear Mary speak about her ministry as God-bearer: Theotokos. Following in the footsteps of Moses and Esther, both of whom brought about dramatic social change; Abraham, who was the first to be a blessing; and Isaiah and Jonah, who offered transformation to estranged people, Mary takes part in God’s work of shalom by inaugurating cosmic change. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Mary told Elizabeth that she was humbled and that God had invited her into the work of being blessed and being a blessing to the world. Perhaps reflecting upon the words of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1–11, Mary said that God’s mighty acts throughout salvation history had benefited her personally, and now she was part of the narrative. Remembering the words of Jonah, we hear her repeat that God was a God of mercy and quick to forgive. Mary said that God raised up the least, the lost, and the lowly. God laid low the powers and authorities of this world. God fed people good things. Those who wish for the ways of the world, the human ways of rivalry and greed, to prevail, would find the gospel of grace difficult and would be sent away empty. This was the reign of Shalom. This was a new chapter in the promise God invited Abraham and Sarah into. From Luke’s Gospel (1:46):</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><blockquote><div style="clear: both;">My soul magnifies the Lord, </div><div style="clear: both;">and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, </div><div style="clear: both;">for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.</div><div style="clear: both;">Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; </div><div style="clear: both;">for the Mighty One has done great things for me,</div><div style="clear: both;">and holy is his name. </div><div style="clear: both;">His mercy is for those who fear him</div><div style="clear: both;">from generation to generation. </div><div style="clear: both;">He has shown strength with his arm;</div><div style="clear: both;">he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. </div><div style="clear: both;">He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,</div><div style="clear: both;">and lifted up the lowly; </div><div style="clear: both;">he has filled the hungry with good things,</div><div style="clear: both;">and sent the rich away empty. </div><div style="clear: both;">He has helped his servant Israel,</div><div style="clear: both;">in remembrance of his mercy, </div><div style="clear: both;">according to the promise he made to our ancestors,</div><div style="clear: both;">to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.</div></blockquote><div style="clear: both;"></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Many call Mary’s song the most concise statement of the gospel. It is a statement of God’s vision for a community of the least, the lost, and the lonely. It envisions a reign of peace and rejects any kingdom, nation, or state made from violence. It is such a radical statement of God’s in-breaking peace that it has been feared by the powers and authorities of this world. Mary’s song tells of a God who will overthrow the various states that humanity so violently brings into being. Mary’s song has often been outlawed because it delegitimizes the violent structures of human power. Anglicans join the Roman Church in appreciation for Mary’s song, called the Magnificat in Latin. The states supported by Anglican Churches have not always been so appreciative, however. When India was ruled by the British, the recitation of the Magnificat in worship was outlawed. The same was true in Guatemala during the 1980s. Believing that the song of Mary was a rallying cry for the revolutionary and the poor, the government banned it. Guatemala was one of the first countries to practice forced disappearances—between forty and fifty thousand people were summarily murdered in this way. In South America, after the “disappearing” of many family members and children during the war in Argentina, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (a square in the Montserrat barrio of central Buenos Aires) placed the words of the Magnificat on posters in the city. The military junta of Argentina responded by banning all public displays of the song for five years. Protestant theologian and activist during Hitler’s Germany, Dietrich Bonheoffer, wrote from prison in 1933:</div><div style="clear: both;">The Song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, and one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. . . . This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols. It is instead a hard, strong, inexorable song about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Mary is an icon of faithful political engagement. She bears Christ into the world in a way that rejects the powers and principalities’ mythic and real practices of violence. This story invites us to be God-bearers who witness to a different narrative than the one that legitimises the ruling religious and imperial powers. Here we have a renewed origin story for the Christian citizen. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">Mary’s acceptance of the covenant with God was a declaration of responsibility for God’s garden imagination and a pledge to consider her role in relationship to others. Her “yes” undoes the warped desire, mundane violence, and constant scapegoating that arise out of sibling rivalry. Hers was categorically not an individual pietistic event or an internal private faith response to God. To view Mary that way is to read Enlightenment ideas back into Luke’s text. Making the conception of Christ into a private event of Marian piety is to capitulate to the worldview that Christian and religious philosopher Charles Taylor calls the “immanent frame”, where transcendence is discarded as useless and reality is explained self-referentially. </div><div><br /></div></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sermons Preached on these Passages</span></b></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 left-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_4079035" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/a-love-that-puts-hate-to-death" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; outline-offset: -2px; outline: -webkit-focus-ring-color auto 5px;">A Love That Puts Hate To Death</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_4079035" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4079035/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="A Love That Puts Hate To Death" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Jan 14, 2016</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Sermon preached at St. Mary's in Cypress Texas for 4th Advent Year B</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 left-side" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: auto; min-height: 1px; overflow: visible; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><h2 class="section-heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1; margin: 5px 0px 25px;"><a class="read_more" data-iframe-id="embed_2167429" href="https://adoyle.libsyn.com/waiting-for-christmas-is-like-waiting-for-a-bus-in-milan" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #41bdb9; outline-offset: -2px; outline: -webkit-focus-ring-color auto 5px;">Waiting for Christmas is like Waiting for a bus in Milan</a></h2><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="adjusted-player" height="90" id="embed_2167429" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/2167429/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/tdest_id/493535/render-playlist/no/custom-color/ffffff/" style="border-style: none; border-width: initial; box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" title="Waiting for Christmas is like Waiting for a bus in Milan" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px;"></div></div><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 right-side" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; min-height: 1px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; position: relative; width: 855px;"><p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: dimgrey; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 5px 0px;">Dec 25, 2012</p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Sermon preached at Trinity and St. Mark's Houston, fourth sunday of advent 2012</p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p></div></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-5219832751812755962023-11-22T07:03:00.000-08:002023-11-24T10:40:18.005-08:00Advent 3, Year B, December 17, 2023<div><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSv5xEDfe8cojhi-XXQBLQ69ZCbty9Jx1uUH__w8jJjIznA-eyjYR2qYE_EA7sRWIjSgUQyAtjtc3t-Qu6qOOnKFxfKLgsyOdZXLOqNwzexDF3oB7jvRgReeyhYeb-5oNPP7tOoiz9rLX/s1600/saint_john_baptist.jpg" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSv5xEDfe8cojhi-XXQBLQ69ZCbty9Jx1uUH__w8jJjIznA-eyjYR2qYE_EA7sRWIjSgUQyAtjtc3t-Qu6qOOnKFxfKLgsyOdZXLOqNwzexDF3oB7jvRgReeyhYeb-5oNPP7tOoiz9rLX/s320/saint_john_baptist.jpg" width="239" /></a><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Prayer</strong><br />
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God of peace, whose word is good news to the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted and freedom for all who are held bound, gladden our hearts and fashion the earth into a garden of righteousness and praise! Sanctify us entirely, in spirit, soul and body, for the coming of the One who even now is among us, your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was, who is and who is to come, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">John 1:6-28</span></b></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"If last week we met the camel hair wearing, locust and honey eating John the Baptist, this week we do a 180 degree turn and meet a whole different John."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/11/2011&tab=4">Commentary</a>, John 1:6-8, 19-28, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011. <br /><br /><i>"Much of the pain and suffering around us comes from people imagining that they are the light themselves. In psychological terms, my mind turns to Carl Jung when thinking about light and darkness within us. Jung warned of the dangers of trying to live only in our light. The shadow within is dangerous when ignored."</i><br /><div><i><br /></i><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071011220633/http://bloomingcactus.typepad.com/bloomingcactus/2005/12/john_168_1928_a.html">John 1:6-8, 19-28</a>, Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=John+1:6-28&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br /><br />
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As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy; I see by your outfit you are a cowboy, too; We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys. If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too. (listen to it <a href="http://youtu.be/WeGzPohkyew">here</a>)</blockquote>
I grew up listening to the Smothers Brothers, and this was their version of The Streets of Laredo. I have always loved it.<br />
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Who are you? I can tell you who I am by telling you my life story. Ultimately, you will guess it by my clothes and by my car and by my house...the rings on my fingers and bells on my toes. Today's Gospel lesson asks, who are you?<br />
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To get to the bottom of this, we must take a good look at what is going on this week in the Gospel Text; especially since we have taken a dog leg into John's Gospel from Mark!<br />
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This week's Gospel reading is really in two parts. Those of you preparing a sermon (if doing so on this text) will find that it is really two different parts of John's introduction. The text for Sunday is 1:6-8 and 19-28.<br />
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The first piece falls well within what many scholars believe to be the greatest part of the New Testament. Raymond Brown, in his first volume, writes this about the prologue, which stretches from 1:1-18.<br />
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"If John has been described as the pearl of great price among the NT writings, then one may say that the Prologue is the pearl within this Gospel. In her ccomparisonof Augustine's and Chrysostom's exegesis of the Prologue, M. A. Aucoin points out that both held that it is beyond the power of man to speak as John does in the Prologue." (18)</blockquote>
I think it is important to think of these first verses well within this first piece of writing which has both a form and a purpose. Brown breaks it up this way... The first section is 1:1-2; this is the Word of God section, which offers a poetic vision of God's very being. The second section, verses 3-5, reveals the Word's work in creation. It is the light shining in the darkness, shining through man's sinfulness, shining in the birth that flows from the fallen woman Eve in Jesus. Then, and only then, do we arrive at our piece, which is nestled quite nicely here. The third portion is verses 6-9 and is John the Baptist's, witness. As Brown points out the second part is about the Word's work throughout creation, here that comes to fruition in the proclamation of God's incarnate Word Jesus. (Brown, <em>John</em>, vol 1, 18-17) Many bloggers this week noted the difference between the John of Mark and the John of this Gospel. I think the reason for the striking difference is primarily this Gospel's tightly focused presentation of God in Christ Jesus. The only reason to even have John in this section is to make clear he is preparing the hearts of humankind for the incarnation, and proclamation of the Word made man. Brown tells us that following this proclamation, we return to the fourth section (continuing the ancient hymn outlined in the text), which is about the Christ of God working his mission in the world. This is followed by the community's response. The last of the five sections is another few words by John the Baptist, but here in 14, 17-18, is John's proclamation that the Word spoken before time is this Jesus. He is the pre-existent one. A radical, revolutionary, and prophetic revelation is being offered in this last section, for in this time, the common person would have understood that God is invisible, so it makes sense that the Word spoken, the Son is the only one who has seen this God. The unique relation between Son and God not only helps with the contemporary thought of the day but it gives rise to our common understanding of who Jesus is: God's only Son. (For my theological followers, there is a great discussion in Brown's Vol 1 on pages 35 and 36 about this last section; and it is well worth reading.)<br />
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To summarize then, we have in the first two verses of our reading a very clear focus on God in Christ. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Word made manifest, and the Word is at work in the world. As if marching to a drum, we hear for the first time in these very first words what we have faithfully memorized as Christians and Episcopalians who have a Common Prayer Book, and that is that the only Son of God has come into the world to save the world. Such comfortable and hopeful words. Everything in this first section of our reading verbally illustrates that John the baptist is someone they knew but now is so transparent to the Gospel that all they see now is the coming of Christ.<br />
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On the first day of John's ministry in the Gospel, he disappears as the living Word and Jesus take centre stage. On the second day, he offers a vision of who Jesus is; he is the transparent vessel of a living Christ - of light in the world.<br />
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In this third week of Advent, a number of things are going on in our context here in the U.S. One is what I would call the <em>holiday breather</em>. We began the holiday with a Thanksgiving mad dash to fill our bellies and our shopping carts. We redoubled our efforts to get to church. And, we are now in the slump; it is the week-long Wednesday between Holiday and Christmas Day. Unfortunately, preachers are in the same predicament.<br />
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Into this slump, we re-read a passage about John the Baptist. Now, you and I both know that is not precisely true. This Sunday's passage is very different from the last. Brown and practically all modern scholarship recognizes that John the Baptist in John's Gospel is completely different than the one portrayed in the Synoptics. He looks different than the previous version we preached on last week. This week he is the transparent vessel of God's grace - Jesus Christ. He points only to God and to Jesus.<br />
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Just as John the Baptist in John's Gospel, you and I are, as Christians, intimately tied to who we say God is.<br />
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You might remember Stephen Colbert's radical statement that caused so much attention recently:<br />
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"If [America] is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."</blockquote>
I will tell you that not being who we say we are is a crippling missionary stumbling block in a world that is seeking some kind of authentic view of God and Grace and hoping someone will be a true voice of transformation and life in a world of gifts and purchases whose shimmer and shine will fade a few weeks after their delivery.<br />
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The truth is that as Christians, we proclaim and reaffirm that the pre-existent Word of God is Jesus Christ, who is God's only son. And that we are, as a people and as individuals (as is proclaimed in the Isaiah passage for this Sunday), inheritors of a divine relationship with the unseen God through the waters of baptism. And, that we DO believe we are related as brothers or sisters of God's family. And, therefore we are to treat people in a certain way, with special attention to God's most intimate friends - the poor.<br />
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We say and affirm as a defining part of who we are that we, as Christians, believe we meet God in the text of scripture and in the faces of our neighbour.<br />
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We meet God in John's proclamation. We meet this unseen God in the very speaking and retelling of the story of the incarnation of God offered here on the other side of the Jordan, just as it is offered from the ambos and pulpits of our churches.<br />
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Moreover, like John, we meet God by venturing out across the doorway of our church onto the other side of the sidewalk, where we have the opportunity to meet the living Word in the storied lives of the people we find out in the world. We encounter God and his Son in the words of scripture, which helps us to hear the same living incarnate God spoken in the story of our neighbour.<br />
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This week we did a bible study with this passage at our meeting of the governing board of the diocese. A friend and fellow clergyman said he had been praying and thinking about this passage. He realized and offered to the group that, quite frankly, we were simply to be at work being witnesses to Christ (like John the Baptist and John the Gospeller), and if we were not, then we were being witnesses for something or someone else. In the latter, he had in mind those folks who travelled all that way to meet John the Baptist in the desert and to shut him down for not bearing witness to what they stood for.<br />
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This religious stuff is a dangerous thing. The world right now is taking a breather from its holiday consumption. It is quiet before the holiday storm. We have an opportunity to tell the truth. The truth is that how we live out our holiday will reveal if we are bearing witness to God in Christ Jesus, or if we are representing something else. Yes, what we say and what we do are incarnational symbols of the living God or something else entirely.<br />
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Religion on a Sunday like this is dangerous because when we don't tell the truth about the world we live in (the addictions we have, the way we attempt to purchase our belongings, and how we are stewards of God's things), we sell a little piece of our corporate soul to the secular world; creating a consumer faith.<br />
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How will the church, how will you, the preacher, how will the people answer the essential question asked on the shore of the Jordan River so many years ago, and which is still relevant today: "Who are you; because you look like someone I once knew?"</div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> I Thessalonians 5:12-28</b></span></div>
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<i>"Once again, on this Third Sunday of Advent, we have an appeal, now from Paul, to a community of faith about the way it is to live in the world."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/11/2011&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (Advent 3), Dirk G Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br /><br /><i>"Closely associated with the ability to rejoice always is a constant prayerfulness. As mentioned, these imperatives are each in the present tense."</i><br /><a href="http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1657">The Conduct of the Assembly</a> and <a href="http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1658">The Concluding Remarks</a> from An Exegetical and Devotional Commentary on 1 Thessalonians, by J. Hampton Keathley III at the Biblical Studies Foundation.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Thessalonians+5:12-28&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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In this part of the Thessalonians passage, he is focused most of all upon the relationships of the community members. We are to work for one another's best behalf, and we are to comfort those who are suffering. He offers himself as a model and gives some basic advice:<br />
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1. Respect one another.<br />
2. Esteem one another.<br />
3. Admonish the fainthearted by encouraging them.<br />
4. Help the weak.<br />
5. When evil is done to you do not repay it with evil.<br />
6. Always seek the good and to do good in one another and to all.<br />
7. Rejoice and pray.<br />
8. Be grateful.<br />
9. Be patient.<br />
10. Do not quench the spirit.<br />
11. Hold fast to what is good.<br />
12. Abstain from evil.</blockquote><br />
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This is a good list. Some time ago a woman came up to me and was complaining and upset about the church and other people and our culture and our loss of what is important. It was sad. I truly felt for her.<br />
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It was hard to do these 12 things for her. It was difficult to invite her to do these 12 things. Yet, this is the Gospel in action. Isn't it?<br />
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<div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Isaiah 61:1-11</b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>"It is a passage that can perhaps be read placidly by those for whom things are going well, but less so by those who do look around and see only destruction. None of us need look far to see that all is not well in the world."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/11/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (Advent 3), Kristin J. Wendland, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div><div><br /><i>"The city where hopelessness had taken root will, by God's spirit and by God's blessing, sprout righteousness and praise."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/11/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (Advent 3), Elna K. Solvang, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br /><br /><i>" How long can we continue to push God’s promise of justice into the future?<br /></i><a href="http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/archive/uncategorized/advent3ot-2/">"Repurposing the Promise of Release,"</a> Russell Rathbun, The Hardest Question, 2011.<br /><br /></div><div><br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+61:1-11&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></span></div><br /><br />Why does God just end human slavery? Why is it that in all the cases in scripture, the end of slavery comes after a long time of struggle? </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Rabbi Sacks suggests that Isaiah 61 gives us part of the answer to this question:</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><blockquote>If history tells us anything, it is that G‑d has patience, though it is often sorely tried. He wanted slavery abolished, but He wanted it to be done by free human beings coming to see of their own accord the evil it is and the evil it does. The G‑d of history, who taught us to study history, had faith that eventually we would learn the lesson of history: that freedom is indivisible. We must grant freedom to others if we truly seek it for ourselves.</blockquote><blockquote>And so it happened. The Quakers, Methodists and Evangelicals, most famous among them William Wilberforce, who led the campaign in Britain to abolish the slave trade, were driven by religious conviction, inspired not least by the biblical narrative of the Exodus, and by the challenge of Isaiah “to proclaim freedom for captives, and for prisoners, release from darkness.” (<a href="https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/1750159/jewish/The-Slow-End-of-Slavery.htm" target="_blank">See Sack's </a><i><a href="https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/1750159/jewish/The-Slow-End-of-Slavery.htm" target="_blank">Slow End To Slavery here.</a>)</i></blockquote><p>Rabbi Sacks suggests that the slaves both in Egypt and in Babylon wait an interminable time. They are forever reminded this slavery is not God's will but human sin. Meanwhile, God works for their freedom and the changing of the minds of the captors and masters. All the while, God reminds us that slavery is an offense to dignity and part of the continuation of sibling rivalry.</p><p>Let me pair this with a quote from James Cone's book <i>Black Theology and Black Power </i>(1969):</p><p></p><blockquote>All white men are responsible for white oppression. It is much too easy to say, "Racism is not my fault," or "I am not responsible for the country's inhumanity to the black man. ... But insofar as white do-gooders tolerate and sponsor racism in their educational institutions, their political, economic and social structures, their churches, and in every other aspect of American life, they are directly responsible for racism. ... Racism is possible because whites are indifferent to suffering and patient with cruelty. Karl Jaspers' description of metaphysical guilt is pertinent here. "There exists among men, because they are men, a solidarity through which each shares responsibility for every injustice and every wrong committed in the world, and especially for crimes that are committed in his presence or of which he cannot be ignorant." (24)</blockquote><p>See also <i>A Black Theology of Liberation</i> (1970):</p><blockquote><p>Black theology cannot accept a view of God which does not represent God as being for oppressed blacks and thus against white oppressors. Living in a world of white oppressors, blacks have no time for a neutral God. The brutalities are too great and the pain too severe, and this means we must know where God is and what God is doing in the revolution. There is no use for a God who loves white oppressors the same as oppressed blacks. We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject God's love. (70)</p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>Cone is leaning into a Gospel imagination, narrative, and invitation to act. </p><p>The early Gospellers heard this passage in a very particular manner as well - this is suggested in a review of Matthew's gospel. Matthew is reading Isaiah (and Psalm 146:5-9) with an eschatological imagination. (Richard Hays, Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, 2016, 150) This is a shift to offer hope in a time yet to come when God will make all things right. The eschatological imagination offers a window of justice-making prophecy that suggests hope in the midst of oppression.</p><p>Perhaps it is this eschatological imagination that The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. drew upon when from his Washington, D.C.. address in February of 1968, he said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”</p><p>The Gospel of Luke takes the eschatological imagination and locates it in the work of Jesus. (Luke 4:18-19). This is the gift of the Spirit that sets upon Jesus. Moreover, Luke suggests that Jesus' announcement is a kind of sabbath time reordered. Richard Hays points out these are not mere words placed in Jesus' mouth lifted from Isaiah, but that they are the lived narrative of Jesus. (Ibid, 225-229.)</p><p>The gift of reading scripture with Jewish rabbinical teaching on one hand and the Gospels on the other is that it keeps us from believing that non-action is an option for the Christian. </p><p>We are invited in Advent to remember the eschatological imagination of God, the words and ministry of Jesus, and the ultimate desire of God that human hearts be changed. We might well begin with our own. Yet the combined revelation teaches us that our own hearts are only the first steps in the work of an incarnational faith.</p><p>Here I want to end with Howard Thurman. He intertwines both the Jewish understanding of the text, the Gospel's eschatological imagination, and the work of mission together. He wrote in a beautiful essay entitled "The Work of Christmas" in The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations (1985), the following words:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>When the song of the angels is stilled,</p><p>When the star in the sky is gone,</p><p>When the kings and princes are home,</p><p>When the shepherds are back with their flock,</p><p>The work of Christmas begins:</p><p>To find the lost,</p><p>To heal the broken,</p><p>To feed the hungry,</p><p>To release the prisoner,</p><p>To rebuild the nations,</p><p>To bring peace among people,</p><p>To make music in the heart.</p></blockquote><p></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-85701768504714191822023-11-21T09:08:00.000-08:002023-11-24T10:36:28.147-08:00Advent 2, Year B, December 10, 2023<div><div><div><br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></em><strong style="font-size: x-large;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRI7x8BJUT7CUu0BooCa3FY4TXYHSfFzCLYHTq8naFpnefyAHNLqZSUnW0ddBMLieBqOiH2rD1qe5K5u6pl7q9oNSM762IRT9WkQjGpLQIiv7wFp4bvoJ5tdya9VN6QUqKdCm50lBMII33/s640/The+King%2527s+Highway.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="640" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRI7x8BJUT7CUu0BooCa3FY4TXYHSfFzCLYHTq8naFpnefyAHNLqZSUnW0ddBMLieBqOiH2rD1qe5K5u6pl7q9oNSM762IRT9WkQjGpLQIiv7wFp4bvoJ5tdya9VN6QUqKdCm50lBMII33/w314-h196/The+King%2527s+Highway.png" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The King's Highway</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Prayer</strong><br />
O God of all consolation, to us who journey as pilgrims through time you have promised new heavens and a new earth. Speak today to the inmost heart of your people, that leading lives of holiness and godliness, and with a faith free from spot or blemish, we may hasten toward that day on which you will manifest in the fullness of its splendor the glory of your holy name.<br />
<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Mark 1:1-8</strong></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"This is the kind of change that stops us in our tracks and makes it impossible for us to live the same way anymore."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://sacredise.com/blog/?p=1088">"The Change Within and the Change Without,"</a> John van de Laar, Sacredise, 2011.<br /><br /><i>"To be at a beginning is to find that we are not prisoners of the past. John the Baptist announced as much. We and our blessed and foolish land need not be bound to our idolatries or regrets, our greeds or fears. We can begin again."</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2634">"On Your Mark,"</a> John Stendahl, The Christian Century, 2002.<br /><br /><i>"So…is it actually possible amidst our abject familiarity with the Christmas story to again hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of God as Good and as News and as that which only just Began with the birth of Jesus and is yet to end?"</i><br /><br /><a href="http://thehardestquestion.org/yearb/advent2gospel-2/">"Go Ahead, Judge a Book By Its Title,"</a> Nadia Bolz-Weber, The Hardest Question, 2011.</div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+1:1-8&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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(This was written in 2017)<br />
A tale of Thanksgiving: Good news, as it had been forecasted by news media who sent out word well in advance, people made their way from their Thanksgiving tables (some at midnight) to the malls and stores and worldwide web. They cried out in the wilderness for deals. The way was cleared, and stores made ready, the paths for savings and deals galore were opened so that all could find the perfect gifts for loved ones. It was a wilderness out there! Commercials, advertisements, and emails proclaimed savings, and people from the whole countryside, in fact, the developed world over, came out and bought and charged. You should have seen some of the people, in all kinds of clothing, ragged by the day's end. They looked, and they looked, so the story goes until, at the close of the day, Black Friday (the shopping day after Christmas) and Cyber Monday (the online shopping day after the Thanksgiving weekend) saw the sale of over 53 billion in merchandise goodness. <br />
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As I reflect on the week that is past I have several topical thoughts rumbling around in my head.<br />
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Global desires and hopes for spending to help our economy.<br />
Football games galore.<br />
A ton of food.<br />
The poor and the hungry on a wet and cold weekend.<br />
Advent wreath making.<br />
Time with family.<br />
People dealing with the complexities of family.<br />
Reflections on the Occupy Wall Street movement.<br />
Thanksgiving Day parade.<br />
Political election anxiety and hope.<br />
The readings of Advent 1 regarding the coming of the Messiah.</blockquote>
It was a great holiday in so many respects. Yet it was a holiday of extremes as well; was it not? I wondered first: what is it that we are looking for? As a culture and as individuals, what is it that we are hoping to have in all these things? With all these gifts?<br />
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I have decided that the truth in such spending, chaotic action, and wild divergent events is actually not best described by analyzing what we sought through our actions but by what drives us in the search. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;">I am curious about how desire continues to work on us: how we desire to be with one another, how we desire to have the thanksgivings from the past, how we might hope for a return to football, and hope for black Friday. Each of us has odd, complex, strange, and even simple desires.</div><div style="clear: both;">
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I think the continuing theme is "human desire." Humanity is made to desire and long for that which is outside of itself. Certainly, we are seeking to purchase and make our own kind of imagined normal life. We are trying to attach ourselves by virtue of our needs to something meaningful. We are hoping that somehow we will fill the emptiness that is inside with something that is outside of us.<br />
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It is as if the desire for our constitutional right of "happiness" has become confused. One might even say that people who have the right to happiness and consume most of the world's resources, we are some of the most unhappy people.<br />
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I offer all of this because the Christian understands that human desire is created within so that we will long for that which is outside of ourselves - in particular, God in Christ Jesus, and God's community and body of Christ - the church. We are created to be in a relationship with God. We are created to long for God. And, we are created to long for one another.<br />
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What we do, though, is that we fill that longing with all kinds of other things. This is an age-old axiom and is explored in the first autobiography by Augustine of Hippo: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=augustine+confessions&sprefix=augustine+">Confessions</a>.<br />
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Today we fill that longing by purchasing massive amounts of gifts to show we care. We fill that longing with goods and products that promise beauty and normalcy. We fill that longing with media. We fill that longing by consuming food. We fill that longing by hoarding. We fill that longing by not dealing with family dynamics or by not facing up to our own shortcomings. We fill that longing by scapegoating others in our lives, in our workplaces, and in our governments for problems we ourselves are intimately involved in.<br />
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I say all of this not to be some Christmas (or Advent) Scrooge. Quite the contrary. I say this because the message of Mark's Gospel this Sunday, it turns out, is really good news (and quite inexpensive). The message is that God is the one we are longing for, and his incarnation Jesus Christ came into the world so as to fill that missing piece of our own soul for the sake of the relationship God himself desires.<br />
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As Irenaeus once described, the reality of God's creative act is the ultimate outpouring into the creation of God's own longing to walk with his creation in the garden on the eve of the day. The incarnation of Jesus helps to mend that hole. He has paid the ultimate price, and we may find our longing transformed into fulfilment in the community of friends called the church.<br />
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It is a wilderness out there, and it is our wilderness. We have lived in the wilds of consumer goods, ageing parents, complex lives, poverty, and longing. Today we live in the wilderness of political anxiety, and economic anxiety. It is a wilderness, and the voice is crying out and proclaiming, "Stop! Listen! Here is some good news!" This voice is important and one to be listened to.<br />
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The wilderness is a refuge, it turns out, in Mark's gospel. It is a place tied to the fleeing slaves from Egypt. It is the place of good things and good happenings.<br />
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Tied intimately to Isaiah's proclamation of freedom to the Israelites in Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40.3) this passage refers to the same promise of freedom to those who now choose to live a different life in the wilderness of our time and culture.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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Unlike many apocalyptic communities in Israel at the time of John's proclamation, his was not a proclamation of sectarian private life or private faith; that certainly was present, but it is not a Gospel notion. In point of fact, it was quite the opposite of what most people will experience at a church this coming Sunday. The proclamation was public, it was in the wilderness of the world, the confession was public, the washing was public, and it was all focused on living life in the world.<br />
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As we lean into the Gospel of Mark, we must be aware of the central motif of "The Way." This is a Gospel of The Way. And, the way leads to the cross and to resurrection. John proclaims, Jesus shall lead us, and as disciples, Mark intends us to follow.<br />
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As we read John's charge to us today, the message is much the same. We are leading a particular life, in a particular world, making our communal way with Jesus. </div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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We are to make room in our lives for the God who chooses to make us companions. Notice the passage does not say that God makes the paths straight and the valleys low. It is we who are to do the work of making room in our lives for God. We are the ones, not unlike the innkeeper, who in Advent remind ourselves and so create space in our calendars, at our tables, and in our lives (privately and publicly) for God.<br />
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John the Baptist, like a new Elisha or Elijah, is offering us a moment of change. A moment to see the world differently and to be different in the world. Most scholars believe there is a scriptural link. At the same time, those gathered at the water's edge and those hearing, Mark's Gospel for the first time would have actually recognized John as a vision of the great prophet because of the word pictures used to describe his clothing and eating habits. <br />
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John himself, in his words, and in his actions, is making a way in the wilderness. He is both prophetically offering a word of transformation and the vision of his ministry also offers an understanding that now is the time!</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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The understanding was that the waters themselves remade the body right and that this was an event of urgency. They prepared it for the mission ahead. Furthermore, important is the proclamation that a public confession and a singular baptism given by another, as opposed to daily ritual cleansing administered by yourself privately, was enough.<br />
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John's unique baptism for sins, for repentance, is a message of incredible grace. It is one wherein we understand that the waters of baptism are themselves the powerful waters of grace and freedom to live in relationship to this God. We are freed to live without the great consumptive game being played out all around us. We are freed to live no longer for ourselves but for Christ alone, and for our neighbour. We are given, in the words of Isaiah and in the proclamation of John the Baptist, an opportunity to turn and repent from lives lived for ourselves alone and not for God or others. We are invited to walk a path, a road, with Jesus allowing our desire for things other than God to be crucified and our false selves as well. </div>
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And what we discover is that in the end, though we are not worthy to embrace our savior Jesus or to stoop to untie the thong of his sandal as if a servant, this God calls us friends most of all.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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<br /><div align="LEFT"><i>"The believers to whom Peter writes have, in his view, two interrelated problems: they doubt the coming of Christ and they are drawn to immoral living."</i></div><div align="LEFT"><i><br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=12/7/2008&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 2 Peter 3:8-15a, L. Ann Jervis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><i>"Part of our task is to transpose the eagerness and urgency from the cosmological speculation to the register of human need and the state of the present world and its future."</i></div><div align="LEFT"><br /><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpAdvent2.htm">"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," </a>Advent 2, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><br />
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=2+Peter+3:8-15&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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We begin this portion of the letter from Peter with a reminder that just because God in Christ Jesus has not yet returned he will return. Using images that remind us of Jesus' own teachings, Peter reminds us that we do not know when the thief or the master comes. The author then goes on to say that this time of waiting should be used to work on walking The Way of Jesus. </div>
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The work of the follower of Jesus is to live lives of holiness and godliness. We are seeking after, hungry for righteousness, and should long for and wait patiently for the coming of God. </div>
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The description of the end time is cataclysmic and is unique in its vision within the rest of the New Testament. Anne Jarvis <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=181">writes</a>:</div>
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This is the only place in the New Testament where the day of the Lord is described in this manner. The New Testament writings agree, by and large, that a cataclysmic event is in the offing when God, with the agency of Christ, will set everything right. They disagree on whether there will be intelligible signs of the impending day (for instance, 1 Thessalonians [5:4], like 2 Peter, claims the day will come like a thief in the night, whereas 2 Thessalonians [2:1-4] argues that there will be a visible signal that the end is near). They also disagree on whether what is will be destroyed (2 Peter) or will 'pass away' (Revelation 21:1) or whether it will be renewed (e.g., Romans 8:18-23), perhaps in light of the revelation of the true and eternal heaven (Hebrews 9:24).</blockquote>
Jarvis continues:</div>
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Peter's proof for this is that it will not be the first time the world will have been destroyed (3:5); and that both his scriptures, our Old Testament and the inspired word of the apostles (3:2), have said it would be so. There is no doubt in Peter's mind; and he takes it as essential to faith to believe this. Moreover, he warns his readers that doubt about the day of the Lord leads directly to what he calls "licentiousness" (2:2).</blockquote>
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Peter is clear that this is a time of repentance and a time to take seriously not only God's judgment but also an opportunity for us to take seriously God's invitation to change.</div>
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Scholar William Loader <a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpAdvent2.htm">writes</a>: </div>
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The purity and godliness espoused in this letter may have a strongly moral quality and focus on piety. For us such purity and godliness has to be transposed into singleness of endeavour and solidarity with God's action and promise that there can be peace and there can be justice in this world - within people and among them. Part of our task is to transpose the eagerness and urgency from the cosmological speculation to the register of human need and the state of the present world and its future.</blockquote>
The question for us is, what are we to do with this time? We are to work for God and God's kingdom. We must set about the co-creating of God's reign. If we are to take seriously the urgency and the work then we must not delay in addressing those issues that plague our reality and context today.<br />
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We must not delay in feeding the hungry; and, setting about to build a community where people do not go hungry. We must not delay in providing clothes and shelter for the naked; and, setting about to ensure that all people have a safe place in which to dwell. We must not delay in caring for the sick, and, we must set about the work of transforming a culture where all those who are ill may find health care. We must visit those in prison, and, we must set about to create a just system of government. Moreover, we must examine carefully what the social determinants of these failures to be a goodly and Godly society may be and we must act today to stem their power tomorrow.<br />
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Every act of goodness and righteousness that we undertake in this life will be taken into the kingdom to come and will in fact, be the living stones upon which Jesus will build his reign.<br />
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So do not wait. Do not joke and jest as if the coming of the Lord is just an old idea. Do not pretend as if the end will not come. But in everything and in every way, let us transform the society in which we live and move. This is the invitation of Peter and Jesus alike.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Some Thoughts on</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b> Isaiah 40:1-11</b></span></div><br /><br /><i>"The message given is confident and hopeful, "Here is your God!" Here is a God who comes to feed the flock, to gather the lambs, to lead the mother sheep -- to bring comfort. Here is God in whom one may have hope."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2254">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 40:1-11, Kristin J. Wendland, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.<br /><br /><br /><i>"What an interesting array of metaphors in this pivotal text."<br /></i><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3491">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 40:1-11, Corrine Carvalho, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2017.<br /><br /><br /><i>"The King's Road, which connected Heliopolis (modern Cairo) to Damascus, literally put Israel on the map as spices, gold, textiles and olive oil flowed through the great caravans. Unfortunately, armies travelled the highway as well, as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Rome all coveted the strategic dominance that came with subduing Palestine. It was a perilous and wondrous journey that traversed the Sinai desert, wound through the ravines of Petra and across mountain ranges, fighting heat, thirst, stubborn camels and bandits along the way."</i><br /><a href="http://bloomingcactus.typepad.com/bloomingcactus/2005/11/isaiah_40111_st.html">"Straight Highways,"</a> Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.<br /><br /><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+40:1-11&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><br /></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>So much has been written online about a season that needs a firey Advent. There is a call for repentance and listening to the Markan invitation to prepare for the Lord. Isaiah's passage appointed for this Sunday has a different message.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">The passage comes from what many of you may remember as 2nd Isaiah. The third chapter of Isaiah's wilderness prophecies. The passage begins with: "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God." It continues with God's invitation to, "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins."</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">After such a brutal time through - of which we still face a long time of managing the trauma and leading through some of the most difficult months yet before us. After a hostile and anger-producing political season on all sides of which indeed some repentance by many people is probably in order. We continue in a season of death and economic suffering for the great majority of people. Here is God's invitation to take a different tack... to comfort.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Isaiah then continues, </div><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><br />“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” </div></blockquote><p>Then the prophet questions, and God answers: </p><blockquote><div align="LEFT">A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.<br /></div></blockquote><p>In the midst of this preparation, we are made aware that God's faithfulness and Word last forever. It reaches back behind us in faithfulness and goes out before us. Time passes, and pain is felt. Life and death have come to many generations. Comfort them is the implication. Comfort people from the everlasting spring of hope and love that is the living God. Then God continues:</p><blockquote><div align="LEFT"><br />Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.</div></blockquote><p>Here is the prophecy of Christ, understood by Mark and the other Gospellers. Here is the invitation to imagine the Christ who comes. </p><p>First, Robert Hays, in <i>Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels</i> makes an important connection between Jesus' words in Matthew 24, stating that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words are eternal and our Isaiah passage: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." (169) Further, in Matthew John, the Baptist is the one who heralds the Good News in the wilderness. This is a particular and powerful Christological claim.</p><p>Mark mixes this image with the images from the books of Exodus and Malachi. Mark is playing upon the themes of Christ as a bringer of judgment and the time of a new exodus. The judgment is for those who have been oppressed, not for those who are oppressed. This is important. We cannot confuse the first Isaiah with the second. Mark is clearly pressing on an Exodus theme. The oppressed are the ones to be delivered. Rikki Watts, in <i>Isaiah's New Exodus and Mark</i> (specifically see page 90ff), we have a kind of 'Isaiahnic Exodus.' It is an 'eschatological comfort.' Robert Hays suggests this is one of the primary frameworks in which Mark is playing. (Hays, 30ff) This is the Good News - in fact, Jesus is the anthropomorphic embodiment of Exodus. He not only brings <i>euagelion</i> he is <i>euagelion</i>. </p><p>If we turn to Luke, we find a bit different thing happening. In Luke, Mark's quote is taken and corrected - disconnecting it from Exodus and Malachi. Luke pulls a Pauline-like theological twist. (Remember that Paul will, in his Epistles, make God's people - all people. All Gentiles will be the inheritors of Abraham's promise. In the same light, Luke sees the message to the nations as a message of hope for all people - all tribes. To read more, I suggest Peter Mallen's <i>The Reading and Transformation of Isaiah in Luke-Acts; see</i> pages 108-113 specifically. More importantly, this is the last piece of Isaiah to be quoted by Luke and Hays, and others see it as the final foundational piece of the Lukan mission to the world.</p><p>John takes a different position altogether. John's use of the text falls within the first chapter. For the gospel author of John, Isaiah is a witness to Christ having prophesied his coming in this particular passage and in the passages to be found in John 12 where Jesus fulfils the prophetic words of Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10. John's use of Isaiah is not mere oracle but as a key piece of God's work in the world. The God who is faithful delivers the people and takes the place of earthly rulers (as in King Uzziah). (See Hays, 193.) </p><p>This passage holds within it a deep debate. For many rabbis, this passage is about Israel, and it is not a prophecy but an invitation for the people to be a different kind of nation among nations. It is an invitation to hear the good news of release to the captives. It is a longing for Israel and a return home. While for Christians there is the prophetic Christology apparent. These two places are easily reconciled within the doctrine of the Incarnation. We as Christians do not have to leave behind our understanding of the work of Christ or the message as the first hearers would have received it. As we are in Christ all baptized into his death and resurrection, so too does his work of proclamation (of <i>euagelion</i>) and a life lived upon a Word that will never fade as part of the invited response to the cross. </p><p>Indeed, let us hear the power of Advent. But in this particular season, perhaps a word of comfort is in order?</p><p><br /></p></div></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-30396784575493889862023-11-20T07:17:00.000-08:002023-11-24T10:28:21.598-08:00Advent 1, Year B, December 3, 2023<div><div><div><div><br />
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Through all generations, O God, your faithfulness endures, and your fidelity to the covenant can never fail. Since you are the potter and we are the work of your hands, remember us and strengthen us to the end by your grace; that with a love beyond reproach, we may faithfully keep watch for the glorious coming of our Redeemer, and be found blameless on the day of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.<br />
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<i>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</i></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><strong style="font-size: x-large;">Mark 13:24-37</strong></div><div style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><i>"The Gospel text for the first Sunday in Advent is certainly not anticipated and most likely not welcome."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/27/2011&tab=4">Commentary</a>, Mark 13:24-37, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br /><br /><i>"So remember how you answered that question about what you would do if the world were to end tomorrow? Well, guess what? You don't need to wait. You can do those things now!"</i><div><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=529">"If the World Were to End,"</a> David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2011.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark+13:24-37&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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The lesson for this Sunday describes the coming of the Son of Man. In Mark's Gospel, this is a prophetic vision of the apocalyptic judgment. It is a passage filled with first-century understandings about the end time, and it places Mark firmly in the tradition of apocalyptic writers. <br />
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I remember teaching my first adult forum class at my fieldwork site. The class was on the Nicene Creed. When we got to the part about judgment, I was asked by a leader in the congregation if I believed that Christ was going to come back and judge the world. It was a question that caught me off guard as I had never really thought of it in that pronounced fashion. Did I believe this to be true? Will our Lord, Jesus Christ, come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and will his kingdom have no end.? <br />
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The man's point was that he didn't believe it, and he didn't think most people believed it. There it was in the middle of my Sunday morning class - a non-believer, confronting all of us in the room with the very words we say every Sunday but don't think about, and he was certain we didn't believe.<br />
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Let me tell you first that I have hope. My normal human mind begins to dance this way and that and I think honestly that first (if I am honest), I don't want a judgment. Second, if I am wrong, then I want for the judgment to have already occurred, and having been found guilty have now had the price of my guilt paid for by Jesus Christ on the Cross. Thirdly, just for safety, I want to believe that Jesus Christ's mission is already complete. (For the theologians among the crowd, we do well to remember the Brunner and Barth debate on this issue as a perfect example of the divide and impasse of the varying views on this topic.) Yes, that is what I hope; that is what my human mind wants to believe. That is indeed what my heart longs for: Jesus to be ultimately and perfectly victorious and to save the whole world.<br />
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And, I want to believe in the great capacity of goodness in all human beings to live in that grace and give freely of themselves for the work of the kingdom of God and of his righteousness.<br />
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Having said all of that, some interesting things begin to happen in terms of our lives with God and our lives with one another.<br />
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Over the years, I have reflected on this passage and others like it. I think something interesting seems to slip away as we deal with it - or don't, as the case may be. Sure, we all want this great salvation to be true. And, being the humans that we are, we then let ourselves off the hook. Yep! That's right. What happens is that we let ourselves off the hook because the mission is successful, there is no urgency to act, and after all, what does it really matter? <br />
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In Mark's Gospel, and in point of fact, in all of the Gospels - it matters. It matters a whole lot. Over time the emerging church of the first century had to come to terms with the fact that Jesus did not return as quickly as they thought - but they believed that evangelism, virtuous citizenship, mission, and service to others was essential. We can even see the change in Paul's own letters preserved in our New Testament. Paul wrestled with the time it was taking for the second coming. Even still, Paul inspired and encouraged people because it mattered how people treated one another and what they did or did not do. Even the Gospels written in the latter part of the first and early part of the second centuries have a different tone regarding the urgency - but Matthew's Gospel which is focused on this emerging church of the centuries, offers a vision of a community that is waiting but where it matters.<br />
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Over the years, there have been blossoming apocalyptic movements. Some have even birthed churches. Still, others have ended in disaster. Probably all of them have created a general public sense that thinking apocalyptically is silly at its most innocent and dangerous if taken to its natural conclusion.<br />
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Dismissal seems to let us off the hook somehow.<br />
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Over the years, I have come to understand that I think it really does matter to God how we live our lives on this earth. I think it really does matter how we treat one another. I do think that to the God we believe in, it matters how the poor are cared for, and it matters how we take care of the earth we have some measure of control over. I think it matters to God. Moreover, based upon our current global societal troubles (the economic turbulence of recent years, the great divide between the rich and the poor, the lack of good education, the commoditization of a person's health, leaving millions without care, and the destruction of the housing market wherein others make money off of what is one of the most important human needs - shelter) we should all be concerned. <br />
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Regardless of whether you or I will live out our whole lives and pass into the arms of Abraham (God willing) before the end time, or we together only have a few moments left on this earth, we are measured by how we treat and take care of others. This is and continues to be one of the central themes of scripture.<br />
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Those who go without have an urgent need today, and our actions matter to them as well. <br />
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In the immortal words of Bishop John Hines (IV Texas, and TEC Presiding Bishop) "The Kingdom of Heaven is for all people." Some of those people are still waiting for the Good News and transformed lives, and God is waiting for us to do something about it.<br />
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In this season of Advent, I hope you won't excuse Jesus' message in Mark's Gospel. I hope you won't pretend like it doesn't matter or that it isn't urgent. I hope you won't dismiss the judgment. Rather, I hope you will challenge your people to think about: how is their report card with God going? If God came back today, what would he say to them? You might invite them to think about the <a href="http://www.adventconspiracy.org/">Advent Conspiracy</a> and how we might change how we do things in our lives, beginning with today and this season.<br />
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I hope you will challenge them to see if they have lost a sense of urgent work on the part of God in Christ Jesus and his Gospel. I hope you will inspire them to see that God is hoping in us and that we are being judged by our actions. And, by the way, the people of this world are also judging us by our actions.<br />
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I can say today, "I believe." I have come to believe the words I speak, and I pray: Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom has no end. Let me work to the end of days on behalf of God and on behalf of his kingdom and his special friends, the poor and those in need. Let me hope eternally for grace enough for me, a sinner of his flock. And, finally, let my work in word and action see no rest; after all, who knows when the master of the house will return?</div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><i>"It is perhaps not surprising that Paul, as he addresses the church in Corinth, speaks of the gift given, God's grace shared, as "speech and knowledge of every kind" and wealth (i.e., being enriched in Christ Jesus)."</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/27/2011&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div>
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"Private faith of a personal future is more comforting and marketable, but has little to do with the hope Jesus came to bring and doesn't really spell good news for the poor except in another life."</div>
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/AEpEpiphany2.htm">"First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Epiphany 2,"</a> William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+1:1-9&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div>
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In this passage, we have a typical Greek greeting and form for a letter. Paul emphasizes his call to ministry and his apostleship and addresses the letter to the community at Corinth. </div>
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He reminds them that they are to be at work in the world, as saints, on behalf of Jesus Christ. He also reminds them that they are unified beyond Corinth with other followers of Christ Jesus. </div>
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He blesses them with grace and peace. And he gives thanks for their ministry on God's behalf. He reminds them, finally, that God has given them the gifts needed for this ministry. They are lacking in anything spiritually to undertake the work of God in Corinth and within their community. </div>
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So what is this all for? Certainly, we know that Paul is writing because there is conflict. Here though, is something more than just a letter about bringing peace out of the division. Paul tells them that they have these gifts and that the purpose of the gifts is this "fellowship of his Son." Fellowship here could also mean companionship of Christ, according to scholar Joseph Fitzmayer (First Corinthians, Anchor Yale Bible, 2008, 134). Paul is referring to the community quality of unity around the Lord's table - koinonia. (Ibid) Paul is, in some way, reminding them that they are, the people of Corinth, united by Christ for the purpose of salvation and the kingdom. (Ibid) </div>
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Fitzmayer points out this is particularly Pauline - the idea that Christ is the unifying agent and Christianity is the living companionship with Christ. It is also, as we will see as we read his letter, a companionship of peace and unity at the table to be brought about by his followers one to another. </div>
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In other words, those who follow Jesus are to be united. This is a very real icon of their unity in Christ. If they are not one in companionship with one another - then this reveals that they are not one in Christ. For Paul, our inability to be together, work collaboratively, work peacefully, and be united is not a revelation about us but a revelation about our individual dependence upon the koinonia created by Jesus Christ on his cross. </div>
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I would go a step forward to say that the way we frame the relationship between God and the world attempts to sever the unity of this koinonia - meaning:<br />
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<li>that companionship and fellowship with God, yes </li>
<li>companionship and fellowship with one another, maybe if you agree with me </li>
<li>and companionship and fellowship with the world - no</li>
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We so separate the world so that we are not accountable for these values and ways of being. We separate our own life within the Christian community so as not to be accountable for the companionship and fellowship of Christ. This particular predicament would have been completely foreign to Paul and his theology.</div>
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Paul sees the world as one cosmos - united by God as creator and Christ as the bringer of salvation and reconciliation of the world with God. So there is no disunity - but only unity. God is unified with his creatures and his creation. The whole world is re-united - united - with God. We are to be a goodly and Godly community. Paul imagines a seamless unity between God and the individual, the individual followers of Christ and the other followers of Christ, and the followers of Christ and the people of the world - our neighbors. So it is that we offer a witness of a church community unified by God's reconciling love and at work in the world, building a unified peaceable kingdom for all people. </div>
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As William Loader reminds us - </div>
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"Even 1:8 which focuses on the day of the Lord most likely contains some hint of another problem to be faced: some Corinthians were denying a future resurrection. Their understanding of the future was so much bound up with the notions of eternal souls, it seems, that they saw no need for anything beyond the salvation of individual souls. Who needs embodiedness? Who needs a community? Who needs a day of the Lord, which would establish a kingdom of justice and peace? Isn't it enough to know that my soul will go to heaven? Here in 1:8 and in 1:9 Paul celebrates the future with Christ and the future in community (koinonia).</blockquote>
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Some Corinthians had difficulties with such images of the future and any literal interpretation is likely to meet similar hesitations today, not without ground, but Paul's logic is driven by an understanding that salvation has to mean something bigger than the individual. Many Christians still have difficulty making it to this level of understanding. It opens up too many questions about the social and political implications of the gospel. Private faith of a personal future is more comforting and marketable, but has little to do with the hope Jesus came to bring and doesn't really spell good news for the poor except in another life."</blockquote>
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God's companionship, fellowship, and koinonia are about a unity of purpose and calling where all our gifts, given by God, are put to use in transforming the world and the lives of those around us.<br />
<br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Isaiah 64:1-9</b></span></div><br /><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><i>"The people cry out in one voice for God to act on behalf of the people as a whole and on behalf of the individuals who make up that whole."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/27/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 64:1-9, Kristin J. Wendland, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br /><br /><br /><i>"We begin our journey of Advent pointing the finger at ourselves not at God. And yet so often when we believe God is hidden we fault God. We focus on the hidden part of the equation and not our part."</i><br /><a href="http://www.bethscib.com/reflections/has-god-hidden">"Has God Hidden?"</a> Beth Scibienski, 2014.<br /><br /><br /><i>"Their appeal is for God's intervention -- to heal the alienation and to halt the damage of their sins. The people's pain is clear. How God will respond is not."</i><br /><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/27/2011&tab=1">Commentary</a>, Isaiah 64:1-9, Elna K. Solvang, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.<br /><br /><br /><i>"The speaker of this text places the community (the speaker included) and us in the same place as Pharaoh."</i><br /><a href="http://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/17-4_Family/17-4_Nysse.pdf">Isaiah 63-64</a>, The Dark Side of God: Considerations for Preaching and Teaching, Richard Nysse, Texts in Context, Word & World, Luther Seminary, 1997.</div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div style="clear: both;"><br /><div style="clear: both;"><div align="LEFT"><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah+64:1-9&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a> </strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;"><span face="Times-Roman"><strong><br /></strong></span></div>I wish to speak about the theme in this passage from Isaiah is apocalyptic prayer. The apocalyptic prayer begins with a context of deep brokenness, then moves to a plea/prayer, and ends with hope. This is the passage we have before us. Equally important, they capture the essence of Mark's own understanding of the context in which the Messiah Christ Jesus comes. [See: Richard B. Hays, <i>Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels</i>, (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 16-17.] This is an overall framework from which many scholars believe Mark himself is working. Therefore, all the more reason for us to read it carefully. In this way, we have a message for us today that transcends both the Babylon Captivity and the Roman occupation of Jesus' own day.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">This passage begins with a wider view of the prophet's voice. If we take the whole of the text (pericope, if you will), we want to frame it between 63:15 and 64:9. There is hope in God's faithfulness to generations that have come before us; there is the present moment in which we feel disconnected from God, and there is the prayer that God will open the heavens and come down. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Let us begin with hope. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reminds us that in Leviticus 26:44-45 it is written: </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><blockquote>Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away… I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.</blockquote><div align="LEFT">Reflecting upon this, he writes, 'This is a turning point in the history of the human spirit. It is the birth of hope: not hope as a dream, a wish, a desire, but as the very shape of history itself, “the arc of the moral universe,” as Martin Luther King put it. God is just. He may punish. He may hide His face. But He will not break His word. He will fulfill His promise. He will redeem His children. He will bring them home.' (See - https://rabbisacks.org/the-birth-of-hope-bechukotai-5779/) </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Sacks is helpful in that he suggests that in this time, gods were far away, they were absent, and at times even malevolent. The best thing to do was to avoid them and stay away from them as much as possible - trying not to bring attention to yourself. Here though, is the God of Israel who wishes to be known, to be seen, and to be recognized as faithful beyond generations. In the end, the God of Israel is a God who will bring the people home and out of oppression. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">This is the God that Isaiah is remembering. In the present context of Isaiah, the prophet is giving voice to people who know the faithfulness of God and have hope in God's promised redemption and presence. No matter how bad the present moment is, this God cares and will be faithful and will act. It may feel, as the prophet tells us, that God has hidden God's face. Yet, time and time again suggests the tradition of Israel God will, in the end, not cast the people away but will be their God. This is the God of hope of Israel, this is the God who intervenes in terrible situations, this is the God of the apocalyptic prayer. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">Lastly, the use of the word "tear" is specific and limited to Isaiah 64.1 and Mark's similar use. The Gospel is Mark's answer to Isaiah's hope, context, and cry. It is a similar tear that is described in Mark's baptismal scene. A sign that God has come down to make God's self known to the people. (Hays, 18, and 92.) The Gospel proclamation in this passage for Christians is that it is Christ who comes down as the embodiment of hope, to be present in the catastrophe of life, and to bring healing, wholeness, peace, and justice. </div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">In this time, of deep concern, fear, and anxiety, we may very well feel as though God has hidden God's face from us. Isaiah and Mark call out to us from the past. They remind us that this has never been so. Humans do, from time to time, get themselves into a terrible mess. But the mess they are in will never have the last word. Regardless of how bad the world and our situation may look, we are people of God as Christians, like the other Abrahamic faiths. We are people who remember the hope that is in us. We remember faith and hope in a God who has for generations shown up and delivered God's people. We remember a God who is for us and wishes to be our God, and will not leave us in the midst of our brokenness. We remember a God who comes over and over again in scripture and finally comes in the person of Christ Jesus. We remember our own baptism and the image that we, too, are baptized into a family of hope who knows the heart's song and the apocalyptic prayer of the faithful.</div><div align="LEFT"><br /></div><div align="LEFT">To paraphrase Rabbi Sacks, the Jewish people have kept hope alive, and hope has kept the Jewish people alive. Might not the same be said for the faithful brothers and sisters of Abraham's family - those who follow the Gospel of Christ? (See Galatians 3; Romans 13, and Hebrews 11) In any time or place, where Christians have looked for hope, we have found it in the inheritance of Isaiah's apocalyptic prayer language and the person of Jesus Christ. Indeed, we, too, have joined our Abrahamic family in keeping hope alive; just as hope has kept the Christian alive as every adversary has been faced. Today the work and message are the same. Let us call out in the language of apocalyptic prayer; let us call upon God to remember God's faithfulness and tear apart the heavens and our hearts so that the Christ of hope may enter in.</div></div></div>
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C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-54910969763321879732023-11-19T11:04:00.000-08:002023-11-24T10:23:13.051-08:00Christ the King/Reign of Christ, Year A, November 26, 2023<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Quotes That Make Me Think</span></strong><br />
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"In church on Sunday, or at the cricket, we will be a motley bunch. There’ll be folk like my grandma <br />
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who always worried, a little bit, that grandpa might not make it into heaven. And some of us will worry that perhaps we will not be among the sheep."<br />
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<a href="http://onemansweb.org/theology/the-gospel-of-matthew-2011/love-conquers-everything---matthew-25-31-46.html">"Love Changes Everything,"</a> Andrew Prior, First Impressions, 2011.<br />
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So, like Paul and Dylan, my leaning these days is to refrain from reading violent kings or masters in parables as referring to God. My bias is to associate the kingdom of God/kingdom of heaven with that which is rejected, persecuted, killed, banished, tortured ... as Jesus was.<br />
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<a href="http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/q-r-exegeting-matthew-25.html">Exegeting Matthew 25</a>, Brian D. McLaren.<br /></div><div>
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How wonderful a king, Lord God, you have given us in Jesus your Son: neither a monarch throned in splendor nor a warrior bent on revenge, but a shepherd who seeks and rescues the flock, bringing them back, binding them up, strengthening them and feeding them with justice. Prepare us for the day of Christ's coming glory by shaping our lives according to his teaching that what we have done for the least of his brothers and sister, we have done for him, the Christ who was, who is, and who is to come, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.</em></strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">Matthew 25:31-46</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+25:31-46&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br /><br />
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This is Christ the King Sunday. The last Sunday of the Christian Year; is the Sunday before Advent 1. We have been reading from Matthew's Gospel, and we are about to segue into Mark's for the second of our three-year reading cycle called the Lectionary.<br />
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So in this last passage for the year, we have an image of Christ as King; at the end time, we have a great judgement going on and a division of the sheep and the goats. I love the quote above because of the incredible anxiety and weird things this passage does to us as Christians.<br />
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Andrew Prior is right. There will be a great number of people in Church this Sunday discomforted by this passage. And the few that are comfortable probably shouldn't be. Let's be honest: we do worry about getting into heaven and it is typically such a disquieting notion that we don't pay any attention to it at all and so dismiss all accountability for our actions. Or we lord this over others. We say things like we must save all those goats. Or, we should do mission and just let God do the sorting out. We worry about our parents and family members and ourselves. we have lists of things we have done that are bad and really bad. All in all, I think we read this passage, and we miss the whole point.<br />
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Do I think there is going to be a judgement? Yes, I say so every week in the creed, and I believe it. I sure hope the meagre life of service and a full measure of God's grace and love will help me make the cut. But that is not what this text is really saying to me and to us as a church. At least, I don't think it is. I don't think God wants us to worry about that stuff, the end times and what will happen when we die. We all die, and it will eventually happen, and we hope that when it happens, we may pass from life to everlasting life. That is our hope, and upon such hope, I have faith.<br />
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But I think the purpose of the passages which urge vigilance and seek to encourage action on our part have three basic points to offer us as Christians trying to live a Christian life, as Episcopalians trying to live out that particularly difficult baptismal covenant that we are continuously promising to keep.<br />
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First, I think the intention of Jesus' ministry has been to tell people that God does love them and God cares for them. God cares so much that he wants to gather them in, and that God wants for us to be one unified family. I think as part of that message Jesus also conveys in his teaching the reality that God cares what we do and how we treat one another.<br />
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In a society where most people believe in God, believe God is distant (except when they need something), and believes God wants them to be good person and be happy, this is a very difficult passage to read. It says quite the opposite in point of fact. The passage says that God is near, God cares, God hopes we will live a life completely oriented on God and not our happiness, and that God wishes us to act and make the world sustainable for all people.<br />
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The second, point that I think this passage is clear about is that God wants us to act now and not wait. This is a Gospel shift from the inherited Jewish tradition that understood it was good to confess on your death bed, assuring your amendment of life. Rather the Gospel of Jesus seeks amendment of life - this reorientation to God and action on God's behalf daily. The sense of urgency, the idea the kingdom is now, it isn't just coming, but that we have an opportunity to live in the reign of God today is an ancient Gospel truth.<br />
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The last thing point of this passage is that God wishes for us to understand that one of the primary ways we amend life is by serving others who have no value to society but who have value to God. The poor, the hungry, the naked, and those in prison are of such value to God that in our passage today, they are the incarnational (little <em>I</em>) presence of Jesus in the world.<br />
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If we are serious about placing God in Jesus Christ at the centre or our lives, upon the throne of our hearts, we cannot separate this trifold reality of his reign from our spiritual pilgrimage on this earth. The king of our spiritual life cares how his subjects treat one another. The king expects actions to be taken on his behalf now and in this world; the kingdom is not about what happens to us when we die. And, the king himself is incarnationally present in pauper's robes, with a hungry outstretched hand, and with legs shackled.<br />
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We live out our life towards our passing and towards the final judgment by making God first and making neighbour second.<br />
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This notion is not simply a discipleship rule, but it is the rule that Jesus lives out in his own life. Remembering the model for Christian fellowship, mission, and discipleship in Matthew's Gospel is a reflection of Jesus' own life. We cannot help but hear the last words of this Sunday's Gospel as a fulfilment of Jesus' own princely rule lived out in this world. He will love God, whom he calls Father to the very end, he will love us (even forgiving us from the cross), and he will love us as neighbors and friends. In the end, Jesus himself comes to us and gives us his very self, sacrificially, for his fellow men; though we be bound by the shackles of sin, have the outstretched hand for grace, and a heart clothed in the robes of earthly pretenders to the throne. Goats we are, in Jesus, sheep we become.</div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ephesians+1:11-23&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong></span></div><div style="clear: both;">
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"What meaning is communicated by the language of prayer not otherwise made available?"</div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/23/2008&tab=3">Commentary</a>, Ephesians 1:15-23 (Christ the King A), Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.</div>
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"...what happened with Christ was the beginning of something which reaches out and encompasses others and brings together into a network of people who share the same source of energy."</div>
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<a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/AEpChristKing.htm">"First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Christ the King, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<br />
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Paul offers in this passage a vision of a Godly community that is unified by God in Jesus Christ and unified beyond the worldly religious divisions of his day. Christianity was to become a new thing as it embraced both the Gentile and Jewish traditions. </div>
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He holds up as an example of this work the mission of the Church at Ephesus. In correspondence that we do not see we can imagine that they have shared the success in bringing together many around a unifying faith linked by fraternal love.</div>
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In this mission work, in this unified relational community, God is doing something. God is revealing ultimately God's love for all people. God is, through their interactions, moving and making known his true purposes. They will continue to grow in hope and in spiritual depth as they grow together in a community beyond their differences. What is happening is that God's love for all humanity is being born out of their common life together. They are becoming more and more aware of the reality that God is the creator of all and the maker of all. <br />
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As they come into this new community, as they struggle and make their way together, they indeed experience and may see and speak to the reality that God is making all things new. The reconciling work of God is in their midst and is, in fact bringing not only differing groups together but is bringing them together as a sign of the bringing together of all creation into God.</div>
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Often times I think that we settle for simple reconciliation, which is life lived in the protection of like minded clusters. This is not Paul's experience of God or God's work in the world. It is not the experience of the Ephesians. It is, in fact, the very nature of God to reconcile to himself that which is utterly different. So too, we find our mission and ministry to be reconciled across our differences as a very real incarnation of God's reconciling act.<br />
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<br />"The connection between justice and care is often lost in contemporary Christian practice." <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2188">Commentary</a>, Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Margaret Odell, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2014.<br /><br />"In a word, good leadership consists in the restoration of the common good so that all members of the community, strong and weak, rich and poor, may live together in a common shalom of shared resources." <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/ezekiel-34-christ-the-king-sunday-on-scripture_b_1097125.html">"Failed Kings and the Good Shepherd,"</a> Walter Brueggemann, ON Scripture, 2011.<br /><br />"The heavy focus the justice role of the leaders is very interesting. There is no indictment in regards to their religious leadership only the condemnation based on their unjust behaviour." <a href="http://www.oldtestamentlectionary.unitingchurch.org.au/2008/November/Pent28Ezek34_08.htm">Ezekiel 34:11-24</a>, Christ the King, Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson, Uniting Church in Australia.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Ezekiel+34:11-24&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Text</a><br /><br /><br />We cannot read the New Testament imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd without understanding the Old Testament understanding of the same. Jesus’ critique of the hired hand, his understanding of sheep among wolves, his comments about sheep without a shepherd, and his lost sheep metaphors all depend upon the Old Testament understanding of shepherds and sheep. There is a historical arc that Jesus is playing with, and is important if we are to understand the deep meaning of Christian community and leadership.<br /><br /> Ezekiel prophesies a new and different shepherd. But first, let us parse out the imagery here. Shepherds were leaders of Israel. They were religious and political leaders. Sometimes they were both. The prophet is saying that the leaders of Israel are not taking care of the people. They are not feeding the poor, and caring for the orphans and widows. There is a long notion that God’s people are to be different and be in a relationship with such people so as to care for them. In the great history of the story in the Old Testament – when they do not do this, they cease to be the blessing God intends them to be. <br /><br />The Christian community understood that the prophetic Good Shepherd is Jesus. He will bring about a different kind of world. Walter Brueggemann writes, “God is going to reconstitute the public order that will be in contrast to the old, failed order.” (<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/ezekiel-34-christ-the-king-sunday-on-scripture_b_1097125.html">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/ezekiel-34-christ-the-king-sunday-on-scripture_b_1097125.html</a>)<br /><br />The Christian community, the church, and Christians are to be about becoming the blessed community of shalom that works to be a blessing to the world in which it lives. It is to be the body of the Good Shepherd today. It is within itself to set about the reversal of power, authority, and wealth dynamics of greed that infect the world. And, it is to work against the powers and authorities by setting about to be a different kind of community.<br /><br />We are sometimes happier to shout at the man and tell them they are bad shepherds, without looking at how our communities might model good shepherding themselves.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
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</style>C. Andrew Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936996272454055160noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2334113740815240648.post-41479033583913514262023-10-16T13:44:00.002-07:002023-10-17T13:53:57.749-07:00All Saints A November 1, 2023<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yaHc4wMjprQUs049_0X2F5Dj7tKsWRjPGWj_BDH9lctWs1lB775OQUVEFu8jhHhMkdaaN2pmrOtv_lEVJrVVdu56JlfVtgZKLy_1qpQn8gkqF0ocV6paNT8LLoYX1HTbs5wTi8z-BdS6/s1600/all+saints.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yaHc4wMjprQUs049_0X2F5Dj7tKsWRjPGWj_BDH9lctWs1lB775OQUVEFu8jhHhMkdaaN2pmrOtv_lEVJrVVdu56JlfVtgZKLy_1qpQn8gkqF0ocV6paNT8LLoYX1HTbs5wTi8z-BdS6/s1600/all+saints.jpg" width="315" /></a><br />
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Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.<br />
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Great is the multitude, God of all holiness, countless the throng you have assembled from the rich diversity of all earth's children. With your church in glory, your church in this generation lifts up our hands in prayer, our hearts in thanksgiving and praise. Pattern our lives on the blessedness Jesus taught, and gather us with all the saints into your kigndom's harvest, that we may stand with them and, clothed in glory, join our voices to their hymn of thanksgiving and praise. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and riegns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992. </strong></span></em><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: large;">Matthew 23:1-12</span></b><br />
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<em>"What would it mean if we honored those whom God honors? What would happen if we stopped playing all of our culture's games for status and power and privilege? What would it cost us if we lived more deeply into justice, and mercy, and humility?"</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2005/01/fourth_sunday_a.html">Dylan's Lectionary Blog</a>, Epiphany 4, 2005. Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer looks at readings for the coming Sunday in the lectionary of the Episcopal Church.<br />
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<i><br />Jesus saved for last the ones who side with heaven even when any fool can see it's the losing side and all you get for your pains is pain. Looking into the faces of his listeners, he speaks to them directly for the first time. "Blessed are you," he says.<br /><br />You can see them looking back at him. They're not what you'd call a high-class crowd—peasants and fisherfolk for the most part, on the shabby side, not all that bright. It doesn't look as if there's a hero among them. They have their jaws set. Their brows are furrowed with concentration.</i><br />
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<i><br /></i><a href="http://frederickbuechner.com/content/beatitudes-0">"Beatitudes,"</a> Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+5:1-12&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text</a></strong></span><br />
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This week most congregations will be celebrating All Saint's Day. Yet, as we do so, we attempt to weave a major Feast of the Church into the Scripture from Matthew.<br />
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I want to step back and take a look at Matthew first, then see how we might allow the scripture to speak to our Feast.<br />
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As we look at Jesus’ ministry, it is important to see that there is a framework at work in Matthew.<br />
In the first chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, we see that the individuals who come in contact with Jesus do not have to do anything. Jesus is not teaching about discipleship. He is not charging them to reform the religion of the time -- he is simply giving of himself.<br />
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Jesus is intentionally offering himself to those around him. The people in the first chapters of Matthew and in the Sermon on the Mount receive Jesus; this is the primary interaction taking place between those following and the Messiah himself.<br />
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Jesus is giving of himself to others.<br />
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The Sermon On the Mount begins in Chapter 4.25, and the introduction runs through 5.1. We are given the scenery: the mountain beyond the Jordan (previous verse). This continues to develop an Exodus typology, the foundation of Matthew’s interpretive themes in these early chapters. It follows clearly when one thinks of the passages leading up to this moment: the flight from Egypt, baptism and now the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s Gospel, the first five chapters parallel the Exodus story. So, Jesus now arrives at the mountain where the law was given.<br />
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The structure of the following verses is beautiful and I offer them here so you can see how they play themselves out in a literary fashion (5.3-5.10).<br />
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5.3 Inclusive Voice: Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.<br />
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5.10 Inclusive Voice: Theirs is the kingdom of heaven<br />
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5.4 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be comforted<br />
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5.9 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be called sons of God<br />
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5.5 Future Active Voice with Object: They shall inherit the earth<br />
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5.8 Future Middle Voice with Object: They shall see God<br />
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5.6 Divine Passive Voice: They shall be satisfied<br />
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5.7 Divine Passive Voice: They shall have mercy<br />
Matthew uses these formulas and structures throughout the Gospel.</blockquote>
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Scholars tell us that the classical Greek translation illustrates the pains that Matthew took as he rewrote Luke’s and Q’s Beatitudes to create the parallels we see. Matthew also writes so carefully that when he is finished, there are exactly 36 words in each section of the Beatitudes (5.3-5.6 and 5.7-510). This, combined with the parallels, highlights the two sections that must have been meaningful to the church at Antioch (comprised of those who have fled persecution).<br />
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5.3ff describes the persecuted state of the followers of Jesus<br />
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5.7ff describes the ethical qualities of the followers of Jesus that will lead to persecution</blockquote>
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This view is taken from the work of Allison and Davies in their hallmark text on Matthew's Gospel, volume 1.<br />
<br />In the Beatitudes offered by Jesus, it is easy to see that these words are blessings, not requirements. The teachings therefore are words of grace.<br />
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In the initial teachings of Jesus’ ministry, healing comes before imperative statements, here Jesus preaches that grace comes before requirements and commandments. This is a perennial Christian teaching: one must receive first before service.<br />
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The difficulties required of followers of Jesus presuppose God’s mercy and prior saving activity.<br />
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The Beatitudes are clear that the kingdom of God brings comfort, a permanent inheritance, true satisfaction and mercy, a vision of God and divine son-ship. This may be Matthew’s most important foundation stone within the salvation story. We are given, through grace, our freedom to follow.<br />
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We are like the Israelites and sons and daughters of Abraham, delivered so we may follow and work on behalf of God.<br />
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The Beatitudes also are prophetic, as in the passage from Isaiah 61.1. Jesus is clearly the anointed one. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah, bringing Good News to those in need. Furthermore, the words of Jesus are the result of the prophecy, so they set him apart from all other teachers.<br />
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The beatitudes then are also words which not only promise Grace to the follower, they fulfil the prophetic words of the old message from Isaiah: Jesus was meek (11.29; 21.5), Jesus mourned (26.36-46), Jesus was righteous and fulfilled all righteousness (3.15; 27.4, 19), Jesus showed mercy (9.27; 15.22; 17.15; 20.30-1), Jesus was persecuted and reproached (26-7). The beatitudes are illustrated and brought to life in Jesus’ ministry, they are signs that he stands in a long line of prophets offering comfort to God’s people, and he is also clearly the suffering servant who epitomizes the beatitudes themselves. Origen wrote that Jesus is offering this grace he fulfils and embodies his own words, thereby becoming the model to be imitated.<br />
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The Beatitudes are words of proclamation. Are we in a place where we can articulate Jesus’ story and life as a fulfilment of God’s promises to his people? God's promise to me personally?<br />
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The Beatitudes are words of mercy. Are we in a place where we can hear Jesus’ words for us? Have we allowed ourselves to be saved before we begin to work on Jesus’ behalf?<br />
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The Beatitudes are words of care for the poor. Are we in a place where we can hear Jesus’ special concern for those who are oppressed in the system of life? Are we ready to follow him into the world to deliver his people, imitating the work of Moses and Jesus?<br />
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As we reflect on the Feast of All Saints, it is clearer how this passage might speak to the church. We understand the saints of the past (holy and common) and the saints of today, along with the saints of tomorrow, to be those who, in their lives, offer us a vision of this grace, mercy, and vision for God's special friends - the poor. Who are the ones we look up to from the past? Who are the ones in our life today?<br />
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Can we see the potential of saints yet unknown to us already out in the world working and serving? Can we be open to the next saint who is yet to cross our path and offer us a vision of the kingdom of God?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Excerpt from Holy Women Holy Men</strong></span><br />
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In the New Testament, the word “saints” is used to describe the entire membership of the Christian community, and in the Collect for All Saints’ Day, the word “elect” is used in a similar sense. From very early times, however, the word “saint” came to be applied primarily to persons of heroic sanctity whose deeds were recalled with gratitude by later generations.<br />
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Beginning in the tenth century, it became customary to set aside another day—as a sort of extension of All Saints—on which the Church remembered that vast body of the faithful who, though no less members of the company of the redeemed, are unknown in the wider fellowship of the Church. It was also a day for particular remembrance of family members and friends.<br />
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Though the observance of the day was abolished at the Reformation because of abuses connected with Masses for the dead, a renewed understanding of its meaning has led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans and to its inclusion as an optional observance in the calendar of the Episcopal Church. (page 664)</div>
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<span face="Times-Roman"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on 1 John 3:1-8</span></strong></span></div>
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<i>"It may be significant that this text is full of indicative verbs, not imperative."</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=4/22/2012&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 John 3:1-7, Brian Peterson, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.</div>
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<i>"The church's integrity wells up from, and is channeled by, God's calling (3:1b; 3:3). To be a saint is to live in the same love by which God has loved us (3:16-18; 4:7-12)."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/6/2011&alt=2&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 John 3:1-3 (All Saints A), C. Clifton Black, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.</div>
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<i>"We get Christian hope confused when we think that our hope is based on now nice we are, or how well we behave, or on some hidden piece of us called 'the soul' that will survive through death and destruction."</i><br />
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=4/26/2009&tab=3">Commentary</a>, 1 John 3:1-7, David Bartlett, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.<br />
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<strong><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+John+3:1-7&vnum=yes&version=nrsv">Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text</a> </strong><br />
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In this letter from the Johannine community, we understand that they take their familial ties with God seriously. They are God's followers and are called the "children of God”. God loves them, and Christ, as Savior of the world, has unleashed that love, and it now claims them. They are God's children. </div>
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New Testament scholar David Bartlet <a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=297">writes</a>:</div>
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...John's Gospel points to a future hope. Sometimes that is a kind of individual future hope: "In my Father's house are many dwelling places... I will come and take you to myself" (John 14:2-3). At other times, there seems to be hope more like what we find in 1 Thessalonians, i.e., hope for a general resurrection at the end of time. "Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29)<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">.</span></blockquote>
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The author reminds the readers that Jesus was not listened to in his own lifetime, and so it is unlikely that his children will be listened to... nevertheless, they are his children now and in the future. There is an understanding that what they experience now is only in part what they will experience once they are unified with God in his kingdom. They do not know what that will be like, but as his children, they have a sure and certain hope.</div>
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So, the author tells the reader live a virtuous life. Live an ethical life. Be like God - good and pure. Now what is important here is that we are not simply talking about a set of words that we interpret through our own lens. We must understand that for John and his readers in the community to be good and pure is to be like God, who loves. We are to love. Love, love, love, love - Christians this is your call...as the old song goes. I like how Loader (one of my faves) says it:</div>
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It is not about how many morality boxes we can tick to qualify ourselves as righteous or as a child of God. It is about whether love flows. Here, too, it is not about how many acts of love we summon up our energies to perform - ticking the goodness boxes, but how much we open ourselves to receive the love which God gives, which in turn flows through us to others. Love gives birth to love. Later the writer will speak of our loving because we were first of all loved by God (4:19). The author might say today: no amount of doing good deeds and no amount of having impressive spiritual experiences will count for anything if it is not connected to a real change that is relational. It may be cosmetic goodness and religion, but without that love it is nothing much. Paul made much the same point in 1 Corinthians 13.</blockquote>
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We are saints and children of God because God makes us so...we are loved. We are the beloved of God. And our response to this belovedness is to in turn, love others. This is the chief if not the primary work. How are we doing with that, I wonder? I wonder how God thinks we are doing with that?</div>
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I think rather than pointing a finger at our people and telling them to love more. Giving them new boxes to check and new tasks to fulfil...perhaps we might simply begin by loving them and by telling them that they are loved. Tell them you love them. Tell them they are loved. By all means, please, tell them God loves them. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Some Thoughts on Revelation 7:9-17</span></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaonPVQbY4zEFjvakTbmrLk1wnfkVuLXAI7jXu11Oil7N7ZWlBqC3-9bTo0S0BnnH29hZfkse6A405qtrOIHalRkAhi0mrPGvkiH2d5ucVUMhkN947cDh5k7QUnT0HnA5pdWOn0eK0hyO/s1600/1200px-Joseph_Ferdinand%252C_Keppler_Rapid_Transit_to_Sheol_1888_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1097_01.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="1200" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaonPVQbY4zEFjvakTbmrLk1wnfkVuLXAI7jXu11Oil7N7ZWlBqC3-9bTo0S0BnnH29hZfkse6A405qtrOIHalRkAhi0mrPGvkiH2d5ucVUMhkN947cDh5k7QUnT0HnA5pdWOn0eK0hyO/s320/1200px-Joseph_Ferdinand%252C_Keppler_Rapid_Transit_to_Sheol_1888_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1097_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
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"Led by their Shepherd-Lamb, God’s redeemed people will come through the tribulation into God's new Promised Land.”</div>
<a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1694">Commentary</a>, Revelation 7:9-17 (Easter 4C), Barbara Rossing, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.<br /><br />"So much of the imagery is strange if not, perhaps, even estranging. Yet it is a way of asserting hope for people who faced hopelessness. It is a way of making God central and keeping the vulnerability of God in our vision."<br /><a href="http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CEpEaster4.htm">"First Thoughts on Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"</a> Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Revelation+7:9-17&vnum=yes&version=nrsv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Oremus Online NRSV First Text</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></b></div>
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All that is needed is faith in God through Jesus Christ that the great abyss has already been traversed and an eternal bridge erected. </div>
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In the New Testament, this is the idea that it is only through God’s work upon the cross – that is the death of Jesus that one enters the reign of God on the last day. Today’s lesson from Revelation describes that day and completes the prophetic words of Jesus. <br />
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Our great sightseer into the dream of Revelation sees the many who are saved. When wondering who the people are, he is told, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”<br />
<br />Jesus offers The sign of Jonah that in the last days, the wedding feast will be consummated by his own death. Not by miracles at Cana nor by telling parables or working miracles. No, all who enter, enter by his grace and work on the cross. It is only for us to believe that it is so. No amount of our work or repentance gets us in – only the blood of the lamb.<br />
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It is a macabre image rooted deeply in the psyche of the first-century mind. Nevertheless, it is an image that reminds us of our powerlessness in the face of death.<br />
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This second vision, though, is one that is to bring us hope. The passage has been paid. All is needed is faith. For those who come to believe and turn over their lives in this world, the next, even in the last moment as they are faced with the reign of God, their way is afforded to them. Even in the Divine Comedy, all is never lost, and hope has the last word. So the clothes are washed in blood that is already spilt. <br />
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So, for everyone then comes the promise: “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”<br />
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This is comforting apocalyptic imagery for the believer. But there are many who are living in their own personal apocalyptic world today. People who are the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and many more…the lost, the lame, the least, and the lonely… They face death today. Will there be food on the table and a roof over their heads? For those Christians who have found the depths of Sheol paved for them, then it is their work, in turn, to do some washing in this world. It is for the faithful to make the paths straight, the valleys high, and the mountains low for the poor who in this world have no way out of Sheol. For the faithful, they are to carry their own cross, lay down their own lives, and sacrifice for the other who faces death as a daily companion. In this way, then the promise of relief is not something to be received in death only but may be received by being given in life now. <br />
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I believe the Book of Revelation's author was writing about his present time. It may provide hope today as well, and it may even provide a transformation of community life. But we will have to get over the idea of being afraid of death. It is such a trivial thing if we but believe and then act out our belief.</div>
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