Articles – Page 32 – St. Peter's News

Beheading of John the Baptist, Aug. 29

July 5, 2024August 25, 2022

Matthew has told us of the beheading of John the Baptist – killed because John denounced Herod Antipas’ marriage to his brother Philip’s wife when Philip was still alive (a violation of Jewish law). Jesus is reeling over this.

His reaction is to withdraw privately to a desert-like, remote place. So Jesus withdraws to be alone with his thoughts and his sorrows – in a “deserted place” to regroup, to recharge. But it doesn’t work, of course. The eager crowds are on him – there is no rest for the weary – and he can’t let them down since he is compassionate. Out of his own heartache, he bring riches.

This is the story of the feeing of the 5000. It is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that gets recorded in all four gospels.

The question has surfaced over the years as to why Mark reports it at all. Later evangelists must have asked the same question, as Matthew shortens it markedly and Luke omits it altogether.

The majority opinion is that it serves two key purposes in Mark: it foreshadows Jesus’ own grisly death and it serves as an interlude between Jesus’ sending of the disciples and their return some unknown number of days or weeks later.

Another reason is simply to draw a contrast between the two kinds of kingdoms available to Jesus disciples, both then and ever since. Consider: Mark, tells this story as a flashback, out of its narrative sequence, which means he could have put this scene anywhere. But he puts it here, not simply between the sending and receiving of the disciples but, more specifically, just after Jesus has commissioned his disciples to take up the work of the kingdom of God and when he then joins them in making that kingdom three-dimensional, tangible, and in these ways seriously imaginable.

“Herod’s Kingdom – the kingdom of the world and, for that matter, Game of Thrones and all the other dramas we watch because they mirror and amplify the values of our world – is dominated by the will to power, the will to gain influence over others. This is the world where competition, fear and envy are the coins of the realm, the world of not just late night dramas and reality television but also the evening news, where we have paraded before us the triumphs and tragedies of the day as if they are simply givens, as if there is no other way of being in the world and relating to each other.

Poem for the Week – “Kindness” – Naomi Shihab Nye

July 5, 2024August 10, 2022

“Your Life Is a Poem. Growing up, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye lived in Ferguson, Missouri and on the road between Ramallah and Jerusalem. Her father was a refugee Palestinian journalist, and through her poetry, she carries forward his hopeful passion, his insistence, that language must be a way out of cycles of animosity.” She has been a poet for most of her life, sending out poems at age 7.

Listen to her read her poem, “Kindness”

She feels this poem was given to her. Here is the background to the poem – she had just married and was with her husband in South America, in Columbia. They were to travel 3 weeks. However, they were robbed on a bus in the first week. It was serious, one person was killed and they lost all their possessions. (She did have a notebook in a back pocket). They had no passports, no money. Where would they go ?

In a plaza a man came up to them on a street and exhibited kindness. He could see their disarray and asked what happened. He listened and was sad for them – he expressed sorrow in Spanish. Her husband was ready to embark alone to go to another city to try to get their travellers checks. As she was alone, a voice came across the plaza as night was coming on and she reached in her pack pocket for the notebook and she felt like as a secretary as a female voice dictated this poem:

“Kindness” – Naomi Shihab Nye

“Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

“Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

“Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

“Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.”

The Rich man in Luke, Pentecost 8, July 31, 2022

July 5, 2024July 28, 2022

The Sermon in 2019 using Luke, Ecclesiastes and Colossians. The rich man in Luke only knew life in the horizontal feeding his own wishes but not the vertical leading to God. “What the rich man has forgotten in his grasping focus on this horizontal line of his life is the vertical line that reaches up toward God.”

Catherine showed how the early Christians prayed – “The early Christians prayed like this—by reaching up and out with their palms up. As they prayed in this way, they remembered this vertical line of their lives, their feet rooted in the goodness of God’s creation, while they reached up to God with open hands…”This prayer posture with open hands stretched out and up reminds us that God is the one that fills our open hands when we ask. Open hands are open to all that God wants to give us, and all that God intends for us to share. Open hands reach beyond the finite into the infinite. Open hands reach up into God’s light.

“In the Colossians reading for today, the writer shows us that reaching up into the infinite helps us become rich toward God and generous toward our neighbors…In the light of God’s love, then, our lives are not meaningless, but full of meaning, full of light and God’s goodness that we shine into the world.

Finally Catherine used a story Rabbi Daniel Cohen writes in his book What will they say about you when you are gone? Creating a Life of Legacy

“And then he tells a story about a man who wanted to decide which of his three sons would inherit his estate. So the man came up with the idea of giving his inheritance to the son who could best fill an empty room. The third son won with a candle, lit a flame which filled the room with light.

Cohen says, “When we lighten a dark world, we emulate God, and our souls will be on fire. When we make small differences in the world for even one person, we align ourselves with life’s purpose,” and, I would add, we align ourselves with God’s purpose for us.

“When we live with open hands full of God’s light, everything that we do in this life, on this horizontal line, is full of meaning that will stretch far beyond the day when our hearts stop beating because we have become conduits for God’s infinite light to flow into the world through our us long after our hearts have stopped beating.

“Stand up again. Reach up into God’s light in prayer, open your arms in love, open your hands, and go be God’s light in this world. ”

Today’s readings encourage us to discover true riches in order to live a happy life. In Ecclesiastes, a Jewish wisdom teacher ponders the vanity of human life. The psalmist invites us to bow in worship and praise before God our Maker. The second reading encourages followers of Christ to focus on the things that are above. In the gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool.

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23

The Book of Ecclesiastes recounts a wisdom teacher’s exploration of the meaning of life. The author is described in 12:9-10 as a teacher and writer. The name of the book, derived from the Greek word ecclesia, is a translation of the Hebrew, Qoheleth, which probably identifies the one who gathers an assembly.

Today’s reading centers on the supreme futility of life, which like a cloud or a mist is a vanity–not substantial and stable but ephemeral and passing. Life passes by and the endless grind of work changes nothing. What good is all that effort when the fruit of one’s work and efforts are simply turned over to someone else.

Psalm 49:1-11

This psalm encourages confidence in God’s justice, especially when it seems that evildoers prosper. The psalmist urges his audience to remember that the ungodly and those who rely on their wealth are deluded for they cannot protect themselves from death.

Colossians 3:1-11

Paul now turns to discuss the practical consequences of the believer’s acceptance of Christ as Lord. He uses a form of teaching probably developed as a part of baptismal instruction (Ephesians 4:22-5:5). In living out the reality of having been “raised with Christ” (v. 1) the Christian is to exhibit a transcendent quality of life here and now. In baptism those to be baptized put off their old clothes and put on the new white baptismal robe as a token of their having put off the old nature and put on the new.

This fact must now be lived out in putting to death the old way of life and putting on the new life in Christ (Romans 13:14). They are to show forth the characteristics proclaimed and exhibited in Jesus’ ministry. Being clothed with this “new self,” they experience a continual process of renewal, the goal of which is the knowledge of God. Barriers are broken and all live in Christ as a community of believers.

Luke 12:13-21

Today’s reading comes from a section of the travel narrative (12:1–13:21) that stresses readiness for the coming crisis when a decision for the kingdom must not be delayed. The man who approaches Jesus is presumably a younger brother who wishes his elder brother to divide the inheritance that he was likely given as the oldest son. Jesus rejects the request for arbitration and tells a parable that challenges the greed in us all.

The parable of the rich fool has many parallels, both in classical literature and in Old Testament Wisdom writing (Sirach 11:18-19; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Wisdom 15:8). The rich man is “a fool,” that is, one who in practice acts as if God does not exist (Psalm 14:1). He has made provision for his own comfort but not for his ultimate destiny because without warning, his “soul” (Greek, psyche), meaning his life or self, is required of him. He illustrates the fate of all who confuse their priorities and rely too confidently on their own power.

Butterflies in July

July 5, 2024July 22, 2022

July is often called the butterfly month, and with good reason. They seem to be more visible. At St. Peter’s we have swallow tails, monarchs and this one taken on July 20. There are about 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide. About 700 inhabit North America.

Lord’s Prayer in Luke Chapter 11

July 5, 2024July 21, 2022

Another famous story from Luke. The Gospel reading is here.

“”The Lord’s Prayer” -Psalter (2008)

The Lord’s Prayer is both in Matthew and Luke. Luke’s version is probably older since it is shorter. There are also a few differences in word choice (“sin” instead of “debt/trespass,” for example)

Luke puts a greater emphasis on prayer than the other gospels. -Jesus is praying at his baptism before heavens open (3:21) -Jesus spends the night praying to God before selecting the twelve (6:12) -Jesus is praying before he asks the disciples, “Who do the crowds/you say that I am?” (9:18) -Jesus is praying on the mountain before the transfiguration. (9:28, 29) -Jesus is praying before the disciples ask him to teach them to pray. (11:1)

It may be that Luke was writing to a group of people unfamiliar with Christian/Jewish prayer, so he emphasizes the importance of prayer as he moves among the gentiles.

The contexts for the Lord’s Prayer in Luke and Matthew are quite different. The audience in Matthew (6:5-15) seems to know about praying. Jesus says, “When you are praying,…” They seem to know how to pray and the importance of prayer, but they need further instructions about prayer. In Luke, the audience, (including the disciples,) don’t know how to pray (at least as Jesus’ followers).

The disciples (and Luke’s readers?) ask Jesus to teach them to pray.

There is a reference to John the Baptist. John’s disciples were known for certain practices, such as prayer and fasting (5:33). These practices served as markers for their identity as John’s followers. Jesus prayer also puts an identity on us as Christians. The prayer is intended to be communal, rather than personal. Note also the plural pronouns in the prayer: “our” and “us.” The Lord’s Prayer is a list of those “good gifts”, gifts we may ask of God in the sure knowledge that they are ours in the asking.

Clift Notes version – “God is Holy. Ask for God’s kingdom – reign over all things to become a reality in your life and in your world. Live simply; one day at a time. Stay humble and ask pardon for your wrongdoings. Offer pardon to others just as you want that for yourselves and ask for help to stay out of trouble. When you live with these things uppermost in your life, you will begin to live in God’s kingdom with the help of the Holy Spirit to help you”

There are five key words in the prayer 1. Relationship 2. Hope 3 Nourishment 4 Reconciliation, 5 Peace

1. “Our Father in heaven” – “Relationship”

Possibly the most important one is relationship. Prayer is a relationship — as an intimate, loving, caring parent/child relationship. Jesus begins his prayer with the expectation of close relationship with God. The intimate relationship with God and becomes a model we should have with others. Rather than saying something like “Almighty God, Lord of the Universe,” Jesus starts with a familial word. By addressing God as “Father,” Jesus tacitly shows himself to be in the role of child. And because he is teaching his prayer to his friends, he lets them and us know that we, too, are God’s children.

When we think of prayer we think of asking – and that get’s back to understanding our fundamental dependence on God. When we ask God for something in prayer, we acknowledge both that our need and God’s goodness and mercy God’s presence can often change you as it brings their comfort and love to the situation — and perhaps you are better able to accept what lies in the future with their support. You can live with the uncertainty of the “we’ll see” answer.

Prayer is the presence of God — not that God will always change the situation, but knowing that God is with you, that God is going through the tragedy or suffering or depression or even death with you, not as a far off God, way out in space, but as your very close and loving father.”

“Hallowed be thy name” Hallowing means respecting, treating as holy. This is fundamental to our relationship with God and to all other relationships. Acknowledging the holiness, the dignity, the otherness of the other

Joel Green in The Gospel of Luke also comments on this petition: “Why must God sanctify his name? Because it has been profaned by God’s own people (cf. Lev 22:32; Isa 52:5-6; Ezek 36:29-21). God’s work to reestablish the holiness of his name, then, invokes shame on the part of his people and invites them to embrace practices that honor him

2. “Your Kingdom Comes” – “Hope”

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.

It has to do with the “reign of God” coming to earth. This asks for an end to life on earth as it is, and end to all oppression, injustice, and unrighteousness, and instead for God’s realm to replace all earthly rulers and rule. The early Christians were very familiar with this.

With the words “Your kingdom come,” Jesus introduces hope into the prayer. Hope is about the future. When we hope, we begin to expect that the boundaries of possibility are far wider than we once supposed. When we pray for the coming of the kingdom, we show our willingness to participate in the advent of that kingdom here

Our eucharist remembers the image of that kingdom as a great feast where all are included focused on a life broken and poured out in compassion

3. “Give us this day our daily bread” – “Nourishment”

This section and the next focus on needs fundamental to every human and what is necessary to realize this Kingdom of God now.

Nourishment that sustains us just for this day – not yesterday, which is past, nor tomorrow, which is yet to come, but right now. When we pray for sustenance today, we remain grounded in the present moment, the moment in which we can encounter God moving in our lives. Nourishment today helps us hope for tomorrow, and sustains us to continue walking the path with Christ.

“Give us each day our daily bread” may be a reference to the manna, the bread from heaven, that was provided enough for each day during the 40 years in the wilderness between the time of fleeing slavery in Egypt and entering the promised land. ( Exodus 16.). And it is what is needed for service. And it may be a reference to the feast yet to come in the future life to come. But it most certainly addresses the very real and present concern of Jesus’ followers – to have enough to eat that day

4. “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtor” -“Reconciliation”

“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” – Anne Lamott

Forgiveness is the action we take in the present to participate in the coming of the kingdom. Nourishment sustains us in the present. Hope drives us to the future. And a close relationship with God allows us to pray

We ask for forgiveness, and at the same time we make a commitment to forgive others. It is when we serve God imperfectly. That we can forgive a little reminds us that God can forgive much.

Forgiveness is in the present tense – it is continual. The word forgiveness means “release” or “letting go.”

People would have understood the reference to debt which was devastating on the people. Debt is control. When the Romans conquered the region, they claimed they owned all the land and promptly started charging people rent. People who, heretofore, were living and farming their own land found themselves burdened with debt. Debt was a way in which the conquerors continued to afflict the conquered.

In forgiving the debts of others, the followers of Jesus reject the power to coerce others. “Release” of debt was a way of living out the reign of God on earth. Forgiving others, both sins and debts, is a sign of the coming kingdom. Disciples who do so “get it,” and they request the same from the Father.

The “forgiveness” we are invited to extend to others is not a personal well-wishing; it is changing the material circumstances of the poor such that they and their families no longer teeter on the brink of disaster, but can earn their living by their work. And we as Jesus’ followers are taught to ask God to extend mercy toward us in our sin precisely to the degree that we extend mercy toward others with our wealth and our power.

5. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. – “peace”

This is the fear, the fear of being tested. But we are encouraged to send this fear up to God. And the thing that occupies the space left by that fear is peace. This peace frees us from the worry that might keep us from praying in the first place.

We will always be tempted and will often fall, but Jesus promises that no temptation, test, or trial has the power to destroy our faith. Let us not be overwhelmed

The sense of the petition seems to be that God not make life any more difficult than it already is: “Dear God, don’t give us more than we can bear.”

->Parable of the Friend At Midnight – Persistence

The “Lord’s Prayer” is only the beginning of Jesus response to the prayer request. The last verses emphasize how much more God will give in this parable.

Summary -A friend comes calling for bread at midnight when you are asleep with your family. The sleeper at first declines but due to the persistence of the friend he gets up and provides.

This parable, which is only found in Luke, is connected to the previous prayer by the words for “bread” and certainly the idea of testing. How could the sleeper ask God to “give us each day our daily bread,” and then fail to give that bread to one of those for whom he has asked God to provide?

Is the friend shameless for asking at midnight or would the sleeper be shameless for not supplying the request. Most authors suggest the latter. Honor which was important at that time demanded that a neighbor get up, awaken his whole family if necessary. The neighbor is shaming the sleeper whose honor was at stake.

Like the person who keeps knocking and knocking to get his friend to come to the door, Jesus tells us that persistence is the key to prayer. Just like improvement in sport comes through constant training, practicing prayer makes the act of praying second nature (or perhaps, even first nature).

God unhesitatingly meets his obligations when asked; he is always found by those who seek him and will immediately open himself up to those who approach him.

How much more will God give than these sleeper ?

The last paragraph “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” – blessing

This goes back to the idea of persistence and note it is in the present tense. The image is with a young child badgering his parents until she/he gets what is wanted. God is compared to a human father. If human fathers give good gifts to their children, how much more will God do? So what are the good gifts ?

Luke tells us that the good gift is the “Holy Spirit.” Matthew just leaves it as “good things.” The gift of the Holy Spirit to the believer does not just entail the gift of the personal presence of the Spirit of Christ in the life of a believer, but all the promised blessings that flow from our union with God through the Spirit. The “good gifts” are the promised blessings of the kingdom, not the presumed needs of believers.

This scripture also prepares the readers for the events and Pentecost and the Spirit’s work throughout the Book of Acts.

Let’s bring it all together. The persistence in defining a close relationship with God, hoping for the future, finding nourishment for the present, reconciling and asking for forgiveness, and discovering peace leads us into deeper faith in God. Through prayer, we participate in God’s movement in our lives, and our persistence helps us notice God’s blessing in our lives.

And one more thing about General Convention – What else is significant ?

July 5, 2024July 14, 2022

1. A Change in generations

From Gay Jennings – “But what I am proudest of are the people I have had the opportunity to call into leadership. There has been a generational change in our church. The houses of General Convention are more racially diverse than they have ever been. A new generation of young leaders is on the rise in our legislative committees, thanks, in part, I would like to think, to the creation of additional leadership positions which I filled exclusively with younger deputies. At this convention we are focusing special attention on the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church, which was composed almost entirely of millennial leaders.”

2. Videos from the Episcopal Church – the GC Show. Here is an example

https://media.episcopalchurch.org/video/gc80-show/?mc_cid=955c49c016&mc_eid=bb9fa5686d&wchannelid=u0ozx2qu3w&wmediaid=raaza08md1

Looking at Congregational Vitality in a different way – “that goes beyond average Sunday attendance, and really in terms of how lives are being transformed and how we can walk in God’s footsteps out in our community.

Another example from NC

3. Navigating the changes during the Pandemic

Six resolutions came about to help The Episcopal Church adapt to changes in society and find new ways of supporting the church’s mission and ministry, from experimenting with creative uses of technology to rethinking how congregations report membership and financial data.

“Little did we know when we began this work that a global pandemic would place the church in the midst of the greatest adaptive challenge of our lifetimes,” the Rev. Chris Rankin-Williams, chair of the committee, told deputies …“The pace of congregational decline across the country has been accelerated by the pandemic, and there is great uncertainty about the future and financial viability of many of our churches

“We are truly navigating off the map. With the depth of challenges, the solution is not clear,” he said. The resolutions the committee proposed were intended “to position the church to address adaptive challenges and evaluate the experiments that are necessary to create our future.”

A097 calls for an evaluation of the 80th General Convention’s use of technology to hold all of its legislative hearings and meetings online, possibly offering a model for future church governance meetings.
A098 creates a task force to study how communication and collaborative tools can enhance the work of the church’s interim bodies.
A099 relates to the church’s capacity to collect and study data on its adaptive efforts. The resolution specifically cites the need to fund “significant professional research expertise and capacity.” This is the only resolution of the six that wasn’t adopted, as the House of Deputies instead voted to refer the proposal back to an interim body to study further, for consideration at the 81st General Convention in 2024.
A132 creates a task force to study “indicators of 21st century congregational vitality and how The Episcopal Church can collect data that measures those indicators.”
A155 creates a task force to revise the financial page of the parochial report, filed every year by dioceses and congregations. Updating the parochial report form to better summarize congregational life was a top priority of the Committee on the State of the Church.
A156 creates a task force to consider ways The Episcopal Church can re-evaluate how it counts membership to better align with how people today connect with the church including “a wide range of cultural and regional contexts.”

4. Bishop Curry

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/07/08/presiding-bishop-invites-episcopalians-to-look-to-their-roots-during-gc80-opening-eucharist/

https://anglican.ink/2022/07/08/opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry

Preaching on the Book of Isaiah and its descriptions of the Babylonian exile, Curry compared that age of disorientation and turmoil to the past few years in the United States and the unprecedented disruption they have wrought

As a response to that , the Church was preparing evangelistic campaign reaching into the secular, non-Christian culture of America. “It was an attempt to take the way of love that we’ve been living with and working at and share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church, to share something of the reality of this Jesus and his way of love, to share something of the reality of the possibilities that his way of love opens for all of God’s children

‘But as we were getting ready to do this, someone stopped us and asked, “Have we asked people in the society, who do you say Jesus is?” Maybe have we asked ourselves that? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that may be one of the most important questions even for the Christian. Who is Jesus Christ for you today? So we contracted with the Ipsos group, a global marketing group that does this kind of research. We partnered with them, and they conducted a poll of the American population. It was a comprehensive poll, which actually gave us a snapshot into the American population across all races, ethnic groups, all religious groups, all political groups, across geographical territories.

Eighty-four percent of the American population says that Jesus is an important spiritual figure worth listening to. Eighty-four percent across all groups

Then we asked them, “What about Christians? What about the church?” Well, they answered. Among non-Christians in particular, those who are not Christian, 50% associated Christians with the word hypocrisy; 49% with the word judgmental; 46% with self-righteousness; and 32% with arrogance. And then, nearly half of non-Christians in America—hear this—nearly half of non-Christians in America believe that racism is prevalent among Christians in the church.

Remember, 84% of the people surveyed across the board find Jesus attractive, something about him compelling. Eighty-four percent. The problem is there’s a gap between Jesus and his followers. Are you with me? And it’s that gap that’s the problem. It’s that gap that undermines our efforts to commend this Jesus and his way of love to a wider culture, to those who don’t have a religious background. Walking the way of unselfish, sacrificial love as Jesus taught us, closes the gap. Following the way of this Jesus, until his footprints and our footprints become indistinguishable, begins to close the gap

The study will be used to inform an upcoming social media evangelism campaign designed to bring Jesus’ message into secular American society – “to share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church,” he said.

5. Stats! Stats! Stats!

Two women will lead the House of Deputies for the first time in history

Julia Ayala Harris is the youngest person to be elected president of the House of Deputies. She is also the first Latina to be elected to that post.

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton of Olympia is the first ordained woman and the first Indigenous woman to be elected vice president of the House of Deputies.

The Hon. Byron Rushing of Massachusetts is the longest-serving deputy — serving in 16 conventions since 1973. At this convention he concludes serving as vice president of the House of Deputies.

The senior bishop here is Arthur Williams, Diocese of Ohio, who was consecrated bishop suffragan 35 years ago on October 11, 1986.

In the House of Bishops, there are 122 bishops and four bishops-elect. Of them, 38 are first-time bishops at a General Convention and 34 are women. Three of the four bishops-elect are women

The Good Samaritan – ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’

July 5, 2024July 7, 2022

This is one of the most practical Bible lessons.

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This is a basic, universal question that is asked by almost all human beings, even today. In Mark and Matthew, the question is more of a Jewish question. That is, “What is the greatest/first commandment of the law?” Mark and Matthew were asking a fundamental Jewish question; Luke was asking a fundamental universal question.

Luke was written to a larger world which he knew as a follower of Paul. This was the first time the idea of Dt 6:5 (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”) being combined with Leviticus 19:18 (“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”)

Jesus is challenged by a lawyer. The lawyer’s presence and public questioning of Jesus shows the degree of importance his detractors are placing on finding a flaw they can use. The lawyer is trying to see if there was a distinction between friends and enemies. Luke in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”) had eliminated the distinction and the lawyer was trying to introduce it again. As Jesus’ influence with the crowds continues to grow, the alarm of the religious establishment grows as well.

His first question is “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” The lawyer follows up with a second question, also a very good one. If doing this, i.e., loving God and loving neighbor as oneself, is a matter of eternal life, then defining “neighbor” is important in this context. The lawyer, however, in reality, is self-centered, concerned only for himself.

Jesus shifts the question from the one the lawyer asks — who is my neighbor?–to ask what a righteous neighbor does. The neighbor is the one we least expect to be a neighbor. The neighbor is the “other,” the one most despised or feared or not like us. It is much broader than the person who lives next to you. A first century audience, Jesus’ or Luke’s, would have known the Samaritan represented a despised “other.”

Anything but Ordinary! Ordinary Time

July 5, 2024June 24, 2022

Beginning on Pentecost 2, we enter the Church year known as Ordinary Time. After Easter, Jesus’s ascension into heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to us at Pentecost, we accept responsibility for being and becoming Christ’s body in the world. We are called by Jesus to live in community, our lives together guided not only by the example of Jesus, but by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Basically, Ordinary Time encompasses that part of the Christian year that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. According to The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, the days of Ordinary Time, especially the Sundays, “are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects.” We continue our trek through the both the Gospels of Luke and John- through parables challenges, healings – some great stories and teachings.

Vestments are usually green, the color of hope and growth. Green has long been associated with new life and growth. Even in Hebrew in the Old Testament, the same word for the color “green” also means “young.” The green of this season speaks to us as a reminder that it is in the midst of ordinary time that we are given the opportunity to grow.

Ordinary Time, from the word “ordinal,” simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). we number the Sundays from here on out in order from the First Sunday after Pentecost, all the way up to the Last Sunday after Pentecost The term “ordinary time” is not used in the Prayer Book, but the season after Pentecost can be considered ordinary.

The Church counts the thirty-three or thirty-four Sundays of Ordinary Time, inviting her children to meditate upon the whole mystery of Christ – his life, miracles and teachings – in the light of his Resurrection.

You may see Sundays referred to as “Propers”. The Propers are readings for Ordinary Time following Epiphany and Pentecost, numbered to help establish a seven day range of dates on which they can occur. Propers numbering in the Revised Common Lectionary begins with the Sixth Sunday in Epiphany, excludes Sundays in Lent through Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, and resumes the Second Sunday after Pentecost (the first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday), usually with Proper 4.

In some ways, it might be right to think of this time as “ordinary”, common or mundane. Because this is the usual time in the church, the time that is not marked by a constant stream of high points and low points, ups and downs, but is instead the normal, day-in, day-out life of the church. This time is a time to grapple with the nuts and bolts of our faith, not coasting on the joy and elation of Christmas, or wallowing in the penitential feel of Lent, but instead just being exactly where we are, and trying to live our faith in that moment.

It is a reminder of the presence of God in and through the most mundane and ordinary seasons of our lives. . It is a reminder that when God came and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ, he experienced the same ordinary reality that we all experience. And that God, in Christ, offered us the opportunity to transform the most ordinary, mundane experiences into extraordinary events infused with the presence of God. God is there, present in the midst of the ordinary, just waiting for us to recognize it.

Only when the hustle and bustle of Advent, Easter, and Lent has calmed down can we really focus on what it means to live and grow as Christians in this ordinary time in this ordinary world. It is a time to nurture our faith with opportunities for fellowship and reflection. It is a time to feed and water our faith with chances for education and personal study. It is a time to weed and prune our faith, cutting off the parts that may be dead and leaving them behind. And we have a lot of growing to do, so God has given us most of the church year in which to do it.

Galatians on tap – June 19, 26, July 3

July 5, 2024June 18, 2022

Introduction to Galatians

We will be reading Galatians as the Epistle on June 19, 26 and July 3. Here is some background to Paul’s letter.

In the face of Jewish opposition, the southern region of Galatia had been fertile soil for Paul’s ministry as he traveled with his companion, Barnabas, through cities recorded by Luke in Acts 13 and 14 . However, after Paul left the area of Galatia he received news that some trouble-makers were agitating the believers . Although Paul was not completely sure of the identity of his opponents (Galatians 5:10), apparently a group of Jewish Christians, or possibly local Jews, were teaching that submission to the Jewish law was a requirement of salvation. Paul’s letter to the Galatians was a result of the challenges the Galatians were facing, but also reflected a continuing debate regarding the applicability of the Torah in Jerusalem and Antioch in Syria.

Paul’s opponents viewed adherance to the law as an integral part of maintaining and, likely, procuring a relationship with God . In order to further their agenda, the agitators attempted to undermine Paul’s authority, claim Paul’s gospel was not true, and charge that the gospel preached by Paul would lead to immorality. Paul addressed the issues of the law with various arguments.

The crucial language utilized by Paul arguing for the sufficiency of the Christian faith climaxes with “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 5:20) which naturally leads to the recognition that righteousness, which the Jewish Christians were attempting to accomplish through the futility of human effort, can only be realized by grace via faith. In other words, “Christ in me” imputes righteousness not the Law, otherwise, “Christ died needlessly” (Galatians 5:21-3:2).

Longenecker in the book The Cambridge Companion to St Paul identifies four significant Pauline points which decimate the opponent’s gospel which, of course, is no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-7):

1 Morality –Paul emphasizes that a morality is central to a life with Christ. This righteousness frees believers from the need to acquire significance or justification from immoral idolatries such as human performance by realizing the very thing we are striving for already exists.

2 The Law -Paul explains the entirety of the Law is fulfilled in one word: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). In other words, through “service to others the expectations of the law are fully concretized in unrivalled fashion.” Self-giving is magnified completely fulfilling the Law in an unbridled extension of love for others.

3. Walk in the Spirit. Paul refers metaphorically to the purpose of the law as pedagogue (Galatians 3:24) which is “relieved of its duty once the child comes of age,” just as the function of the law terminated with Christ’s arrival Accordingly, Paul now directs us to “walk by the Spirit” not by the Law, for if led by the Spirit, we are not under the Law (Galatians 5:16-17).

4. Finally, Paul plunges a dagger into the motivation of his opponents by accusing them of championing teaching of the law for the purpose of self-promotion Galatians 4:17).