2023 Sun Feb 12 – St. Peter's News

Souper Bowl collections

February 12, 2023

Today, Feb. 12, 2023, we collected soup from parishioners today plus cards addressed to the recipients to provide additional connections to our Village Harvest food distribution, happening next Wed Feb. 15, 3pm-5pm. We collected about 25 cans and numerous cards. If was not just the donation that was important but also the symbolic bringing of the donation to the altar which we did today. This practice goes back to at least Exodus in the Old Testament when Moses encourages bringing donations forward to the Lord.

Videos, Epiphany 6, Feb 12, 2023

February 12, 2023

1. Prelude

2. Hymn – “Praise to the Living God”

3. Collect for Sunday

4. Gospel – Matthew 5 21-37

5. Sermon – the Rev. Tom Hughes

6. Souper Bowl foor donations

7. Offertory – “No Greater Love”

8. Hymn – “I come with Joy”

Hunger

February 11, 2023

Jesus is not just interested in our spiritual selves, but our physical needs as well. After Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter, he says, “give her something to eat.” When the disciples return from mission, Jesus can see they are exhausted and says, “Come away by yourselves and rest.” Jesus has come to satisfy our hunger – both physical and spiritual – and the hunger of the whole world. -Br. Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE

Absalom Jones

February 10, 2024February 9, 2023

New! Absalom Jones video

“Greater love has no man…” John 15:13

Religious denominations often accept members from other denominations that have been affected with adversities through policy decisions, change of beliefs or disagreements in relationships. Imagine coming to a new church after achieving success another denomination.

That’s what happened to Absalom Jones (b 1746), whose day we celebrate on Feb. 13, the day he died in 1818. Jones became not only the first trained black minister in any denomination but the first black minister ordained into the Episcopal Church and the first to create a Black religious organization in Philadelphia.

He wrote later. .” I was small, when my master took me from the field to wait and attend on him in the house; and being very fond of learning, I was careful to save the pennies that were given to me by the ladies and gentlemen from time to time. I soon bought myself a primer, and begged to be taught by any body that I found able and willing to give me the least instruction. Soon after this, I was able to purchase a spelling book; for as my money increased, I supplied myself with books, among others, a Testament. For, fondness for books, gave me little or no time for the amusements that took up the leisure hours of my companions. By this course I became singular, and escaped many evils, and also saved my money.”

At the age of 16, Jones’ mother, sister, and five brothers were sold, but he was brought to Philadelphia by his master, where he attended a night school for African-Americans operated by Quakers.

His master granted him a manumission in 1784, after refusing for several years to allow Absalom to purchase his freedom. As he wrote, “My desire for freedom increased, as I knew that while I was a slave, my house and lot might be taken as the property of my master. This induced me to make many applications to him for liberty to purchase my freedom.”

He met Richard Allen while worshiping at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church who had been engaged to preach at St. George’s and the two became lifelong friends.

He served as a lay preacher at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church from 1784 – 1786 and helped increase the African-American membership tenfold. The black members worked hard to help raise money to build an upstairs gallery intended to enlarge the church.

The result of this increase in membership made the white membership uneasy. They decided blacks had to sit in the gallery in Philadelphia. Jones learned of the decision only when, on the following Sunday after the decision, ushers tapped them on the shoulder during the opening prayers, and demanded that they move to the balcony without waiting for the end of the prayer. This was an act of segregation that Jones, his friend and co-worker Richard Allen, and the black congregants felt so strongly about that they left the church in a body and formed their own congregations.

Allen’s group became the Bethel Church (later Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church). Jones became the Lay Reader and Deacon of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Jones was ordained an Episcopal priest by Bishop William White in 1802.

Jones and another Richard Allen formed the Free African Society (FAS) in Philadelphia in 1787 whose main goal was to provide aid to newly freed blacks so that they could gather strength and develop leaders in the community. This was among the first organizations of its kind in America

In 1790, the city had 2,000 free black residents, a number that continued to increase. In the first two decades after the war, inspired by revolutionary ideals, many slaveholders freed their slaves, especially in the Upper South Northern states largely abolished slavery. Numerous freedmen migrated to Philadelphia from rural areas of Pennsylvania and the South

The FAS provided social and economic guidance, and medical care. The FAS became famous for its members’ charitable work as nurses and aides during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, when many residents abandoned the city. The doctor Benjamin Rush believed African Americans were immune to the disease. He wrote an open letter in the newspaper, under the pseudonym of a well-known Quaker who helped educate blacks, and appealed to blacks to aid others in the city during the epidemic .Allen and Jones decided to respond, together with other members of the FAS who served both black and white residents as nurses and aides during those terrible months.

After all their work, Allen and Jones wrote a memoir about the events, which they published the following year, A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People during the late awful calamity .

The Society soon became too large to meet in Richard Allen’s house and its meetings moved to the Quaker African School House. In 1789, the Society more closely aligned itself with the Quaker faith and its meetings began to mimic Quaker services. That prompted Allen, who was a Methodist, and many who were loyal to him to leave the organization.

It was the first Black religious institution in the city and led to the establishment of the first independent Black churches in the United States.

In 1792 Jones and Allen, with the assistance of local Quakers and Episcopalians, established the “First African Church” in Philadelphia which opened its doors in 1794. Shortly after the establishment that same year, the African Church applied to join the Protestant Episcopal Church, laying before the diocese three requirements: the Church must be received as an already organized body; it must have control over its own affairs; and Jones must be licensed as lay-reader and if qualified, ordained as its minister.

The first Episcopal bishop Williams White accepted them. Jones would serve as lay reader and study to be come a deacon in 1794. He and Jones would became the first black Americans to receive training in any denominations and Jones the first black priest in the Episcopal Church. It was the first Episcopal church for blacks.

Numerous members had come from the South, where they had belonged to the Anglican Church before the war. In 1804, Jones was the first black to be ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States.

Note that Jones was forced to accept the postponement of his own ordination to the priesthood for nearly 10 years as a condition of St. Thomas’s acceptance into the Diocese of Pennsylvania. By the way, that acceptance also included a stipulation that neither the priest nor the congregation would be permitted to attend diocesan convention. So, throughout Absalom Jones’ entire ministry, he never knew true and equal acceptance into the community of the Episcopal Church.

Jones was a successful minister. is constant visiting and mild manner that made him beloved by his congregation and by the community. St Thomas Church grew to over 500 members during its first year. The parishioners formed a day school and were active in moral uplift, self-empowerment, and anti-slavery activities. Known as “the Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church,” Jones was an example of persistent faith in God and in the Church as God’s instrument.

Allen disagreed with the move to the Episcopal church stayed with the Methodist Church. By 1816 he had formed a new denomination , the Methodist Episcopal “Church.

Jones continued to be a leader in his community, founding a day school (as African Americans were excluded from attending public school), the Female Benevolent Society, and an African Friendly Society.

In 1797, when the first African Masonic Lodge of Philadelphia was warranted, Absalom Jones was installed as First Worshipful Master and in 1815 he was elected the First Grand Master of the First African Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

Jones’s favorite Bible verse is said to have been Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (NRSV). Both Jones and Allen continued their work against slavery. They petitioned the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1799, campaigning for the abolition of slavery. In 1800, they sent a similar petition to the U.S. Congress. Both continued to champion change in both moral and racial arenas. Jones started schools for blacks in Pennsylvania since the state did not support education for them.

He died on Feb. 13, 1818.

REVISED ABSALOM JONES BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

By Arthur K. Sudler William Carl Bolivar Director Historical Society & Archives African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas

Absalom Jones was born enslaved to Abraham Wynkoop a wealthy Anglican planter in 1746 in Delaware. He was working in the fields when Abraham recognized that he was an intelligent child and ordered that he be trained to work in the house. Absalom eagerly accepted instruction in reading. He also saved money he was given and bought books (among them a primer, a spelling book, and a bible). Abraham Wynkoop died in 1753 and by 1755 his younger son Benjamin had inherited the plantation. When Absalom was sixteen Benjamin Wynkoop sold the plantation and Absalom’s mother, sister, and five brothers. Wynkoop brought Absalom to Philadelphia where he opened a store and joined St. Peter’s Church. In Philadelphia Benjamin Wynkoop permitted Absalom to attend a night school for black people that was operated by Quakers following the tradition established by abolitionist teacher Anthony Benezet.

At twenty, with the permission of their masters, Absalom married Mary Thomas who was enslaved to Sarah King who also worshipped at St. Peter’s. The Rev. Jacob Duche performed the wedding at Christ Church. Absalom and his father-in-law, John Thomas, used their savings, and sought donations and loans primarily from prominent Quakers, in order to purchase Mary’s freedom. Absalom and Mary worked very hard to repay the money borrowed to buy her freedom. They saved enough money to buy property and to buy Absalom’s freedom. Although he repeatedly asked Benjamin Wynkoop to allow him to buy his freedom Wynkoop refused. Absalom persisted because as long as he was enslaved Wynkoop could take his property and his money. Finally, in 1784 Benjamin Wynkoop freed Absalom by granting him a manumission. Absalom continued to work in Wynkoop’s store as a paid employee.

Absalom left St. Peter’s Church and began worshipping at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church. He met Richard Allen who had been engaged to preach at St. George’s and the two became lifelong friends, Together, in 1787, they founded the Free African Society a mutual aid benevolent organization that was the first of its kind organized by and for black people. Members of the Society paid monthly dues for the benefit of those in need. At St George’s, Absalom and Richard served as lay ministers for the black membership. The active evangelism of Jones and Allen, greatly increased black membership at St George’s. The black members worked hard to help raise money to build an upstairs gallery intended to enlarge the church. The church leadership decided to segregate the black worshippers in the gallery, without notifying them. During a ‪Sunday morning‬ service a dispute arose over the seats black members had been instructed to take in the gallery and ushers attempted to physically remove them by first accosting Absalom Jones. Most of the black members present indignantly walked out of St. George’s in a body.

Prior to the incident at St. George’s the Free African Society had initiated religious services. Some of these services were presided over by The Rev. Joseph Pilmore an assistant St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The Society established communication with similar black groups in other cities. In 1792 the Society began to build the African Church of Philadelphia. The church membership took a denominational vote and decided to affiliate with the Episcopal Church. Richard Allen withdrew from the effort as he favored affiliation with the Methodist Church. Absalom Jones was asked to provide pastoral leadership and after prayer and reflection he accepted the call.

The African Church was dedicated on July 17, 1794. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Magaw, rector St. Paul’s Church, preached the dedicatory address. Dr. Magaw was assisted at the service by The Rev. James Abercrombie, assistant minister at Christ Church. Soon thereafter the congregation applied for membership in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania on the following conditions: 1) that they be received as an organized body; 2) that they have control over their own local affairs; 3) that Absalom Jones be licensed as layreader, and, if qualified, be ordained as minister. In October 1794 it was admitted as the African Episcopal Church of St Thomas. The church was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1796. Bishop William White ordained Jones as deacon in 1795 and as priest on September 21, 1802.

Jones was an earnest preacher. He denounced slavery, and warned the oppressors to “clean their hands of slaves.” To him, God was the Father, who always acted on “behalf of the oppressed and distressed.” But it was his constant visiting and mild manner that made him beloved by his congregation and by the community. St Thomas Church grew to over 500 members during its first year. The congregants formed a day school and were active in moral uplift, self-empowerment, and anti-slavery activities. Known as “the Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church,” Jones was an example of persistent faith in God and in the Church as God’s instrument. Jones died on this day in 1818.

Here is Absalom’s autobiographical sketch from Douglass’ Annals (1862):

ABSALOM JONES AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH/ANNALS*

The following narrative is copied from the original manuscript written by himself:

“I, Absalom Jones was born in Sussex,” DEL., “on the 6th of November, 1746. I was small, when my master took me from the field to wait and attend on him in the house; and being very fond of learning, I was careful to save the pennies that were given to me by the ladies and gentlemen from time to time. I soon bought myself a primer, and begged to be taught by any body that I found able and willing to give me the least instruction. Soon after this, I was able to purchase a spelling book; for as my money increased, I supplied myself with books, among others, a Testament. For, fondness for books, gave me little or no time for the amusements that took up the leisure hours of my companions. By this course I became singular, and escaped many evils, and also saved my money.

In the year 1762, my mother, five brothers and a sister were sold, and I was brought to the city of Philadelphia with my master. My employment in this city was to wait in the store, pack up and carry out goods. In this situation, I had an opportunity, with the clerk, to get copies set for me; so that I was soon able to write to my mother and brothers, with my own hand. My spelling is bad for want of proper schooling.

In the year 1766, I asked my master the liberty of going one quarter to night-school, which he granted. I had a great desire to learn Arithmetic. In that quarter I learned Addition, Troy weight, Subtraction, Apothecaries’ weight, Practical multiplication, Practical Division, and Reduction.

In the year 1770, I married a wife who was a slave. I soon after proposed to purchase her freedom. To this her mistress agreed, for the sum of forty pounds. Not having the money in hand, I got an appeal drawn, and John Thomas, my father-in-law, and I called upon some of the principal Friends of this city. From some we borrowed, and from other we received donations. In this way we soon raised thirty pounds of the money, her mistress, Sarah King, forgiving the balance of ten pounds. By this time, my master’s family was increased, and I was much hurried in my servitude. However, I took a house, and for seven years, made it my business to work until twelve or ‪one o’clock‬ at night, to assist my wife in obtaining a livelihood, and to pay the money that was borrowed to purchase her freedom.

This being fully accomplished, and having a little money in hand, I made application to my master, in the year 1778, to purchase my own freedom; but, as this was not granted, I fortunately met with a small house and lot of ground, to be sold for one hundred and fifty pounds, continental money. Having laid by some hard money, I sold it for continental and purchased the lot. My desire for freedom increased, as I knew that while I was a slave, my house and lot might be taken as the property of my master. This induced me to make many applications to him for liberty to purchase my freedom; and on the first of October, 1784, he generously gave me a manumission. I have ever since continued in his service at good wages, and I still find it my duty, both late and early, to be industrious to improve the little estate that a kind Providence has put in my hands.

Since my freedom, I have built a couple of small houses on the small lot, which now let for twenty-two pounds a year.”

*Annals of the first African church, in the United States of America: now styled the African Episcopal church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, in its connection with the early struggles of the colored people to improve their condition, with the co-operation of the Friends, and other philanthropists; partly derived from the minutes of a beneficial society, established by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and others, in 1787, and partly from the minutes of the aforesaid church

William Douglass
January 1, 1862
King & Baird, printers

The Gospel for Feb. 12-“But I Say to You”

February 11, 2023February 9, 2023

By Debie Thomas from the website “Journey with Jesus”

“So I come to this week’s Gospel reading with trepidation, because Jesus’s words seem — at first glance — to support a very transactional version of God: “If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” “If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” If you don’t reconcile quickly with your accusers, “you will be thrown into prison until you’ve paid the last penny.” “Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

“Yikes. What are we supposed to do with such dire warnings? Where is the unconditional love we’d much rather hear about? This portion of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount sounds like it’s chock full of threats, issued by a severe and perfectionistic God. Is there a loophole somewhere? Anywhere?

“I wonder if the problem is in part a cultural one. As a 21st century Christian living in America, I am inclined to read Jesus’s sermon — or rather, I am inclined to read all of Scripture — through an individualistic lens. Whenever I see “you” in the text, I think: “Me. Me, Debie Thomas. This is a warning to and for me.”

“But that is not an accurate reading. Jesus isn’t admonishing individuals in his Sermon on the Mount; he is calling forth a new community. A blessed community. A beloved community. A community meant to initiate a radical way of doing life on the earth. A community Jesus trusts will follow in his footsteps, and incarnate divine love to a world hungry for hope and healing.

“If we read Jesus’s words about murder, anger, reconciliation, adultery, lust, divorce, and oath-making in this more communal context — if we read them as instructions given in the hope of building and sustaining a community that is both blessed and commissioned to bless — what version of God might emerge?

“I think the version that emerges is of a God who cares profoundly about human dignity. A God who takes our relationships with each other very seriously, and wants us to treat each other — not with a bare minimum of civility and morality — but with the deepest respect, integrity, and love.

“Take, for instance, Jesus’s teaching on murder. You have heard that murder is wrong, he tells his listeners. “But I say to you” that coexisting without literally killing each other is not enough to sustain a beloved community. It’s just the beginning. Agreeing not to commit homicide is essential and lovely, but what about all the other ways we human beings “kill”our relationships through resentment, rage, unforgiveness, and spite? Don’t we often treat others as if they are dead to us? Less than human? Unworthy of love? Don’t we inflict soul-killing violence on each other through our words? Our silences? Our refusal to extend and receive forgiveness? What good is it if we, God’s children, technically spare each other’s lives, and yet commit unspeakable acts of murder through a refusal to love?

“Or consider Jesus’s teaching on adultery. You have heard that you shall not commit adultery, he says. But I say to you that refraining from sleeping with each other’s spouses is just the barest foundation of Christ-centered community. What about honoring human dignity by refusing in any way to cheapen or objectify other people for our own pleasure? What about helping each other to succeed in our marriages and other relational commitments, instead of making those vows even harder to fulfill? What about taking seriously our responsibility to encourage each other in holy living? Not “holy” as in stiff, boring, lifeless, and prudish, but holy as in whole, abundant, faithful, and life-giving?

Or consider Jesus’s instruction not to swear by anything on earth or in heaven, but to simply let our yes be yes, and our no, no. Imagine, Jesus is suggesting, a community in which the default assumption is that people tell each other the truth. People keep their promises. People don’t deceive one another. In such a community, no one needs to say, “I swear!” in order to earn trust. In God’s beloved community, no one uses language to connive or manipulate others. We remember that the words we say are spoken in the presence of God, and so we speak with care and respect for each other.

“Finally, consider Jesus’s words about divorce, which I know strike us contemporary Christians as particularly jarring. Remember that in Jesus’s day, women whose husbands divorced them were often left to starve in the streets. They had no financial recourse, they would not be welcomed back into their childhood homes, and the social stigma attached to divorce was severe. What if Jesus is saying, “It’s not enough to follow the letter of the law, hand your wife a certificate of divorce, and send her packing — as if you have no further obligation to a fellow human being. What about her vulnerability? Her shame? Her future? In other words, in the beloved community Jesus is shaping, we have a responsibility to uphold each other’s dignity as brothers and sisters in Christ — even when our relationships as spouses or partners come to an end. That deeper responsibility cannot be signed away with a piece of paper. It endures no matter what.

“The longer I sit with this passage of Scripture, the more I see in it — oddly enough — the care and attentiveness of God. God wants us to treat each other well. God cares a lot about our dignity. God doesn’t want us to settle for bare minimums in the communities we create; God wants us to relate in ways that reflect the fullness of divine love, mercy, grace, and generosity.

“I believe we do ourselves a disservice if we read Jesus’s words as condemnation. Jesus isn’t condemning us; he’s reminding us of truths we intuitively know. The way of love is hard. It’s costly. It hurts. But let’s not fool ourselves; there is a place called hell. It’s the place we create for each other every time we choose an easy and austere legalism over an arduous and radical love.

“SO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’S IMPORTANT, Jesus says in every way he can think to articulate it. You matter. How you live with each other matters. What you say and do, what you focus on, what you prioritize as my disciples — these things matter! Your choices have life-and-death consequences, so please take your communal lives seriously. Please don’t make faith harder for yourselves and for others by settling for bare minimums. Reconcile with each other. Honor each other. Speak truthfully to each other. Protect each other. Do these things — not to earn God’s blessings, but because you are already so richly blessed.”

Sunday Links, Feb. 12, 2023. Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany – Souper Bowl Sunday

February 16, 2023February 9, 2023

Souper Bowl Sunday It began over 20 years ago with a simple prayer : “Lord as we enjoy the Super Bowl, help us to be mindful of those without a bowl of soup to eat. The photo is our collection ten years ago – in the snow!

Bring a can, or cans, of soup to church on the 12th, along with a Valentine’s Day card wishing the recipient love from St Peter’s to be included in a Village Harvest bag on Weds, February 15th. The goal—thirty cans of soup and thirty cards for those who come to the distribution. Monetary donations to the Village Harvest also welcome with Village Harvest in the memo line of your check.

Feb. 12, 11:00am – Holy Eucharist

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany Zoom link Feb. 12, 2023 Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929

Lectionary for Feb. 12, 2023, Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Bulletin for Feb. 12, 2023, Bulletin

Morning Meditation , Feb. 13, 6:30am Zoom link Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929

Ecumenical Bible Study, Wed., Feb. 15, 10am-12pm.

Village Harvest, Wed., Feb. 15, 3pm-5pm. Please email Andrea to volunteer at wakepogue.public@gmail.com, or (540) 847-9002. Pack bags 1-3PM, Deliver food to clients’ cars 3-5PM.

February, 2023 Newsletter

All articles for Feb.12, 2023

Coming Up!

Sun, Feb. 19, Congregational Meeting, 11am

Souper Bowl- Giving a can of Soup and a card this Sunday – the Gift of Life

January 22, 2024February 8, 2023

Bring a can, or cans, of soup to church on the 11th, along with a Valentine’s Day card wishing the recipient love from St Peter’s to be included in a Village Harvest bag on Wed, February 21st. The goal—thirty cans of soup and thirty cards for those who come to the distribution. Monetary donations to the Village Harvest are always welcome. Write a check to St Peter’s with Village Harvest in the memo line if you wish to donate.

Why give ?

A sermon by the Rev. Evan Garner highlighted why Church food ministries are so important in our time:

“Because feeding them is our job. As followers of Jesus, it is our calling to feed these people, indeed to feed all hungry people. The kind of people who left their homes to walk out into the wilderness and hike up a mountain to see Jesus are the kind of people who were desperate to be fed. Some of them may not have needed physical nourishment, but most of them did. For most of them, their spiritual crisis was born out of an economic crisis. We know that because usually the kind of people who had enough on their own weren’t very interested in Jesus. The rich and the powerful ignored him or laughed at him or, sometimes, plotted against him.”

“It is our job as the leaders of the church, as the stewards of the resources entrusted to us by God and by our parish, to count costs and estimate resources. But it is never our job as the people of God to allow an attitude of scarcity to overcome a theology of abundance. “

The Village Harvest addresses the Food Insecurity issue in surrounding counties and is one our key ministries. The definition of Food insecure is “those households who not have access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.”

Food insecure is not the same as poverty. Many of those in poverty are not food insecure though poverty is one cause of food insecurity.

There is a “poverty circle” just south of Port Royal in the direction of Fort A.P. Hill (map from Virginia Community Food Connections):

Food insecurity is associated with numerous adverse social and health outcomes and is increasingly considered a critical public health issue. Key drivers of food insecurity include unemployment, poverty, and income shocks, which can prevent adequate access to food. Figures for food insecurity are expressed as a percentage of the population.

Here is the data for the local counties which we serve from Feeding America and the percentage of those who are food insecure. There have been significant improvements in all counties since 2017 except for Westmoreland. Half of the local area is still above Virginia in food insecurity which we would like to reverse:

	2020	2017
County	%	%
Caroline	7.4%	11.3%
Essex	11.0%	14.0%
Westmoreland	10.7%	10.8%
King George	5.6%	8.1%

Virginia as a whole	7.7%	10.2%

St. Peter’s spends about $2000 a year on food purchased from the Healthy Harvest Food Bank for the Village Harvest. Please give generously this Sunday. Thanks!

Lectionary, Feb. 12, Epiphany 6

February 11, 2023February 9, 2023

I.Theme – The joy and blessings of obedience. Also, is the idea of building a new community through new behaviors (culminating in Matt 5: 37).

“Hands across the Divide” – Maurice Harron. A metal sculpture in Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Since the 17th century, Londonderry has had two cultural traditions: Catholic and Protestant, Irish and Ulster Scots. During the Troubles, this became a big problem. The city became best known for tragedies like Bloody Sunday, and so most tourists stayed away. Yet since the start of the peace process, Londonderry has been transformed. It’s rediscovered its rightful role as a cultural destination, and its dual heritage has become an asset, rather than a source of strife. The image is included in relationship to the Corinthians reading.

The lectionary readings are here or individually:

1A. Old Testament 1 Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20

1B. Old Testament 2 Deuteronomy 30:15-20

2. Psalm– Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

3. Epistle – 1 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

4. Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37

The Old Testament and Gospel readings are linked around the older community in Deuteronomy (The setting is the plains of Moab, as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land) and the new community in Matthew (Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount). How do we get along in community ? The focus is the calling and teaching of disciples of Jesus. (Paul in Corinthians is centered on a related idea – being or becoming healthy as the body of Christ.)

Deuteronomy

In the four verses immediately preceding 30:15–20, Moses assures the people that the commandments of the LORD are neither too hard nor too remote.

Just prior to our text, Moses announces wonderful blessings for an obedient Israel and blood-curdling curses for an apostate Israel (chapter 28). These benedictions and maledictions are followed by a prediction of eventual exile (29:18–29) and return (30:1–10) .

Having assured the people that what God commands they can do, Moses launches into his final call for a decision.

The choice is stark. “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today…then you shall live and become numerous
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear… I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” Moses use of the word “today” is the hope for a new beginning.

Like Matthew there is the emphasis on the creation of a new community. There is the need for a break with the past. However, in the following chapter, it becomes very clear that both Moses and God know that the people will fail miserably.

Psalm

The first section of the ‘long Psalm’ is an acrostic based on alpeh, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Like the other 21 sections of the Psalm, it consists of eight double lines. The longest acrostic Psalm, it is therefore constructed with great skill, which no translation can really convey. The choice of vocabulary is also rich, expressing different terms for what we very flatly call ‘law’. Although the Jewish celebration of ‘rejoicing in the law (simchat torah) was a later development in Judaism, the psalm expresses similar sentiments. As a Psalm extolling the torah, it has similarities to Psalms 1 and 19:7-11. These eight verses are a suitable general introduction to the rest of the Psalm.

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9

Following on from the situation reported to him by ‘Chloe’s people’ (1:11), after an excursus dealing with ‘the message of the cross (1:18-2:16), Paul returns to the theme of factions in the church at Corinth. However, the intervening section emphasizes the cross as God’s wisdom. This stands in sharp contrast to the rivalry exhibited by the groups in the church. The metaphor of ‘growth’ is developed both in the imagery of the ‘child’, and also of the ‘field’. Paul’s favorite dichotomy of flesh and spirit is also to the fore. Nevertheless, the Corinthian believers are still Paul’s ‘brothers and sisters’, and fellow workers. Despite their shortcomings, although he does reprimand them he does not disown them. The fact that only Paul and Apollos are mentioned here (and not Cephas nor Christ, as in 1:12) probably reflects the history of the congregation’s founding and leadership by these two apostles. Paul might have taken some of the glory for this, but he refuses to do so.

Matthew 5: 21-37

The first four of the six ‘antitheses’ of the Sermon on the Mount are included in this reading (the final two are in next week’s reading). The quotations from ‘those of ancient times’ include aspects of both torah and tradition (halakah). The time-honoured description of this section as ‘antitheses’ may be misleading, for although in part Jesus cuts across the interpretation of the law, he does not contradict or discard torah itself. Jesus’ own interpretation intensifies and internalises the force of the commands.

Jesus also broadens the impact of torah/halakah, ie murder becomes an issue of anger and unforgiveness; adultery is broadened to include lust and stumbling-blocks in general; divorce and adultery are linked; and the making of vows is illustrated by specific examples and by the simplicity of Jesus’ teaching.

The explanatory expansion of these commands by Jesus may also be understood as the root cause of the specific sin, eg anger or unforgiveness in the heart can lead to physical murder.

II. Summary

Old Testament – Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20

Two verses in the Old Testament seem to imply that God causes a person to sin at times:

God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” in Exodus 11:10 and

in 2 Samuel 24:1 God “incited David” to count how many subjects he has – out of pride.

But Sirach disagrees: in no way can God be held responsible for human sinfulness (vv. 11-12). God not only hates sin but he even preserves the godly person from committing it (v. 13).

In v. 14, he says that God “left them in the power of their own free choice”. (A scholar says that inclination is a better translation.) One can incline:

towards godliness (“life”, v. 17) by obeying the Law (v. 15) or

towards ungodliness (“death”, v. 17) by refusing to obey.

God does allow us to go our own way, but he is always there to help us follow his ways. Only with his love can we attain eternal life. “Fire and water” (v. 16) are opposite extremes, and don’t mix. There are two choices; they are mutually exclusive. Then vv. 18-20: even though God is omniscient (he knows all that we think and do), he does not cause people to sin.

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 30:15-20

The setting is the plains of Moab, as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. The book states that Moses is the speaker, but the laws given in Chapters 12-28 are updated versions of those in earlier books.

Times have changed since Sinai: the people were semi-nomads then; now they are farmers and shepherds. It is a time of religious revival, of new commitment to God. V. 6 puts the Law in a new light: God will “circumcise your heart” – he will work changes within the people so love becomes the driving force. Note also v. 20: “loving the Lord your God …”. They will keep the Law because they love God.

Our reading summarizes Chapters 27-28, which tell of:

-the ways in which the Israelites will be blessed if they keep this expanded and updated covenant; and

-the consequences of failing to keep many of the laws, i.e. being excluded from the community.

Then it offers a choice: keep the laws in love and obedience, or suffer the consequences of following other paths. Keeping the Law because you love God will have many benefits, including long life (“length of days”, v. 20).

Psalm -Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

This is the first stanza (of 22, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet) of the longest psalm. Each of the verses of this stanza begins with aleph, the first letter. The whole psalm is in praise of the Law (the expression of God’s covenant with humankind in the Old Testament) and of keeping it. The emphasis is on the love and desire for the word of God in Israel’s law, rather than being burdened with it. The psalm begins with a prayer for help in observing the Law. To be “happy” (vv. 1-2) is to be blessed by God. As in other stanzas, various words are used for “law”; here they are “precepts”, “statutes” “commandments”, and “ordinances”. The psalmist seeks to avoid sin, and to live in God’s ways.

Epistle -1 Corinthians 3:1-9

In Chapter 1, Paul says that he has learnt that there are divisions in the church at Corinth, that some adhere to particular leaders of the community rather than to Christ. The faith only makes sense to those who understand it spiritually, so he addresses them not as “spiritual people” (v. 1) but as neophytes (“infants”). He has been criticized for oversimplifying the good news, but their “jealousy and quarrelling” (v. 3) demonstrate that they are still only earthly minded, are still behaving according to human standards (“inclinations”).

It is natural to be attached to the person who welcomed you into the church, but you need to recognize that they are all “servants” (v. 5) of Christ. Each has a distinct function in bringing you to faith. Paul founded the church at Corinth (“planted”, v. 6); Apollos nurtured faith (“watered”) in the community; but it is God who causes spirituality and faith to grow. He and Apollos have the same objective (v. 8). Perhaps the rewards (“wages”) are in seeing the church grow; perhaps they are in heaven. Paul and Apollos are co-workers. In the following verses, Paul expands on the church as “God’s building” (v. 9).

Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37

Epiphany is the inbreaking presence in Jesus Christ in the world. We see this in this week’s Matthew’s Gospel

The section is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Having announced the good news and the kingdom of heaven having broken in (4:23-24), Jesus proclaims the guiding precepts of that kingdom in the Beatitudes (5:1-12), and announces that his followers are to be “salt” and “light” in the world and proclaimed the fulfillment of prophesy and the law. The law remains in full force “until all has come to be,” a reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus which brings the New Creation.

Matthew builds his Gospel around five main discourses. He probably did this with the five books of the Torah (or the Law) in mind. His intention was almost certainly to portray Jesus as the new Moses, giving a new Law for the New Covenant. Which, of course, makes it very tempting to believe that we have an excuse for doing away with the law altogether. But, this is not what Matthew – or Jesus for that matter – was doing. Rather, in the Sermon on the Mount, to which we continue to listen this week, Jesus makes it clear that he has come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it – literally to perfect or complete it (Matthew 5:17-19).

And in the section which is set for Epiphany 6 (Matthew 5:21-37), this fulfillment is demonstrated in remarkable ways. Jesus, it seems, knew that the law could be cold-hearted. He knew that it could be used to demean and oppress. He knew that a law that was left in the realm of letters and court rooms could often accomplish the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The law must become part of our hearts. Jesus in these teachings is standing on the foundation of prior teachings from Hebrew Scriptures about the heart as the inner source of outer actions, subject to the good or evil influence of imagination. He’s asking, “What is in your heart?

Jesus gives the disciples a new way of life, not rejecting the tradition, but building upon it, explaining what they really meant . It is a way of life that demands more and promises more. He identifies the divine ideal behind the law. God requires righteousness (right living) and it has to be better than what he alleges many Jewish leaders of his time achieved (5:20). It is a necessary surpassing righteousness required of a person to enter the kingdom of heaven. . People can hear the commandments and not understand what they are really about

In that it is all about relationships. And so Jesus speaks the radical message of the complete law, calling us not just to ensure that we uphold the letter of the legal code, but that we uphold the dignity and humanity of our companions in this world. The New Community is not a “new and improved” old community. Rather, it is a reconciled and beloved community in which all people are treated with dignity, not with contempt , and with affirmation, not deprecation .

Jesus shifts our attention from particular behaviors we must avoid to particular interior orientations we must cultivate. Kingdom righteousness saturates our whole lives, and promises much more, too. It is the way of blessedness.

No longer do the teachings on murder and adultery apply strictly to acts of murder and adultery. Instead, they become doorways into the examination of many internal dynamics as well as external behaviors of one’s life: anger, derision, slander, false generosity, litigiousness, arrogance, lust, temptation, alienation, divorce, and religious speech. Jesus advises that one discard, promptly and decisively, anything in one’s life that tempts one to turn away from God.

Then follow six instances in which Jesus announces new interpretations of the law–indeed, some would say, changes the law. He will teach in regard to anger, sexuality, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and hatred of enemies.

In this text Jesus provides his teaching on three of the Ten Commandments (plus divorce):

1. You shall not commit murder.

2. You shall not commit adultery and divorce

3. You shall not bear false witness.

The way Jesus refers to them indirectly was a way to direct importance to them

1. Murder

Jesus extends this law to include propensities to kill: nursing anger, calling someone good for nothing (as the Greek says) or a “fool” (v. 22)

Jesus is saying: if you take the command, “Do not kill”, seriously, then you will not embrace hate and let you anger turn to abuse of others. You will write no one off. The fifth contrast will speak of retaliation – also a form of hate. The sixth contrast matches the first because it has the same theme: love your enemies. In Jesus’ teaching the foundation is God’s love and openness to all.

There is a certain attraction in being able to divide people into those we love and those we hate – and those we don’t know so don’t care about anyway. It seeds racism. It rescues us from complexity and the messiness of needing to think, and to engage the unfamiliar and less amenable to us and our ways. The religious form of this is to deem some people as never having been chosen, never having been of worth, not counting. Religions use it to rationalise rejection. It is, alas, alive and well. It is easier to eliminate people in this way than to take up the challenge of respecting them, engaging them, seeking a right relationship with them – God’s way according to the gospel, though “God” is often made to model, motivate and rationalize our fondness for hate.

There are two more teachings about anger; the first having almost a touch of humor to it: Someone has something against you? Then go back home (to Galilee?!) and sort it out – even if it means a few days’ journey (5:23-24)! Similarly, Matthew has what sounds like advice at conflicts which might end up in court and land you in jail (5:25-26). It is really a powerful way of urging people to deal with conflict directly and immediately. Later Matthew’s Jesus instructs people to put effort into sorting out problems of wrongdoing in the community (18:15-18) and approaching them with compassion and prayer (18:12-14, 19-20, 21-35).

We still need that wisdom: don’t go gossiping! Don’t just sit on it (it might explode destructively one day or you might implode with stress). Deal with it. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (5:9), it is clear from Matthew’s gospel, that he did not mean, blessed are those who sweep things under the carpet, or those who lie to themselves and others about pain. If it hurts, say so. Deal with it!

Verse 22, “with a brother or sister.” These teachings of Jesus are addressed specifically to his followers who are to treat one another as they would their blood relatives. In fact, Jesus lays down higher standards. But the key to remember is that at the time of Jesus ones family was everything, and the provision of this alternate family – the community of followers of Jesus – was a radical disruption of a paramount social foundation.

2. Adultery

God expects purity of thought and desire as well as of action.

The punishment for adultery was for both the adulterer and the wife to be put to death, “so you shall purge the evil from Israel.”

But Jesus proposes another way to purge the evil of adultery – tearing out the eye that looks with lust on another man’s wife! The added nuance is the “right” eye. “To pluck out the right eye” means to suffer dishonor. Thus the followers of Jesus are urged to practice self-discipline, both in not committing the kind of seeing that leads to dishonoring of others, and in voluntarily dishonoring oneself in the service of restoring the peace of the community.

The issue is not having sexual feelings, but what one does with them. As with anger, if you have them and harbor them towards a married woman, then you are in effect an adulterer in your mind. Get your mind sorted out. Seeing” for the purpose of “desire” is not seeing a woman as a person but as an object. Again, the kingdom of heaven is about the dignity and affirmation of others, not using them for one’s own purposes.

3. Divorce

With regard to the third contrast, there was no command about divorce, but it is implied in the instructions of Deut 24:1-4, which prohibited remarrying someone you had divorced. Divorce became a problem especially when Judaism began to move away from polygamy.

Divorcing a wife was easy for a man in Palestine: in some circles, he could simply write her a “certificate of divorce” (v. 31) without cause. Jesus’ point here is that marriage is indissoluble, lifelong. Sexual intercourse made people permanently one. He probably thinks of Genesis 2:24: in marriage, God makes man and wife “one flesh”. He makes one exception: “on the ground of unchastity” (v. 32). The Greek word means unlawful sexual behaviour, including adultery. He forbids remarriage because the first marriage still exists. The view that adultery was intolerable was widely held across Greek, Roman, and Jewish culture, requiring the death of both people at some points in history or, if not, certainly divorce.

Because Jesus consistently shifted the focus from just act to attitude of mind we are able to embrace what also the wisdom about human relations has taught us, namely that usually adultery is usually a symptom of something else as well, so that things may have gone badly wrong, even irretrievably so, long before an act of adultery has taken place, indeed even when it has not taken place. Reconciliation and healing mean dealing with these complexities of the mind and attitude towards which the gospel also points us. Our gospel commitment to marriage and relationship remains, but works itself out in ways that may sometimes see (agreed) divorce as the most creative way forward and may also have us recognizing that marriages where adultery has taken place can be retrieved, revived, even to become stronger and more fruitful for having worked through the underlying issues.

4. Oaths

Matthew 5:33-37: You shall not bear false witness.

This extension of the Law was not onerous for first-century Christians, for they expected the world to end soon, and they could live separately from their spouses. Then vv. 33-37: one swore an oath to guarantee that what one said on a particular occasion was the truth.

The Torah allowed for oaths, even prescribed them in some cases, but Jesus said not to swear “at all.” Sometimes today we may need references, witnesses, guarantors, as an aid to those who might otherwise be unsure or where some communally agreed norms are at stake, such as oaths of office or in court,

Jesus says one should always tell only the truth. When one does, there is no need for swearing[-in]. A truthful person is consistent in what he says. Inconsistency is a sign that one has turned against God (v. 37).

People can get quite inventive with oaths, which is why Jesus goes on at some length condemning them/ The problem with oaths is that they can be an effort to cover false promises or to further one’s own ends by invoking God’s name, God’s honor.

Oath-swearing is for people who don’t trust each other, as if underlining our cheap words with a patina of piety might make them more believable. Oaths actually serve to underline doubt, not certainty. In the New Community, there is no need for such oaths because reconciled people speak the truth to each other and live in trust with each other.

III. Articles for this week in WorkingPreacher:

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm – Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP

Epistle – 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Matthew – Matthew 5:21-37