Christmas Day I, II, and III

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Dec. 25, 2017
(Readings for Lectionary Selections I, II, and III)

Adoration of the Shepherds (1612-1614). Oil painting on canvas by Doménikos Theotokópoulos (“El Greco”), 1541-1614. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

First Reading, Selection I: Isaiah 9:2-7

Christmas is here! We see a great light and sing a new song as we behold with joy in the city of David the birth of a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. In our first reading, from the early chapters of Isaiah, in words that the composer Handel will borrow for “The Messiah,” the prophet foretells a glorious future when the oppressor’s yoke will broken and a child will be born for us, a son given to us, a Wonderful Counsellor to take the throne of David: Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. .

First Reading, Selection II: Isaiah 62:6-12

In this first reading, the exile is ending. Through the power of God’s strong right hand and mighty arm, the people will return to Jerusalem. Prepare the way, build up the highway toward home and clear it of stones: No longer shall enemies harvest Zion’s grain and drink its wine; a glorious future of redemption and salvation that will last until the end of time.

First Reading, Selection III: Isaiah 52:7-10

Israel’s exile in Babylon is ending, and God’s messenger brings good news of peace and salvation as God leads the people back to Zion, the temple on the mountain, Jerusalem. Even the ruins of the devastated city are called to break into song. Such is the joy of God’s return to the holy city! God reigns, the people are comforted, and all the nations shall see the power of God’s holy arm and the salvation that it brings.

Psalm, Selection I: Psalm 96

All the earth sings a new song, blessing God’s name in this joyous Psalm of praise There is fascinating theology here, ideas that we may see reflected in the New Testament: We are called to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation; we are to go out and declare God’s glory, a great commission to show God’s majesty to all the nations. The whole earth, the heavens, the seas, the forests and all that is in them rejoice before our God.

Psalm, Selection II: Psalm 97

God is king, and all creation rejoices. This Psalm praises God in an image of power and might that echoes the fearsome God who led the Israelites through the desert and protected them there, surrounded by clouds, lightning and fire. This is a God over all other gods, over all other nations, but also a God who loves the righteous, provides light for them, and cares for those who live justly.

Psalm, Selection III: Psalm 98

Again we are called to stand up and rejoice in a Psalm of praise that is full of joyous music, harp, trumpets and horn. We sing a new song of praise for the victory won by God’s mighty right hand and holy arm. All the nations, not only Israel, shout with joy. Even the sea, the land, the rivers and the hills will rejoice when God comes to judge all the world with righteousness and equity. Lift up your voice! Rejoice and sing!

Second Reading, Selection I: Titus 2:11-14

Here’s a Bible Trivia fact! Titus is the only book of the New Testament that does not appear in the regular three-year Lectionary of Sunday service readings. We hear it only on Christmas. Much of Titus’ short letter is spent warning the people of Crete to rein in their sinful behavior, an argument that leads to a worthy conclusion: We should live well and renounce bad actions as we wait for the grace of God through Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us and make us God’s people.

Second Reading, Selection II: Titus 3:4-7

Titus emphasizes that Jesus is God, our savior, the perfect manifestation of goodness and loving-kindness. Jesus saved us not because of any good that we had done, but entirely because he is merciful, giving us God’s grace through baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. Justified by God’s grace, we become heirs to eternal life through Jesus.

Second Reading, Selection III: Hebrews 1:1-4,(5-12)

The letter to the Hebrews begins with a beautifully poetic description of Jesus, chosen as the son of God, the perfect reflection of God’s glory, higher even than the angels. Indeed, when Jesus was born into the world, multitudes of angels appeared in the heavens to worship him. Because Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness, his throne is for ever and ever, and God speaks to us no longer through the prophets but through him.

Gospel: Luke 2:1-14(15-20), Selection I; and Luke 2:(1-7)8-20, Selection II

And now we come to the familiar story of Jesus’ birth. Today we read the nativity according to Luke. This is the Gospel that gives us the memorable stories of Mary giving birth, wrapping the child in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger in Bethlehem – the City of David – because there was no room in the inn. Here we have the beautiful scene of baby Jesus and his parents suddenly surrounded by shepherds and their flocks, while angels sing gloriously overhead while the Lord’s angel tells them that the baby is a Savior and the Messiah.

Gospel, Selection III: John 1:1-14

No, there is no nativity story in this Christmas Gospel. Luke and Matthew, each in his own way, give us the familiar story of the newborn baby born in Bethlehem. But John introduces us to Jesus in a completely different way: It’s poetic and spiritual instead, celebrating the unimaginable glory of God’s own word becoming flesh and living among us, lighting up the world. The Word that was in the beginning with God, when God said, “Let there be light” and there was light, is now, will be, and in God’s time always has been, incar
(Readings for Lectionary Selections I, II, and III)nate as human flesh, Jesus, Messiah, God with us.

Lessons and Carols

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Robin Garr

The traditional service of Lessons and Carols was sung on December 10, 2017, by the National Cathedral’s Cathedral Choirs. Readings from scripture, seasonal hymns, and choral anthems proclaim God’s love, continued presence, and the promised coming of the Messiah. To watch the service online, click the image or this link.

The service of Lessons and Carols is a service of worship traditionally held during Advent, celebrating the birth of Jesus with readings from Scripture, carols, and hymns.

Lessons and Carols originated at the Church of England’s Truro Cathedral in Cornwall in 1878, and since World War I has been famously presented (and broadcast) every December for the past century by King’s College, Cambridge, England, and Brown University in Province, Rhode Island. The original service has since been adapted and used by other churches all over the world, not only in the Anglican and Episcopal traditions but in many other denominations as well.

The original liturgy consisted of nine scripture readings from Genesis and the Prophets. The current Episcopal liturgy in our Book of Occasional Services permits as many as nine readings, plus a Gospel, from a choice of 13 Hebrew Bible readings and two Gospel passages.

Here’s a quick look at the readings that St. Matthew’s Episcopal Louisville will use in Lessons and Carols at our 10 a.m. service on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2017, at 10 a.m.

Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The Prophet Jeremiah, speaking when the people are in exile and Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, imagines God, planning to make a new covenant with the people, forgiving the iniquity that earned their exile when they broke the old covenant by failing to be righteous. The new covenant, written in our hearts, establishes that God is our God and we are God’s people.

Isaiah 64: 1-9a
The people have returned from exile to the wreckage of their city and temple. The Prophet Isaiah calls out a ringing cry to our God of power and might to tear open the heavens and come down among us. God was angry and turned away when the people sinned; but we, like potter’s clay, are the work of God’s hands. We beg God not to remain angry, nor to remember our iniquity forever.

Baruch 4: 36–5: 9
Tradition declares that Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe, charged with writing down the prophet’s oracles and declarations. This short book of just five chapters, one of the “Apocrypha” at the end of the Old Testament, encourages the people as they return from exile. “Look East,” this passage urges, and see Israel’s children returning in glory, walking on level ground that God has prepared for them to walk safely home.

Isaiah 7: 10-15
We page backward toward the beginning of Isaiah to hear God warning David’s descendant, King Ahaz, that his land will soon be conquered, but that God will give the people a sign: A young woman will bear a child called Immanuel – “God With Us” – a child who will eventually show the world how to refuse evil and choose the good.

Zephaniah 3: 14-18
Much of the short book of the minor prophet Zephaniah prophesies Israel’s violent destruction, amid scornful threats of Israel’s enemies’ destruction. Its closing verses that we hear in Lessons and Carols, though, spare us that, instead looking toward the joyous time when Israel shouts in joy and exultation, its people restored by God in gladness and love.

Isaiah 65: 17-25
The people, home from exile, face a daunting chore in rebuilding the city and its temple, but the prophet assures them that God will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no weeping and no distress in the new Jerusalem. There will be no death in childbirth, no pain; all may expect joyous lives of 100 years of youthful strength! The city will be a holy place of peace, where people will enjoy the fruits of their own labor; the wolf, the lion and the lamb will live peacefully together, and none shall hurt or destroy.

Luke 1: 26-38
This Gospel, which is also assigned to the Fourth Sunday of Advent, tells the familiar story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to a young Palestinian woman named Mary. Through God’s Holy Spirit this young woman will give birth to a son named Jesus, who will inherit King David’s throne and rule over an eternal kingdom. She responds to this amazing news with simple, trusting acceptance: “Let it be with me according to your word.” Just a few verses later in Luke’s Gospel, she will go on to utter the liberating poetry of the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, celebrating the God who casts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

Additional readings available for use in Lessons and Carols but not chosen for the St. Matthew’s 2017 liturge follow, with brief summaries from the Book of Occasional Services:

Genesis 2: 4b-9, 15-25
God creates man and woman to live in obedience to him in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3: 1-22 or 3: 1-15
Adam and Eve rebel against God and are cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Isaiah 40: 1-11
God comforts his people and calls on them to prepare for redemption.

Isaiah 6: 1-11
God reveals his glory to the prophet and calls him to be his messenger.

Isaiah 35: 1-10
The prophet proclaims that God will come and save us.

Micah 5: 2-4
The one who is to rule Israel will be born in the village of Bethlehem.

Isaiah 11: 1-9
The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon the Holy One.

Luke 1: 5-25
An angel announces to Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son.

Advent 4B

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 24, 2017

The Madonna of the Magnificat (1481), tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

“Once in Royal David’s City.” As we turn from Advent to Christmas overnight this year, our readings for the fourth and last Sunday of Advent trace the Messianic line of King David that Christians follow down the ages to Jesus. In the first reading, David muses that it seems wrong for him to rest comfortably in a palatial house of cedar while God’s house, the Ark of the Covenant, rests in a mere tent. The prophet Nathan agrees that God should have a fine house, a temple, but God has a different plan. God lives and moves with the people, and needs no house! God, rather, will establish the house of David, the dynasty of God’s people. We hear this echoed in Luke’s Gospel today, as the angel tells Mary that Jesus will inherit the throne of his ancestor David.”

Alternative to the Psalm: Luke 1:46-55 (Canticle 15)

For the second Sunday in a row, the Magnificat, the surprisingly radical Song of Mary, is available as an alternative to the usual Psalm. As we hear in today’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel has told Mary that she will give birth to King David’s heir, the Messiah. When she feels the infant move in her womb during a visit to her relative, Elizabeth, who will soon give birth to John the Baptist, Mary rejoices in a poetic celebration that echoes the words of the prophets; thoughts that, perhaps, her son Jesus would hear from his mother: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.”

Psalm: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

In harmony with our first reading, this Psalm portion celebrates God’s covenant with David and his descendants, a royal family that God established to last forever. Even through the devastation of war and the pain of exile, when Israel and Judah feared that God’s promise might have been revoked because the nation had broken its covenant by failing to be just and righteous, the Psalms sing of a new King David, a Messiah and King who would rule the land forever, “from the great sea to the river,” from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Jordan, the Galilee, and the Dead Sea..

Second Reading: Romans 16: 25-27

“Can’t we all just get along?” Throughout Paul’s powerful letter to the Romans, he gently encouraged Rome’s Gentile and Jewish Christian communities, who had been separated during the exile of Rome’s Jews, to come back together in Christian love and unify as one. Here, in ringing verses that conclude the letter, he reminds them that God’s covenant with the people in the First Testament, as expressed by the ancient prophets, now extends to all humanity, all living forever in glory through Jesus Christ.

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

As Advent ends on Christmas Eve this year, we hear Luke tell the familiar story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to a young Palestinian woman named Mary. Through God’s Holy Spirit this young woman will give birth to a son named Jesus, who will inherit King David’s throne and rule over an eternal kingdom. She responds to this amazing news with simple, trusting acceptance: “Let it be with me according to your word.” Just a few verses later in Luke’s Gospel, she will go on to utter the liberating poetry of the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, celebrating the God who casts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

Advent 3B

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 17, 2017

John the Baptist pointing toward the crucified Jesus. Detail from the Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16), oil on wood panel by Matthias Grünewald (1480-1528). (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Watch as the Advent candle is lighted on Sunday: The one pink candle, a symbol of rejoicing, marks this day. Midway through Advent, our readings shift from a focus on the fire and upheaval of an apocalyptic Judgement Day toward a different kind of hope, a joyful hope that looks forward to God’s restorative justice that will come with the Messiah. The Prophet Isaiah – writing prophecy that Jesus will later declare fulfilled in his presence when he speaks in the synagogue at Nazareth – tells the people that God will comfort all who mourn. God’s good news will come to the poor, the oppressed, captives and prisoners, turning their state to gladness instead of mourning.

Psalm: Psalm 126

As Isaiah told the people in exile of God’s promise that justice and righteousness would be restored, the Psalmist sings that God’s promise was in fact fulfilled, that God has indeed done great things for Zion, the mountain in Jerusalem where the Temple stood, and thus, if frequent biblical metaphor, the Temple itself. Every verse of this short Psalm contains a shout of laughter, joy, gladness, and praise. God has been good. God has turned the people’s tears into songs of joy; their weeping into a bountiful harvest.

Alternative to the Psalm: Luke 1:46-55 (Canticle 15)

As an optional alternative to the Psalm, we may sing the Magnificat, the beautiful Song of Mary. In Luke’s Gospel Mary bursts into this powerful song when she greets her relative, Elizabeth. Elizabeth with John the Baptist, feels the infant move with joy inside her when the pregnant Mary comes in. Elizabeth declares Mary the blessed mother of God, full of grace. In response, Mary sings these startlingly radical verses that echo Isaiah and foreshadow Jesus’ own teaching; liberating verses that praise a God who scatters the proud, casts down the mighty, and sends the rich away hungry, while filling the hungry with good things.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Paul concludes his short first letter to the Thessalonians with themes consistent with those that we heard in the first readings from 1 Corinthians and 2 Peter on the first two Sundays of Advent. He urges the people to rejoice always, pray unceasingly, and give thanks for all things, staying faithful and filled with the Spirit. Hold fast to the good and abstain from every kind of evil, he urges them, so they will be ready, “sound and blameless,” when Jesus Christ returns.

Gospel: John 1:6-8,19-28

Following the story of John the Baptist in Mark’s Gospel last Sunday, we now turn to the Gospel according to John. This version makes no mention of the Baptist’s attire or his dietary preferences, but opens into a tense scene in which the Temple authorities, worried about the noisy crowds surrounding John, want to know who he is. He is neither a new prophet nor Elijah, John says, but – quoting from the Isaiah verses that we heard last week – the voice crying out in the wilderness, calling on the people to make straight the way of the Lord. He baptizes with water, John says, to make way for the one who is coming after him, who is so much greater that John is unworthy to untie his sandals.

Advent 2B

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 10, 2017

Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1604-05). Oil painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610); Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

The Messiah is coming! Get ready! The Messiah is coming! Make the way clear! Imagined in modern language, Sunday’s readings might be shouting “Roll out the red carpet!” as we move into the second week of Advent. Our Isaiah reading – which may sound familiar, as Handel drew from it freely in his beloved “Messiah” – sings out comfort and hope to the people in exile. Jerusalem has paid doubly for her sins. Life is short as grass and flowers, but God’s word stands forever. Prepare the way! Make a straight highway in the desert, the prophet calls. Then we see a poetic image of a gentle, maternal Messiah who holds the lambs closely and gently leads the mother sheep.

Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Sunday’s Psalm, particularly as edited to skip over a few verses of wistful doubt, shares the joyful hope of the Isaiah reading. The Psalmist remembers the people’s time time in exile, and rejoices that God did, indeed, come to the people with comfort and peace. Even though the people had been sinful and broken their covenant with God, God forgave their iniquity and blotted out all their sins. The straight highway that was built at Isaiah’s command has become a path for God’s feet.

Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

This letter written in Peter’s name is the latest document in the New Testament, written down 100 years or more after the crucifixion. After such a long time, people worried: Why hadn’t Christ come back yet? He had been expected to return in power and glory, but that didn’t happen. What did this mean? The author had an idea, one that we also hear in the Isaiah verses: God’s time is not like our time. “One day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Be patient and live godly lives, while God waits patiently for all to come to repentance before the day of the Lord comes.

Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

Mark’s Gospel, the first written in the New Testament, perhaps only 30 or 40 years after Jesus died on the cross, does not say a word about Jesus’ birth but begins with Jesus as an adult, coming to John at the Jordan river to be baptized for repentance and forgiveness of sins. Mark first shows us John the Baptist, a wild man eating locusts and honey and wearing camel’s hair, shouting Isaiah’s promise that God would send a messenger to prepare the Messiah’s way. Jesus is coming after him, John foretells: The one so powerful that John is not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals is coming to baptize us with the Holy Spirit!

Advent 1B

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 3, 2017

Enjoy a close look at The Son of Man Coming in Clouds, a detail from The Last Judgement (1536-1541), by Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) fresco in the Sistine Chapel in Rome that we saw in full in last week’s Illuminations. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9

Advent has come, and with it we turn from Matthew to Mark in our Gospel readings; our Old Testament readings this year will offer an anthology of Israel’s ancestral legends and its earthly kings. Despite the changes, though, the content of this Sunday’s readings stays in harmony with last week’s: God is coming and God will judge. God’s advent may come as a surprise, with fire and upheaval. We must be ready. Here near the end of Isaiah’s great book, the people have returned from exile, but they face harsh reality: The city and the temple were destroyed. They are only a defeated remnant. Oh, God, the prophet cries, come down! Show your might, restore your people. Make us new and forgive our sins.

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

Our Psalm echoes Isaiah’s call, sending up three times to God the anguished cry, “Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” The people have suffered. God’s punishment has forced them to endure their enemies’ derision and laughter. They have eaten and drunk their tears like bread and water. Send us a messiah, the prophet pleads – the son of man at God’s right hand – and the people will never turn from God again.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a deeply pastoral epistle that will address serious fractures in a small, passionate Greek Christian community. Paul begins with no hint of conflict, though, using in the formal style of ancient Greek correspondence: He sets the scene by greeting the people with grace and peace, reminding them that grace has come to them through Jesus and enriched them, filling them with spiritual gifts. Because of this, Paul assures them, they will be ready, strong and blameless when Christ returns.

Gospel: Mark 13:24-37

In our first reading, Isaiah prayed for God to come with justice after the first destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Now, just as the Romans are destroying the city and the temple for a second time, Mark’s Gospel foresees Jesus coming in clouds, in power and glory. In an apocalyptic passage that echoes the Prophet Joel, we hear that the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the skies. This will be a tumultuous time, Jesus warns his followers, so they must watch for signs of his return. Like the wise bridesmaids with their oil-filled lamps, they must stay awake, ready and alert.

Christ the King A

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 26, 2017

The Last Judgment (1536-1541), fresco by Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564). Sistine Chapel, Rome. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

The six-month-long Pentecost season comes to its end this week in the festival day known as Christ the King or, for those who prefer more inclusive language, The Reign of Christ. These readings reveal Jesus Christ as a different kind of king than earthly rulers; no traditional patriarch but a loving shepherd caring for the flock. In our first reading, Ezekiel prophesies to the people in exile, using the metaphor of a kingly shepherd feeding and caring for the sheep. Then, in verses we will hear echoed in Matthew’s Gospel, the prophet writes that God will judge the fat sheep and the lean, protecting the lost and weak sheep while destroying the powerful sheep who ravaged them.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 100

Both Lectionary tracks for Christ the King sing out joy and praise for God, our maker and protector, in verses that are also provided for use in Morning Prayer. Track One is the Jubilate, a call for God’s people and all God’s lands to serve the Lord our God with gladness and song. We are the protected sheep of God’s pasture, joyously singing thanksgiving and praise for God’s everlasting mercy that endures from age to age.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 95:1-7a

Does this hymn sound familiar? You’ve probably recited or chanted it as the Venite in Morning Prayer. These verses sing out unalloyed worship and praise, creater and protector of all things, and, in harmony with today’s readings, both king of kings above all gods and loving shepherd who cares for us, the protected sheep of God’s hand.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23

For the last Sunday in Pentecost, we turn from reading in 1 Thessalonians, perhaps the earliest of Paul’s letters, to Ephesians, a much later epistle that was probably written in Paul’s name by a first century Christian a generation after Paul’s death, not long after the Gospel of Matthew was written. In 1 Thessalonians Paul offered hope that Christ would return soon, while many in the church were still alive. This later letter provides a glimpse of the early church’s evolving understanding of Christ, a vision that we will also see in today’s Gospel: The resurrected Jesus is placed at God’s right hand and given authority over all things in heaven and in the church, Christ’s body on earth.

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

Matthew’s long series of parables about the kingdom of heaven now ends with this familiar Gospel. It isn’t always easy to see Jesus in the face of a hungry, thirsty, homeless person, sick and naked and oppressed. But Matthew tells us clearly that this is the way that we make God’s kingdom happen. Then, echoing our first reading, Matthew paints a disturbing picture of the fate that awaits those who fail to find Christ in the hungry and the weak: They earn eternal punishment, a place in the outer darkness that also awaited the slave with the single talent and the foolish bridesmaids. This parable may warn that we ignore Jesus’ call to serve only at our peril. But know, too, that the mighty king who judges us is also the loving shepherd who shows us how we are to love one another.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Pentecost 24A

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 19, 2017

The Parable of The Talents. Oil on panel by Willem de Poorter (1608-1668). Narodni Galerie, Prague.
(Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Judges 4:1-7

Advent doesn’t begin until December 3, but we already are hearing readings that point our imagination toward God’s final judgement in the last days, an ancient echo of a once-longer Advent season. Our first reading, though, wraps up our Pentecost-long travels with the chosen people, who now inhabit the promised land, governed by leaders called judges – in this reading, a powerful female judge named Deborah. They have settled in to a cycle of behaving badly – “doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord” – and suffering the consequences, in this case military loss, before repenting, turning back, and enjoying blessings as they restore justice.

First Reading (Track Two): Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18

The minor prophet Zephaniah foretold the destruction and exile of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, for its peoples’ and their leaders’ failure of righteousness: They pursued wealth and fell away from following God’s ways. His apocalyptic vision of the Great Day of the Lord seems to foreshadow the vision of Revelation, as he imagines a horrifying Judgement Day, when their gold and riches won’t save them from reaping what they sowed: A fire of passion that will consume all the earth and all the people in it.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 123

Harmonizing with the leadership of the female judge Deborah in the first reading, this brief but powerful Psalm – one of the shortest of all the Psalms at just five verses – offers worship and praise to a God clearly seen as both male and female, both master and mistress. We see here, too, a reminder of the covenant promise that the people of Israel repeatedly broke when they “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” contemptuously ignoring the poor as they accumulated riches.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 90:1-12

Our time is nothing like God’s time. While we see a thousand years slowly pass, generation after generation, it all goes by in a moment for God, who remains from age to age, present before the mountains, the land, and the earth were born. Our lives, in contrast, the Psalmist sings, “pass away quickly and we are gone,” like grass that dries up in a day in the desert heat. We pray with the Psalmist that God may help us learn to make wise use of our time.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Wrapping up his short letter to the people of Thessalonika, Paul tells them that the day of the Lord is coming, and urges them to be prepared. Using colorful metaphors – a thief coming in the night, a woman surprised by sudden labor pains – he warns that the last day will come suddenly and by surprise. Be faithful, he says; be loving. Don’t spend the night drunk, but live in the day, sober and watchful. Continue to care for one another, encourage each other, build each other up, he urges, “as indeed you are doing.”

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30

Many of us would probably be just as cautious in safeguarding an angry master’s treasure as was the third slave who buried and made no profit on the expensive silver talent left in his charge. But look at the context of this parable in Matthew’s Gospel, only a day or two before Jesus is to be crucified: Jesus is focused on the last days. Just after this passage is the Gospel we will hear next week: Jesus’ account of the last judgement, when Christ as judging King will sort out those who saw the face of Jesus in the hungry, the thirsty, the oppressed, sick persons and prisoners from those who did not. Jesus wants us, like the first two slaves, to take risks, see him present in the poor and the oppressed, and give of ourselves abundantly.

Pentecost 23A

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 12, 2017

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (1826) by William Blake (1757-1827). Watercolour and gouache on paper. Tate Gallery, London.
(Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Joshua 24:1-3a,14-25

How do we follow God? When will Jesus come back? How does God save us, and what does that look like? Can we do anything to secure a place among those saved? Sunday’s readings grapple with these eternal questions as Advent draws near. In our first reading, we continue last week’s narrative of the chosen people entering the promised land, taking it over from the people who lived there. Joshua calls on all the tribes of Israel to swear allegiance to God, the Lord of Israel, over and against foreign gods, emphasizing their theological separateness and reinforcing the covenant that they had made at Sinai.,

First Reading (Track Two): Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16

The Wisdom of Solomon, a short book in the Apocrypha, was written in King Solomon’s name not long before the time of Jesus and the evangelists. It reminds us of a memorable passage in Proverbs that personifies Wisdom as a female voice, a strong woman who sits at the city gates and advises the people on right living, and even presents Wisdom as the female presence who was with God at the moment of creation. This short reading tells us how easy it is to find Wisdom, for she meets us more than halfway and graciously meets us in our paths and thoughts, if we are worthy of her.

Alternate First Reading (Track Two): Amos 5:18-24

The prophet Amos challenges us with a frightening question in this reading: If we confidently await the day of God’s judgement, assuming that we have lived well, but learn to our shock that God has rejected our prayers and turned away? Amos warns that God doesn’t care about our burnt offerings but how we live! But the prophet offers hope, in the context of his prophecy warning the people to follow God’s way or risk destruction and exile: If only we seek good, not evil, when we let our righteousness flow like mighty waters, then God will be with us.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 78:1-7

We sing only the first seven verses of a long, 72-verse Psalm today. If we had the time to chant it in full, we would hear a long account of the people’s sins and failures, a dark narrative indeed, but one that turns at the end to a happy conclusion under the love and guidance of God. This provides a little context to the Psalm’s confident beginning, which sings of the good news of God’s gifts to humankind, God’s words and teachings that we should pass down to our children and their children’s children.

Psalm (Track Two): Wisdom of Solomon 6:17-20

The verses just preceding these lines from The Wisdom of Solomon appear as an alternative first reading for Lectionary Track One today. This short book in the Apocrypha celebrates Wisdom as a female voice, a strong woman who sits at the city gates and generously gives advice on right living. This snippet nails down the importance of loving wisdom and following her laws, for this is the assurance of wisdom that brings us near to God and leads us to God’s kingdom.

Alternate Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 70

This Psalm, like the alternative first reading from Joshua, opens on a dark note: The Psalmist begs God to deliver and save him from enemies who enjoy his misfortune and gloat over his losses. The Psalmist wants a kind of justice that is very far from turning the other cheek: He wants to see those enemies suffer the shame and disgrace that they wish for him! He knows that the poor and needy can count on God’s protection, but he can’t wait. Come to us speedily, God. Oh, Lord, do not tarry!

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Paul’s imaginative description of the coming of Christ, complete with an archangel’s shout and trumpet blast, the dead rising from their graves and the people of God rising into the air, has become the basis for a lot of colorful theories about what the return of Christ might look like. Some Christians do read this passage as a literal prediction of the last days. But most bible scholars offer a simpler explanation: At the time of this letter – the earliest in the New Testament – many Christians still thought that Jesus would return and establish God’s kingdom while they were still alive to see it. But now some members of the church were dying! Would they miss out? No, writes Paul. Know this and encourage each other: All will be saved.

Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

As we’ve seen, Jesus’ parables are always challenging and often unsettling, and this parable about the wise and unwise bridesmaids is certainly just as difficult as the other “kingdom” parables from Matthew’s Gospel that we’ve heard recently: the outcast who had no wedding garment; the murderous vineyard workers; and the workers who were all paid the same. We surely wouldn’t want to be stuck with the foolish bridesmaids who were locked out of the banquet by an angry bridegroom, who, you may have noticed, was late himself! Like the other recent parables, this one offers simple wisdom as Advent draws near: Jesus, the bridegroom, is coming: Be ready!

Pentecost 22A

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 5, 2017

Malheur à vous, scribes et pharisiens (Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees) (1886-1894). Painting by James Tissot (1836-1902), Brooklyn Museum.
(Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Joshua 3:7-17

The people have reached the promised land, and Joshua leads them across the Jordan in a miraculous scene that mirrors their crossing the Sea of Reeds: The river rises up to make a clear, dry path. We mustn’t hear this reading, though, without acknowledging that it shows us a God who will drive out all the people who live there. This ancestral legend may sadly remind us of America’s white settlers driving back and killing our native peoples. From the standpoint of the victors, in ancient Israel and early America, this may have been seen as a good thing for God to do because our people survived and won the battle. In 2017, let’s think about how we might hope that a God of all Earth’s people might care for us all today.

First Reading (Track Two): Micah 3:5-12

We probably know the minor prophet Micah best for his memorable passage toward the end of his short book: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Here, earlier in the book, he becomes the first of the prophets to predict the coming destruction of Jerusalem, a fate that he calls inevitable as long as its leaders fail to provide justice and equity. False prophets who mislead God’s people face shame and disgrace, he shouts. Jerusalem’s leaders will see the temple plowed like a farmer’s field and the city left in ruins.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

In a hymn of thanksgiving that echoes the ideas in our Joshua reading, we sing gratitude for God’s goodness and enduring mercy. In poetic language its stanzas recall how God redeemed the people from the hands of their foe. God gathered the people and guided them through the desert, took care of their hunger, thirst and low spirits, and delivered them to a bountiful land and a fruitful harvest.

Psalm: (Track Two): Psalm 43

The Psalmist, embattled against ungodly, deceitful and wicked people, calls on God for help and strength. Fearful that God has set him and his needs aside while the enemy oppresses him, the Psalmist prays in beautiful, poetic verses that we may recognize as one of the opening sentences used at the beginning of Morning Prayer: “Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.”

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Picking up where last week’s second reading left off, Paul continues assuring the Thessalonians that his ministry to them is reflected in his love for them, in contrast with reports of serious disagreements with his nearby community in Philippi. He remembers how he toiled with them in their labors at the same time as he was proclaiming the Gospel, to prevent his presence among them from being a burden. He loves them as a father loves his children, Paul writes; he thanks God that they accept the Gospel as God’s word at work in them.

Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12

After a series of confrontations in which the Herodians, Saduccees and Pharisees tried to trap Jesus, they finally gave up and no longer dared to ask him questions. Now he scorns his opponents, declaring them hypocrites who avoid work, dress well, and show off their purported holiness by taking the place of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. Do not do as they do, Jesus warns his followers, for they do not practice what they teach. Live and work in humility, not pride, he advises them: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Illuminations

Welcome to Illuminations. We hope these brief reflections on Sunday's readings will help you prepare thoughtfully for worship.

Author Archives: Robin Garr