Sunday next before Advent- Jeremiah 23:5-8; John 6:14- Endings and Beginnings

This Sunday is the last Sunday of the church year, and there have been various ways of dealing with it. Sometimes it has not received special attention. Since the 1970s, some modern calendars have inserted new observances such as the feast of Christ the King. Certainly, we should always be aware that Christ is our King, but the 1928 Book of Common Prayer followed a different approach to include this theme. The 1928 revisers looked back to the Sarum tradition for the name of the day and for the collect and lessons.  

The collect and epistle point to the need for a new beginning. In the liturgical epistle, which is actually a selection from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23:5-8 looks to the day when the Lord God will raise up a Branch from the Davidic line. This new king will lead His people in justice and righteousness. His acts of redemption will overshadow the Exodus from Egypt, God's great act of redemption from the past.

The Gospel also points to a new beginning and makes a similar point. The crowd is impressed by the miracle of the loaves and fish. Despite their lack of true appreciation, in John 6:14, they call Jesus "that prophet who should come into the world." They are referring to Moses' prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. In his prediction, Moses implied that a new prophet, like Moses but greater, would come to speak more directly from God. Christians see this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus (see Hebrews 3:1-6).

As long as this world endures, human beings will always undergo endings and new beginnings. Christ is our King and the greatest Prophet. He is also our great high Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15). In all our beginnings and endings, especially in spiritual, devotional, and moral matters, we depend on Him to lead us into greater righteousness. We need His grace to renew us through all the changing times and circumstances of life.

Trinity XXII- Matthew 18:21-35- Forgiveness

The Gospel for the Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity is from Matthew 18:21-35. This passage consists of two sections on forgiveness. In the first brief part (18:21-22), St. Peter wants to know the limits of his responsibility to forgive. According to one Jewish tradition, forgiving someone three times was sufficient. So when Peter suggests that forgiving seven times might be enough, he is being generous. Jesus, however, tells Peter that it should be "seventy times seven." Of course, keeping a mental count of 490 incidents would be impractical and unlikely. Thus, in other words, our Lord is telling Peter and us that we are not to keep count of how often we forgive. We should be gracious as God is gracious.

The second part of today's Gospel (St. Matthew 18:23-35) has been called the parable of the unjust or unmerciful servant. In this parable, a servant owes his king an enormous debt, a billionaire's debt. He and his family are about to be sold into slavery. The man begs for an extended payment plan, and the king writes off the whole debt. Rather than being humble, grateful, and kind, the servant goes out and ruthlessly tries to get every penny from a fellow servant who owes him a comparatively minuscule debt. When the king hears of this lack of mercy, he revokes his previous decision and punishes the unjust servant to the full extent of the law. Then our Lord adds the key conclusion in Matthew 18:35, "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also to you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his brother their trespasses."

All the debts that we human beings owe each other are minuscule in comparison to what we owe our heavenly King. We can never repay God for what He has given us and forgiven us. Our trespasses are enormous offences against divine goodness, and we are completely dependent upon divine mercy. So we too must show mercy by forgiving others. As we pray repeatedly, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Trinity XXI- John 4:46-54

 The Gospel for the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity is from John 4:46-54 and is the second Galilean miracle in St. John's account. A "nobleman" or "official" wants Jesus to come and heal his critically ill son. Our Lord does not agree to come. Instead, He comments on the popular desire for outward signs and assures the man that his son will live. 

This account serves as an important comment on God's healing power at work in Jesus Christ. All too often, the human mind likes to say that God always works in certain ways. Of course, certain divine characteristics remain constant. God is always loving, holy, powerful, and merciful. Yet, God's redeeming and healing power and grace work through Jesus Christ in a variety of ways. Sometimes, Jesus heals a person in His immediate presence; sometimes, He heals a person at some distance. Jesus may or may not have a conversation with the person. On occasion, Jesus utters a declaration of forgiveness of sin. He may touch the person who is healed, or, as in this story, there may be a simple word from Jesus indicating that the prayer is answered. This variety of approaches is a reminder that God in Christ can use diverse means to express His power and grace. Thus, we need a faith that trusts in Christ to work in the way He chooses for our healing and redemption!

All Saints Sunday- Revelation 7:9-17, Hebrews 12:1, Jude 3

 Around All Saints Day, many Christians make references to departed saints. Some Christians stress invoking the prayers of the faithful departed. Other Christians fear that any observance of the day may be dangerous. Still others may mention the day as a generic memorial day for those who have died. 

However, traditional Anglicans have sought a more balanced or moderate approach. We maintain teachings that we consider agreeable to the Holy Scriptures and consistent with the best teachings of the ancient church. We reject the medieval overemphasis on the role of past saints, while respecting their examples and recognizing a spiritual communion among all those who are faithful to Christ. As Revelation 7:9-17 illustrates, true believers from all groups and times praise God as those still on earth do daily and weekly. As Hebrews 12:1 reminds us, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and as Jude 3 exhorts us, we should keep contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.

Prayer Book Calendars have retained many days honoring saints. The faith and examples of the saints should be honored and followed. Although the medieval cult of saints sometimes went in extreme or semi-idolatrous tangents, respect for the heritage of the saints has been a basic part of orthodox Christianity.

In conclusion, let us remember and honor the saintly Christians who have gone before us and handed down the biblical faith. However, let us be careful in our enthusiasm lest we exaggerate their importance and detract from Christ's role as our unique Mediator! 

Trinity XVIII- Matthew 22:34-46

The traditional Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity is from St. Matthew 22: 34-46, This selection consists of two brief dialogues between Jesus and the Pharisees. In the first part, Jesus shows affirms His continuity with the Old Testament. With many other teachers, He asserts the primacy of two great commandments: to love God above all and to love one's neighbor. These two commandments summarize the principles of the Hebrew Scriptures, and Jesus' public ministry is about applying these principles in different situations. 

In the second part of today's Gospel selection, Jesus points to His unique identity. Applying rabbinic methods of interpretation to Psalm 110, Jesus implies that He is the Messiah (or the Christ). He points out that the Christ is far greater than His ancestor David. Indeed, the implication is that Christ shares divine majesty. This powerful claim will continue to be developed in the rest of Christ's earthly ministry and throughout the New Testament. Jesus is both a great teacher and King David's greatest descendent, but He is much more. He is God the Son incarnate, the unique mediator and redeemer!

St. Michael and All Angels- 29 September- Revelation 12:7

 On Anglican calendars, 29 September is a date to honor the role of St. Michael and All Angels in the divine plan for salvation. In Scripture and Christian tradition, angels play several roles, one of which is to assist believers in their struggle against evil. In particular, the Archangel Michael is known as the defender of God's people from the attacks of the devil and his evil forces (Daniel 12:1). 

The harsh realities of worldly life are certainly reminders of our need for supernatural assistance from Michael and the great host of holy angels. Each day, Christians struggle with human weakness and temptation, and the daily news brings new reports of natural disasters, diseases, political corruption and violence, crime, and general moral decline.  Some of the bad things are natural consequences of a fallen world, but as Scripture reminds us (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:7), our struggles are not merely against flesh and blood.  The devil and his evil forces constantly seek to tempt and destroy us. Therefore, we always depend on divine aid through the grace of the crucified and risen Christ applied by the working of the Holy Spirit. And one way that God helps us is through the watchful protection of His angels who assist believers in the battle against evil.

These worldly realities make the Prayer Book collect for St. Michael's Day especially meaningful for believers: 

O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant that, as thy holy Angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Trinity XV- Galatians 6, Matthew 6, and the Collect

 For the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, both the Epistle and the Gospel are relevant passages for our Christian faith and life. In the Epistle from Galatians 6:11-18, St. Paul emphasizes the need to look beyond legalism to faith in the crucified Christ. In the Gospel from Matthew 6:24-34, our Lord stresses the importance of right priorities. He warns that we must put God and His kingdom first. Earthly material matters must not dominate our lives; spiritual concerns for God give human life its only real meaning.

On other occasions, I have focused on the details of each of these passages, but this week, it struck me how both these concerns are held together and illuminated by the Collect of the Day. The text of the Collect for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity dates at least to the Gelasian Sacramentary compiled in the 700s, but it may be more ancient. This thematic prayer for the day highlights the overwhelming importance of divine mercy and grace. 

Both the Church and individual Christians are beset by many frailties. On our own, we would not have faith in the crucified Christ or make God and His kingdom our first priority. We all fall in thought, word, and deed. Therefore, we pray that the Lord God may keep us in his perpetual mercy, protect us from all things that hurt us (especially our souls), and lead us to everything that brings His salvation into our lives. We do seek right beliefs about God and good Christian living, but both the Church and the individual believer are totally dependent on divine mercy and grace!

St. Matthew the Apostle/Trinity XIV- Matthew 9:9-13

This year the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity falls on 21 September which is the Feast of St. Matthew. The Gospel is from St. Matthew 9: 9-13 and gives the account of Matthew's call to follow Christ: Matthew also seems to have been called Levi (Mark 2:14). According to ancient tradition, Matthew may have collected Aramaic sayings of Jesus which formed the basis for Matthew's Gospel. He may have also been a missionary in the Jewish Diaspora and a martyr. In first century Palestine, tax collectors were despised as traitors, extortioners, and generally immoral scoundrels. Yet,  Jesus associated with such people. He called tax-collectors as well as all others to repentance and service for the kingdom of God. 

So on this day, we remember and give thanks that our Lord called people such as Matthew. God's grace extended to Matthew and allowed him to be a witness to the Gospel. Likewise, our Lord calls other sinners including us. He offers us His divine grace, and He can empower us, just as He did Matthew, to witness in word and deed to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Trinity XII- 2 Corinthians 3:5-6

 For this Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, my attention was drawn to the Epistle from II Corinthians 3. The Apostle emphasizes the true nature of the common Christian ministry that he and other believers share. In II Corinthians 5-6, Paul asserts, "not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Even the great missionary apostle who had been given great gifts and a strong will knew that he was not self-sufficient. He acknowledged that God was the source of all that was good and truly valuable. Certainly, the same must be true of every faithful Christian. In some sense, depending on our gifts and circumstances, every believer is called to be a minister (or servant) of the Gospel. From the greatest pastors and preachers to the humblest greeters, cleaners, and workers, we are all asked to serve the cause of Christ, and none of us is up to the task on our own. We all have weaknesses which can only be remedied by the grace of God.

This also means that Christian service must be spiritual. While we value the literal meaning of Scripture and Creed, we must not be literalists. While we respect the guidance of divine law, we must not be legalists. In other words, in serving Christ, we must seek to go beyond letter and law. We must be open to the Holy Spirit who makes the Word alive in our lives, and by grace, transforms us. The Spirit makes us truly alive and enables us to share the life-giving message through serving our Lord Jesus Christ. The ways that we do this are varied (a sermon, a kind word, a prayer, a simple unnoticed act, etc.), but through God's grace in Christ, every believer is asked to serve the Gospel.

Augustine of Hippo- 28 August

 Augustine (354-430) was born in North Africa and spent most of his life in several cities there. In addition, he spent 5 very significant years (383-388) in Rome and Milan. The prayers and Christian witness of Augustine's mother, St. Monica, had a great impact on him. St. Ambrose of Milan was another important Christian influence. After his conversion and Christian baptism at Milan, Augustine returned to North Africa where he led a monastic life. He was ordained, and in 395, he was consecrated bishop. He served as a faithful bishop for the rest of his life, and he died while the Vandals were besieging the city of Hippo.

 Augustine of Hippo has traditionally been honored as one of the four ancient Latin doctors (from the Latin root, doceo, "teach") of the universal Church. Of the four of these teachers, Augustine has had the most widespread and long-lasting influence among all Western Christians.

Augustine's two most famous works are The Confessions, a spiritual autobiography, and The City of God, a Christian philosophy of history, but he also wrote essays, letters, manuals, and sermons. His theology, especially on themes such as faith, grace, and the Sacraments, had a great influence on Anglican Books of Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles.

Trinity IV- Luke 6:37

This Sunday's Gospel is from St. Luke 6. This selection is from a section of Luke that is parallel to much of the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew. One of the sayings of our Lord is “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged” (Luke 6:37). These apparently simple words of Scripture are not always easy to apply. In practical terms, we know that no human being could survive in daily life without making certain judgments about health and safety. And even in moral and spiritual matters, people must make practical judgments.

So Scripture does not prohibit certain types of judging. The Lord does not forbid us from forming reasonable opinions about things or people. Neither does the Bible abolish the legal process; instead, it promotes higher standards of fairness. In fact, Christ urges His followers to have high standards in judging. In John 7:24, He says, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Christians are called to seek a better way. Whether in practical matters or in religious and moral matters, we should seek righteousness. We should try to look beyond worldly appearances, and we should reflect God’s holiness, mercy, and grace in our judgments.

Nevertheless, Scripture does prohibit some kinds of judgment.. Christians must recognize their human limitations and avoid judging in certain ways. We must not judge hastily or unfairly. We must not judge harshly or unmercifully. And we must not presume that even our best human judgments always live up to divine standards.

Even at our human best, we are not competent ot judge the ultimate fate of other souls. As neighbors, relatives, parents, teachers, pastors, jurors, or magistrates, we only know part of the story. Although we must make some practical judgments, such judgments remain provisional. Only God is the perfect judge who finally evaluates each individual soul. So let us always seek to evaluate situations and people with humility, wisdom, fairness, and mercy, and let us not assume that our human ideas always reflect God's perspective.

Trinity III- Luke 15:1-10

 The Gospel for the Third Sunday after Trinity is Luke 15:1-10, and it contains two brief parables- about the lost sheep and about the lost coin. In this context, our Lord is talking about sinners lost to God. Although many contemporary people resist such descriptions, Scripture in general and our passage in particular are clear that at some points in this life, all human beings are lost. We need finding and saving by divine grace. As the daily general confession in the Book of Common Prayer says, "We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep" (based on Isaiah 53:6 and 1 Peter 2:25). 

Such human lostness has two important applications in our lives. First, each of us needs to admit that at different times, we have all been lost. We also need to acknowledge our tendency to get lost repeatedly. So we all depend upon God's mercy, grace, and persistence in seeking us out-- in the past, in the present, and in each new day. 

Secondly, in addition to being sought by God, as Christians, we are called to participate in the Lord's work of seeking and finding the lost. We are asked to be lowly instruments of God's grace. We have benefited from the mercy and grace of God, and we want to share that good news with others. We want each lost person to be found. We want all people to know the joy of returning to God. May each of us be found by God, and may each of us humbly do our part to help others be found by God!

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary- 2 July- Luke 1:39-45

 The second day of July is a lesser feast or on traditional Anglican calendars, a "black letter day."  The day is the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Some calendars since the 1970's observe the Visitation on 31 May.)  Although in certain aspects a minor observance, the Visitation is a significant biblical commemoration. This significance is seen in the Gospel from St. Luke 1:39-45:

"And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."

This Gospel account contains several points. It shows the kinship of Mary and Elizabeth, as well as the devotional and theological ties between them and their sons. Elizabeth also points to the blessedness of Mary and the fruit of her womb. Note that even this early in the Christian story, Mary is called "the mother of my Lord." Mary's pregnancy is unique from the beginning; it is the Incarnation of our Lord, the Christ, God the Son. So it is certainly appropriate to recall this event and to meditate on the importance of the Incarnation and Mary's role in God's redeeming work.

St. Peter the Apostle- 29 June (Trinity II)- Matthew 16; John 21

 Besides being the Second Sunday after Trinity, this Sunday, June 29, is also set aside to remember and honor the apostle Peter. This commemoration is one of the oldest saints' days on the Christian calendar. In 258 A.D., the Church at Rome set aside this day to honor Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Besides this feast, on medieval calendars, the two saints were honored separately on several different days. At the time of the English Reformation, the Book of Common Prayer reduced the number of saints days. June 29 was kept to honor St. Peter while January 25 commemorated St. Paul.

Throughout the New Testament, we see the importance of Simon Peter. Although he has obvious human weaknesses, he is a leader who often speaks for the whole band of apostles. Such is the case in today's Gospel from St. Matthew 16:13-19. The most important thing about St. Peter is not some personality trait or human accomplishment. He is not an authoritarian human ruler over Christ's Church. Instead, Peter is important because of his witness to the common faith which unites all faithful disciples. The authority that he is granted comes from his confession in St. Matthew 16:16, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Despite his human failings, misunderstandings, and denial of Jesus during Holy Week, John 21:15-21 shows us Peter's restoration by the risen Lord. His mission to care for Christ's sheep is renewed, and the Apostle dedicates the rest of his life and his death to serving the Lord.

As the collect for the day indicates, Peter was blessed with "many excellent gifts." Nevertheless, he was all too human and fallible. He was a strong character with good leadership potential, but he did not always stand up for his convictions. Ultimately, his most notable characteristic was his willingness to accept divine grace for repentance, renewal, and service. In this, Peter provided an encouraging example for all Christian ministers and believers. So commemorating St. Peter is not just about Peter himself or even about bishops and priests; it is about the faithfulness of the entire Church. The example of the Apostle is a call to all of us. Through divine grace, may we all be faithful followers of Christ, the Son of the living God!

Saint John the Baptist- 24 June- Luke 1:57-80

 The Nativity or Birth of St. John the Baptist is observed on June 24 June, six months before Christmas Eve. The Gospel from St. Luke 1 is about the birth and naming of John. It contains his father Zacharias' hymn, the Benedictus.  The significance of today's Gospel is nicely summarized in Cranmer's 1549 collect:

Almighty God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.