388

From time to time I check the view statistics on my blog: 388 views from Turkmenistan yesterday. ??!?!!? Why, I have no idea. To judge by the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmenistan their natural gas rich, largely dry desert country on the Caspian Sea, seems to be governed about as restrictively as North Korea. If you don't know where it is:

To learn a bit more, https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-living-conditions-in-turkmenistan/

Friday, waking up this morning, what day is it? Saturday? Think. Today is the Air Force flyover, so it's Friday. Flyover this morning about nine o'clock, honoring those who are so out front with their lives at risk against covid19. It's on our calendar to go out on the Beck sidewalk and watch.

You know, if you ponder that global map, it's obvious Europe and Asia are one continent, Eurasia, not two. Continents are land masses separated by oceans, not by lines drawn by humans. Okay, mountains as well. IDK.

In the collect for Sunday Easter 6,

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

that dates from ancient Latin sacramentaries and was translated by Cranmer, Hatchett* says the word translated "love" is related to the verb "diligere", meaning "to choose". I don't have the Latin version of the collect and don't intend to search for it this morning, though I might if I were preparing for our Sunday School class. 

By love and loving, the collect signifies our act of will in choosing God. From a Christian viewpoint, one may choose the Way of the Cross, or one may choose to walk away. Theologically, the collect ties our receiving whatever good things it visualizes as God having in mind for us, to our choosing God. I don't know what good things the collect visualizes, but I'm uneasy with a theology of choosing God so that we may obtain good things. I will not accept Christ and pray the Sinner's Prayer so that, as Jerry Falwell had it, I'll "be as sure for heaven as if I were already there". I disappreciate that theological notion. In our Baptismal Covenant we do choose God, but it's not for reward of good things; it's that, believing the Christian trinitarian doctrine, we promise to walk the Way of the Cross, which is a specific way of agape love:

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you, with God’s help?


Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? Will you, with God’s help?

   

*Marion Hatchett, Commentary on the American Prayer Book, third printing, Seabury, 1981 page 182.