Vouchsafe
It's Wednesday, isn't it. And this commitment, which I've loosely honored, to post some semblance of Bible study or commentary as my blogpost.
But then I've also the commitment, perhaps even more loosely honored, to post on Monday the lectionary Propers for the upcoming Sunday, so we can hold them in anticipation before the climax of Sunday's reading them.
This latter commitment is backwards, you know: somewhere there's a rubric that says we're to take the Sunday's readings as the First Day opening and deal with them all through the week. But I've always found it more fun to do it the way we do, Sunday as climax then begin again on Monday. So next Sunday's readings are below (scroll down), and in a minute I'll read through them and pick one to comment on.
And if I can hold in mind my further commitment to email my adult Sunday School class the link to the blogpost Bible study, I'll do that as well. Along with also finding some art, photo or other image that shows how someone visualized the event.
The Collect
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament
Genesis 28:10-19a
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel.
The Response
Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23
Domine, probasti
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, *
and the light around me turn to night,"
11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.
22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart; *
try me and know my restless thoughts.
23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me *
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
or
Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19
There is no god besides you, whose care is for all people,
to whom you should prove that you have not judged unjustly;
for your strength is the source of righteousness,
and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all.
For you show your strength when people doubt the completeness of your power,
and you rebuke any insolence among those who know it.
Although you are sovereign in strength,
you judge with mildness,
and with great forbearance you govern us;
for you have power to act whenever you choose.
Through such works you have taught your people
that the righteous must be kind,
and you have filled your children with good hope,
because you give repentance for sins.
The Epistle
Romans 8:12-25
Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
In my so long past as almost forgotten days as rector, our Sequence, or Gospel Hymn as I preferred to call it, would have been, from our sublime charismatic era of the Episcopal Church, our praise hymn "Abba, Father, send your Spirit!" that like so many of our praise songs, came from the Charismatic Movement in the Roman Catholic Church. Verses could be improvised, but it started like this:
Abba, Father, send your Spirit
glory, Jesus Christ!
Abba, Father, send your Sprit
glory, Jesus Christ!
Glory, hallelujah, glory, Jesus Christ!
Glory, hallelujah! glory, Jesus Christ!
and numerous verses including
If you seek me, you will find me,
glory, Jesus Christ!
If you listen, you will hear me,
glory, Jesus Christ!
I will give you living water
glory, Jesus Christ!
Glory Father, glory Spirit,
glory, Jesus Christ!
We had so many stirring, rousing and moving "Songs for Celebration". That hymnal was in every pew rack and worship was so very powerful! Memories, mind and heart go this morning to times when the sound of voices and guitars and pianos and tracker organs so filled the room that the walls seemed to bulge. To my personal astonishment as a solid conservative and traditionalist, I picked it up while in Virginia Seminary, and at charismatic conferences in North Carolina (that my Pennsylvania bishop sent me to hoping I would warm up spiritually!), and brought it to our parish in Pennsylvania, then to Trinity, Apalachicola. A powerful Time of the Spirit, it was for me a most exceedingly glorious moment to be an Episcopalian, and a Golden Age of the church. I miss its power in worship, and I regret that it was a passing phase even more than I regret our loss of Anglican Chant.
The Gospel
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
Jesus put before the crowd another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”
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A great Old Testament Bible Story and a favorite psalm. Maybe I won't do a Bible study this Wednesday morning as I sit outside on 7H porch listening to the rumbling thunder and watching the lightning display over the Gulf. Above, that Collect for the Sunday, good for ripping to theological shreds in Sunday School, was written for the 1549 prayerbook and, for our 1979 book, updated from "vouchsafe unto us" to "mercifully give us". Don't know about you, but I'm henceforth, now, and forever a Vouchsafe Episcopalian.