Author: Harold

Sunday November 24          Reign of Christ

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Psalm 118
An enthusiastic song of thanksgiving for everything God has done for us—God has protected us from evil forces, and we give praise in the temple and in processions. Appropriate for a Sunday as an anniversary of the triumph of Easter Day.

Portions of the second half of this psalm are traditionally sung on Easter Day.

Zechariah 9.9-16                            What’s Zechariah about?
Zechariah writes after the people have returned from exile about 500 years before Christ. These passages are chosen in light of Advent coming soon, because Zechariah imagined God returning to rescue Jerusalem and early Christians applied these images to John the Baptist and Jesus.

Matthew 21.1-13                            What’s Matthew about?
Jesus enters Jerusalem, knowing that he is likely to be executed. He may be deliberately modelling a society of equality in contrast to the military might of Rome – a legion entered the city each year around Passover to suppress revolt against Rome. Jesus enters the city simultaneously on a lowly donkey and thus deliberately critiques the Roman assumption that violence is the ultimate tool to ensure peace.

This week’s collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things
in your well-beloved Son, our Lord and King,
grant that the peoples of the earth,
now divided and enslaved by sin,
may be freed and brought together
under his gentle and loving rule;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Saturday November 23          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 107 Part 2
When the Israelites completed their journey through the wilderness God brought disaster on the evil people who lived there (as the Israelites understood them) to make a fertile place for God’s own people. When God’s people were oppressed, God rescued them. Wise people, the poem says, will take this to heart and will trust in God’s care and justice to prevail.

One of our tasks today is to cultivate that trust in God’s care for humanity so that when disaster happens in our world we will have something solid to offer.

Psalm 108
I will praise God because God is so powerful and I ask you, God, to act on behalf of the poor. God replies by listing all ways in which land will be given to God’s people and taken from those who are evil. I respond by asking God to act to save us because it seems God has abandoned us.

These two psalms are often scheduled for Saturdays while Christ is still in the grave and we wait for the resurrection.

Malachi 3.13-4.6                            What’s Malachi about?
God promises that if the people respond with commitment and integrity in their worship, they will not be destroyed. This concludes Malachi’s message of challenge and hope that there is a way out of their disaster.

Luke 18.9-14                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus says we are not to assume that because we are followers, we have already arrived in the kingdom and are better than others. Someone who knows themselves to be a failure and knows they badly need the kingdom is closer to the kingdom than the person who is so proud of the fact that they are good that they think they are already in the kingdom!

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Friday November 22          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 102
A lament at the destruction of Jerusalem 600 years before Jesus. It ends with hope of God’s faithfulness. The imagery of desolation is appropriate for Fridays, the mini-anniversary of Jesus being betrayed, abandoned, and in hours will be dead. Yet God will remain faithful.

Malachi 3.1-12                            What’s Malachi about?
God promises to send prosperity when the priests again do their work faithfully and the poor are truly included and cared for.

Luke 18.1-8                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus says if we begin to worry that the kingdom won’t come, then think of a corrupt judge who hears a case without being bribed because the homeless person keeps asking. So if we ask, God will certainly act.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Thursday November 21          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 105 Part 1
Praise to God for caring for and protecting the people—God looked after them before they were enslaved in Egypt, and prepared them for rescue from famine by arranging for Joseph to become the Pharaoh’s senior officer. God is committed through a covenant to do this forever. The second half of the poem will continue the story with God’s rescue of them from Egypt, God’s care for them in the wilderness, and God’s gift of a home.

Malachi 2.1-16                            What’s Malachi about?
God criticizes the priests for being uncommitted to both the temple ceremony and their wives. Sexual unfaithfulness was a common way of speaking about giving one’s heart to the gods of selfishness and thus being unfaithful to the God of justice – in this image, their spouse. When priests give their loyalty to selfishness they no longer perform the role of connecting people to the God who is justice.

This concludes this short but very pointed book.

Luke 17.20-37                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus warns that the kingdom may not be obvious – it may come suddenly and make huge change – disciples are to trust that it will come.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Tuesday November 20         

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                           What’s about?

                           What’s about?

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Wednesday November 20          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 101
I am determined to live a life of justice and not to support exploitation.

Psalm 109
A desperate plea for God’s assistance, and rejoicing that God is faithful to the poor. The middle section, which uses violent images against those who oppress the powerless, expresses a profound desire that oppression be removed from the world. At the conclusion the writer rejoices that God is committed to the needy and to protecting those who are unjustly accused.

Malachi 1.1, 6-14                            What’s Malachi about?
This short book, the last in the Hebrew Bible, was written after the people had been allowed to return to Jerusalem about 500 years before Christ, and focuses on warning about uncommitted religious practices.

Luke 17: 11-19                           What’s Luke about?
Jesus heals ten lepers, but only the Jewish traitor enemy, a Samaritan, gives thanks. Jesus commends his response – the religiously observant are not fully alive because they have not recognized that the kingdom has really come because they had come to rely on it.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Monday November 19         

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#VALUE!

#VALUE!

#VALUE!

#VALUE!

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Tuesday November 19          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 97
God’s power in creation is an expression of God’s commitment to justice—righteousness and justice are the foundations of God’s throne (the same image is used in Psalm 89) and therefore of all creation. We can count on God to uphold those who are without power as surely as we experience enormous power in creation.

A wonderful image for our age when science shows us so much power in creation – dignity and justice are equally embedded in the way God has put the world together.

Psalm 99
God’s justice was shown in the way God rescued the people from slavery and cared for them throughout history. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 100
A short hymn of praise that God has remained faithful forever.

Habakkuk 3.1-18                            What’s Habakkuk about?
God has total power over the natural world. Habakkuk reminds his people that God was not angry with the water when he caused the Red Sea to draw back, but angry with the evil that had enslaved them – the implication is that if God has total power over the natural world, God also has total power over the moral world. Even though Habakkuk can see no end to the present violence and oppression of Israel, he insists on trusting this God who has acted to save them from evil in the past. This is his message of commending hope for people in a threatening time – his message remains equally relevant for us in our time.

Luke 17.1-10                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus continues his call to commitment, and especially within the community of disciples where generous forgiveness is to be the norm. The disciples respond that they do not have enough trust and Jesus says they only need a microscopic amount of trust to do amazing things, and when they do, they are not to be proud of it or take credit, but just to say we were faithful workers.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Sunday November 18          Advent

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#VALUE!

#VALUE!

#VALUE!

#VALUE!

This week’s collect:

O God our defender,
storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid.
Rescue your people from despair,
deliver your sons and daughters from fear,
and preserve us all from unbelief;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and ever. Amen.

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Monday November 18          Pentecost 26

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Psalm 89 Part 1
God’s faithfulness in creation is the basis for our trust in God’s justice and care for us. Just as God created order from chaos in creation, so we can rely upon God to create order out of the chaos in human society. God’s original goodness, intended for humanity and the world, is that everyone have a place and dignity and worth. Accomplishing that is the work of justice, often translated into traditional English as “righteousness.”

Habakkuk 2.1-4, 9-20                            What’s Habakkuk about?
God responds that those who have amassed wealth only to look after themselves will be accused by the very decorations in their homes. Those who have encouraged everyone to get drunk will themselves stagger drunkenly but from the weight of contempt. These are savage criticisms of people who have abused their power. The passage ends with the assurance that the God of justice is in charge. This is a statement of hope, which applies to our time of chaos as equally as to theirs.

Luke 16.19-31                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus tells the story of the rich man who cared nothing for the homeless man outside his house. There are consequences for not enacting the generosity of God’s kingdom—we become inward turned like the rich man in the story and end up living separated, alone, and in despair.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ
to be the light of the world.
Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us,
and bring us to eternal light and joy;
through the power of him
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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