Author: Harold

Psalm 4
So much of the world trusts in “dumb idols” and “false gods”—those seductive priorities which do nothing to bring goodness and justice. But the true God can still do wonders and we can trust God to care of us and so we can fall asleep peacefully.

Psalm 7
I am pursued by evil. This would make sense if I had done something terribly wrong, but I haven’t. God, sit like a supreme judge, and make that evil self-destruct. I will then proclaim that God is indeed just.

1 Samuel 15: 1-23 What’s Samuel about?
King Saul is sent to complete God’s cleansing of the promised land from the evil of the aboriginal people (as the Israelites understood them) but Saul disobeys God by keeping some of the battle spoils. While the command to utterly destroy the enemy and their animals is cruel from a modern perspective, the meaning then was that Saul’s greed had overcome his commitment to God’s command to remove evil from the world. Saul blames the common people and insists he kept the best animals for religious reasons. The passage concludes with a poem in which it is clear that God wants obedience to justice more than religious animal sacrifices and that Saul will be deposed for not giving absolute priority to God’s call to act with justice.

We can interpret this passage for ourselves as God’s command to remove oppressive policies from our world and not to compromise when oppressive policies bring us profit or benefit our religion. How applicable this is to our modern social and international arrangements! Our own treatment of aboriginal people turns out to have been motivated by self-interest and the consequences are horrific.

Luke 23: 44-56a What’s Luke about?
Jesus dies under torture. A Roman soldier affirms his innocence and the Roman governor Pilate gives permission for Jesus to be given a formal burial in a unused tomb. Historically such affirmations by a Roman soldier and by Pilate are most unlikely, but this was a way that many early Christians, including Luke, could demonstrate Jesus’ significance —even the Romans understood who he was and honoured him. In that way the faith might be more credible to Roman citizens who were considering becoming followers of Jesus.

We are challenged to honour God’s total participation in the horrors and suffering of our time, and to honour the victims of our world as if they are Christ.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
your Son Jesus Christ has taught us
that what we do for the least of your children
we do also for him.
Give us the will to serve others
as he was the servant of all,
who gave up his life and died for us,
but lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings for Sunday July 4

Sunday July 4 Pentecost 6

Psalm 146
Joy in God’s victorious justice for the oppressed, the blind, the strangers and the orphans—that justice for all is built into God’s magnificent creation. Appropriate for a Sunday, which is the anniversary of the resurrection—God’s victory over all evil.

Psalm 147
God’s wondrous creation and God’s commitment to justice are intertwined. Other cultures are not aware of this. What a helpful insight in our day!

1 Samuel 14: 36-45 What’s Samuel about?
God does not respond to Sauls’ enquiry about completing the destruction of the Philistines, and Saul consults an ancient ceremony to determine who is at fault. The Urim and Thummim may have been like holy dice to be thrown to reveal God’s answer to a question. The answer is that Jonathan is at fault for eating a tiny amount of honey when Saul had laid an oath on everyone not to eat and so had caused the soldiers to be faint and not complete the killing of the Philistines. So it is really Saul’s fault. Saul moves to execute Jonathan, his son, but the people insist that Jonathan be allowed to live.

We see Johnathan’s growing popularity is undermining Saul’s authority, and so God’s rejection of Saul is happening through normal events. God doesn’t need to intervene dramatically, the writer is saying, rejecting God’s justice has consequences that cannot be avoided.

Matthew 22: 1-14 What’s Matthew about?
On Sundays we are reading through Matthew’s gospel, so we leave Luke’s gospel for today and return to it tomorrow. In Jesus’ story today a king (probably a very wealthy lord) is enraged by the deliberate insults of those invited to celebrate with him who accept his invitation, and then when the massive amount of food is ready, deliberately don’t turn up. This is a disaster in a time when there are no methods of preserving food. The king does the unthinkable and returns the insult by showering honour and food upon anyone available—he is proclaiming that even the scum of society are worth more to him than his former wealthy friends! It could be that this story is based on an actual incident known to Jesus and his hearers.

In the story the king then slaughters those who insulted him and throws into prison someone not dressed as his wealthy friends would have been. Matthew is often stern in his gospel about saying that following Christ isn’t a casual matter—our life depends upon our accepting God’s invitation to live in God’s justice.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Saturday July 3

Saturday July 3 Pentecost 5

Psalm 137
Another psalm expressing terrible grief that the nation had been abandoned. When the people were captured and taken to Babylon about 700 years before Jesus, they were asked to amuse their captors with funny songs, and were horrified to have to entertain those who had destroyed their land and the glorious temple dedicated to justice. The concluding couple of verses of this psalm are disturbingly violent. We sometimes also feel violent when we are abused, so there is an honest recognition of that truth here. Or we can think of this part as a commitment to ensuring that all evil should be completely removed from the world.

Psalm 144
This psalm expresses the feeling that we are not very strong in face of terrible forces, but that God can act to save us, and the end result will be unimaginable prosperity and happiness.

1 Samuel 14: 16-30 What’s Samuel about?
Jonathan’s solo daring but unauthorized attack galvanizes the people and they win a great victory over the Philistines. King Saul had tried to use religion to force people to obey him through requiring an unnecessary vow of fasting. Jonathan critiques his father for using religion to control people and points out that the weakened troops had been prevented by the vow from completing the destruction of the Philistines. Saul’s lack of trust in God is becoming obvious and doubts about his rule are growing.

Luke 23: 32-43 What’s Luke about?
Jesus is crucified and treated with contempt. Crucifixion was more horrific than the gospels report because when the gospels were written everyone was familiar with the gruesome and sadistic process. But God’s victory is being anticipated in Jesus’ forgiveness and inclusion even of a criminal being tortured to death with him.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love fulfils the law.
May we love you with all our heart,
all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength,
and may we love our neighbour as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings for Friday July 2

Friday July 2 Pentecost 5

Psalm 140
A cry to God for help against enemies who are strong and trust that God will help the poor and needy.

Psalm 142
A cry to God to help when there is no hope. If God acts to save me, I will then be able to praise God again.

1 Samuel 13: 19—14: 15 What’s Samuel about?
The Philistines have prevented the Israelites from gaining access to their military technology of sharpening swords. The Israelites have no way of sharpening swords for battle. However, Saul’s son, Jonathan, trusts totally in God, and makes a secret attack on the Philistines with only one person to assist him. He is victorious beyond all expectation, proving that trusting in God is all that is needed.

This seems to be a precursor of the story of how the next king, David, defeated the Philistine Goliath all by himself with only his armour-bearer for company and without military technology. In contrast, Jonathan’s father King Saul, has not trusted in God and is not accomplishing such feats. We can see how his days as king are numbered.

Luke 23: 26-31 What’s Luke about?
Jesus’ immanent execution is an unmitigated disaster.

Subsequent Christian interpretation has of course understood this as God’s way of bringing victory over evil, but we can too easily forget that to do so God, in Jesus, entered fully into the horror of an ancient execution. Is there nothing God will not do to ensure the victory of justice and inclusion of all?

This week’s collect:

Readings for Thursday July 1

Thursday July 1 Pentecost 5

Psalm 131
God is like a mother on whom I rest in complete confidence.

Psalm 132
The psalm reminds God that David was committed to finding a permanent place for the ark to stay in Jerusalem and that God swore an oath that God would never abandon David or Jerusalem.

In our time we can understand this oath to be God’s absolute commitment to creation and to our rescue which is accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Psalm 133
Another short psalm expressing joy in the abundance we experience when humanity lives in unity—that is, in justice and inclusion of all.

1 Samuel 13: 5-18 What’s Samuel about?
Saul is frightened by the Philistines, although considering what God has done to those evil people (as the ancient Israelites understood them), he has no need to fear. But, not trusting God, Saul attempts to use a sacred ceremony to force God to help him—he turns religion into magic as a way of getting what he wants. Samuel says that his lack of trust in God will result in his downfall and that God has chosen to replace him. In the next few readings, Saul will repeatedly use religion as a tool to force God, or the people, to do his will. He does not trust God.

It’s a good question to ask in our time—is faith being used to try to manipulate God to get what we want, or is faith about being open to God’s call to us to enact justice for all?

Luke 23: 13-25 What’s Luke about?
Luke, writing for Roman readers, portrays Pilate (the local representative of the emperor) as supporting Jesus and arguing for his release. Pilate’s stance undermines arguments that Jesus deserved his execution. But Jesus was executed, and Luke attributes this to the overwhelming power of public demand.

It is very difficult to maintain loyalty to justice against wide public opposition, as we know in our time. But as we also know, God’s justice will be victorious.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Wednesday June 30

Wednesday June 30 Pentecost 5

Psalm 119 Part 7
Psalm 119 is a meditation on responding to God’s call to justice. Every verse contains some synonym for “justice”, such as “word”, “statute”, “commandment” or the like. The psalm is arranged in groups of eight verses. Each verse in the group starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet – the first group of eight verses all start with A, the second group all start with B and so on. The first seven verses mirror the seven days of creation, with the eighth sometimes pointing to the next group. This very careful construction mirrors God’s creating the universe by overcoming chaos with order. In the human world, justice, dignity and fulfilment – the outcomes of justice – are the expressions of order in the human world. The human world and the rest of creation are thus united. Today’s three sections begin with the letters Q, R, S, and T, the final letters of the Hebrew alphabet. As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “Q” and so on.

1 Samuel 12: 1-25 What’s Samuel about?
The writers, in exile five hundred years later, saw kings as the cause of Israel’s destruction by the Babylonians. They interpreted that Samuel, a highly respected prophet, had been opposed to anointing the first king. In this speech, Samuel reminds the people how God had rescued them from Egypt without a king, and again from the nations in the promised land, all of whom had kings, because God was their king and stronger than any human king. By choosing a king, Samuel says, they had abandoned God. But if they and their king practice justice, God will not abandon them and all will be well.

This desire to have a king has a modern version in our time—it is the desire to have so much power that our country will be invulnerable. That desire for ultimate power leads to oppression by rulers and acquiescence by the people. Less and less do we trust in God’s ability to bring justice. As with ancient Israel, there are inevitable consequences.

Luke 23: 1-12 What’s Luke about?
On trial by the Roman governor, Jesus is accused of subverting Roman rule by opposing taxes which were actually forced extortion, not taxes in the modern sense, and by challenging the violent leadership of the emperor. Jesus doesn’t deny either charge although both are cause for execution. Nor will he perform a miracle on demand to gain release from the puppet-king of northern Israel where Jesus is from. However, Luke understands that Jesus’ vision of God’s desire for total inclusivity is so powerful that it even reconciles the traitor puppet and the Roman governor.

Making a priority of reconciling your enemies who will execute you is an extraordinary claim by Luke. Luke is pointing to the extraordinary power of God’s desire for inclusivity and the radical change it requires in ourselves.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Tuesday June 29

Tuesday June 29 Pentecost 5

Psalm 120
God saved me from those who lie and rely on deceit. Even though I am committed to peace, those around me still seek war.

Psalm 121
Confidence that God will watch over us to protect us from natural calamities and everyday situations.

Psalm 122
Joy at entering Jerusalem to worship in the temple. Prayers for Jerusalem.

Psalm 123
We keep our eyes trained on God’s direction to us, like servants alert to their owner’s slightest hand signal. We are oppressed by the wealthy and we anticipate God’s signal at any moment that God will act.

1 Samuel 11: 1-15 What’s Samuel about?
An Israelite town is being threatened. Saul is still primarily a farmer, but he is roused to anger and leads the Israelites to a great victory. Saul refuses to punish those who had doubted the wisdom of having a king, and he is affirmed as king by the people. His reign has begun with an act of justice.

Luke 22: 63-71 What’s Luke about?
Jesus is humiliated by the soldiers, and then found guilty of blasphemy (a capital offence) because, ironically, he has placed his trust totally in God. Since Jesus has threatened the Roman empire’s rule in Jerusalem with his vision of justice, inclusion and dignity for all, we may be hearing the way in which the religious leaders collaborated with Rome to execute him because of his loyalty to the God of justice.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Monday June 28

Monday June 28 Pentecost 5

Psalm 106 Part 1
God, you are wonderful, but we have done wicked things. God, you acted with immense generosity when you rescued the people from Egypt, but the people stopped trusting in you, and there were terrible consequences, yet you continued rescuing them. The second half of this psalm has a long list of such examples and concludes with a plea for God to continue rescuing us despite our wickedness.

1 Samuel 10: 17-26 What’s Samuel about?
Samuel warns the people that their desire for a king is to abandon the God of justice who has been faithful to them and effective in protecting them—the people are rejecting the God who has acted as their king. Samuel presents Saul to be the king, but Saul has hidden himself, just as he did not tell his family that Samuel had anointed him. The writer may be thinking of Saul as fearful, or as enacting God’s reluctance to give the people a king. Against God’s advice, the people acclaim Saul as their king.

The stories of the kings were written much later during the disastrous exile in Babylon, and the kings were understood to have been the cause of the disaster by abandoning justice and being dominated by greed, and oppressing the poor.

Luke 22: 52-62 What’s Luke about?
As he is arrested Jesus acknowledges that he is allowing the powers of darkness to have authority over him, rather than his joining the darkness by engaging them with violence. Peter, too, joins the powers of darkness in a kind of violence of lies in denying Jesus. In weeping, Peter begins to take responsibility for what he has done, but is in despair and has no hope that anything can be changed.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Sunday June 27

Sunday June 27 Pentecost 5

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 this psalm are traditionally sung on Easter Day.

1 Samuel 10: 1-16 What’s Samuel about?
Samuel correctly predicts a series of events to demonstrate that his decision to anoint Saul as king really is God’s will. Saul has an ecstatic experience and his character is transformed. When he returns home, Saul does not tell his father (or his uncle, standing in for his father) what has happened. The story-teller may understand this as Saul’s first disobedience—he is afraid to take the leadership required by the God of justice.

Matthew 21: 23-32 What’s Matthew about?
Opposition to Jesus grows. The religious leaders confront Jesus with the fact that he has no authorization to teach. He responds by asking who gave John authorization. John was highly popular because of his opposition to Roman rule, and became a martyr after being executed by Herod. So the leaders cannot criticize John for fear of a popular uproar, and cannot support John for fear of Herod executing them. Jesus has exposed their true loyalty to their own survival and not to God’s call for justice. That is Jesus’ authority. Jesus then continues his critique by contrasting the way that prostitutes and quislings have responded positively to the arrival of God’s kingdom, but religious leaders, while professing loyalty to God, continue to reject God’s kingdom of justice and dignity for all by aligning themselves with the violence of Roman oppression. These are inflammatory accusations.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Saturday June 26

Saturday June 26 Pentecost 4

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.

1 Samuel 9: 15—10.1 What’s Samuel about?
Saul is indeed from humble origins—the least important family in the least important tribe—exactly the person with the right experience who God needs as king to ensure justice and dignity for all Israelites. God instructs Samuel to anoint Saul as king.

This anointing is still used for British kings and queens. It symbolizes that the monarch is accountable to God as a way of ensuring the monarch does not abuse their power but is committed to God’s justice for all.

Luke 22: 39-53 What’s Luke about?
Jesus is abandoned even by his disciples who cannot stay awake with him in Gethsemane. Jesus heals the wound a disciple inflicts on one of the poorest—a servant of those coming to kill him. The darkness seems to engulf Jesus as he is arrested. Again, Jesus refuses the tools of death to try to defeat death. Instead he will use the tools of love.

This seems at first a strange series of passages to read at a time other than Good Friday, but in the cycle of reading through all the gospels it reminds us that God’s self-offering in Jesus is happening all day every day.

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.