Category: TODAY’S READING

Sunday December 15          Advent 3

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Psalm 63
I delight in the certainty of God’s protection and victory over evil. The violence in verses 9 and 10 can be understood as an expression of our intense desire that all evil will come to an end.

Psalm 98
The people, the nations, and the whole of creation delight in God’s victory and rejoice when God comes to put all creation right. This psalm is used at Easter, and is often used on Sundays, mini-anniversaries of Easter. There is some lovely imagery of the sea deliberately making a noise with its waves and rivers doing the same by clapping their hands.

Isaiah 13: 6-13                            What’s Isaiah about?
Seeing the approaching disaster, Isaiah interprets it as God being absolutely determined to remove the evil of exploitation, and even the sky and stars will be shaken as God does this. As in many of the psalms, God’s “wrath and fierce anger” should be understood not as God losing God’s temper, but as an expression of the consequences of our ignoring justice, and of God’s infinite power to overcome evil. Indeed, our assumptions about life will be shaken as we discover that loving sacrifices on our part will be required to put the world right.

As we prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas Isaiah reminds us that God’s arrival in an animal’s food trough challenges humanity’s self-serving assumptions about how the world is to function.

John 3: 22-30                            What’s John about?
John willingly gives priority to Jesus as the best man at a wedding does for the groom. As Jesus arrives at Christmas, how might we imagine ourselves in the supporting role of best man, or maid of honour, as God makes the ultimate commitment to humanity and all creation?

This week’s collect:

God of power and mercy,
you call us once again
to celebrate the coming of your Son.
Remove those things which hinder love of you,
that when he comes,
he may find us waiting in awe and wonder
for him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Saturday December 14          Advent 2

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Psalm 30
Because of its references to being in the grave, followed by joy, this psalm is often used on Saturdays, the weekly mini-anniversary of Jesus’ being in the grave.

“God’s wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye”—it’s not that God is losing God’s temper, but that God made the world so that actions have predictable consequences—anything else would produce chaos. It’s inevitable that evil selfish actions on our part have consequences but the psalm proclaims that God’s goodness acts to overcome the evils that we have caused. Christians interpret Jesus’ dying and rising as the process by which God accomplishes fulfilment and joy for us despite our evil.

Psalm 32
When I acknowledged my sin, I received immense joy. When we acknowledge our participation in oppressive policies, we know God will overcome those, and we can also be in joy instead of living in denial or guilt. Then we will have the energy to act against those oppressions.

Isaiah 8: 1-15                           What’s Isaiah about?
The boy referred to in yesterday’s reading as being about to be born to a “young woman” (not “a virgin” as later mistranslated into ancient Greek) is to be named “Hurry to the spoils.” Before this boy learns to speak, i.e. within a year or so, God will act to bring the inevitable consequences of the land having abandoned the God of justice and inclusion. Isaiah then uses the image of an inundating river to illustrate how utterly the land will be devastated by the Assyrians. Some respond that Isaiah does not trust God to care and rescue, but God has warned him not to trust the popular proclamation that God will automatically defend the people—even God cannot prevent the consequences of their greed and oppression of the poor.

The Assyrians did in fact conquer both the northern and southern parts of the country. Isaiah is interpreting this disaster as the consequence of the country making wealth and oppression their priority. While these interpretations sound like the proclamation of an angry God, it is intended as good news—that change is possible and that it’s not God but their own misguided policies that are bringing this disaster.

The same would be an appropriate proclamation about many of the looming disasters of our day.

Luke 22: 31-38                            What’s Luke about?
This is the final conversation at the the Passover meal, what we now call the Last Supper, the first eucharist. Peter does not yet grasp the depth of his own faithlessness to Jesus which will happen later this evening. Jesus understands what Peter will do and prays that after Peter grasps what has happened, he will lead the others into understanding what God is doing through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Jesus goes on to say that when they understand and start to proclaim God’s message that self-sacrificing love is the only way to full life, they will need all the strength they can get, because most people will reject this style of life. Luke portrays the disciples as misunderstanding Jesus, taking him literally and offering to provide him with a sword so he can fight off his attackers and not have to die. Jesus rejects their desire to rely on power and violence to bring full life to the world.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Friday December 13          Advent 2

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Psalm 31
I am being attacked from all sides but trust that God will rescue me. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus quotes from this psalm as he is dying. Appropriate for Friday as the weekly mini-anniversary of the crucifixion.

Isaiah 7: 10-25                           What’s Isaiah about?
The abusive king Ahaz has decided to align himself with the pagan Assyrian empire instead of trusting in God to defend him. Isaiah says that in response to Ahaz’s distrust of God, God will summon Egypt and Assyria who will arrive like swarms of flies and bees to destroy the Israelites and their cultivated land. Isaiah says this will happen within the next couple of years—that any child being born now will see this by the time they are two or three years old.

When this passage was translated from Hebrew into Greek centuries later, the translators made a mistake, and used the Greek word for “virgin” in describing the child’s mother instead of the word “young woman.” Unaware of this error, early Christians saw in this statement a prediction of Mary’s virginity in giving birth to Jesus.

While these ancient conflicts can seem arcane and irrelevant to us, they illustrate the struggle we continue to have about whether we will trust in military violence or trust in God’s way of ensuring all have enough for dignity. These ancient stories drew the conclusion that justice and dignity for all is the only security that works.

Luke 22: 14-30                            What’s Luke about?
As the kingdom comes ever closer, Jesus gives himself to us under the signs of bread and wine, so that we may feast forever with him.
During Advent we are learning to long for the arrival of that fulfilled world and its eternal feasting.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Thursday December 12          Advent 2

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Psalm 37 Part 1
It’s tempting to want to be as successful as evil people, but seeking God’s justice will fulfill us, and God will defeat evil completely.

Isaiah 7: 1-9                           What’s Isaiah about?
Ahaz, the king of Judah, the southern part of the country around Jerusalem, is under attack by two kings of Israel, the northern part of the country. They have formed alliances with Assyria, a country that does not know the God of justice, hoping that Assyria will support and protect them. Ahaz is terrified of this unstoppable military alliance, but Isaiah is told to assure Ahaz that his trust in God’s commitment to Jerusalem will ensure he is not defeated.

Luke 22: 1-13                            What’s Luke about?
The entire country is about to celebrate the festival celebrating their escape from slavery in Egypt. It is four days since the Roman army entered Jerusalem to head off the potential revolt which might be precipitated by the festival, and since Jesus arranged his simultaneous and highly popular peaceful entrance into the city. It is no wonder that the Romans with the cooperation of the religious leaders want Jesus executed. On the day before the great festival Judas is paid to betray Jesus. Jesus has arranged for his community of disciples to eat the Passover, the ceremonial meal commemorating the escape from Egypt.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Wednesday December 11          Advent 2

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Psalm 38
I have caused my own downfall, people take advantage of me, and even friends have abandoned me. I remain silent because there is nothing left to do but to hope in God. Help me, God!

Isaiah 6: 1-13                           What’s Isaiah about?
Isaiah has a mystical experience of the awe of God. In the temple, filled with the smoke of holy sacrifice, the monumental doors move on their own, and Isaiah is terrified because he is a member of a people who have so insulted the justice of God, and here is God appearing to him in power and glory beyond comprehension.

God cleans Isaiah from his contamination and sends him to proclaim how the people have insulted the God of justice. No matter how determined the people are to refuse to listen, Isaiah is to proclaim the truth of what they have done.

The consequences of their evil will be enormous, but God does not abandon them—within the destruction there remains a charred stump which will be a seed for a fulfilled future.

Early Christians, who were of course all Jews, interpreted this stump or seed as a prediction of Jesus.

This analysis of the consequences of greed is very relevant in our day.  In the face of looming destruction in our world Isaiah challenges us to find signs of that seed—Christ’s resurrection—amidst the various forms of collapse threatening us. Are we searching for how we might find the seeds of God’s future amidst the destruction of our day?

John 7: 53—8: 11                            What’s John about?
Religious leaders dare Jesus to forgive a woman who is clearly guilty of flagrant infidelity. With enormous courage, Jesus refuses to join in the condemnation of the woman, and instead challenges the men to confront their own responsibility for her shame. Alone with the woman (a very suggestive situation in that day) Jesus sends her back into life.
We are to practice deep acceptance of those who have violated their commitments and at the same time we are to acknowledge our own role in collaborating with others not to live full lives.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Tuesday December 10          Advent 2

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Psalm 26
“I do not sit down with the wicked”: this gives us words to say how we wish to live, that deep in our heart we really are such people as keep God’s commands to love and do justice. “My foot stands on level ground” because we ground our lives on the solid base of justice.

Psalm 28
Like many psalms, this asks that the wicked be punished: “give them their just deserts.” (“Deserts” is “What is deserved,” not miles of sand or misspelled sweets!) This desire for evil people to be destroyed seems very unlike Jesus’ request that we forgive our enemies and love them, but it is really giving us words to express our own intense desire that oppressive and violent policies should come to an end. We might pray, “May any international trade agreements that make the poor even poorer, be utterly done away with.”

The violent images in many psalms are not to ask God to be violent, but to ask that all evil actions and policies be completely defeated so people around the world can live in peace and fulfilment. The second half of the psalm gives thanks that God has indeed been victorious over oppression.

Isaiah 5: 15-25                           What’s Isaiah about?
The leaders drag people with cords of evil and greed, take bribes and glorify their dissolute living. This is searing criticism. It would have taken enormous courage to confront the king and ruling priests in this way. No wonder God responds with utter rejection of such behaviour, rejection which Isaiah understands to have been carried out by the Assyrians conquering the north of the country.

Luke 21: 29-38                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus encourages us to remain confident in dangerous times because God’s intervention is coming close. There are few messages in our day which encourage wide-awake confidence in difficult times—the news usually encourages us either to hopelessness or to shelter in the illusion that all is well.
Jesus’ clarity that dangerous times can be fertile opportunities for a new kind of confidence gives us a whole new way of experiencing life in our day.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Monday December 9          Advent 2

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Psalm 25
I desperately need God’s support both from those who attack me, and from actions that are my own fault, and I know God is always generous to those in such a situation.

Isaiah 5: 8-14                           What’s Isaiah about?
God accuses the wealthy of expanding their houses and land so there is nowhere for others to live. They have isolated themselves alone in life, and yet they care only for their own pleasure. No wonder all the wealthy are being swallowed up in darkness.

Luke 21: 20-28                            What’s Luke about?
Luke continues with the apocalyptic vision of Jerusalem’s destruction. Luke understands that Jesus foresaw the Roman empire’s destruction of Jerusalem and interpreted it as the signal that God was about to intervene in the world to set everything right.
We are to live as if God’s arrival was very close indeed—that in itself gives us confidence and fullness of life without fear of being destroyed by the surrounding chaos. How relevant to our time!

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Sunday December 8          Advent 2

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Psalm 148
These three psalms are especially appropriate on Sundays, the mini-anniversary of the resurrection. All creation praises God—the heavens, the earth—including fog, sea monsters, and “creeping things” (perhaps even insects or worms)—and humanity—rulers, young people and old people—all things without exception praise God together. Notice that the sequence is taken from the first creation story in Genesis: first light, then the heavens, then creatures of the water, then creatures of the land, and finally people.

Psalm 149
Songs of joy at God’s victory. The joy of military victories toward the end of the psalm was their way of saying that God has ended all injustice.

Psalm 150
A scene of riotous joy as every conceivable instrument and every creature praises God.

Isaiah 5: 1-7                           What’s Isaiah about?
God speaks of the people of Jerusalem, who have been conquered, as a beloved vineyard which God has abandoned—just as Jerusalem has been broken down by invaders. This has happened because innocent people were being killed instead of receiving justice.”He expected … righteousness, but heard a cry!” means God expected fairness but heard cries of innocent people being terrified.

Luke 7: 28-35                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus describes John the Baptist as the greatest person who ever lived because he had led the people to claim the land for justice and fairness, in opposition to the Roman empire. But people rejected the arrival of both John the Baptist and Jesus. Like grumpy children they refuse to respond to either John’s challenge to reform or to Jesus’ offer of new life which would make everyone greater than John the Baptist. Nevertheless, the wisdom in John and Jesus remains available—the question is how we will respond to their offer of new life.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Saturday December 7          Advent

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Psalm 20
We delight that God upholds us with strength far greater than military technology.

Psalm 21
Joy at how with great power God has blessed the king and removed the threats against him. This psalm would originally have been sung to the king, as God’s blessed one, but it is equally applicable to us and can be read with ourselves as the subject of the psalm.

These psalms are often used on Saturdays to suggest the power God is about to use to raise Jesus and us from death.

Isaiah 4: 2-6                           What’s Isaiah about?
Isaiah speaks of the future in which God will restore holiness to Jerusalem after the devastated by the Assyrian army, and will provide an overarching shelter for Jerusalem reminiscent of the protection given after the crossing of the Red Sea.

Luke 21: 5-19                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus’ graphic description of Jerusalem being destroyed is based on a style of writing called “apocalyptic,” commonly used at that time. Jesus uses it to call us to confidence even in the most difficult and disturbing times.

“By your endurance you will gain your souls” means that by refusing to join in the chaos and refusing to allow the chaos to seep into our lives, we remain people of the victorious God of justice and we will remain deeply alive—an essential approach to life in our time.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ
came to us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Friday December 6          Advent

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Psalm 16
I have been loyal to the God of justice, save me from the grave and I will have joy.

Psalm 17
I am innocent, but the evil people surround me—save me and I will be fulfilled.

Both these psalms are appropriate for Fridays, the weekly mini-anniversary of the crucifixion and both conclude with hope for new life.

Isaiah 3: 8-15                           What’s Isaiah about?
The reason the nation is in trouble is because the leaders have been “grinding the face of the poor.” This horrific image expresses God’s absolute rejection of such behaviour and forces us to confront what has been going on in our time.

Luke 20: 41—21: 4                            What’s Luke about?
Jesus seems to be arguing against the widespread belief that the messiah would be descended from King David—the original great king—and therefore wold be born in Bethlehem (David’s city). Early Christians strongly believed Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, which is why it is so odd to find Jesus arguing that the messiah is not descended from King David.
Perhaps Jesus is saying that God can work outside normal expectations and in spite of the powerful royal families. The royal families of his time were descended from David but had abandoned loyalty to the God of justice and had become loyal to the Roman empire and its gods of violent oppression. So Jesus may be saying that to claim the messiah is descended from King David is to say that the messiah will practice injustice and oppression.

Jesus then publicly criticizes the exploitation of the poor by religious leaders (who were members of the same royal families) and commends the startling generosity of the very poor. No wonder he will be executed in a couple of days.

Just as will happen to those who think they are leaders, when the kingdom arrives, for which we are to live in expectation, many of our normal expectations will be reversed.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ
came to us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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