Sins of Omission

I posted this in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and thanks to the lectionary cycle, you get to read about it again. This past Sunday's particular reading, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-12, creates what I call the "Abbrevelation of John". When read without the imprecatory verses, the Abbrevelation of John sounds sweet, soothing, and perfect for the unsuspecting Sunday church crowd. Unfortunately, most lectionary edits seem to result in this, a pasteurized scripture designed to keep the sheep peaceful.

The lectionary cycle is such that once a reading is written into the schedule, like clockwork, like a meteor shower, and sometimes like a bad penny in this case, every three years it keeps on re-appearing. So, I will repost this from May 16, 2010.

A Warning to the Writers of the RCL:

This Sunday's readings highlight one of my pet peeves, and that is the problem of the "missing verses." We use the Revised Common Lectionary for the assigned readings, and quite frequently this presents us pewsitters with an expurgated version of the Bible. What they did today to Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-12 sounds innocent enough,

12 ‘See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.

13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 

15*************** 

16 ‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’

17The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’

And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’

And let everyone who is thirsty come.

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. 

18 and 19 ***************  

20 The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen

I wonder if they just wanted to make things sound pretty by cutting the verses of warning,

v. 15 "Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practises falsehood."

And also left out was the part that the RCL really, really should not have tried to expurgate, 

vs. 18-19

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

Uh oh...

So, if you did not hear the full text in church, and if your preacher did not point out the omissions during their sermon, please ask them if they believe that John's Revelation is important, and next ask them if they believe that God wants us to hear the whole thing, and finally ask them why they feed God's sheep skim milk instead of whole milk.

Then, advise them to read the whole text, or face the wrath of John. 

"The best month American pro-lifers have experienced in decades"

 It has taken a while, but finally the Excommunication of Nancy Pelosi has come to pass. We Anglicans have been wondering if and when a Roman Catholic Bishop would show some backbone when it comes to political figures who proclaim to be "devout  Catholics" while at the same time are accepting of, or are rabid promoters of unrestricted abortion. 

Well, the first blow has been struck by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the San Francisco archdiocese when he instructed that Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is to be denied communion. 

What took so long? Eric Sammons at Crisis Magazine tells it this way,  

"Last year San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a pastoral letter Before I Formed You in the Womb, I Knew You. In this letter the Archbishop laid out the reasons why a pro-abortion Catholic politician should be denied Communion, and the steps that should be taken for this to happen..."

(In the letter he wrote, "If you find that you are unwilling or unable to abandon your advocacy for abortion, you should not come forward to receive Holy Communion. To publicly affirm the Catholic faith while at the same time publicly rejecting one of its most fundamental teachings is simply dishonest.") - UGP

"The timing of the announcement—one year after his pastoral letter was released—makes me wonder if this was his plan all along. Publish the letter to make clear what steps would be taken, reach out to Pelosi for a year to see if there is any change of heart, and then, if no repentance is shown, announce the denial of Communion.

Cordileone has also made clear the steps Pelosi needs to take to return to Holy Communion:

'you are not to present yourself for Holy Communion and, should you do so, you are not to be admitted to Holy Communion, until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin in the sacrament of Penance.'

These are hard words, but they are words of a pastor. Forgiveness is not impossible; Nancy Pelosi is a child of God who can be reconciled to our loving Father. But first she must repent and confess her sins."

This action along with the leak of the potential ruling reversing Roe versus Wade may be as Eric Sammons says, 

"The best month American pro-lifers have experienced in decades."

 Several questions remain:

1. Will other Archbishops follow Cordileone's example with other politicians?
2. Will Nancy Pelosi be allowed to receive communion in another diocese?
3. Will any priest in the Archdiocese of San Francisco disobey the Archbishop?
4. And what about all those politicians who are not as vocal about their support of abortion but who clearly accept the party platform and vote accordingly?

The answer to #2 was provided by this report at Red State on  05/23/2022,

"The California Democrat attended mass on Sunday at Holy Trinity in Georgetown where she received Holy Communion, Politico Playbook reported. Pool reports show that President Joe Biden often attends evening masses at the parish as well.

It is not immediately clear which priest at Holy Trinity gave Pelosi communion.

None of the Jesuit priests on staff at Holy Trinity, described as 'a parish of the powerful,' responded to requests for comment from The Daily Wire.

The parish website advertises a June 15 'Pride Mass,' and highlights a video of a gay man, who says he is married to a man..."

Georgetown has at least one Bishop who is not shepherding his sheep properly.

 It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out. 

In the meantime we need to thank God for the good things he has provided this month and pray that we have more good months like May 2022.

Acts Gets Personal

 In this Sunday's reading from Acts of the Apostles 16:9-15, the author transitions from a third person point of view to the first person style of writing. This makes the Book of Acts as a witness to events all the more real to me.

"During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us."

We never get to meet the man Paul saw in his vision, but we may assume him to be one of the brothers mentioned in verse 40 as Paul (I make another assumption that Luke may have stayed as he goes back to using the third person) left the city. 

"After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers there, they departed."

 The author does another point of view change to the first person in Acts 20:5 which continues through Acts 27.  Once again this is associated with a sea voyage,

Acts 20: 5-7 

"They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

 On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight."

Act of the Apostles cements in my mind the travel and travails of Paul during this extremely important time in the early Church. The use of the first person point of view is an important method of helping us to see through the eyes of Luke as he takes part in Paul's journeys. 

 

 

"Relevant Christianity doesn’t stay relevant for long"

I saw this discussion of the decline in U.S. Presbyterians over at "World: Sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth." The quoted text rings true,

"Here, for example, are the headlines that The Presbyterian Outlook had (at the time of this writing) listed on its Current Affairs page before its article about the PCUSA statistical report: 'The climate crisis is increasingly a refugee crisis,' 'Finding diversity and equity in investing decisions,' and 'We’ve got to move Earth Day to 12 months a year.' That’s one way to 'reinterpret' Christianity for modern people. It’s just not a Christianity that’s going to compel new people to give up their Sunday mornings."

"And that’s the rub. Relevant Christianity doesn’t stay relevant for long. Reinterpreted Christianity may appeal to the deconstructing, but it does not win the hearts and minds of the lost. We have no guarantee that faithful churches will thrive. But after almost 60 years of constant mainline decline, we have a pretty good idea of how churches die."

It is sad to watch the death of the old mainline protestant churches. In trying to keep up with progressive cultural change, they proved that to be a recipe for decline.

Progressive minded people will never understand that after two thousand years of experience with change, Christianity's job is not to constantly change its menu to satisfy customers. The old, tried, and true Bible, and the way of the apostles is what fills hungry souls. 

The Revelation to Peter

This Sunday's reading from Acts 11:1-18 contains an event that takes down the "Shellfish argument" (Leviticus is against same sex practice, but Leviticus says we should not eat shellfish. We eat shellfish anyway. So why should we listen to Leviticus' laws about human sexual behavior?).

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’

I note that Peter did not see a bedsheet descending from heaven holding people engaged in homosexual intercourse or other immoral sexual practices. 

If he had, we would not be having these arguments.

So, be quiet and eat your shrimp and grits.

Calling Patriarch Kirill "Putin's Altar Boy" is the Greatest Insult Pope Francis Has Ever Thrown

 I saw this report on several sites, and this quote is from Fox News,

The Russian Orthodox Church hit back at the Vatican this week after Pope Francis told an Italian newspaper that Patriarch Kirill should not "transform himself into Putin's altar boy" amid the invasion of Ukraine. 

Am I the only one who recognizes how insulting that was? We all know what dangers altar boys face from priests. 

"Pope Francis chose the wrong tone," the Russian Orthodox Church said in a statement on Wednesday. "Such statements are unlikely to contribute to the establishment of a constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, which is especially needed at the present time."

The Pope recalled during an interview with the Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper that half of a 40-minute conversation he had with Patriarch Kirill in March consisted of the Russian Orthodox Church leader reading off "all the justifications for the war."

Kirill, a longtime supporter of Putin, has echoed the Russian president's justifications for the war in sermons and placed the blame on NATO. 

"Patriarch Kirill recalled that at the end of the Soviet era, Russia received an assurance that NATO would not move an inch eastwards. However, this promise was broken, even the former Soviet Baltic republics joined NATO," the Russian Orthodox Church said Wednesday. "Russia could not and cannot allow this to happen."

Kirill has justified war to stop the advance of Western moral depravity, but how can he reconcile this war with  Jesus' teachings. 

The Pope's teachings are sometimes hard to follow too,

Despite their disagreements, Pope Francis also partially blamed NATO, telling the Italian newspaper this week that the "barking of NATO at Russia's door" may have forced Putin to invade. 

"An anger that I don’t know if you can say was provoked, but maybe facilitated," the Pope said. 

This Pope has a habit of saying the wrong thing, but as far as Putin goes, his take is spot on.

 

The resurrection of Tabitha

 This week's reading from Acts 9:36-43 contains the story of Peter and Tabitha,

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

 Initially, it appears that Peter did not invoke the name of Jesus and give Him the credit for this miracle, but Luke tells us that Peter first knelt down and prayed, and we can be certain to whom he prayed. Also, since "many believed in the Lord" afterwards. Peter must have refused to take credit or people would have believed in Peter and not the Lord.

The South Carolina Fourteen

The news in South Carolina of a recent court ruling appears to indicate that fourteen parishes in the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina will be ceded to the National Episcopal organization. I honestly don't know if the churches will have to be sold because of empty pews, but if history is to be followed, they will not be sold to Anglicans. 

These 14 parishes are as follows: 

Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant

Good Shepherd, Charleston

Holy Comforter, Sumter 

Holy Cross, Statesburg 

Holy Trinity, Charleston 

St. Bartholomew’s, Hartsville 

St. David’s, Cheraw 

St. Luke’s, Hilton Head 

St. Matthew’s, Fort Motte 

St. James, Charleston 

St. John’s, Johns Island 

St. Jude’s, Walterboro

Trinity, Myrtle Beach 

Old St. Andrew’s, Charleston

I am acquainted with some of the priests and parishioners of these churches, and my prayers are with them in these difficult times.  

A Fish Story

This Sunday's reading is from John 21:1-19, 

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

There are several elements in this reading that draw one's attention. First, the disciples have not yet received the Holy Spirit so instead of going out and healing and preaching they go fishing. Second, they fish all night and catch nothing. They must not have been after catfish. Right after daybreak the make the miraculous catch after being instructed from the man on the shore. Around here, the early morning fisherman catch the fish. 

Then we get the recognition and Peter is told, "Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep." This should remind everyone that this too is our job, and that we need to treat the people we meet as God's sheep, not ours. If we love Him, we will feed them when they are young in the faith, tend to them as they grow, and feed them with the gospel and the Eucharistic elements when they are ready.