July17, 2022
6th Sunday after Pentecost – Byron Tindall
We have good examples of the rule of hospitality from ancient Israel in two of the lessons appointed for today.
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George Buttrick, defines the rule this way. “The main practices stem from nomadic life when public inns were a rarity and every stranger a potential enemy. Hospitality was discharged more from fear and for protection than from generosity…. Moreover, the host never knew when he himself would be dependent on others. The guest was treated with respect and honor and was provided with provender for his animals, water for his feet, rest and a sumptuous feast. He enjoyed protection, even if he were an enemy, for three days and 36 hours after eating with the host…”
The lesson from Genesis concerning Abraham is a perfect example of this tradition. This incident in the life of Abraham raises at least one question for me. Why didn’t Abraham realize the importance of the three visitors when they suddenly appeared near him at the entrance of his tent? After all, he would have seen them approaching the tent long before they were near him. Abraham simply didn’t recognize who the messengers were.
This visit of Jesus to Mary and Martha is reported only in Luke’s Gospel. Luke does not name the village, but the author of the Gospel According to Saint John said that Mary and Martha were residents of Bethany.
July 10, 2022
Pentecost V – By Ted Hackett
Today’s Gospel is …may be… along with the Prodigal Son….the best known of all the Parables in the New Testament…
Hospitals, Homeless centers…our own medical facility…which was
started by Holy Family folks…are named after the Good Samaritan…
There is even a “Good Samaritan Law.” It says that a doctor or
anyone who jumps in and tries to help a sick person when there is no
other help, cannot be sued if the person dies.
Now, this title “The Good Samaritan” was a name given to this story by later Christians…it is not in the Greek manuscripts…people did not use such aids to reading back then….
And this title may be misleading as we shall see.
Let’s go back and look at this story……
A story that Jesus probably told…
It has his fingerprints all over it!
O.K…..a certain Jewish Lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to get into the kingdom of God…
Jesus answers: “What do the Rabbi’s teach?”
Answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength
and mind; and your neighbor as your self.”
This summary of Torah…Jewish Law…was formulated a hundred
years before Jesus by Rabbi Hillel and had become standard
Jewish teaching….
July 3, 2022
Independence Day Propers – George Yandell
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. It proclaimed the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France’s intervention on behalf of the Patriots.
After the war, the colonies had to determine how they would create a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” The “United States in Congress Assembled” in 1787 then sitting in New York City, forwarded the new Constitution to the states. Each state legislature was to call elections for a “Federal Convention” to ratify the new Constitution. Eleven ratified in 1787 or 1788. The Congress of the Confederation certified eleven states to begin the new government, and called the states to hold elections to begin operation. It then dissolved itself on March 4, 1789, the day the first session of the Congress of the United States began. George Washington was inaugurated as President two months later.
Some wags say the founding parents who created the constitution walked across the street to Christ Church and then created the constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Not exactly historically accurate. What did lead up to the organizing of the Episcopal Church?
By the beginning of the revolutionary war,
June 26, 2022
Third Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 8C – Bill Harkins
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”