Today's Scripture Readings
Acts 8: 26-40 (NRSV)
Psalm 22: 24-30 (BCP, p. 612)
1 John 4: 7-21 (NRSV)
John 15: 1-8 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
The Easter Season brings us an interesting turn of events. Today we read about the work of Philip sharing the Gospel with a eunuch (the gay men of that time), the love of God in 1 John, and the vine and the branches in John's Gospel. There is a lot for us to consider here.
If we as Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures, then among them would be Isaiah 56: 2-5.
This would mean that eunuch was someone cut off from worshiping in the House of the Lord was now to be included. The eunuch whom Philip meets and answers the questions of, is someone who would have experienced exclusion from the worshiping communities. When Philip proclaims Jesus to be the one that the eunuch is reading about, Philip does not ask him to renounce who he is. He calls him to repentance and forgiveness of his sins. Philip baptized the eunuch without requiring him to become any different than he already was, except that his life was without a Savior. The eunuch remained such after his baptism, only now he could live his life in the knowledge that he had been redeemed by Christ. The eunuch received the promise that was foretold him in Isaiah 56: 2-5.
The writer of 1 John tells us that God is love. We are told that the love of God and love of our neighbor are inseparable. To say we love God while hating a sister or brother makes us liars. God's love is authenticated when we love those who are marginalized and experience oppression and deprivation. Loving others whom we do see, is a revelation of the love of God whom we cannot see. Love is seen with the eyes of the body, heart and soul. As human beings, even people of faith who do not live by sight alone, we tend to believe in something when we are touched by our senses. Even if it is something we cannot physically handle. When we can feel love moving our hearts through someone's kind gesture or support of inclusion and equality for all people, the love of God becomes knowable, because it has been experienced.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people along with many others who are considered "unacceptable" by the Church and society are like the eunuchs of our time. They have been separated and told that there is no place for them either in church ministry or even in civil life. Whole lists of criteria are created to find a reason to exclude someone. Many parts of that set of standards are based on false information that leads to negative stereotypes. The list becomes very useful, when someone's ways of behavior, expression or appearance just doesn't quite match what we think they should be. Excluding people like this flies in the face of what we are told in both Acts and 1 John today.
Our Gospel reading gives another look at others, this time through the words of Jesus as written by the author of John. Jesus describes himself as the vine, and those who follow him to be the branches. We bear good fruit when we abide in Jesus, because apart from him we can do nothing.
The set of discourses found from John 13-17 have become part of the "weapons of mass destruction" on the part of Christians. Jesus' proclamation of himself as the "way, truth and life" in John 14: 6 have become the hallmark Bible passage used by evangelists working to convert individuals from other religious traditions, sexual orientations and/or gender expressions etc for centuries. The Gospel for today about the vine and the branches are among such that are used. It is important to note that these writings are most likely not directly from John the Apostle and Evangelist. They are part of a collection of writings by many from the Johannine communities into which many of them would have inserted their interpretations of what they understood. They may very well have not been word for word what John would have said or written. Those transcribing would have been a part of the communities that were experiencing a lot of persecution by Jewish people and the Roman Empire for exercising their faith. What has been left to us in these Gospel writings, may be insertions and not necessarily literal words from Jesus or John for that matter.
The origin of these texts means one thing, while the truths contained in them have something to say to us, then and now.
If we understand Jesus as the vine and God as the vinegrower, then we can also comprehend that our diverse ways of being, loving, believing, etc are not barriers for God to reach out to others through us. That is, unless we allow ourselves to become those "fruitless branches" by way of our own prejudices. We can render ourselves blind to others who worship and live within our communities. Even those of other faiths and philosophies. Yet, when we witness the actions of others who are different from ourselves, while they seek the common good of others through whatever means they use, we can read the Gospel through them. Just as we can see God working in others who are different from ourselves, so we ought to give witness to the loving redemption of God in Jesus Christ through being inclusive and sharing of ourselves with everyone regardless of our diversity. A hand and heart that reaches out to seek justice and equality for all people, is God acting and working, even if they do not pray the same creed as we do. The desire to do good things for the benefit of others is in and of itself, something that comes from God. Because without God: "you can do nothing." So it is with all of us. We too, can reach out to receive, love and reconcile others to their communities and God, only so long as we who believe and pray to Jesus remain in him as we do the work.
As we continue through the Easter Season with only a week and a half to Ascension, and then ten days until Pentecost, we might want to spend some time praying and thinking about our relationship to the vine as well as other branches in our communities. The Risen Christ is alive in our work for inclusion, equality and justice. We have the extravagant love of God to help us to love those we see and touch within our own churches, neighborhoods and so forth. It is a good thing to be about the ministry of hospitality and reconciliation. Even if other branches do not share our view of the who the vine is. All of us can bear fruit of some kind.
Prayers
Acts 8: 26-40 (NRSV)
An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
- "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
- and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
- so he does not open his mouth.
- In his humiliation justice was denied him.
- Who can describe his generation?
- For his life is taken away from the earth."
Psalm 22: 24-30 (BCP, p. 612)
1 John 4: 7-21 (NRSV)
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
John 15: 1-8 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
Blog Reflection
The Easter Season brings us an interesting turn of events. Today we read about the work of Philip sharing the Gospel with a eunuch (the gay men of that time), the love of God in 1 John, and the vine and the branches in John's Gospel. There is a lot for us to consider here.
If we as Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures, then among them would be Isaiah 56: 2-5.
Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and refrains from doing any evil.
Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
‘I am just a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
This would mean that eunuch was someone cut off from worshiping in the House of the Lord was now to be included. The eunuch whom Philip meets and answers the questions of, is someone who would have experienced exclusion from the worshiping communities. When Philip proclaims Jesus to be the one that the eunuch is reading about, Philip does not ask him to renounce who he is. He calls him to repentance and forgiveness of his sins. Philip baptized the eunuch without requiring him to become any different than he already was, except that his life was without a Savior. The eunuch remained such after his baptism, only now he could live his life in the knowledge that he had been redeemed by Christ. The eunuch received the promise that was foretold him in Isaiah 56: 2-5.
The writer of 1 John tells us that God is love. We are told that the love of God and love of our neighbor are inseparable. To say we love God while hating a sister or brother makes us liars. God's love is authenticated when we love those who are marginalized and experience oppression and deprivation. Loving others whom we do see, is a revelation of the love of God whom we cannot see. Love is seen with the eyes of the body, heart and soul. As human beings, even people of faith who do not live by sight alone, we tend to believe in something when we are touched by our senses. Even if it is something we cannot physically handle. When we can feel love moving our hearts through someone's kind gesture or support of inclusion and equality for all people, the love of God becomes knowable, because it has been experienced.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people along with many others who are considered "unacceptable" by the Church and society are like the eunuchs of our time. They have been separated and told that there is no place for them either in church ministry or even in civil life. Whole lists of criteria are created to find a reason to exclude someone. Many parts of that set of standards are based on false information that leads to negative stereotypes. The list becomes very useful, when someone's ways of behavior, expression or appearance just doesn't quite match what we think they should be. Excluding people like this flies in the face of what we are told in both Acts and 1 John today.
Our Gospel reading gives another look at others, this time through the words of Jesus as written by the author of John. Jesus describes himself as the vine, and those who follow him to be the branches. We bear good fruit when we abide in Jesus, because apart from him we can do nothing.
The set of discourses found from John 13-17 have become part of the "weapons of mass destruction" on the part of Christians. Jesus' proclamation of himself as the "way, truth and life" in John 14: 6 have become the hallmark Bible passage used by evangelists working to convert individuals from other religious traditions, sexual orientations and/or gender expressions etc for centuries. The Gospel for today about the vine and the branches are among such that are used. It is important to note that these writings are most likely not directly from John the Apostle and Evangelist. They are part of a collection of writings by many from the Johannine communities into which many of them would have inserted their interpretations of what they understood. They may very well have not been word for word what John would have said or written. Those transcribing would have been a part of the communities that were experiencing a lot of persecution by Jewish people and the Roman Empire for exercising their faith. What has been left to us in these Gospel writings, may be insertions and not necessarily literal words from Jesus or John for that matter.
The origin of these texts means one thing, while the truths contained in them have something to say to us, then and now.
If we understand Jesus as the vine and God as the vinegrower, then we can also comprehend that our diverse ways of being, loving, believing, etc are not barriers for God to reach out to others through us. That is, unless we allow ourselves to become those "fruitless branches" by way of our own prejudices. We can render ourselves blind to others who worship and live within our communities. Even those of other faiths and philosophies. Yet, when we witness the actions of others who are different from ourselves, while they seek the common good of others through whatever means they use, we can read the Gospel through them. Just as we can see God working in others who are different from ourselves, so we ought to give witness to the loving redemption of God in Jesus Christ through being inclusive and sharing of ourselves with everyone regardless of our diversity. A hand and heart that reaches out to seek justice and equality for all people, is God acting and working, even if they do not pray the same creed as we do. The desire to do good things for the benefit of others is in and of itself, something that comes from God. Because without God: "you can do nothing." So it is with all of us. We too, can reach out to receive, love and reconcile others to their communities and God, only so long as we who believe and pray to Jesus remain in him as we do the work.
As we continue through the Easter Season with only a week and a half to Ascension, and then ten days until Pentecost, we might want to spend some time praying and thinking about our relationship to the vine as well as other branches in our communities. The Risen Christ is alive in our work for inclusion, equality and justice. We have the extravagant love of God to help us to love those we see and touch within our own churches, neighborhoods and so forth. It is a good thing to be about the ministry of hospitality and reconciliation. Even if other branches do not share our view of the who the vine is. All of us can bear fruit of some kind.
Prayers
Almighty god, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant
us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way,
the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Fifth Sunday of Easter, Book of Common Prayer, p. 225).
Gracious Father, we pray for they holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, p. 823).
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