Thursday, June 09, 2005
Daily Office, Year One, Proper 5, Thursday
Today's Readings:
Today will probably be a quick meditation. There isn't a lot of meat here for me, or perhaps I have entered morning prayer hasily, and not with sufficient prayer in my heart. The Psalms lately have been full of "Smite my enemies for me, God." Treating God like a bully that fights for us. Of course, historically, God was a tribal God. The shift in our perception from polythiesm through henotheism to monotheism hasn't changed what God is. I guess part of that bully-God pleading from the Psalms doesn't touch me in my life because I believe we were created with free will, for the purpose of loving God and wanting to be with God as a conscious decision, otherwise, our love for God would be worthless. If I made a robot that gave me a hug every day, would I think that it really cared for me? If God made a humanity that could not turn its back on God, would it mean much when they faced Him? No.
Switching to the Apocryphal or Deutercanonical book of Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) was a welcome shift, because I love the wisdom books of the Bible. I try to read Jesus' teachings as being part of that thread of wisdom literature when it's appropriate. Entering Jerusalem, Jesus begins to lose meaning for me. The parables are full of symbolic language, I can deal with that, but now Luke's narrative about Jesus switches to symbolic language. The colt that has never been ridden, throwing cloaks on the ground, the stones singing, all speak of symbols that I don't think the average 21st century person gets unless they've studies Biblical culture. The Bible is not very good at explaining its culture to later readers. It makes mention of mores and traditions assuming that the reader will be familiar to them.
In short, I'm not finding much today. I hope that tomorrow will be better. Heck, even Mission of St. Claire decided to talk about the first Book of Common Prayer today. ¶ 12:02 PM
- Psalm 70,71
- Ecclus. 44:19-45:5
- 2 Cor. 12:1-10
- Luke 19:28-40
Today will probably be a quick meditation. There isn't a lot of meat here for me, or perhaps I have entered morning prayer hasily, and not with sufficient prayer in my heart. The Psalms lately have been full of "Smite my enemies for me, God." Treating God like a bully that fights for us. Of course, historically, God was a tribal God. The shift in our perception from polythiesm through henotheism to monotheism hasn't changed what God is. I guess part of that bully-God pleading from the Psalms doesn't touch me in my life because I believe we were created with free will, for the purpose of loving God and wanting to be with God as a conscious decision, otherwise, our love for God would be worthless. If I made a robot that gave me a hug every day, would I think that it really cared for me? If God made a humanity that could not turn its back on God, would it mean much when they faced Him? No.
Switching to the Apocryphal or Deutercanonical book of Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) was a welcome shift, because I love the wisdom books of the Bible. I try to read Jesus' teachings as being part of that thread of wisdom literature when it's appropriate. Entering Jerusalem, Jesus begins to lose meaning for me. The parables are full of symbolic language, I can deal with that, but now Luke's narrative about Jesus switches to symbolic language. The colt that has never been ridden, throwing cloaks on the ground, the stones singing, all speak of symbols that I don't think the average 21st century person gets unless they've studies Biblical culture. The Bible is not very good at explaining its culture to later readers. It makes mention of mores and traditions assuming that the reader will be familiar to them.
In short, I'm not finding much today. I hope that tomorrow will be better. Heck, even Mission of St. Claire decided to talk about the first Book of Common Prayer today. ¶ 12:02 PM
