Become What You Are - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 12/2/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 16; Psalm 17; Isaiah 3:8–15; 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12; Luke 20:41–21:4 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday of the first week of Advent, as we begin a new year (Year 1) of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians make for especially important reading during Advent. It appears from the Book of Acts that Paul’s evangelizing foray into their city had been cut short. He had taught there for only “three sabbaths” when “zealous” Jews “enlisted the help of a gang from the market place, stirred up a crowd, and soon had the whole city in an uproar” (Acts 17:2,5 Jerusalem Bible). The “brethren” decided Paul needed to leave (Acts 17:10). The questions that Paul addresses in subsequent letters to them indicate that the new converts in Thessalonica have follow up questions about one matter that Paul had introduced but had not been able to explain in full: that is, the second coming of Christ.  

In the second half of today’s chapter (tomorrow’s reading), Paul will clarify what happens to those who will have already died by the time Christ returns (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). And in 2 Thessalonians, Paul will respond to false rumors that he has taught that “the coming of the Lord and our being gathered together to him” has already taken place—as if! (Second Thessalonians 2:1–11—which will be next Thursday’s reading.)  

With a wisdom that seems heaven-sent to me, Paul urges believers not to allow worry or speculation about the “not yet” of Christ’s return to take away from the enormous importance of living for Christ in the “now.” That is the thrust of today’s epistle reading.  

Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For this is the will of God, your sanctification… — 1 Thessalonians 4:1–3a. The Thessalonians’ concerns about the end of time leads Paul to offer this most straightforward, helpful, and encouraging framing of the Christian life.  

When Paul was with the Thessalonians, he had taught them that followers of Christ live in a certain way. Their lives in the present can, in truth, be pleasing to God (that is worth thinking about!). There is one lifegoal for people who have been justified before the bar of God’s justice and forgiven their sins: to become sanctified, to grow in holiness and in likeness to their Lord. Paul is quick to affirm people when he sees them living that way, as he does here with the Thessalonians. He “asks” and “urges” them to do more of what they are already doing. Based on these verses, some students of Paul’s ethics sum up his approach in a formula that looks like this: “Become more of what you already are!” It’s as though Paul were saying: the future will take care of itself; let’s take care of what’s happening now. Personally, I find that to be life-giving.  

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication… — 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Paul is concerned that the first thing that will go out the window if the Thessalonians become preoccupied with “end times” questions is their sense of sexual propriety. (I won’t go into the details of what Paul means by “controlling your own body” and “not exploiting your brother or sister.”) He exhorts them to practice philadelphia (brotherly love, v. 9) and agapē (self-giving love) toward one another (v. 9). But throughout this paragraph, he’s talking about honoring one another sexually. It’s as though he were able prophetically to look down the corridors of time and perceive an overthrow of sexual and interpersonal norms ahead of the coming kingdom. As early as the 14th century, Catholic heretics known as the Cologne Beghards advocated freedom without restraint for the new believer, without regard for the other person, in any kind of relationship (see the discussion in Robert Jewett, The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety, 1986). It’s probably unnecessary to mention the ways presumed “breakthrough” Western culture has experienced dramatic shifts in the manner of life outlined and encouraged by the apostle Paul. 

…aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we directed you to… — 1 Thessalonians 4:11. Another inclination that arises when heads turn heavenward is a disinclination to work. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul cautions people not to go there. By 2 Thessalonians he must rebuke people for having done that very thing. Have you known people who are so sure that the Lord is returning immediately that they have quit their jobs and moved to the mountains or the beach to wait it out? I have. It’s not pretty. Paul says it is just plain wrong.  

Christ may come very soon. Or there may be a long way to go before he does so. The one thing that Paul makes clear elsewhere is that Christ doesn’t return until there is “fullness of Jew” and “fullness of Gentile”—the “full” number of those who will come to Christ (Romans 11:18,25). That is something only God reckons. Meanwhile, our job—a job that is worth meditating on during Advent, especially— is “becoming more of what we already are” (4:1-2), maintaining healthy and right sexual relationships (4:3–10), and “making it a point of honor” (that’s the Greek behind v. 11’s “aspire” in the NRSV) to work diligently and faithfully at whatever craft or profession or calling the Lord has set before us.  

Be blessed this day, as you pursue God’s will for you: your sanctification!  

Reggie Kidd+ 

The Deadly Sins - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 12/1/2022 • 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 18:1–20; Isaiah 2:12–22; 1 Thessalonians 3:1–13; Luke 20:27–40 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Thursday of the first week of Advent, as we begin a new year (Year 1) of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Against the deadliest of the deadly sins: pride. For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high … The haughtiness of people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low; and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. — Isaiah 2:12,17.  

Pride, say the ancient saints, is the deadliest of the deadly sins. If so, its chief manifestation is idolatry. The atheistic philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach contends that the idea of God is just a projection of the human ego. We worship “Him,” Feuerbach implies, in order to worship ourselves. Idolatry (humanity’s kingdom of self) creates surrogate deities: the sun, the moon, the planets, possessions, magical objects, lovers: all expressions of our exaltation of ourselves. Idolatry says to God, “No thanks. I’ll do it my way.”  

Isaiah says that all this folly will come to a dramatic end. On the day of Yahweh Sabaoth, people will “fling to moles and bats the idols of silver and the idols of gold” that they made for worship (Isaiah 2:20 Jerusalem Bible). 

Today’s passage is not Isaiah’s first volley against idolatry, nor will it be his last. As we work our way reading through Isaiah from Advent through Epiphany, we will find the prophet returning to the theme over and over again.  

Isaiah’s fundamental attack is against what lies at the base of all idolatry: our own tendency to be impressed with ourselves—as though we were like lofty trees, majestic mountains, soaring hills, high towers, or expensive baubles (Isaiah 2:13–16). The commentator John Goldingay notes the wordplay that contrasts people’s pretense to prideful majesty (ge’eh) with Yahweh’s actual majesty (ga’on—Isaiah 2:12,19). What Isaiah wants us to do is reevaluate and repent of that which is in us that leads us to worship ourselves: “Turn away from mortals, who have only breath in their nostrils, for of what account are they?” (Isaiah 2:22).  

Against the second deadliest of the deadly sins: sloth. At the opposite end of the spectrum from the pride that leads to idolatry is the sloth that shrugs off the implications of being made in the image and likeness of “the God not of the dead, but of the living” (Luke 20:38). We were made to bear, says the apostle Paul, “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). We are not, by implication, merely to be returned to the dust, nor reduced to ashes, when we die. The Sadducees did not believe life continues after physical death. Jesus expects them, and us, to infer the amazing truth of resurrection from the fact that the God of Israel’s patriarchs continues to be their Lord after their passing from this earthly sphere.  

If it is our eternal destiny to be returned to our bodies, and to outlive even the planets (as resurrection implies), it’s not difficult to see why some might wish to believe otherwise. For them it would be far easier to live this life as though physical death was final, the end of it all. And there would seem to be a certain courageousness, a certain honesty, about such a posture—not to mention, a certain consolation. When it’s over, it’s over, as Peggy Lee sang back in the 60’s:  

Oh, no, not me. I’m in no hurry for that final disappointment, 
for I know just as well as I’m standing here talking to you, 
when that final moment comes and I’m breathing my last breath,  
I’ll be saying to myself, 

“Is that all there is, is that all there is? 
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing. 
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball 
If that’s all there is…” 

As the ancient epitaph put it: “I was not. I was. I am not. I will not be. It matters not.” Now as well at then, whether you play it out narcissistically or altruistically, whether dissolutely or chastely … it just doesn’t matter.  

Scripture’s verdict, however, is to the contrary! Scripture’s judgment is that God made us and fashioned us in bodily form so that, in bodily form, we may dwell with him and know him forever. That means, by implication, each and every one of us will literally outlive this earth, in one form or another. As C. S. Lewis put it towards the end of his “Weight of Glory” sermon: “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.” A Sadducean refusal of what is offered in that eternal destiny is damnably slothful. Scripture’s promise is infinitely, eternally, wonderfully more ennobling.    

This Advent, I pray that we will bask in a fresh realization of all that is promised in Jesus’s incarnation. He comes to humble us and convict us of every tendency to prideful self-worship. He comes, as well, to restore us to our true, fully human selves, and to usher us into an eternity of joyful fellowship with himself and with all the redeemed in a new earth and new heaven.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Swords Into Plowshares - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 11/30/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; Isaiah 2:1–11; 1 Thessalonians 2:13–20; Luke 20:19–26 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1–3,11a,14c,18–19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68–79, BCP, p. 92) 

  
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Wednesday of the first week of Advent, as we begin a new year (Year 1) of the Daily Office Lectionary. 

Swords into plowshares. Isaiah’s vision of the future is robust and challenging. He is the prophet of swords being beaten into plowshares (ch. 2), the prophet of the Virgin Birth (ch. 7), and the prophet of the Suffering Servant (ch. 53). Thus, he is the prophet of Advent, of Christmas, and of Holy Week. It is difficult to get our heads around the comprehensiveness of it all. At the same time, it is exhilarating to live with the knowledge of the fullness of God’s intentions for our lives.

In today’s reading in Isaiah, the prophet takes us to the distant day in which Jerusalem will have been ushered into her true destiny of being a beacon of God’s light for the whole world. It is a day when knowing the Scriptures entrusted to her become the goal and desire of all the nations, and when God’s peace—his shalom—reigns from pole to pole.  

Until the past century or so, Isaiah’s “swords into plowshares” theme was somewhat under-emphasized by biblical interpreters, artists, and by the church in general. Instead, Isaiah stirred earlier Christians’ imaginations with promises of incarnation and atonement. Two World Wars and a Cold War have made people—even secular people—more attentive to Isaiah’s vision of an era of peace. In 1959, the Soviet Union graced (if ironically!) the United Nations with a striking nine-foot tall statue by Ukrainian born Evgeny Vuchetich, entitled “Let us beat our swords into ploughshares.” (See the discussion in John Sawyer’s The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity, p. 232.) Such a day has become a universal—if sometimes disingenuous and ever elusive—aspiration.  

What is distinctive, however, about Isaiah’s forseeing a day for beating swords into ploughshares is that it falls on the far side of forsaking divination, materialism, and idolatry (Isaiah 2:6–11). It accompanies a universal hungering to “‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, … that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths…” (Isaiah 2:4 Jerusalem Bible).   

Peace—but on whose terms? In his ministry among us, the Lord Jesus showed himself to be resistant to all attempts to take him captive to any human’s vision for the way things ought to be, or how to get there. The scribes and chief priests—accomplices of the Roman occupation and custodians of the opulent Nero-built Temple—want to trap Jesus with a question about taxation. If he supports the unpopular Roman tax, he risks alienating the people, and aligns himself with the occupying Roman power. If he renounces the tax, he becomes a folk hero, but virtually declares himself a dangerous revolutionary in Roman eyes. Jesus refuses the terms of the question altogether (I paraphrase): “If Caesar wants to put his image on coins that express his dominion, fine. But what about the God who puts his image on each of you? What are you doing with your responsibility to bear his image into the world?” End of discussion.  

Jesus does carry forth Isaiah’s vision of an era of peace—but on God’s terms, not ours. His incarnation, as the angels sing when they herald Jesus’s birth, is itself an expression of God’s goodwill and intention to bring peace (Luke 2:14). But it’s a peace that comes through the suffering of Mary’s Son (Luke 2:34–35). And it’s a peace that does not come without the Spirit’s empowering of a proclamation of “good news for the poor” (Luke 4:18–19).  

May this Advent season find us newly energized. First, may we be newly grasped by the way that our being made in God’s image takes on its proper luster by virtue of Christ’s incarnation. Second, may we be freshly awed and humbled by the way that his coming makes possible his shouldering our iniquities and our sorrows. Third, may we become more and more people of peace and of peacemaking, that the distant vision of “swords into plowshares” may be, at least in us, not as distant.  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

God Draws Near - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 12/29/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 5; Psalm 6; Isaiah 1:21–31; 1 Thessalonians 2:1–12; Luke 20:9–18 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Tuesday of the first week of Advent, as we begin a new year (Year 1) of the Daily Office Lectionary.   

God comes courting. How the faithful city has become a whore… — Isaiah 1:21. One of Scripture’s most powerful metaphors for our relationship with God is that of faithful wife to loving husband. The marital theme has coursed through our readings over the past few months, and is especially concentrated in Hosea, the Song of Songs, and Revelation. It’s one of the most beautiful “through-lines” of the biblical narrative, and it climaxes when John exclaims, in Revelation 21:2: “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  

Yahweh created the people of Israel to embody that relationship. “Love the Lord your God…” and “Love your neighbor…” are not, therefore, the cold and calculated terms of a legal contract. The commandments to love God and neighbor outline the contours of intimacy—intimacy between humans and their Divine Lover. Right worship and right relationships “marry” us to God. Idolatry, cruelty, and neglect violate that relationship.  

Sadly, Israel resists Yahweh’s gracious overtures to take her as his radiant bride. She does so by pursuing false gods (the “oaks” and the “gardens” of verses 29 and 30 refer to Canaanite fertility cults) and by practicing injustice: “She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her—but now murderers!” (Isaiah 1:21).  

Nonetheless, Yahweh pursues this faithless bride. And he pledges to prevail: “I will restore your judges as at the first,” and make her once again “the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:26).  

The wonderful promise of Advent is that the Lord indeed draws near to take his bride to himself—he will clear false gods from our lives, and he will convict us of ways in which we have wronged our neighbor.

God’s vineyard. An owner of a vineyard employs tenants to tend it, Jesus tells his audience in the Parable of the wicked Tenants. When the owner sends a servant to collect his profits, the tenants beat the servant, and he returns empty-handed to the owner. Another emissary suffers the same fate, so the owner sends his son, thinking the tenants will respect the son. Wrong—the tenants kill the son. By some mysterious logic, they think that by this action they will take possession of the vineyard. This parable about God entrusting a vineyard to tenants (the Greek is “workers of the earth,” more organically translated “farmers”) conjures up the traditional Old Testament theme of Israel as God’s own vineyard—a colony of life and blessing for the world (Isaiah 5:1–2; 27:2–6). The return the master seeks is the fruit of their joint venture as they “work the earth” on his behalf. The tenants delude themselves into thinking that they can make wine from God’s vineyard without the God of the vineyard. Such a bad choice.  

In the parable before us, the saddest thing about Jesus’s contemporaries is how wrongly they interpret his mission. The Divine Vintner will not be frustrated, however. The death of God’s Son will instead prove to be the founding (Jesus changes the metaphor!) of a new building: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Luke 20:17). Luke’s traveling companion Paul will develop this metaphor in terms of a symbolic house, composed of both Jews and Gentiles—a totally new residence for God’s presence (Ephesians 2:11-22). In terms of Jesus’s vineyard metaphor, the grafting of Gentiles into an existing rootstock (with Jesus as the foundation of a true Israel) will produce a new variety, a superior wine.   

God’s heart. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us — 1 Thessalonians 2:8. Paul immerses himself in the Gentile community to which he brings “the gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Paul is entranced by the notion of God building a dwelling place for himself made up of Jews and Gentiles. This idea is at the core of his passion to take the gospel, in all its tenderness and truth, to the Gentiles. The Thessalonians, the former idolators (see 1:9), observe the contours of Christ’s incarnation (and therefore of God’s heart) in Paul’s exemplary lifestyle among them. They see his labors to support himself, his nursing care for them, and his loving fatherly demeanor. 

What a gift we can be to each other during this Advent season, carrying forward the model Paul has given us! We can speak good news to one another, pray fervently for one another, be there for one another! 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Find Delight In His Word - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 11/28/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 1; Psalm 2; Psalm 3; Isaiah 1:10–20; 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10; Luke 20:1–8 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me.   

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new year in the Christian calendar. So, Happy New Year! With the new year comes a new cycle of daily readings. In the Book of Common Prayer, the daily readings are laid out in a two-year cycle, allowing us to read through the Old Testament every two years, and through the New Testament every year. This year happens to be “Year One” in the cycle, and the listings begin on page 936 of the BCP. 

In happy conformity with a practice that goes back to the days of Queen Elizabeth I, the Old Testament readings for Year One cover large portions of the Book of Isaiah from Advent through Epiphany—actually, the BCP extends the Isaiah readings all the way up to Lent.  

Isaiah is an amazing docent for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. A 17th century commentator called Isaiah “the fifth evangelist” because his prophecies so clearly anticipate Christ’s coming:  

• “A voice cries in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’” (Isaiah 40:3) 

• “A virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and you shall name him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14) 

• “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders…” (Isaiah 9:6)  

• “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach good news to the poor…” (Isaiah 61:1) 

• “He was wounded for our transgressions…” (Isaiah 53:5) 

• “Arise, shine, for your light has come…” (Isaiah 60:1)  

• “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6) 

For all the good news that Isaiah pronounces, however, there is the bad news of the sin that must first be dealt with. As we take up his prophecies, we find him calling Israel “Sodom” and “Gomorrah.” He accuses them of the idolatry that nullifies their worship, and of the injustice that belies their mission to be God’s colony of goodness and justice on the earth. One of the reasons that Isaiah makes for powerful reading during Advent is that we find ourselves needing to do just what Israel needed to do: take stock and prepare. In the older translations, the invitation of verse 18 to “Come now, let us reason together” is, in fact, a legal summons. Even the NRSV’s attempt to bring out that nuance, “let us argue it out,” creates the wrong impression if it makes us think that God and we are on the same level. It’s not like he’s calling us to an arm-wrestling match in which we have half a chance of winning. The truth is, he has damning evidence of our high crimes against his character, and is calling us to account.  

But instead of consigning us to the eternal separation from him that we deserve, the Lord signals, even in the summons, that he plans to forgive—if we will simply prepare, if we will simply repent: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).  

Isaiah winds up being an extended invitation to do as the Thessalonians did: turn from idols to serve the “living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).  

One last word for today. We’ve observed in the past that the Daily Office organizes the Book of Psalms in such a way as to give us a chance to read all the way through them every seven weeks. We begin a new seven-week cycle today. A good way to round out today’s readings is to meditate on the powerful messages of each of these first three psalms:  

Psalm 1. Over the course of this next year, may we find true delight in God’s Word, planting  ourselves beside its “streams of water,” that our souls may be nourished and that our lives may flourish.  

Psalm 2. May the riches of Scripture bring us time and again to the wonder of the fact that, despite all that opposes him, God has established his Son as the world’s—and our—true King.  

Psalm 3. And no matter what personal attacks or setbacks might arise this next year, may we know that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a shield about us, our glory, and the one who lifts up our heads.  

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

Jesus Is King - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 11/25/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 140; Psalm 142; Zechariah 14:1-11; Romans 15:7-13; Luke 19:28-40 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday of Proper 29 in Year 2 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Today’s Daily Devotion closes the Christian year. Advent begins this Sunday, marking the beginning of the New Year in the Christian calendar. Our readings invite reflection of God’s Kingdom—its inauguration, its continuation, and its consummation (with thanks to my friend Richard Pratt for the terminology).  

Luke: Inauguration of the Kingdom. Luke’s account of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem plays a part in the inauguration of Jesus as King. Just as Zechariah 9 had prophesied, he comes humbly, mounted on a donkey. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives he is met by a carpet of cloaks and by greetings of “Blessed is the king!” and “Peace in heaven!” and “Glory in the highest heaven!” Nonetheless, this phase of Jesus’s kingship will involve a crown of thorns, a mocking purple robe, and a reed for a scepter. That is why, in the verses immediately following today’s, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem: “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:41). He knows that rejection and suffering await him, and that destruction lies ahead for Jerusalem, “because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God” (Luke 19:44).  

Nonetheless, Jesus’s coming is indeed the time of God’s visitation in peace—his rejection, his sufferings, and his crucifixion will result in the inauguration of the kingdom of God. Beautifully, if ironically, the greetings from the crowd at Jesus’s triumphal entry recall the angels’ song at the nativity: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14). Jesus’s redeeming death, his victorious resurrection, and his crowning ascension will bring in an era in which God’s peace will be announced on the earth and God will receive glory through the growth of the church.  

Romans: Continuation of the Kingdom. Like perhaps nobody else, the apostle Paul understands the time in which we live. It is a time when the Kingdom, having been established by Jesus’s earthly ministry, continues now through the proclamation of the good news of the forgiveness of sins and of God’s welcome of Jew and Gentile alike. This “between time”—between the Kingdom’s inauguration at Jesus’s first coming and the Kingdom’s consummation at his second—is a time characterized by hope, joy, peace, and faith: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).  

Zechariah: Consummation of the Kingdom. Zechariah foresees the day when “hope” and “faith” are no longer necessary, and when “joy” and “peace” abound for God’s faithful—a day when Jesus returns in all his might, and when God’s Kingdom is finally consummated.  

Zechariah foresees the Mount of Olives, once the staging area of Jesus’s humble entry into Jerusalem, as the place where the Lord descends to fight for his embattled people, when “his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives … and [it] shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley” (Zechariah 14:4). 

What Zechariah pictures with vivid imagery is a reality he sees from quite some distance (and we still stand at some unknown distance from it as well!). What he sees is the descent of the returning conquering King Jesus, who brings “all the holy ones” (Zechariah 14:5—that is, the dead in Christ and his angelic army) to deliver a final death blow to sin, to evil, to Satan, and to death itself (see Revelation 19 and 20).  

And what Zechariah predicts—“”Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site … Jerusalem shall abide in security”—will prove to be “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,” descending to be the place where God takes up his abode with his people on “a new earth” under “a new heaven” (Revelation 21 and 22).  

What Zechariah sees as “living waters” flowing out from Jerusalem, the Book of Revelation will see as the new Jerusalem’s “river of life” which will nourish trees that produce fruit and leaves “for the healing of the nations” (Zechariah 14:8; Revelation 22:1-2).  

Finally, what Zechariah sees most accurately is that the consummation of the Kingdom proves once and for all the singularity and sovereignty of Israel’s God: “And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9).  

No matter what turbulence or uncertainty we may be facing right now, Jesus is King! Jesus became King when first he came; he is King for us right now; and he will return in power and great glory as the world’s true King, on the day appointed by his Father and ours.  

Be blessed this—and every—day! 

Reggie Kidd+ 

Jesus Exercises Headship Over All for the Church - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 11/24/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 131; Psalm 132; Zechariah 13:1-9; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 19:11-27 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Thursday of Proper 29 in Year 2 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Happy Thanksgiving! It so happens that today’s readings in Zechariah and Ephesians recount profound reasons for the giving of thanks.  

Zechariah. The apostle Peter describes the prophets of the Old Testament “looking and searching so hard” to try to understand the future salvation that was being revealed through them. Peter says that they had been given sketches of “the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would come after them.” As a result, the prophets “tried to find out at what time and in what circumstances all this was to be expected” (1 Peter 1:10-11 Jerusalem Bible).  

One of the prophetic passages Peter must have had in mind is this one from today’s reading in Zechariah: “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7b). Jesus Christ had quoted it to Peter and the rest of the disciples as they arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane, in anticipation of his arrest. And Peter, being Peter, protested its applicability to him: “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Matthew 27:30-33). This is fresh off their leaving the Upper Room, where Jesus had prophesied Peter’s betrayal. Yes, I’m pretty sure Peter recalled this passage in Zechariah.  

Five hundred years in advance, Zechariah provides a staggering constellation of previews of the Messiah’s sufferings and glories: 

• “humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9)—think of Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:5) 

• a new exodus “through the sea of distress…and the scepter of Egypt shall depart” (Zechariah 10:11)—think of God calling Jesus “out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:13-15) 

• “thirty shekels of silver thr[own] into the treasury in the house of the Lord” (Zechariah 11:12-13) — think of the price for Judas Iscariot’s betrayal (Matthew 27:3-10) 

• weeping and mourning “as over a firstborn,” when “they look on the one whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10) — think of the spear in Jesus’s side (John 19:34) 

• God’s pouring out “a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”—think of Pentecost in Act 2 

Add to these passages, of course, today’s reference to the sheep being scattered when the shepherd is struck. As we saw above, Jesus sees here an anticipation of his disciples being “scattered” at his arrest.  

But then read Zechariah more deeply. The previous chapter’s “piercing” from yesterday’s reading (Zechariah 12:10) has led to the opening of a fountain “to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). Five hundred years later, the apostle John notes that from Jesus’s pierced side flow blood and water: “[O]ne of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out” (John 19:34). Thus, the hymnist William Cowper writes, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” Amen! 

But wait, there’s more! Zechariah 13 goes on to describe a winnowing process by which idolatry is eliminated, false prophets are exposed, God’s remnant is refined like gold, and the covenant is renewed: “I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’” (Zechariah 13:2-9). The passage anticipates the full sweep of the Holy Spirit’s work during the gospel age in which we have been living since Pentecost.  

Ephesians. The apostle Paul’s magnificent prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 arises out of his awe at living in this gospel age. Paul is overwhelmed that “all things” have been laid at the resurrected Jesus’s feet. Perhaps even more amazing to Paul is the fact that Jesus—Lord of the whole universe—exercises this headship over “all things” for the sake of and in the interest of the church (Ephesians 1:22)!  

The thrust, then, of Paul’s prayer is that God opens “the eyes of our hearts” to see how these wonderful truths are true for us. That means for me! That means for you! I pray that in spite of all the things in our lives, and in our world, that make it difficult to see the depth of God’s riches for us and the extent of his love for us, that Paul’s prayer will nonetheless prevail for each one of us. I pray that, as Paul will pray later in this letter, “you will know the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19).  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

We Have Been Lovingly Chosen - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 11/23/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:145-176; Zechariah 12:1-10; Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 19:1-10 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1–3,11a,14c,18–19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68–79, BCP, p. 92) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Wednesday of Proper 29 in Year 2 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Zechariah foresees a distant day when Judah and Jerusalem will once again be besieged, as they had been by the Babylonians who had decimated and exiled them. This next time, however, God’s people will prevail over their enemies. They will do so, however, after they mourn and weep over “the one [literally, “me”—i.e., the Lord] whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). God will pour out his Spirit—“a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”—in such a way as to prompt deeply repentant faith. As a result, Zechariah envisions God making them mighty, invincible warriors.  

It is possible that Zechariah is given a window into the gigantic cataclysm at the end of time, a day that is still ahead of us. It is possible, also, that his vision sheds light on the events immediately surrounding Jesus’s death and resurrection, his ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit, beginning with Pentecost in Jerusalem.  

Indeed, in today’s reading in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul, zealous Jew that he is, numbers himself among “those who were the first to set our hope on Christ,” and who are now living “for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12). If you were to ask Paul, he would readily acknowledge that he had come to “mourn and weep over the One he had pierced” (Zechariah 12:10). Though he never puts it in exactly those words, nonetheless Paul believes that sheerly by God’s “grace” (i.e, undeserved favor), he has been granted insight into the mystery of God’s will to sum up “all things” in Christ through the “redemption in his blood” (Ephesians 1:6-7).  

Further, Paul believes that he has been called to recruit Gentiles (like the majority of the people to whom he writes in his letter to the Ephesians) to receive the same “seal of the promised Holy Spirit” that he has received, and to become a part of “God’s own people, to the praise of his name” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Even though he writes this letter from prison, Paul sees himself and his fellow believers invincibly and irresistibly demonstrating to “the powers and principalities” God’s victory (Ephesians 3:8-10). Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God is sovereignly and lovingly making dead people alive (Ephesians 2:1-10), and inexorably building formerly estranged people into a spiritual house for his own dwelling (Ephesians 2:11-22).  

To me, one of the most striking features of this paragraph from Paul (in Greek, it’s really just one long sentence) is the repetition of the prepositional phrase: “in Christ” (or “in the Beloved” or “in him”). This expression occurs eleven times in the Greek (nine times in the NRSV). The phrase “in Christ” evokes the image of us being held tightly in the embrace of Jesus’s strong arms: there we have been lovingly chosen, there we find blessing, there we find redemption (the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s blood), there we are adopted, there we know God’s good pleasure, there we receive an inheritance, there we are marked by the Holy Spirit as God’s own. There, in Christ, is total and utter security. Amen! 

Somehow, even before he met Jesus, Luke’s Zaccheus sensed that in Jesus he might find just that sort of security, acceptance, and love. As a super-rich chief tax collector, he must have had many “friends” by virtue of mutual gift-giving and ties of benefaction. Think of the world of Francis Ford Coppola’s movie The Godfather. That’s how the social world of wealth worked in Zaccheus’s day. But did he have any real friends—who loved him simply for who he was? Doubtful. As Jesus approaches, we notice that no one in the crowd moves aside so that Zaccheus can catch a glimpse of Jesus. Labeled “sinner” by everybody (Luke 19:7), his relationships would have been calculated, cautious, and measured. But he senses that with Jesus, things just might be different. And so the “wee little man” climbs the now celebrated sycamore tree, “for the Lord he wanted to see.” See the Lord he does. More importantly, Jesus sees him. Really sees him!  

To Zaccheus’s surprise, Jesus invites himself to dinner. There, in one of the greatest conversion stories of the Bible, Zaccheus, small of stature, becomes a friend of Jesus and a giant of generosity. Proving himself to be, after all, a true son of Abraham, Zaccheus gives half his wealth to the poor and promises restitution (with interest) to any whom he has defrauded. Zaccheus takes his place, to put it in Paul’s terms, “in Christ.” There’s no better place to be.  

Be blessed this day,  in Christ.

Reggie Kidd+ 

All Things Are Yours - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 11/22/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 120; Psalm 121; Psalm 122; Psalm 123; Zechariah 11:4-17; 1 Corinthians 3:10-23; Luke 18:31-43 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Tuesday of Proper 29 in Year 2 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

“…everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished” — Luke 18:31b-32a. There is an astonishing convergence in today’s reading between Zechariah’s prophecy and what Jesus says in Luke.  

Yahweh gives Zechariah the sad task of playing out an advance tableau of some of the most ironic aspects of Christ’s future redeeming work. Yahweh sends (in the person of Zechariah) a good shepherd. Symbolized by the names of his two staffs, the hallmarks of the shepherd’s coming are “Favor” and “Unity.”  

This good shepherd is rejected by false shepherds and even by the people he has been sent to shepherd. His wages—a most ironic prophecy—are thirty pieces of silver that are destined to be thrown “into the treasury” (Zechariah 11:12-13; and see Matthew 27:3-10). As a symbol of the people’s rejection of God’s favor toward them, Zechariah breaks the staff named “Favor.”  

Absent God’s favor, their unity cannot stand. Five hundred years before Zechariah’s time, the united kingdom had split into two rival kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Now, after the end of Babylonian exile, there is the potential for reunification. Instead, the people and their leaders are going to cement the wall of division: Samaria versus Judah. Symbolic of that disunity, Zechariah breaks his second staff, the one named “Unity,” thus “annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel” (Zechariah 11:14). No sadder prophecy was ever uttered.  

Even though in Luke, Jesus points to all the “Easter eggs” in the writings of the prophets, his disciples can’t understand what he is telling them about what lies ahead of them in Jerusalem (namely, his death and resurrection). In truth, it is “hidden” from them by God’s mysterious providence (Luke 18:34b). Nonetheless, Luke records a magnificent anticipation of the reversal of Zechariah’s breaking of the covenant of “Favor,” in the plea uttered by the blind man of Jericho: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38-39). Of course, Jesus responds in the affirmative: “[Y]our faith has saved you” (Luke 18:42). Deeper even than the restoration of this man’s physical sight, is the gift of insight into the restored covenant of “Favor.”  

Paul writes to the Corinthians in the full wake of Christ’s redemptive work. Not only has Christ restored Zechariah’s covenant of “Favor,” Christ has restored the covenant of “Unity.” That is why Paul is tasked “like a skilled master builder” to build on the foundation that is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). What Paul sees himself helping to build is “God’s temple,” which is comprised of followers of Christ: “For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:17b). God help you if you tear down God’s holy (and therefore united) temple.  

Negatively, Paul does not want that holy unity to be destroyed by a spirit of party-loyalty or by division into cults of personality. Anathema to him are cries of: “I am of Paul!” or “I am of Apollos!” or “I am of Cephas (Peter)!” or even “I am of Christ!” (see 1 Corinthians 1:12). You can just imagine what Paul would say about cries of: “I am of Rome!” or “I am of Constantinople!” or “I am of Calvin!” or “I am of Arminius!”, much less of “I am of the Cathedral!” or “I am of All Saints” … or “of St. Michael’s … or “of fill-in-the-blank!” 

Positively, Paul wants believers to bask in the realization that they are that temple. Paul says, “God’s Spirit dwells in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16). He’s talking about the very Shekinah glory that inhabited the Tabernacle in the wilderness, providing unerring guidance to the children of Israel. He means the same Shekinah glory that so filled the Temple at Solomon’s dedication that everyone had to flee. That same glory-cloud, asserts Paul, lives in each of Christ’s followers and among them all together. That’s why he can exclaim, “all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 3:21b-23).  

I can scarcely take in all that Paul’s “all things are yours” means. There’s no sphere of life that is unworthy of the believer’s interest and engagement—whether science and math, or art and literature; whether family or work or leisure. For we belong to Christ, Lord of it all—and he superintends it all, and that, to the glory of God.  

To whatever the Lord calls you today, be blessed in it, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

Zechariah's Visions - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 11/21/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 106:1-18; Zechariah 10:1-12; Galatians 6:1-10; Luke 18:15-30 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Monday of Proper 29 in Year 2 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Yesterday was Christ the King Sunday, marking the end of the Christian year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, marking the beginning of the Christian year. This week’s readings transition us from one year to the next.  

In a series of visions in the second half of his book, the prophet Zechariah gives glimpses of the remarkable things the Lord of the covenant is going to do in days to come.  

Zechariah lived through the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, following Judah’s release from the Babylonian Captivity. There was joy in Judah, but it was muted. There was a new temple, but its grandeur and scale were not as glorious as the temple Solomon had built nearly a half millennium earlier. There was a sort of self-governance, but the Persians were really in charge, and Judah was permitted no king.  

What has happened to God’s promise to establish his Kingdom on earth through his people Israel? What of the promise to David that one from his line would sit on the throne in perpetuity? What about the picture of a united people of God under David and Solomon, before the split into a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah)? Was that vision gone forever? Zechariah (along with his contemporary, the prophet Haggai) provided perspective. 

In the previous chapter of Zechariah, the prophet had foretold Palm Sunday, when Israel’s triumphant King would come “humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). In today’s chapter, Zechariah imagines the Lord raising up “warriors in battle” to reunite the Israel in the north (Joseph) and Judah in the south: “I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them” (Zechariah 10:6). Zechariah foresees a new exodus experience for God’s people: “They shall pass through the sea of distress … and all the depths of the Nile dried up … Assyria shall be laid low …the scepter of Egypt shall fall” (Zechariah 10:11).  

As though squinting to see something way off on the horizon of history, Zechariah espies the contours of the new exodus Christ will accomplish by the baptism of his own death and resurrection. Zechariah also discerns in the distance the reunification of the Lord’s people. By the pouring out of his Spirit, God will bring about the conquest of the nations, enabling Christ’s apostles to take the gospel from Jerusalem and Judea (the old southern kingdom) to Samaria (the old northern kingdom) and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  

Zechariah’s visions are a profound preparation for the hope of Advent, and for the promise they bear of the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.  

This week’s readings in Luke find Jesus on the last leg of his journey to Jerusalem. There he will accomplish humanity’s redemption, for there he will inaugurate God’s kingdom through his death and resurrection. Along the way, Jesus reminds his disciples of the primary place that children and a childlike faith play in the kingdom of God: “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17). For at least one man—“a certain ruler”—what was preventing such childlike faith was his great wealth (Luke 18:18-24). Jesus perceives that this “certain ruler” was incapable of coupling both a childlike faith and a wisely detached stewardship of wealth. As a result, Jesus puts before him a decisive choice (I paraphrase): “Lose the wealth and gain faith, that is, gain me! Or keep the wealth, and never see the value you’d find in me!” 

You and I may not face a choice between wealth and non-wealth, but we do face the same choice between childlike receptivity and blasé dismissiveness.   

And, finally, this week’s epistle readings amount to a Pauline potpourri. Paul is, in my view, New Testament’s clearest expounder of the “so what” of redeemed and kingdom-conditioned life. This week’s epistle readings cull wisdom on faith’s “so what” from significant short passages in various Pauline letters.  

For most of his letter to the Galatians, Paul has stressed that there’s nothing they can add to what Christ has done for them to win right standing with God. Christ has become a curse for them. They have been baptized in his name. Now they are free of sin’s curse, and they belong to God’s family sheerly by faith in Christ. Period.  

Now, at the beginning of this closing paragraph in Galatians 6, he offers “desiderata” that anticipate those he will later compose for the Romans. Christians’ freedom from fear of the law’s condemnation does not free them from the law of love. Thus, they (we) need to work at:  

• restoring transgressors,  

• bearing one another’s burdens,  

• individually testing our own work,  

• supporting our leaders,  

• sowing to the Spirit (the fruit of which, as he has just explained, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—Galatians 5:22), and  

• working for the good of all, especially for the family of faith. 

 Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

A Good Time for Redemptive Self-Inventory - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 11/18/2022 •

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 102; Malachi 3:1-12; James 5:7-12; Luke 18:1-8 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions. I’m Reggie Kidd, and every Monday through Friday, I offer devotional observations on some portion of that day’s readings for Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Thanks so much for joining me this Friday of Proper 28 in Year 2 of the Daily Lectionary.  

This line from Psalm 102 hits me hard every time I come across it: “…you have lifted me up and thrown me away” (v. 10b). The psalmist describes himself not just as one of life’s discards, set upon by enemies and detractors (which he is—see verse eight). No. He can’t eat, he can’t drink, and he can’t sleep, because he feels like God is so mad at him that He has simply picked him up and tossed him aside. Like a piece of trash. Like an unwanted deuce in a game of Rummy. Who hasn’t felt that way? I have, and I imagine you have as well.  

What makes our anonymous psalmist’s song worth including in Israel’s hymnal is the way he processes his angst about God’s anger by letting his petition turn to praise. He begins with, “Hear my cry … answer me speedily…” (Psalm 102:1-2). But he transitions to, “But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever…” (Psalm 102:12). And he ends with, “The children of your servants shall live secure…” (Psalm 102:28).  

Today’s passages are a study in pressing in to the Lord’s presence, even when the Lord seems threatening or distant or aloof. Today’s passages provide courage and resources for those times when you feel you may have been “thrown away.”  

Malachi & self-inventory. Malachi addresses people who are too quick to call on the Lord to aid them in their distress. They are people of the covenant. That means they know the God of the exodus, Yahweh who rescues. That also means they know the God who has bound himself to them, and who has provided them with the terms of covenant life. Those terms include loving him as he has loved them, with exclusive and lavish love. It means protecting the marriage bed, dealing in truth, caring for dependents and the needy. And it includes giving to Yahweh “the full tithe” (i.e., ten percent) on produce and earnings (Malachi 3:5,8-10).  

There’s nothing about these stipulations that earn anybody a relationship with God. There’s no merit to these requirements. There’s nothing about them that makes God love anybody. These practices are simply the way people who have been loved from eternity love in return. The stipulations of the covenant are how those who have been rescued and cared for in their distress reflect that care for those around them who are in similar need. The covenant calls for gratitude’s response to grace.  

As it is, however, Malachi judges Israel to be living out of sync with covenant life. Thus, he says, when “the messenger of the covenant” comes as they hope he will, he will not come in the way they had hoped. He will come to refine and to purify: “For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offering to the Lord in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2-3). In other words, the Lord will come to make things right—just not in the way they had expected!  

And so, Malachi calls for self-inventory, lest the children of the covenant discover the coming of “the day of the Lord” is an unpleasant experience. “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts” (Malachi 3:7). Renounce sorcery—which is a kind of manipulative mock-worship. Maintain faithful and loving marriages. Speak truth. Deal justly with workers and aliens. Be generous, and present as worship “the full ten percent” of your produce and income—symbolic of your full self-offering to the God who purchased you out of slavery (again Malachi 3:5,8-10).   

The season of Advent is right around the corner, a time when we remember the way John the Baptist came as just such a messenger of the covenant, crying: “Prepare the way of the Lord!” It is a good time for redemptive self-inventory, so that Christ may be born anew in our hearts.  

James & patience. James provides example after example of the need for patient endurance. Farmers plant, and then wait. Prophets prophesy, and then wait. Job waits and waits and waits (even if, as we read a few weeks ago, not especially patiently). But wait he does—and eventually the Lord shows himself to be compassionate and merciful.  

Jesus & persistent prayer. Jesus’s parable about the unjust judge (which does not intend for us to draw false inferences about God) teaches that it’s not just a matter of patient endurance—it’s prayerful patient endurance. That’s an important lesson for me. I can hold a “spiritual plank position” for a long time, gritting my teeth, willing myself to hang on, not letting my back buckle. I can wait and wait and wait for the Lord to show up and do his thing. What’s not so easy for me to do is pray and pray and pray while I’m holding that plank. That’s something for me to work on.  

And that takes us back to Psalm 102. The psalmist shows us how not to let ourselves get stuck in a rut of feeling rejected by God. The psalmist determines to cling to the faith—he assumes a “spiritual plank position”—despite his feelings. Then he composes this beautiful song that begins with petition, transitions to praise, and ends on a note of hopefulness. What a great example for you and for me.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+