Principles for Worship - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 4/19/2024 •

Friday of the 3rd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 105:1–22; Exodus 24:1-18; Colossians 2:8-23; Matthew 4:12-17

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Exodus 24 is a central passage in all of Scripture. Here in a worship service at the base of Mt. Sinai, God binds to himself in covenant the people he has redeemed. He briefly opens a window into the heart of worship, and from this passage we draw vital principles for worship. In fact, this passage accounts for why we do much of what we do in our worship at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke.

Worship has a script. It’s not free form. Worship happens at God’s own invitation, and on his terms. Yahweh, the redeeming God of Israel has brought this people out of Israel for fellowship with himself. He has promised to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, and through them to bless the entirety of the human race. And so he is calling the shots. 

The Lord calls for the placing of twelve pillars to represent the tribes, and for the building of an altar for sacrifice. He orchestrates the readings and the sacrifices, and twice he evokes from the people, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do….” In the same spirit, our worship is governed by The Book of Common Prayer, an attempt to capture biblical principles for worship. In a nutshell, those principles are: we gather in God’s holy presence; we proclaim his Holy Word; we feast at the Table of the Lord; and we are sent into the world for ministry. 

Worship consists of a ministry of word… Twice on this holy mountain there is a generous reading of God’s Word: “all the words of Yahweh and all the ordinances” (Exodus 24:3) … “Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people” (Exodus 24:7). That reading likely consisted of the “Ten Words” that had been delivered to Moses in Exodus 20, plus the unpacking of the “Ten Words” in Exodus 21-23. There the deep principles of loving God and loving neighbor had been applied to various situations, like treating slaves justly, dealing with violent crime, providing restitution in cases of theft or accidental harm, caring for the poor. 

In worship, we attend diligently to God’s Holy Word because we are determined to honor him in our lives. Then, in response to his Word, we recite the Nicene Creed, the faith that all believers hold together. There we are adding our own: “All that the Lord has spoken….” 

Worship, then, consists of a ministry of word…AND a ministry of sacred action. Symbolic actions in this passage include “Burnt offerings” … “offerings of well-being” (literally, “peace offerings”) … “blood dashed against the altar” … “blood dashed on the people.” It all culminates in this extraordinary phenomenon: “Also they beheld God, and they ate and drank.” By God’s mysterious economy, “the blood of the covenant” (Exodus 24:7) does two things. First, it averts deserved judgment. Second, it establishes divine fellowship. And that fellowship climaxes in a shared meal in the very presence of God. 

At his Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus recalls this Mt. Sinai experience when he says “this is my blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:28). With these words in our celebration of Eucharist, we place ourselves at the foot of the holy mountain, sharing with one another the sacred meal, hosted by the mediator of the New Covenant. 

I close today with the elegant and powerful post-communion prayer from the 5th century Syriac Liturgy of Malabar: 

Grant, O Lord Jesus,
that the ears which have heard the voice of your songs
may be closed to the voice of dispute;
that the eyes which have seen your great love
may also behold your blessed hope;
that the tongues which have sung your praise
may speak the truth in love;
that the feet which have walked in your courts
may walk in the region of light;
and that the bodies which have received your living body
may be restored in newnesss of life.
Glory to you for your inexpressible gift. Amen.

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

The Walk that New Life in Christ Enables - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 4/18/2024 •

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 37:1–18; Exodus 20:1-21; Colossians 1:24–2:7; Matthew 4:1-11

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Today is Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Exodus 20 and the “Ten Words.” We call them the “Ten Commandments.” The Bible calls them the “Ten Words” (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). We see them as impossible demands. The Bible sees them as the way of life. Many people see them as requirements to gain God’s favor. The Bible sees them as responses to God’s favor: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2). 

The best way to read them is as an explanation of what it means for a people whom God has loved to love him back and to love what he loves. Later, Scripture will say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” … and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). 

If I love God, I will not love other gods as well, nor will I love him according to my own rules. If I know that I have been loved by God, I will extend that same love to my neighbor whom he has also loved: my parents, my spouse, the person who lives down the street. Their relationships, their property, their reputations will be as important to me as mine are to myself—for the sake of the one who has redeemed me. 

That’s how it’s supposed to work: “Ten Words” intended for well-loved and grateful people, giving shape to a reflexive life of loving God and neighbor.

Image: Pixabay

We’ve seen plenty in the narrative leading up to Mt. Sinai to let us know that it’s not going to be that simple. The Israelites grumbled in the wilderness, and God has warned them to keep their distance from his presence. The rest of the narrative will underscore the point. The people will impiously worship a golden calf, they will cowardly refuse to enter the Promised Land, they will not keep Sabbath, nor honor their parents, nor the integrity of their neighbor’s property, nor the virtue of their neighbor’s spouse. All of which necessitated an elaborate sacrificial system so their failure to love could be temporarily atoned for, in anticipation of a permanent fix. 

Some Perspective from Paul. The apostle Paul has a refined sense of how the “Ten Words” are impacted by Christ’s coming. 

The “Words” make us see the need for mercy, and so they set Christ’s atoning sacrifice into a framework of gratitude. As Paul writes in Romans 8:3, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,….” 

At the same time, the “Ten Words” shed light on the “walk” that new life in Christ enables. It’s not often appreciated that Paul sees Christ-followers as law-keepers, that is, as “Ten Words”-keepers. People who have been called by God in Christ “love God” (Romans 8:28)—which is the chief summary of the law, and half of the “Ten Words.” 

Moreover, according to Paul, as we “walk” by the Spirit, an amazing thing happens. To finish the above quote, “…he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). Walking in union with Christ in the power of the Spirit, we learn both how to love God, and how to keep the other half of the “Ten Words,” loving our neighbor. Here’s what Paul says about that in Romans 13:8–10: 

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

We live in an extraordinary and historic time. While many other issues are complex, there is one that is not. This is a time to find out what you really love. The “Ten Words” are there to reassert God’s claim on your love: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” 

“Will you love me?”, he continues to ask, “Will you love what I love?” 

I pray for you—and for myself—the grace to answer those questions well. 

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

Bringing Well-Being to Our Lives - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 4/17/2024 •

Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 38; Exodus 19:16-25; Colossians 1:15-23; Matthew 3:13-17

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum (“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Today is Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter

Psalm 38 & sin’s effects from the inside. David composes Psalm 38 out of the agony of a wasting illness: “My wounds stink and fester … my loins are filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body” (Psalm 38:5a,7). Anyone who has ever experienced the utter misery of a really bad case of the flu can relate to these words of David. From inside the experience of his sickness, David recognizes a deeper root to his pain, his sin: “There is no health in my flesh, because of your indignation; there is no soundness in my body because of my sin” (Psalm 38:3). 

There are sinful behaviors and foolish choices that can put a person in a sickbed. If David has one of these in mind, he doesn’t say which. It’s also possible that he is not tracing this sickness to a particular sin. He may be mourning the susceptibility to sickness to which the fall into sin subjected all of us. Sin is a “pre-existing condition” without which no illness would afflict. 

Regardless, this is what sin feels like from inside its reality: a wasting disease. Lord, have mercy. 

Exodus 19 & sin’s effects from the outside. At Mt. Sinai, the Israelites discover that their sin creates the need for separation between God and themselves. His presence should be a comfort to his people, but it isn’t. His presence is terrifying. It’s something from which they need protection, lest he, as the text says, “break out against them.” Thus, in this passage, the Lord provides barriers. Concentric circles of approach allow mediated communion: Moses may come all the way to the top of the mountain, Aaron may accompany him part of the way, the people must wait below.

Image: Pixabay

This is what sin feels like from the outside: boundaries isolate me from a God whose holy presence would destroy me. Lord, have mercy. 

Colossians 1 & Christ the Reconciler. …and through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. — Colossians 1:20. 

One way you can deal with sin’s internal and external effects is to populate the heavens with that which can be either against you (bringing disease, disaster, and condemnation) or for you (winning health, success, and forgiveness). According to archaeological evidence, people around Colossae were especially awed by “spiritual forces.” In the 21st century we like to think of ourselves as enlightened and beyond superstition. But even today athletes have their rituals, and people carry rabbit’s feet or other good luck charms. In their day, Colossians sought to placate some “dominions or rulers or powers” (Colossians 1:16) to ward off evil, and they venerated others, hoping for healing or success. Paul writes to set Colossian Christians straight. 

In one of the most elegant passages in all his writings, Paul points these new believers to Christ. Jesus Christ is Lord of whatever “spiritual powers” there may be in the heavenly realms, for he created everything that is, including all “dominions or rulers or powers.” He is their Lord, as well as ours. It is he, and no one else, who establishes peace between God and us, and who brings well-being to our lives. He does this through the blood of the cross. All this makes Paul’s letter to the Colossians one of the richest invitations to worship in all of Scripture. Praise be!

Matthew 3 & Christ the Baptized. As Christ steps into the waters of the Jordan, he says he’s “fulfilling all righteousness.” What he’s doing is identifying with sinners. This is the one sinless person who has nothing of which to repent, undergoing a washing for the cleansing of sins not his own. Here he launches his public ministry by signaling his intention to shed his blood to bring peace between heaven and earth, and healing to the hearts and minds and bodies of those for whom he has come. Again, Praise be!

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

A Thrilling Perspective - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 4/16/2024 •

Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 26; Psalm 28; Exodus 19:1-16; Colossians 1:1-14; Matthew 3:7-12

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Today is Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

…how I bore you on eagles’ wings…— Exodus 19:4. What a gorgeous and poetic way to look back on the rescue from Egyptian bondage—the Angel of Death “passing over” the Israelites’ homes, the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground under the protection of the Angel of the Lord and the Pillar of Cloud, and the provision of manna and quail during the (thus far) three month journey through the wilderness. 

How can we interpret the Lord’s working in our own lives as his “bearing us up on eagles’ wings”?

…my treasured possession…—Exodus 19:5. We may not be sure how to think of ourselves as personally “treasured.” Are we even supposed to do so? After all, “treasured possession” here in Exodus is a collective, not an individualistic, concept. Still, God surely doesn’t just love the whole without loving the parts. 

So, it’s legitimate for each of us to ask how we can think of ourselves as “treasured.” 

…a priestly kingdom & a holy nation…— Exodus 19:6. The mediatorial work that the nation witnesses Moses doing for them is what the Lord is calling them to do for the world. Moses goes up the mountain to listen to the Lord on the people’s behalf, then brings those words to the people. They answer that they will obey. Moses returns to the Lord with their response, and the Lord sends him back with instructions to prepare themselves for his coming. 

This is a picture of Israel’s distinct calling in the world—to be “set apart” (which is the root meaning of “holy”) in order to bring the rest of the world into the presence of the Lord by prayer in worship, to listen to the Lord on the world’s behalf, and to bring the Lord’s words to the world in hopes of a response to his call and his love. 

Image: iStock

This is why Christians are a people of prayer. We do not meaninglessly toss out verbiage of vague “thoughts and prayers.” We earnestly and tearfully agonize before the Lord. We seek divine relief for the misery and suffering, the lostness and confusion, the wrong-headedness and stubborn-heartedness that plagues the human race. As part of God’s priestly kingdom, we plead for the Lord once again to provide “eagles’ wings” rescue for people under the dominion of powers hostile to their souls and bodies. 

Who needs my intercession today? 

…we have not ceased praying for you…— Colossians 1:9. In another happy pairing, the Daily Office invites us to read through Paul’s letter to the Colossians during this week in which we reflect on Israel’s “mountain top” experience at Mt. Sinai in Exodus. This epistle is its own “mountain top” experience. Paul himself is persuaded that these new believers have been rescued from hostile powers by arms lifted on a cross. These Colossian Christians have been transferred into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 2:15; 1:14). Thus, they are able to set their minds on things above where Christ is, and where their lives are hidden with him (Colossians 3:1-4). 

Throughout this gem of a letter, Paul helps Christians living in Colossae, an out-of-the-way, insignificant town in southwestern Asia Minor, to realize the powerful reach of their lives. They participate in making known the mystery of God’s reclamation of the human race through Christ: “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator, where there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!” (Colossians 3:10-11 NRSV, slightly edited). It’s a thrilling perspective. 

What is especially wonderful to see is the way Paul keynotes his epistle with prayer. It was quite standard in first-century letter writing to begin a letter with a brief prayer for the health and well-being of the person being addressed. But Paul expands this custom with generous thanksgiving for his readers, and then with a deep prayer for God to implant a knowledge, impart a wisdom, and instill a confidence for obedience beyond what Paul’s own words can convey. 

For what do I need to give thanks today? And for what do I need a deeper wisdom to know how to live?

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

"God's Got This." - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 4/15/2024 •

Monday of the 3rd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 25; Exodus 18:13-27; 1 Peter 5:1-14; Matthew 1:1-17; 3:1-6

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Today is Monday of the Third Week of Easter

This week’s readings in the book of Exodus, to my mind, mark a summit in the story of God’s relationship with his people. Tuesday, Israelites will arrive at Mt. Sinai, where Yahweh will declare to them their identity as “my treasured possession.” Wednesday, Yahweh will manifest his awesome presence and set a boundary between himself and sinful people, inviting only Moses the mediator to approach. On Thursday, Moses will receive the Ten Commandments, a summary of God’s law of life.  On Friday, we will get a window into worship that enables fellowship between the Lord and his people, a pattern of Word and Sacrament. And Saturday will find the Lord giving instructions about how to build “a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among [you].” 

…[T]he task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. — Exodus 18:18b. At first, today’s reading in Exodus looks mundane by comparison. It’s just Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, offering Moses advice about how to build a sustainable life in his ongoing role as mediator between the Lord and the people of Israel. First, Jethro tells his son-in-law to focus on his main tasks of taking the needs of the people to the Lord and bringing the teachings of the Lord to the people. For me personally, I couldn’t be more grateful for this reminder. Secondarily, Jethro tells Moses he should act as judge only in complex cases of conflict among the people. To adjudicate lesser cases, he should appoint “able men … who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain.” Again, for me personally, I couldn’t be more grateful for the capable, godly, and dependable people around me.

Image: Pixabay

This is not mundane material at all. There’s great wisdom here for all of us: learning to focus on our particular gifts and calling, and then experiencing the humbling but also exhilarating joy of interdependence. That’s why, I think, this passage belongs in the flow of this week’s readings about the literal “mountain top” experience at Sinai. Living the Commandments and being a community of God’s “treasured possession” is going to be done when Israel leaves the mountaintop and goes back into “the wilderness,” because the Promised Land is still a long way off. Like the Israelites, we’re going to need each other for the journey.

Remarkably, the Exodus passage today is paired with a complementary section from 1 Peter. Today’s passage from the epistle closes out our reading of Peter’s incredible missive. Throughout, he has been preparing people for life “in exile” on their way to an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:1,4). 

And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility… — 1 Peter 5:5b. Leaders must lead, and followers must follow. But everybody must do what they do “under the mighty hand of God.” Jesus had had to do some hard teaching to harness impetuous Peter, but the lessons stuck. Now he passes them along to us. 

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7. Peter understands that the whole era before Christ’s return in glory will be one in which his people learn to share their Master’s sufferings. Peter sees the real prospect of an especially intense, if brief, period of suffering in the near future—indeed, Emperor Nero’s horrific violence against Christians in Rome. The apostle even senses the sinister hand of “a roaring lion, your adversary the devil” at work. Even so, Peter’s voice is a calming one. If he were here today, he might say, “God’s got this.” In fact, if he were here today in the midst of our world’s crises and chaos, I think he’d say the same thing he did to the Roman Christians facing persecution, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” 

I do pray that this day you will know God’s peace and comfort, and above all, the confidence that, as Peter says in 1 Peter 5:10–11, “after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever.” 

To him be the power forever and ever, indeed. Amen. 

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

A Blessed Rhythm of Work and Rest - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 4/12/2024 •

Friday of the 2nd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 16; Psalm 17; Exodus 16:23-36; 1 Peter 3:13–4:6; John 16:1-15

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord… — Exodus 16:23. Yahweh’s fatherly care is highlighted in this passage from Exodus. For his people on an arduous journey, Yahweh provides rest. 

The Lord showers the ground with manna, the heavenly “bread,” with instructions to gather only enough for the day. Those who disobey and gather more than they need discover the extra rotting and filled with maggots the next day. But, in the sixth day, the people are instructed to gather enough for that day, plus one more day: the sabbath. There will be no gathering on the sabbath; and in the seventh day’s manna there is no rotting, nor are there maggots.  

With a non-stop, soul-sucking daily schedule of “wash, rinse, repeat,” time can become a relentless cycle of day and night. Our Heavenly Father insists on a blessed rhythm of work and rest, of productivity and reflection, of doing and simply “being.” He endorses pushing hard for six days, and then kicking back on the seventh.

Image: Pixabay

Many of us have to get creative about how to honor this pattern. For me, racing the sun up each day is important. Engaging God’s story in Scripture & prayer before diving into the day’s news cycle puts everything in perspective for me. It beats back the wolves of anxiety, dread, and depression. Things like “soul-care” reading, exercise, and piano noodling are critical elements of my personal sabbath rest. If you don’t have your own equivalents, I hope you will consider creating some. 

Rest this day and every day in your Heavenly Father’s provision. 

And baptism…now saves you…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ… — 1 Peter 3:21. Peter regales in the comprehensiveness of Christ’s work. 

Peter is grateful for the substitutionary nature of Christ’s work—“the righteous for the unrighteous.” He mines its personally transformative power—“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention.” According to some interpretive traditions (especially in Eastern and Catholic churches), Peter even describes Christ’s triumphant victory chant in the netherworld—“he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison.” Our baptism becomes the place where heaven and earth converge in our lives, where Christ sweeps us up into this resurrected life—“And baptism…now saves you.” 

Rejoice this day and every day in the enormity of Christ’s love for you. 

[The Spirit of truth] will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. — John 16:14. John records Jesus’s teaching that the Holy Spirit’s role is to make the Father’s care and the Son’s work personal to us. Much about the inner workings of the Triune God is mysterious. One thing is not. The role of the Holy Spirit is to bring Heaven’s reality into our lives in this life. Jesus says that his bodily absence will make way for this ministry. While on earth, Jesus had been able to be “with” his followers. By going away and sending the Holy Spirit, he will be able to be “in” them (compare John 14:9 with 14:17 & 20). 

The Holy Spirit, says the apostle Paul, brings deep consolation and encouragement to our hearts. The Holy Spirit pours assurance into our hearts, affirming that we really are our Father’s own dear children (Romans 8:16). The Holy Spirit leads us in our walk with Christ (Romans 8:14). The Holy Spirit produces Christ’s life in us (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit even prays for us and with us when we are at a loss for words (Romans 8:26-27).

The work of the Holy Spirit is so immense that Jesus wants us to understand that it’s not his disciples’ job to denounce the world and prove it wrong in its rejection of him. That’s the Spirit’s task: “He will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). All we have to do is follow the Spirit’s leading. We are to tell the truth about God’s love for the world (“God so loved the world…”) and about Jesus’s person and work. The Spirit will do whatever undertaking the Father and the Son have given him to do in people’s hearts—“The wind (pneuma, which means “wind,” “breath,” and “spirit/Spirit”) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). 

Be renewed this day and every day by the power of the Spirit who takes all that the Father has given to the Son, and makes it real and personal to you. 

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+

To Live as Free People - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 4/11/2024 •

Today is Thursday of the 2nd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 18:1–20; Exodus 16:10-22; 1 Peter 2:11-25; John 15:12-27

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. … Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. … For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. — 1 Peter 2:16,18,21. 

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. — John 15:12-15

Image: Crucifixion of Peter, Caravaggio, Wikimedia Commons

This is a challenging pairing of NT readings: 

This isn’t the only time in his letter that Peter considers people in vexing social circumstances. Here, in 1 Peter 2:18, the apostle addresses “household servants” (Greek oiketai). In 1st century Greek and Roman culture oiketai were considered members of their master’s household (oikos), and were often valued and loved. If you belonged to a high-status household, you enjoyed the status of that household. You might even be able to earn sufficient wages to purchase your freedom, if you wished. Not everyone chose this option, because some felt their life chances were better in a good household. 

Then again, all households weren’t equal, nor all household heads magnanimous, kind, and loving. Peter anticipates the prospect of “harsh” masters. The term he uses is skolioi, which means “twisted” or “crooked” (we get the medical term “scoliosis” from it). Peter might have said more. Did he mean violent? or simply curt? Did Peter mean “crooked” in the sense that the master engaged in illicit business, and expected you to be complicit in his dishonest dealings? or simply that a master might have a “twisted” sense of humor you were supposed to put up with? Did Peter mean being “mean”? If so, there’s a wide range of “meanness,” from issuing verbal lashings to administering physical beatings. 

Peter doesn’t provide guidance as to what the limits are, whether there comes a point to refuse to obey, to stand up and say, “Stop it!” His concern lies elsewhere. 

Peter has had years now to contemplate the meaning of having had his feet washed by his Savior (John 13). He has had years to consider the significance of his Savior calling him “friend,” no longer “slave.” He has had years to internalize the significance of his “Friend” laying down his life for “friends” like him. He has had years to remember that Jesus had called him friend even knowing Peter would deny him. He has had years to work through how to lay down his life for others the way his Master/Friend had modeled and taught (John 15:13-15). And Peter has come to understand that the transforming work of Jesus has put him at odds with a world that doesn’t understand the value of selfless sacrifice—“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 Jerusalem Bible). 

As he writes his epistle, Peter is helping us to find our bearings in the midst of a world in which, at the high cost of the blood of our Savior, we’ve been made “elect strangers.” He knows that we’re called “friends,” and not servants, but that we’re also called to take up basin and towel to lay down our lives in humble service. And so, Peter has turned to Isaiah 53, the song of the Suffering Servant. Unique among NT writers, Peter finds in this passage not just Jesus offering his life as exchange (“he bore our sins that we might be free of sins”), but also Jesus offering his life as example (“because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, to that you should follow his steps”—compare 1 Peter 2:24 & 21). 

It’s a breathtaking discovery. No one else in the NT points up both the exchange and the example aspects of Isaiah 53. Peter doesn’t pause to parse all the qualifications or exceptions. He offers the Suffering-Servant-Footwashing-Friend-of-Sinners answer for what to do with, for lack of a better term for our time, a “bad boss.” Kill from below with kindness. Sometimes, as Abraham Lincoln observed, you can vanquish an enemy by turning them into a friend. Sometimes the softer response to a harsh word from up-the-chain-of-command can calm the waters, occasionally, turning a critic into an advocate. 

Sometimes … well, it doesn’t work the way we’d like. Among the people whom Peter says to honor is “the emperor” (basileus, lit., “king,” verse 13). The emperor of his day was Nero. Even as Peter was writing, Nero was preparing to unleash carnage against Christians, because he wrongly blamed them for fires in Rome. Before too long, Peter himself would be arrested and condemned to death. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, the apostle was crucified upside down, memorably and elegantly rendered by the Italian artist Caravaggio. The story goes that he requested that he be crucified in this manner, lest anyone think he presumed he was equal to his Master. On the one hand, that’s not the greatest of outcomes. On the other hand, eventually the love that Peter and all the other martyrs displayed proved stronger than the pride and pretense of all the Roman persecutors. As a result, to adapt a saying, while many will honor a son by naming him “Peter,” nobody would name anything but their dog “Nero.” 

I pray God gives us grace today, as Peter says, to “live as free people”—loving one another; serving the unlovable as well as the lovable; honoring bosses, good and bad; and respecting (and praying for!) leaders, wise and unwise. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+

Better Sunlight and Rainfall - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 4/10/2024 •

Today is Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; Exodus 15:22-16:10; 1 Peter 2:1-10; John 15:1-11

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

In the ancient church, the weeks just before Easter were a time of preparation for baptism, and the weeks just after Easter were a time for learning how to live “as baptized.” It’s especially easy to see that sensibility in play across the gamut of biblical readings for the second week of Easter in the Daily Office for this year. 

Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went for three days in the wilderness and found no water. — Exodus 15:22. Crossing the Red Sea had been Israel’s baptism: “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2). In that baptism they had been rescued from slavery by what the 2nd century church leader Irenaeus would refer to as the “two arms” of God’s embrace, “the Angel of the Lord” (Exodus 14:19a, a prefiguration of Christ) and “the Pillar of Cloud” (Exodus 14:19b, a prefiguration of the Holy Spirit). 

Now for the journey through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. The next few weeks’ OT readings will focus on the central lesson from that journey: chiefly, the mission of this newly baptized people is to take to the world the calling to love God and neighbor. This second week of Easter finds us in the wilderness on the way to Mount Sinai. The lessons here are about trusting the Lord for provision when the journey seems hard, provisions are scant, and, perversely, the mistreatment “back there” seems less intimidating than the deprivations “out here.”

Image: Pixabay

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. — 1 Peter 2:2-3. Many scholars think that 1 Peter as a whole was written to provide instruction to newly baptized believers. Whether that is the case or not, this letter provides some of the most succinct teaching in all the NT about how those who have come to recognize that they are “elect strangers” (1 Peter 1:1 eklektois parepidēmoi) are to live. That is, God has chosen them in order to usher them in to a new life in Christ, and, in that single stroke, has made them “outsiders” to their former friends and family members. 

In today’s passage, Peter is finishing a section in which he has been reminding his readers of the great “indicatives” of their election—all that God has done to give them new life (1 Peter 1:1–2:10): “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  And in tomorrow’s passage, Peter will pivot to explaining how they may proclaim those mighty acts. He will begin to outline for them the “imperatives” that come with now being strangers in a world that no longer defines who they are: “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). His instruction will show how, in Christ, to navigate life’s hardest relationships as they “show and tell” the mighty acts, living as servants of God and stewards of grace (1 Peter 2:11–5:14). 

Abide in me, as I abide in you. … I am the Vine, you are the branches. — John 15:4a,5a. Arguably, pride of place in a season of post-baptismal instruction goes to the portion of John’s gospel for this week. Jesus had painted a picture of his ministry by washing the disciples’ feet in John 13, to leave them an example of how they should live; and he had prayed what is called his “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17, to fortify them. Between those chapters, in John 14–16, Jesus provided his most extensive teaching in all of John’s gospel for what life would look like after his death, resurrection, and ascension, and before his final return in glory. 

Today’s passage is perhaps the linchpin to the whole: our responding to Christ’s love by “abiding” in him through his Word—studying it, meditating on it, and obeying it—so that the Risen Christ may “abide” in us—dwelling in us by his Spirit. Christ likens himself to a vine, in fact, claiming for himself a rich identity that God had given to Israel in the OT. In passages like Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5, God says that he had planted Israel as a vine, but that that vine had proved unfaithful and unfruitful. This was all an anticipation of a “True Vine” that would prove faithful and fruitful, the One who is at Table with his friends. Now this True Vine calls his followers “branches” in the Vine, sharers in, and extensions of, his own life. Amazing.  

All we “branches” need to do is “abide” (a very simple Greek word that means essentially “remain” or “stay”) in the vine—that is, stay connected to our life source. When we are unfruitful but “abiding,” the good Vinedresser (the Father) will raise us up so we can get better sunlight and rainfall (the NRSV’s translation of the first half of verse 2’s airei as “remove” is terribly misleading, making it appear as though unfruitful branches get cut off). When we are fruitful, we get pruned—and sure, that cutting can hurt, but it’s only so that lesser fruitfulness in the present can lead to greater fruitfulness in the future. That’s the scenario in the second half of verse 2. Of course, it’s always possible to contemplate the possibility of cutting ourselves off, of “not abiding.” That’s the scenario envisioned in verse 6. And Jesus asks us to consider that horrible “what if?”, only to remind us that by remaining “in him,” we find a profound sense of God’s responsiveness to our heart’s best desires, “love,” and “joy” (verses 7-11). 

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized.” I pray you are able, in Christ, to learn what was so hard for the children of Israel to learn: the wilderness is lonely and barren and dangerous, but when the Lord is with you, your needs will be met. 

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized.” In other words, that you are able to claim your true place in God’s royal priesthood and his holy nation, confident that he will show you how to make his mighty acts known in word and deed.

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized”: abiding in Christ, with him abiding in you. 

Be blessed this day. 

Reggie Kidd+ 

He Doesn't Want to Squash Us - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 4/9/2024 •

Today is Tuesday in the 2nd Week of Easter

Today’s Scriptures are: Psalm 5; Psalm 6; Exodus 15:1–21; 1 Peter 1:13-25; John 14:18–31

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Observations today based on three phrases in today’s passage in 1 Peter: 

…not with perishable things… — 1 Peter 1:18. Sweet irony. Peter reminds us of the transience of our existence: “during the time of your exile.” But then he turns right around and puts that “exile” in the context of God’s eternal plan to prosper us. Peter speaks of the “imperishability” of things working to end the exile, and, in particular, of the revealing of God’s Son who was “known (i.e., loved) before the world was made” (verse 20, Jerusalem Bible). 

When disease and destruction surround us, it is good to be reminded that God’s good intentions for health and salvation extend from eternity to eternity.

That’s why it is important to begin the day as you have, re-immersing yourself in the story of creation; of the fall; of a multi-staged course of redemption running from promises in the Garden, to the calling of the nation Israel (thus, today’s “Song of Moses,” in Exodus 15), to the crowning events of Good Friday and Easter, to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit through the Church (for which Jesus prepared his disciples in today’s John 14 passage); and ultimately of the great drama climaxing in the Lord’s return to bring “a new heavens and a new earth.” 

…but with the precious blood of Christ… — 1 Peter 1:19. It’s a remarkable thing that, as Peter notes in verse 17, the Judge of all things has invited us to call him Father. Think about that: the Judge of heaven’s courtroom has come from behind the bench, and invited us to come home with him, to take his name as our own, to become a part of his family. Setting aside his “impartiality” (an impartiality that, given who we are, should have consigned every one of us to the remotest, coldest darkness), the Lord of heaven and earth has loved us and “chosen and destined” us to be his children (see 1 Peter 1:1). He doesn’t want to squash us. He wants to welcome us home. So much so, that he has opened the coffers of heaven to make that possible. 

In the strange biblical economy, one thing is more valuable than anything humans might value: the “precious blood of Christ.” Peter might have named anything else: diamonds, plutonium, yachts, mansions … doesn’t matter. The point is: you were loved so much that God spent that which was infinitely more valuable than anything you could reckon valuable, just so he could set aside his impartiality as Judge to become your Dad. Your Dad. Notice the end of verse 20: “for you.” That “you” there is “you,” personally, by name, warts and all. Heaven’s coffers poured out because God values you enough to spend whatever it takes to get you out of jail and into his own home. 

Now that you have purified your souls… — 1 Peter 1:22. A friend once told me he was grateful for mixed motives, because, he said, “If I didn’t have mixed motives, I wouldn’t have any motives at all.” I can relate. Still, the whole direction of Christ’s life in us is to move us past mixed motives, to a pure and unadulterated passion for him. Peter says it comes from “a heart that has been cleansed” (my rendering of verse 22’s katharas kardias, somewhat dully rendered in the NRSV as “from the heart”). That kind of heart produces, in turn, “brotherly love that is unaffected” (literally, “unhypocritical”). 

It’s painful when it feels like there are leaders who seem unclear about which is more important: the long-term benefit of people or their own short-term advantage? There’s a lot of that in each and every one of us. 

The good news is that, if you belong to Christ, he’s not going to leave it that way. He has committed himself to eliminating the double mindedness, the mixed motives, and the hidden agendas that infect us all. The best way for us to cooperate with the process is to see ourselves the way the Lord sees us: purified of soul, cleansed of heart, and equipped with a capacity for unaffected brotherly love. And then to look around and ask: how can I be that today? 

Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter. Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

A Perfect Keynote to the Psalms - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 4/8/2024 •

Today’s Scriptures are: Psalm 1; Psalm 2; Psalm 3; Exodus 14:21–31; 1 Peter 1:1–12; John 14:1–17

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Psalms 1,2,3. The Daily Office lays out the Book of Psalms in such a way that if you read each day’s morning and evening psalms, you will get all the way through the book every seven weeks. If you follow the schedule in the Office, you will cycle through each psalm about seven times over the course of a year. Seven cycles of seven. Nice biblical numerology, huh? 

It’s also an amazing way to immerse yourself in the biblical story. In the 4th century, Athanasius wrote that while all the other books have their own particular theme (e.g., Genesis, creation; Exodus, rescue; Joshua, conquest), the Book of Psalms includes all the themes (e.g., Psalms 19 & 24 on creation; Psalms 78, 106, & 114 on rescue; Psalm 105 on conquest). Not only that, but the book of Psalms gives you the opportunity to engage the biblical story in poetic form (that is, with the heart), or even to sing it, if you are of a mind (for most psalms are hymns, after all).

The first three psalms are a perfect keynote to what the psalms as a whole are all about. I encourage you today to linger over each of these three. 

Psalm One and God’s Law as the Way of Life. Psalm One points the reader back to Mt. Sinai, when God gave to his newly rescued people his Law as a way of life, a way to remain free from the more insidious slavery to sin. The entire Mosaic vision of life is that there is always a choice between two ways: back into slavery to sin and death (“walk[ing] in the counsel of the wicked”), or ahead into the freedom of knowing God in the journey toward the promise of life. That journey requires, ironically, rootedness. 

Psalm One’s invitation is to “meditate on his law day and night.” To do so is to plant yourself beside “streams of water,” where your roots can find rich nourishment. And the life that flows into you will flow through you and out to others (“bearing fruit in due season”), and you will find that even as you age, your inner being can grow and flourish (“with leaves that do not wither”). 

Psalm Two and the Prophets’ Plan for God’s Kingship. Psalm Two points the reader ahead to the day when God would establish his Son as King on “my holy hill of Zion.” The entire prophetic vision is that world history is the backdrop for the drama of God’s reestablishing his gracious rule in the face of the world’s chaos, and of “the kings of the earth ris[ing] up in revolt, and the princes plot[ting] together against the Lord and against his Anointed.” 

Psalm Two’s invitation is to look beyond the folly and the frustration of any day’s headlines and any era’s crisis to the victory that God wins in his decree: “I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion;” and when he says to his Son: “You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.” At Eastertide we celebrate the victory already won on a hill in Zion made holy by the cross raised upon it. At Eastertide we rejoice in God’s fulfillment of his promises, as the apostle Paul proclaimed in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, “by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’” (Acts 13:32b,33). 

Psalm Three and God’s Nearness When You Suffer. Psalm Three points the reader to the present as a time of frustration, failure, and fear—a time to call upon the nearness and the aid of the Lord. The superscription of this psalm (in all the ancient versions) shows its dramatic backdrop: “A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.” At the zenith of his career, David had fallen. At long last he had been crowned king, but then he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had murdered her husband Uriah. Though forgiven after his confession to Nathan the prophet, he had nonetheless already sown bitter seed. His son Absalom, witness to the sad events, had acquired his father’s erring ways, and has now risen up to usurp his father’s rule. 

2 Samuel 15 describes the pathetic scene: David is forced to flee Jerusalem, going up the Mount of Olives “weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot,” publicly humiliated, and leaving behind ten of his concubines to serve Absalom’s lusts (compare 2 Samuel 12:12 with 15:16 & 16:21-22). This, according to the superscription, is when David composes Psalm Three, calling out in the face of his “many adversaries” and the “many who rise up against me”: “But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head.”

Hopefully, whatever shame or disgrace, rejection or enmity—whatever “fall” you experience— again, hopefully it will not look exactly like David’s. But this you can count on: the same Lord who enabled David to “lie down and go to sleep” that night, and to awaken the next day “because the Lord sustains me”—that same Lord will give you rest and sustenance. However you “fall,” the Lord will raise you up. He is your glory and the lifter of your head. 

I pray you are able to bask this day in the power of God’s Word to nourish and feed your “inner being,” and to keep you walking in the way of faithfulness (Psalm 1). I pray that you will see in the face of all the counter-evidence—all the ways that history seems to be under the control of godlessness—that above it all stands the rule of King Jesus, Risen and Conquering Lord (Psalm 2). And I pray that in spite of whatever discouragement, and even failure, you face, you will know that your Lord hears you when you cry, “Set me free, O my God,” and that he truly is one who blesses his people, including you (Psalm 3:7a,8b)! 

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

At the Last Trumpet - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 4/5/2024 •

Friday in Easter Week 

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); 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)

Friday in Easter Week. I’m thinking mostly, today, about the day’s psalm: Psalm 136.  

…for his mercy endures forever… (כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ  — ki lᵉʿôlām ḥasdo). Psalm 136 sees the whole of cosmic and human history as one occasion after another for the singing of God’s mercy. In creating all things, he shows mercy. … for his mercy endures forever. 

In rescuing Israel and giving them an inheritance, he shows mercy. … for his mercy endures forever!

In remembering the lowly and feeding all creatures, he shows mercy. … for his mercy endures forever!

The psalmist can’t even get from one thought to another without interrupting himself to thank the Lord for the unending mercy. Twenty-six verses of remembrance, twenty-six half-verses of grateful self-interruption. It’s wonderful when this psalm is read in corporate worship as call and response, half-verse by half-verse—and even better when the half-verse refrains are in Hebrew! … for his mercy endures forever! … (כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ  — ki lᵉʿôlām ḥasdo).

The heavens and the earth, in their very existence. Not random. Not from nowhere. Not without design or purpose. Not evil, not neutral, but “good.” Expressions of Yahweh’s, and nobody else’s, … for his mercy endures forever!

Image: Adaptation, Pixabay

And a word from Paul …in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…. (1 Corinthians 15:52). It probably wasn’t the first time I had heard these words, but it was the first time I actually noticed them. It was during a live performance of Handel’s Messiah. The baritone voice, the trumpet accompaniment, the new-old text. The combination was overwhelming, and I’ve never been the same. In the face of death itself we can say: “You don’t win. Christ has beaten you. And I belong to him. No matter when you take me or how you do it, it will only be for a time. I will rise.” “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

I pray that whatever you face today you face it in the confidence that somewhere in the hardest part of it there is “mercy that endures forever.” I pray that throughout this day, your theme can be: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen. 

Collect for Friday in Easter Week. Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+