Scripture & Membership Sunday
The Church dedicates this Sunday to the Holy Bible.
Trinity Church dedicates this Sunday to Membership and Pledging.
Today’s Collect of the Day invites us to remember the Holy Scriptures; that they are “written for our learning”. Furthermore it enjoins us “so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life”.
Of course that reminds me of a story. When we were first ordained my friend Bernard had an Irish Setter. The dog’s name was Patrick. He was high strung; he seemed impossible to train beyond the basics. He had an insatiable appetite for furniture and when Bernie went about his appointed rounds, he often found the house a shambles when he returned. And so it was that on the eve of Scripture Sunday, which we observe today, Patrick got a hold of Fr Bernard’s new, leather bound edition of Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal. He ate it. Bernard called me in a fit of exasperation and said that the dog must have known it was Scripture Sunday, because he took to heart and stomach the words “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest”. Patrick was inwardly digesting the Word of God. Alas, the meal did not seem to improve his temperament.
“Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest God’s Word.” Daily to read the Scripture. Here’s a maxim I seek to follow; for every page of the newspaper, for every hour watching the news; read a page, spend an hour dwelling in the Word of God. If you are tired of all the bad news, balance your life with the Good News of God. “Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Holy Scripture!
Follow the Daily Office Lectionary if you wish. Use Forward Day by Day. Spend time with God. Get into it. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Biblical Narrative. Remember the Five Might Acts of God as we rehearse them time and again, remembering God’s decisive action in Salvation History;
The Creation
The Exodus
Jesus
The Church
The Christian Hope
God’s Story and Your Story, inextricably intertwined as you come into Being and especially as you come into your Baptism.
Just look at today’s Scripture. Hannah’s depression, year after year. Unable to produce a male child and then to add insult to injury she had to endure the taunts of Peninnah who enjoyed producing children with ease. Hannah wept bitterly.
In due course she found herself at the Shiloh, a holy place. The episode is recorded with these words;
“Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord; “O Lord of hosts, if only you will…remember me, and give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you…until the day of his death…Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently…therefore Eli thought she was drunk.”
Hannah remonstrated;
“No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.”
Thankfully, Eli understood and honored her words and answered her, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”
You and I have been there with Hannah. Out of great vexation of spirit we too have prayed at the Altar of God. Grant us guidance, grant us strength, grant us our petition, our intercession. Grant us our prayer.
And God always answers our prayers. Sometimes with an abundant “Yes” and at other times with a decisive “No”.
Jesus had to face the reality of God’s “No” when he prayed; “May this cup may pass from me”. Jesus had to face into the bleak darkness of despair at the prospect of his own death on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”.
How was he to know in his final moments that his suffering was but the vehicle not just for his salvation but for the Salvation of the Whole World?
In today’s Biblical moment, we see Hannah’s despair lead to Hannah’s hope. Her child Samuel is born. The name literally means “the one I dedicate to God” or “the one who has a close affinity with God”. Hebrew being a symbolic and metaphorical language, the Name Samuel means both and more besides.
Speaking of holy places and shrines, in today’s Gospel passage we hear that the Disciples are impressed with the great Temple as they enter Jerusalem.
But Jesus is not impressed. Rather he is deeply aware of history. In fact he was an astute observer of the political context in which he lived. He knew that the Romans would destroy the Temple in 70AD. He knew his history and he understood politics. Don’t be misled, he tells us. All kinds of false prophets will arise generation after generation. The simple fact of the matter is that “nation will rise against nation” one age will succeed another with predictable and tiresome succession. Don’t be fooled.
We live in a time of vexation and distress. Too much water in the East. Not enough in the West. Today our hearts go out to the folks in Paradise, California. Scores dead. More than a thousand missing. Our son Michael lives in Sacramento and like tens of thousands others, he wears a mask when he goes outside, so foul is the air, so dense is the smoke.
The end of this age as it seems to me, is more likely to be brought upon us by human activity, than it is by some punitive act of God. God is not responsible for climate change, wildfires, rising sea levels. Rather God seeks to save us from ourselves. As John’s Gospel reminds us; “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” ~John 3:17
Hannah prayed at Shiloh. Her hope is satisfied with the birth of Samuel.The Disciples come to the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus body is destroyed but the hope of the world rises again in Glory.
Today’s Epistle says this is what gives us “confidence to enter the sanctuary by…the new and living way that Jesus opened for us… and since we have a great priest over the household of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean…and our bodies washed with pure water.”
It has been my joy and care to serve many congregations in the Episcopal Church, as a member, a seminarian, and a priest.Cindy and I pledge of course. But my membership means more to me than a pledge. It means that I, like Sarah can pour out my soul to God, I can follow Jesus like his disciples did and learn from him. It is not just the buildings in which we worship, but as one of God’s living stones. We are joined heart to heart with one another and with God’s heart in the high Priesthood of Jesus.
This is what gives us our confidence to approach the Throne of Grace day by day, Sunday by Sunday. So then, take up the holy Scriptures written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. Amen.
In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.
Fr Paul
P.S A Journey to Jesus
A list of congregations that have formed me as a member, seminarian, and priest.
- St James’s, Porter Square 1945-1955, Baptism
- St Richard of Chichester, The Westway 1956-1967, Confirmation
- St John’s Chapel, ETS 1967-1972, Graduation
- St John’s Charlestown 1967-8
- St Mary’s Manhattanville, NYC 1968-9
- MGH Burns Unit 1969-1971
- St Luke’s Malden 1972-1975, Ordination
- Christ Church Quincy 1972-1975
- Christ Church, Hyde Park 1975-1983
- Epiphany Euclid OH 1983-1990
- Holy Cross/Faith Memorial, Pawleys Island SC 1991-1992
- St Andrew’s Methuen 1991-1994
- St Mark’s St Albans WV 1994-2006
- St Peter’s Salem MA 2006-2011
- St Gabriel’s Douglassville PA 2011-2013
- St Paul’s North Andover 2014-2015
- St John’s Sandwich MA 2015-2016
- Good Shepherd Reading, MA 2016
- St Mark’s, Dorchester MA 2016
- Trinity Canton 2017
- St. Peter's Cathedral 2017
- Trinity Haverhill 2018-
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