Adventurous Lectionary – Fourteenth Sunday of Pentecost – August 22, 2021

Last updated on: August 13, 2021 at 9:45 am by Bruce Epperly

Adventurous Lectionary – Fourteenth Sunday of Pentecost – August 22, 2021 2021-08-13T09:45:59-04:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 14 – August 22, 2021

I Kings 8:22—30, 40-41; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69

We live in a dark and yet wondrous time. A time of pandemic resurgence, the big election lie and the attempt to overturn the election, incivility, and the politicization and violence surrounding vaccinations and mask mandates. Frankly, a good portion of our nation appears to have gone mad, seduced by superficial understandings of freedom and misinformation regarding science, not to mention political demagoguery. Sadly, much of this incivility and dishonesty is coming from segments of the Christian community who identify Jesus with anti-science, anti-mask, and a rugged individualism contrary to the teachings of Jesus and the prophets.

Yet in the darkness, our faith reveals that the eye begins to see, as poet Theodore Roethke asserted. We need to face the challenges of our time with spiritual integrity and trust in the unwavering grace of God. We need to surround ourselves and the threats that face us and our planet with deep and abiding prayer. We can’t make it on our own, but we can trust God and then go to work to save those parts of the world where we have responsibility. We can claim our role as God’s companions in healing the earth without demonizing those with whom we disagree.

In the reading from I Kings 8, Solomon rejoices in bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the temple. Yet his rejoicing is tempered. The Temple is finite, God is infinite. The Temple can be identified with nation alone, yet foreigners are also God’s beloved. When we would privilege our religious practices, Solomon reminds us, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” God is always more than our theologies, sanctuaries, doctrines, and traditions.

Solomon prays to an all-embracing God whose glory includes stranger as well as friend. God hears the prayers of the foreigner, for known or unknown, God’s care includes the outsider as well as our kinfolk. In these times of xenophobia and incivility, grounded in binary and authoritarian understandings of God, politics, and revelation, we need to hear and respond to these words of inclusion. God loves all God’s children: undocumented persons and persons illegally crossing our nation’s borders have standing with God. To God, no child or parent is undocumented. Everyone needs to treated with care, individually and corporately. God loves scientists and those who foolishly oppose fact-based science. For those who see God’s realm divided in two kingdoms – individual/church and civil – it is important to note that Solomon’s prayer acknowledges only one kingdom; God’s realm permeates the civil and governmental and our highest values should guide governmental and political as well as personal behavior. While politics involves the use of power, it should always be judged by values of God’s realm. We should seek – with recognition of pluralism and our own limitations – God’s realm on earth as it is in heaven. (See “One World: The Lord’s Prayer from a Process Perspective” and “Process Theology and Politics.”)

Psalm 84 is a hymn to God’s glorious dwelling place, the Jerusalem Temple, and recognition that God’s glory is universal. In this time of pandemic, God is found in our churches and God is also found beyond the church buildings. There are thin places – places where divinity and humanity meet – everywhere.

Ephesians proclaims put on the whole armor of God! Put on God’s armor of light! For a long time, I found this passage too militaristic in tone. Yet, in recent days, I have recognized the need for what William James described as the “moral equivalent of war.” We need to be strong to face the demons within and the demons let loose in our world. We need to pray and also protest. We need to reach out and also make good trouble.

Whether or not you believe in the reality of demonic powers – the powers and principalities of which Walter Wink wrote – there is a “war” out there. You can see the forces of evil forces moving into battle – some with confederate flags, some waging war on women’s equality and marriage equality, some denying or dismissing Pope Francis’ encyclical on global climate change, some separating children from their parents, some railing against a free press and diversity, some threatening scientists, doctors, and educators. Politicians intentionally promote chaos and division, and normalize incivility and dishonesty, and religious leaders are complicit, identifying politicians with God’s will, and placing their political heroes above Jesus. In the gospels, the demons are both internal and external, and they know their enemy much better than those Reinhold Niebuhr described as “the children of light.” Ultimately, the “children of darkness” have as their enemy the pathway of Jesus Christ – the way of healing, hospitality, and Shalom.

We need to recognize the need to protect ourselves from both internal and external forces. Many of us are imprisoned by anxiety, depression, trauma, family of origin issues, and the impact of ritual religious abuse. In the era of national chaos, anxiety and fear are rampant, and the we worry about the fate of the earth along with constitutional protections. The powers that threaten are often greater than we can bear and threaten to undermine our spiritual and emotional integrity. Our only hope in responding to them is found in trusting God for our healing and sustaining and aspiring to live by the highest and best despite the challenges of life. We also need a community to uphold us in prayerful support. No one is ever saved alone. We need a cloud of witnesses, a community of love, to sustain us in life’s challenges. The disciples recognize that in times of crisis, there is nowhere else to go but to God. In times of prayer, worship, and sacrament, we experience the bread of life, able to sustain and guide us in times of trial.

The author of Ephesians focuses on the spiritual/moral virtues as our greatest protection. Often in difficult times, we are tempted to vengeance, self-interest, fear, hatred, greed, and protection. Our souls can easily shrivel in times of personal, relational, and physical challenge. But, in such times, our character and faith are called forth. We need, as Dostoyevsky proclaims, to be worthy of our sufferings. We need to become large souled, world-loyal people, compassionate, yet firm, in times of trial. We need, as a plaque at Kirkridge proclaims, to both picket and pray. Frankl notes that everything can be taken away from a person except one freedom – one’s unique response to life’s challenges. Difficulties do not excuse us from moral greatness. We are largest in stature when we face life’s challenges with love and equanimity and when we challenge the things we cannot accept. On the cross, Jesus forgives his enemies. Their hate cannot determine his response: his love is stronger than their fear, and his grace is stronger than their sin.

In times of trial, we would do well to lean on the words of Martin Luther, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” In his lively metaphysic, Luther imagined devils tempting him. He also proclaimed that just one name, “Jesus Christ,” can defeat them. Christ will win the battle, even if our prosperity, good name, and life itself are threatened.

Regardless of our theology, we can recognize the powers of evil. We don’t need to specifically identify their ultimate source to recognize their power to destroy, divide, and create chaos; they are irrational, hateful, yet alluring to some, even seductive to those in power. We need moral strength but more than that we need to throw ourselves upon God, opening to a grace, wisdom, and mercy, greater than our own to get us through. God’s energy of love provides the protection that we need to face, even in all our fear and trembling, panic and trauma, the destructive forces – and dare we say, persons and spirits – of life.

In the Celtic tradition, travelers often began their journey by drawing a circle around themselves and saying a prayer of protection. This prayer of protection reminded them that wherever they went they were surrounded by God’s circle of love. They prayed, in the spirit of Patrick, with the affirmation that Christ is above, beneath, to the right and left, behind and before, and in all that we meet. We can show our congregants the Celtic circle prayer, “caim,” by simply rotating slowly in a circle, and pointing our index finger outward as if to inscribe the circle. This “praying in the Spirit” won’t entirely banish our fears and anxiety; but it will enable us to live with them, trusting God in them. We can be afraid, as a psychiatrist told a child experiencing “night terrors,” but we don’t need to be afraid of being afraid because God – and people who love us are with us.

+++
Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, and author of over 60 books including MYSTICS IN ACTION: 12 SAINTS FOR TODAY; PROPHETIC HEALING: HOWARD THURMAN’S VISION OF CONTEMPLATIVE ACTIVISM; WALKING WITH FRANCIS OF ASSISI: FROM PRIVILEGE TO ACTIVISM; PROCESS THEOLOGY AND POLITICS; and GOD ONLINE: A MYSTIC’S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET.

Previous Post

August 6, 2021

Adventurous Lectionary - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 13, 2021

Next Post

August 20, 2021 Adventurous Lectionary - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - August 29, 2021

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz