Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ November 14, 2016
The Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Colossians
For the final epistle in the Lectionary for Year C, we once again revisit The Letter of Paul to the Colossians for a glorious passage (1:11-20) well worth reading several times aloud before you hear it on Sunday. In doing so, realize that Paul did not write this; it was authored by a follower of Paul. And it was not written during Paul's lifetime, as the views expressed show the perspective of a time that would have come several decades later.
Our approaching Sunday will end Lectionary Year C on a truly high note. Whereas this is The Last Sunday after Pentecost in the Church Year, the day is known as a Sunday of Christ the King, because of the heightened imagery in the scripture selections assigned for all three Lectionary years. In the chosen biblical words used on this final Sunday of each Lectionary Year, there is always an awareness of eternal godly power all about us. Rejoice in this awareness.
TIMELY TRANSITIONS:
If you have listened carefully to the three readings (Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel) over the last few Sundays, you may have sensed a verbal movement toward the end-of-days. Lectionary planners constructed their selections for this time in a way that helps us begin the shift toward understanding the start of God's new day. That comes with the First Sunday of Advent, near the end of every calendar year. You are getting ready to open the door to the new year of hope and holy time.
When you sit in the pew, you may observe the changes in the church seasons as mere curiosities. Actually, they have been carefully thought out and constructed to assist your travel on a journey through holy time. Visually, the long green season after Pentecost is now giving way to the royal color of purple in most parishes. We are all getting ready to spend time in preparation for the birth of a baby king at Christmas.
HISTORIC TRANSITIONS:
The "all" means most of the Christian denominations around the world. After World War II, an international human cry went up, pleading for greater unity in the Christian Church. In response, just over 50 years ago, one of the earliest steps church leaders took down this road toward unity, was to create a common presentation of Sunday scriptures to be used, connecting people on the many limbs of the tree grown from the cross of Jesus.
Now, on any given Sunday, Christians of many denominations on earth share identical Bible lessons and reflect on their meaning. And, because we join together to read the same weekly lessons from a common Lectionary, in this way, through the Holy Spirit, we have come together, united into one massed Christian spirit.
BIBLICAL TRADITIONS:
Take time to dwell on the ideas that the writer of Colossians 1:11-20 offers to us. Following the description of how we are to be blessed in our human life, we are given a description of the king that we celebrate, Christ the King. Let the thoughts trickle through your mind. Let those thoughts become like music to your ears.
The writer who penned verses 15-20 to the community at Colossae presented a majestic view of the Christ, one we can compare to the great Christmas gospel that begins John's Bible text. (1:1-18) The concepts of both, probably written in the late first century decades after the earthly Jesus, help us place the pure humanity of God in our midst. When you read and hear these words, you are gifted with a magnificent, touchable portrait of a human God, alive, active, and present for us.
Life in the final days of the long Season after Pentecost is not ending; life with God, through Jesus Christ is truly beginning once again for all of us. As we transition from today to the start of a new Advent, may we understand that, throughout Christian history, God is daily born anew in our human lives. We are eternally bound to God, because hate and fear were turned into love and peace through the cross. We must remember this lesson from writers 2000 years ago.
The Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Colossians
For the final epistle in the Lectionary for Year C, we once again revisit The Letter of Paul to the Colossians for a glorious passage (1:11-20) well worth reading several times aloud before you hear it on Sunday. In doing so, realize that Paul did not write this; it was authored by a follower of Paul. And it was not written during Paul's lifetime, as the views expressed show the perspective of a time that would have come several decades later.
Our approaching Sunday will end Lectionary Year C on a truly high note. Whereas this is The Last Sunday after Pentecost in the Church Year, the day is known as a Sunday of Christ the King, because of the heightened imagery in the scripture selections assigned for all three Lectionary years. In the chosen biblical words used on this final Sunday of each Lectionary Year, there is always an awareness of eternal godly power all about us. Rejoice in this awareness.
TIMELY TRANSITIONS:
If you have listened carefully to the three readings (Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel) over the last few Sundays, you may have sensed a verbal movement toward the end-of-days. Lectionary planners constructed their selections for this time in a way that helps us begin the shift toward understanding the start of God's new day. That comes with the First Sunday of Advent, near the end of every calendar year. You are getting ready to open the door to the new year of hope and holy time.
When you sit in the pew, you may observe the changes in the church seasons as mere curiosities. Actually, they have been carefully thought out and constructed to assist your travel on a journey through holy time. Visually, the long green season after Pentecost is now giving way to the royal color of purple in most parishes. We are all getting ready to spend time in preparation for the birth of a baby king at Christmas.
HISTORIC TRANSITIONS:
The "all" means most of the Christian denominations around the world. After World War II, an international human cry went up, pleading for greater unity in the Christian Church. In response, just over 50 years ago, one of the earliest steps church leaders took down this road toward unity, was to create a common presentation of Sunday scriptures to be used, connecting people on the many limbs of the tree grown from the cross of Jesus.
Now, on any given Sunday, Christians of many denominations on earth share identical Bible lessons and reflect on their meaning. And, because we join together to read the same weekly lessons from a common Lectionary, in this way, through the Holy Spirit, we have come together, united into one massed Christian spirit.
BIBLICAL TRADITIONS:
Take time to dwell on the ideas that the writer of Colossians 1:11-20 offers to us. Following the description of how we are to be blessed in our human life, we are given a description of the king that we celebrate, Christ the King. Let the thoughts trickle through your mind. Let those thoughts become like music to your ears.
The writer who penned verses 15-20 to the community at Colossae presented a majestic view of the Christ, one we can compare to the great Christmas gospel that begins John's Bible text. (1:1-18) The concepts of both, probably written in the late first century decades after the earthly Jesus, help us place the pure humanity of God in our midst. When you read and hear these words, you are gifted with a magnificent, touchable portrait of a human God, alive, active, and present for us.
Life in the final days of the long Season after Pentecost is not ending; life with God, through Jesus Christ is truly beginning once again for all of us. As we transition from today to the start of a new Advent, may we understand that, throughout Christian history, God is daily born anew in our human lives. We are eternally bound to God, because hate and fear were turned into love and peace through the cross. We must remember this lesson from writers 2000 years ago.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ November 7, 2016 The Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Thessalonians
From our sharing of information about the NT epistles, you are aware that Paul's name was attached to some letters that scholars today believe he did not write. For fun, check the titles in your Bible for II Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals (I and II Timothy and Titus), and pencil in a note to yourself that Paul was not the author, even if what is printed says he was.
Paul was actually the only writer that scholars believe dictated or penned seven of the NT texts we have today. Names of all other writers, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, became attached to these documents to give them authority and acceptance. And it worked! Early Bible compilers considered each of these texts to be worthy of inclusion, when the canon of NT scripture was defined and codified in the mid-fourth century. Those decisions are why we find these books in our Bibles today.
LITERARY BEGINNINGS:
Borrowing someone's name and fame was an accepted literary practice in the ancient world. Paul, who is credited by scholars today with writing seven NT letters, was admired, respected, and loved by the Christian communities he founded. He was recognized as the authority in fledgling Christianity, as it expanded from the Holy Land surrounding Galilee and Jerusalem. Later generations, in the larger Greco-Roman world, piggy-backed on his stature as they passed along the knowledge they needed to impart, by creating their own versions based on the legacy that Paul left to them.
In closely examining Paul's I Thessalonians (16 minutes to read aloud) and II Thessalonians (10 minutes), you will see the similarities in style to Paul, and also the differences in subject content for the evolving later local situations. Caution: do not think this adapting is bad. Times they were a-changing, just like they are today. Recognizing the reasons for the fluidity and variety addressed in subject matter means that all of the NT epistles, if read with an open mind, will provide plenty of positive fodder for our present Christian problems.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Paul’s importance and message was honored by being passed on by NT writers as two, three, and four decades went by. For thoughtful, prayerful fun centuries later, imagine yourself writing a letter in Paul's style, to solve any concerns troubling your Christian community today.
LITERARY APPLICATION:
Paul tried his best to be a problem solver from about 50 to 60 CE. Using his established letter-writing model, many later, unknown authors of NT texts followed his leadership. II Thessalonians is a prime example of that, though this author, probably writing fifty years later, had to factor in the ever-lengthening wait for the expected final return of the Christ and the Day of the Lord. As we are still caught in that pregnant pause, we can appreciate the writer's words of advice, while we recoil at his bursts of condemnation. The writer of II Thessalonians saw a dualistic world, very similar to the one many have responded to in this 2016 election. No words are minced to peg the evil-doers, and apt warnings are included to protect the faithful.
Moments like this help us realize that biblical writers could fall prey to human emotions just as we do. While we all believe that the Bible is God's book, we must remember that human beings wrote it for other human beings. In II Thessalonians, we all can find messages to which we can relate. Within the formal beginning and ending, borrowed almost identically from Paul, the reader will find a call to patience and perseverance. All of us can take that message to heart.
Rejoice! We are all living in biblical times. "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you." (II Thessalonians 3:16)
From our sharing of information about the NT epistles, you are aware that Paul's name was attached to some letters that scholars today believe he did not write. For fun, check the titles in your Bible for II Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals (I and II Timothy and Titus), and pencil in a note to yourself that Paul was not the author, even if what is printed says he was.
Paul was actually the only writer that scholars believe dictated or penned seven of the NT texts we have today. Names of all other writers, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, became attached to these documents to give them authority and acceptance. And it worked! Early Bible compilers considered each of these texts to be worthy of inclusion, when the canon of NT scripture was defined and codified in the mid-fourth century. Those decisions are why we find these books in our Bibles today.
LITERARY BEGINNINGS:
Borrowing someone's name and fame was an accepted literary practice in the ancient world. Paul, who is credited by scholars today with writing seven NT letters, was admired, respected, and loved by the Christian communities he founded. He was recognized as the authority in fledgling Christianity, as it expanded from the Holy Land surrounding Galilee and Jerusalem. Later generations, in the larger Greco-Roman world, piggy-backed on his stature as they passed along the knowledge they needed to impart, by creating their own versions based on the legacy that Paul left to them.
In closely examining Paul's I Thessalonians (16 minutes to read aloud) and II Thessalonians (10 minutes), you will see the similarities in style to Paul, and also the differences in subject content for the evolving later local situations. Caution: do not think this adapting is bad. Times they were a-changing, just like they are today. Recognizing the reasons for the fluidity and variety addressed in subject matter means that all of the NT epistles, if read with an open mind, will provide plenty of positive fodder for our present Christian problems.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Paul’s importance and message was honored by being passed on by NT writers as two, three, and four decades went by. For thoughtful, prayerful fun centuries later, imagine yourself writing a letter in Paul's style, to solve any concerns troubling your Christian community today.
LITERARY APPLICATION:
Paul tried his best to be a problem solver from about 50 to 60 CE. Using his established letter-writing model, many later, unknown authors of NT texts followed his leadership. II Thessalonians is a prime example of that, though this author, probably writing fifty years later, had to factor in the ever-lengthening wait for the expected final return of the Christ and the Day of the Lord. As we are still caught in that pregnant pause, we can appreciate the writer's words of advice, while we recoil at his bursts of condemnation. The writer of II Thessalonians saw a dualistic world, very similar to the one many have responded to in this 2016 election. No words are minced to peg the evil-doers, and apt warnings are included to protect the faithful.
Moments like this help us realize that biblical writers could fall prey to human emotions just as we do. While we all believe that the Bible is God's book, we must remember that human beings wrote it for other human beings. In II Thessalonians, we all can find messages to which we can relate. Within the formal beginning and ending, borrowed almost identically from Paul, the reader will find a call to patience and perseverance. All of us can take that message to heart.
Rejoice! We are all living in biblical times. "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you." (II Thessalonians 3:16)
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ October 31, 2016 The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Thessalonians
We share something very valuable with the writer as well as the first and later recipients of II Thessalonians. We were not present to witness Jesus Christ in his lifetime on earth. None of us can claim that seeing is believing. Our belief in Jesus Christ must come from faith, pure faith.
COMING TO BELIEF:
Though their lives in the Holy Land paralleled each other, there is no biblical evidence that Jesus and Paul ever met physically. However, through the Bible accounts we know that, after persecuting post-resurrection Jews who were trying to live The Way as followers of Jesus, Paul had a life-changing experience of the risen Christ as he traveled to Damascus. As with any miraculous moment, details of that event are elusive, but we have summary accounts in Paul's own letters and Luke's Acts of the Apostles. From that point on, Paul acted in faith, pure faith.
Paul put his faith into action. The disciples had personal contact with Jesus that strengthened their faith activities in Jerusalem and the nearby regions. Paul left those apostles to carry the good news of Jesus, as the agent of God's love, to those beyond the geographical boundaries of the Holy Land.
Paul, a Greek-speaking Roman citizen, was well equipped to introduce and spread his belief of a loving God to the greater world surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. His challenge sent him into the pagan, or Gentile world, populated with many gods of convenience, who might possibly provide a better life, if appeased. Throughout the Roman Empire, there was no basis for a concept of a reciprocal loving relationship with a single God. Paul's faith, after a time of reflection, spurred him to travel and talk about the risen Christ, the bearer of new life for all who were open to accepting God's love.
By the year 50 CE, less than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul had journeyed to the important crossroad city of Thessalonica in northern Greece. He began his work in his usual place of expected comfort, the community of Jews established there. However, among them, converts were few, and they were not always friendly; so Paul expanded his message to reach Gentiles.
Paul's connection with the community in Thessalonica resulted in his advice to them written in the earliest document of the NT, I Thessalonians. His message remained a fundamental part of the understanding of Christianity there, resulting in the follow up penning of II Thessalonians by another author two generations later.
PASSING ON BELIEF:
In II Thessalonians, the writer echoes Paul's original message, while addressing the new problems confronting the Christian community around 100 CE. Faith was being tested. We share the same concerns today, so II Thessalonians offers a direct communication that extends across 2000 years to us.
Paul expected that Jesus would soon return to his followers. The questioning of "soon" concerned the recipients of II Thessalonians, just as it is a curiosity for us to ponder centuries later. While our perspectives are different, the efforts we make to understand and handle this concept require thoughtful personal acts of faith.
Continuing today is the concern about "freeloaders" who defeat and deplete the commission to share generously that most Christians readily accept. Think about this as you read II Thessalonians 3. What is your church experience?
LIVING WITH BELIEF:
II Thessalonians spurs us to examine our own faith and what we may require, enabling us to believe. While Jesus is not with us physically, the presence of Jesus, thanks to Paul and his followers, is always with us, if we believe. What proof, if any, do you need to believe in a God of love, who loves you?
Today, lost in the preoccupation of our news media with the presidential campaign, World Series, and horrors of ISIL, is a news story about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, that forces us back to this question of faith and belief. While it provokes curiosity, it pushes us to wonder what proof is really required to believe in God's love for us, through Jesus Christ. Do we have to see to believe? What gives us faith, pure faith?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-tomb-opened-church-holy-sepulchre/
COMING TO BELIEF:
Though their lives in the Holy Land paralleled each other, there is no biblical evidence that Jesus and Paul ever met physically. However, through the Bible accounts we know that, after persecuting post-resurrection Jews who were trying to live The Way as followers of Jesus, Paul had a life-changing experience of the risen Christ as he traveled to Damascus. As with any miraculous moment, details of that event are elusive, but we have summary accounts in Paul's own letters and Luke's Acts of the Apostles. From that point on, Paul acted in faith, pure faith.
Paul put his faith into action. The disciples had personal contact with Jesus that strengthened their faith activities in Jerusalem and the nearby regions. Paul left those apostles to carry the good news of Jesus, as the agent of God's love, to those beyond the geographical boundaries of the Holy Land.
Paul, a Greek-speaking Roman citizen, was well equipped to introduce and spread his belief of a loving God to the greater world surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. His challenge sent him into the pagan, or Gentile world, populated with many gods of convenience, who might possibly provide a better life, if appeased. Throughout the Roman Empire, there was no basis for a concept of a reciprocal loving relationship with a single God. Paul's faith, after a time of reflection, spurred him to travel and talk about the risen Christ, the bearer of new life for all who were open to accepting God's love.
By the year 50 CE, less than 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul had journeyed to the important crossroad city of Thessalonica in northern Greece. He began his work in his usual place of expected comfort, the community of Jews established there. However, among them, converts were few, and they were not always friendly; so Paul expanded his message to reach Gentiles.
Paul's connection with the community in Thessalonica resulted in his advice to them written in the earliest document of the NT, I Thessalonians. His message remained a fundamental part of the understanding of Christianity there, resulting in the follow up penning of II Thessalonians by another author two generations later.
PASSING ON BELIEF:
In II Thessalonians, the writer echoes Paul's original message, while addressing the new problems confronting the Christian community around 100 CE. Faith was being tested. We share the same concerns today, so II Thessalonians offers a direct communication that extends across 2000 years to us.
Paul expected that Jesus would soon return to his followers. The questioning of "soon" concerned the recipients of II Thessalonians, just as it is a curiosity for us to ponder centuries later. While our perspectives are different, the efforts we make to understand and handle this concept require thoughtful personal acts of faith.
Continuing today is the concern about "freeloaders" who defeat and deplete the commission to share generously that most Christians readily accept. Think about this as you read II Thessalonians 3. What is your church experience?
LIVING WITH BELIEF:
II Thessalonians spurs us to examine our own faith and what we may require, enabling us to believe. While Jesus is not with us physically, the presence of Jesus, thanks to Paul and his followers, is always with us, if we believe. What proof, if any, do you need to believe in a God of love, who loves you?
Today, lost in the preoccupation of our news media with the presidential campaign, World Series, and horrors of ISIL, is a news story about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, that forces us back to this question of faith and belief. While it provokes curiosity, it pushes us to wonder what proof is really required to believe in God's love for us, through Jesus Christ. Do we have to see to believe? What gives us faith, pure faith?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-tomb-opened-church-holy-sepulchre/
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ October 24, 2016 The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Thessalonians
Welcome to Thessalonica! This is the place you need to be to truly hear the assigned epistle next Sunday in the Year C Lectionary. Fly now to Greece and this important ancient city via the time-spanning, electronic magic carpet of Google Earth*.
Today, as in NT times, Thessalonica, by virtue of its geographical location, has importance as a connection for land and sea travel. A vital way-station on the Via Egnatia, Thessalonica was a most important cross road linking far-flung Roman Empire cities in biblical times.
THESSALONIAN CORRESPONDENCE PART I:
Thessalonica, because of its critical location, became home to one of the earliest Christian communities outside the Holy Land. About 50 CE, Paul followed up his visit there with a letter reflecting current Christian community concerns. Scholars agree that I Thessalonians, the earliest text in the NT, is a genuine letter authored by Paul.
In most Bibles we use, the something-we-take-for-granted table of contents can reveal plenty of trivia about Paul’s I Thessalonians. It is the 13th NT book listed, the 8th NT book that scholars across history have attributed to Paul (including the non-Pauline Ephesians and Colossians), and the 6th of the seven NT books actually written by Paul. Today, a growing number of scholars think that if all NT contents were listed in chronological order, I Thessalonians would be 1st and II Thessalonians would probably be 22nd out of 27 books; and that decades passed between the writing of the two letters now placed together in the table of contents.
Confused? As our Bible developed, compilers gave the biographies of Jesus first place in the NT, as that is where the story begins. This placement caused readers across centuries to erroneously assume that the gospels must have been written first. In believing this idea about the gospels, poorly informed conclusions about the evolution of the Christian church were made, based upon the scripture arrangement.
Remember, Paul wrote I Thessalonians almost like a problem-solving email to good friends he knew well from his travels. You may wish to reread I Thessalonians (16 minutes aloud) to get a feel for the concerns of this birthing time in Christian communities.
THESSALONIAN CORRESPONDENCE PART II:
On top of the factors already described, add more biblical minutiae. Though the table of contents title in most Bibles says that Paul wrote II Thessalonians, he really did not. In fact, scholars believe that the text content suggests that it was probably written about 50 years after I Thessalonians, and therefore, after Paul's life, but by a follower who learned from and admired Paul.
What confuses some Bible readers is the similarity of expressions used in both epistles. This actually is an unexpected example of 1st century plagiarism. Knowing this fact does not mean II Thessalonians is not valid scripture. It only means that in studying this later work, it should be examined for its special uniqueness; because from Paul or not, it is the word of God.
As you think about and compare the content of I and II Thessalonians, value the fact that you are being given an insight into the way that the Christian communities evolved in their first 100 years. Receivers of II Thessalonians about 100 CE would have taken comfort in the reiteration of Paul's original words, as they sought to cope with the current difficulties they faced. Understanding this dynamic today gives us a better perspective of the place and power of this text.
THESSALONIAN CORRESPONDENCE DIVISIONS:
By being aware of this writing duality in II Thessalonians, you see the actual skill of the author who is not Paul, but is truly a follower of Paul. And you see the committed continuation of Paul's challenging mission to offer verbal support for problems urgently attacking the peace of the community.
II Thessalonians is short; it takes ten minutes to read aloud. Knowing about the 50-year time separation, your mind will help you see the unique importance of both examples of Thessalonian correspondence. Thanks to Google Earth, you can set yourself in Thessalonica. Read, and consider how the local challenges of the first century continue to be part of the Christian experience today.
The first Year C Sunday Lectionary reading from II Thessalonians is 1:1-4, 11-12. The writer's gift of loving support recurs throughout the epistle. When positive words frame Christian messages, recipients become open and empowered to continue and expand the work of God in the world. Welcome to Thessalonica!
*Download FREE Google Earth or the Google Earth app in I-Tunes and search for Thessaloniki
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ October 17, 2016 The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Timothy
As we get ready to close the book on II Timothy with the Year C Lectionary reading next Sunday, read aloud this short Bible text one final time. By now you have begun to connect with the world at the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century CE. Though the trappings were different, Christians then faced some of the same mental, emotional, and spirit-seeking problems we do today. Watch for the similarities and advice in this last rereading. You will be amazed at how the writer of II Timothy seems to race past centuries and talk directly to us about our time.
TIMELY ADVICE:
Here, lifted off the NRSV Bible pages, are some special verses to pause and reflect upon. They are tiny snippets gleaned from the total message this writer, who us trying to make sure Timothy understood and internalized the second letter addressed to him. Even excised from the whole, these fragments are worthy of productive thought. Lifted over the centuries, they are evidence that this letter is addressed to you.
- "...for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and love and of self-discipline." (1:7)
- "Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us." (1:14)
- "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things." (2:7)
- "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth." (2:15)
- "Shun youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2:22)
- "Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (3:12)
- "As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully." (4:5)
As we prepare to set aside the correspondence to Timothy, it is important to consider the finality that is indicated in this writer's thoughts. The author of II Timothy, adopting the persona of Paul near the end of his life in Rome, causes the Christian reader then in Ephesus, as well as Christian readers over the centuries, to reflect upon personal end times. By living the Christian life well today, the future has already been guaranteed by the "Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." (1:2)
To make sure that the readers in the early Christian world understood the explanation directed to Timothy, the writer used the language of the athletic games that were an active part in the lives of those living in the Greco-Roman world. References to competitions are sprinkled throughout the NT, just as sports metaphors are common in our speech today. In speaking to Timothy, the writer may be accused of connecting sports and Christian imagery to make a point. Instead of having these two portions of human interest competing against each other, the secular activity is used to explain the sacred.
- "And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules." (2:5)
- "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (4:7)
By accepting the advice given to Timothy as valid for us; and by freely following, as Christians together, the guidance of righteous rules, we are assured that God will reward us. Are you living and preparing to receive your crown?
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ October 10, 2016 The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Timothy
Having four weeks to talk about the short text of II Timothy provides an opportunity for shared ideas on ways that people look at and accept the Bible. In addition to talking about scriptural approaches such as literal and realist, there is a third description to consider...inerrant. Used for the Bible, inerrant simply means that it is never wrong.
SCRIPTURE & SPIRIT:
The power of the Bible comes from being perceived as being divinely inspired. In worship it is displayed and read with reverence. Personal copies are treasured. Even Bibles passed down through family generations have favored locations in homes, though sadly, sometimes, as an impressive, but unread, household decoration.
Because the Bible cannot be internalized through osmosis, the purpose of the WDRG Study is to nudge you to read the holy texts, completely, and aloud. (Fully reading II Timothy will take you about 17 minutes.) This way, instead of hearing only lectionary fragments during Sunday worship, the words of scripture in each individual book can be seen as a contextual whole.
The third of the four Sunday Year C snippets from II Timothy (3:14-4:5) has an oft-used, though out-of-context reading as a proof text about the value of the Bible in verses 3:16-17. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (NRSV)
SCRIPTURE & ORIGINS:
The importance that the writer of II Timothy gives to scripture may seem obvious to everyone. But what scripture is this author actually talking about?
When our Christian Bible was being assembled during the 100 years in the late first and early second CE centuries, the NT, as we know it, did not exist. And the OT, as we know it in Bibles now translated into English, was barely being put together to form what scholars now call the Hebrew canon, or Masoretic text. Thus, the writer of II Timothy, and all the other NT authors, had no inkling about what we call Bible scriptures today.
The Jewish scriptures known by Jesus and all the NT writers, including the II Timothy author, were the scrolls of the Greek Septuagint. Not many Bible readers today are aware of this fact, although it adds such richness to the evolution of the Bible that you own, use, and revere.
SCRIPTURE & BACKGROUND:
The saga of the Septuagint is fascinating. It begins in ancient times, when Alexander the Great spread Hellenistic influence across a vast expanse of the world, radiating out from the Mediterranean Sea. This conquerer's name became attached to the dynamic Nile Delta port on the northern coast of Egypt. Alexandria was a prosperous trading metropolis, attracting hordes of various people from across the vast, Greek-speaking, commercial economy.
By the mid-third century BCE, a colony of about 20,000 Jewish immigrants, originally from Palestine, had become so well integrated into life in Alexandria, that the remembrance of their Hebrew language and century-old traditions were fading. To this city, home to the greatest library existing in the ancient world, the Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-246 BCE) imported learned experts from Jerusalem to translate the Jewish holy scriptures from Hebrew into Greek. This massive effort to organize and translate the best authoritative Hebrew scrolls into Greek is known as the Septuagint, because legend says 70 scholars accomplished this miraculous feat in 70 days.
SCRIPTURE & USE:
Over the next few centuries, with the international language of Greek uniting the peoples throughout the Greco-Roman world, hand-copies of the Septuagint spread to far-flung communities of Jews, even including those living in the Holy Land. There, Jesus read from the Septuagint; and all the NT writers knew and quoted from the Septuagint. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Greek Septuagint, in an unusual reverse translation, formed the basis for the Hebrew scrolls collected into a canon to guarantee preservation of Jewish scripture.
The OT of English Bible translations in use today comes from Latin translations, via the Hebrew and Greek translations of the original ancient OT Hebrew. The inerrancy of our scriptures comes when we understand, following the advice given to II Timothy, that we truly belong to God. We have that glorious message, because people of spirit sent it, over two millennia, on an amazing journey to us.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ October 3, 2016 The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Timothy
Multiple readings aloud of II Timothy will cause you to marvel at how the author of this epistle is determined to lay out a case for being true to God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the suffering witness of Paul and other earlier acceptors of Christianity. There is great intensity here.
READING FOR HEARING:
Remember as you read, we have no true knowledge of the existing problem situations that set in motion a need for advice in the seven NT letters that scholars believe were authentically written by Paul. We can only guess at what was happening.
While this lack of information may confound a biblical literalist, it opens the door to deep understanding for a biblical realist. In II Timothy, all of us are given the opportunity to let our imaginations soar. In doing so, since we are all made in the image of God, we are given an ever-widening understanding of our role as living descendants of these early Christians, our ancestors in changing mere data into comforting love.
READING FOR UNDERSTANDING:
Little is known about the compositional origin of II Timothy, though some Bible commentators may try to convince you otherwise. Plenty of books and Bible study groups are based on the assumption that precise facts are known about this short epistle.
To suggest a way into the mind of the author of this NT epistle, try envisioning yourself as the writer of a play. The important message you want to impart must be received, understood, and lived. Give the people in your script a sprinkling of the names of well-known Christian exemplars. Speak in the first person, assuming the lead role of Paul, the original, primary dispenser of information about Jesus Christ. You know that, as a Christian, you must speak with a voice of strength, wisdom, and love. This mindset occupied the author of II Timothy. Accept permission to move into his thought pattern, trying to make the text of this really serious Bible letter both fun to read and easy to understand.
READING FOR THE AUTHOR'S PERSPECTIVE:
One thing is certain about II Timothy: It has advice from a mature, experienced, and wise person directed to a younger follower still caught in the formative phase of life. Biological age is not important here. Spiritual comprehension and personal dedication to Christ Jesus are the goal. Even across centuries, the words spoken to Timothy can serve as good guides for staying on track with all our individual religious journeys today.
When one reads the authentic NT letters of Paul, they are filled with an urgency of coming end-times. In the first generation after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the second coming and the full arrival of God's kingdom was expected at any minute. Paul lived with Christian communities, who were waiting, waiting, waiting.
By the time II Timothy was penned two generations later, this urgency had been been repositioned into the true human unknown of eternal time. That is still where we are 2000 years later. We live in the eternal now. God is living with us.
READING FOR OUR PERSONAL HEARING:
The writer of II Timothy is speaking directly to us, and we are not to waste time receiving his message. Like this author and Timothy himself, we have a lifetime of work to do. In the assigned reading for the coming Sunday, II Timothy 2:8-15 makes this urgency abundantly clear.
While Bible readers in 2016 may have difficulty relating to situations described 2000 years ago, details incorporated in this text will provide delightful, concrete tidbits. Let your imagination linger over them. The verses of II Timothy 2:20-26 are especially rich with possibilities.
Though the somewhat choppy, complex style of II Timothy does not make for easy reading, it is never boring and is always worthwhile for the effort of our modern mind. So, pretend you are Timothy, the designated recipient of this NT letter, and read it with zest. It is filled with good news. "But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this inscription: 'The Lord knows those who are his.' (2:19a) What a safe, secure place for all of us to be, for now and all eternity.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ September 26, 2016 The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ II Timothy
How I and II Timothy are perceived depends on the viewpoint one takes about Bible books and their authors. Are you a biblical literalist or a biblical realist? Is the way you interpret the Bible open or closed? You decide.
LETTERS THAT ARE PASTORAL:
NT scholars agree that I and II Timothy were probably written by the same author. As we move onto the second of what are called "Pastoral Epistles," plan to spend 17 minutes reading II Timothy aloud. This letter really fits the caring description expected of a pastoral shepherd. While authoritative, II Timothy is a kinder and gentler text than I Timothy. The advice it gives was sure to have had a better reception with its original hearers, as it is more personable in its expression.
Once again, Paul did not write II Timothy, though centuries of use have ascribed it to him. The situations this epistle addresses certainly came into being in Christian communities decades after Paul's life. Identifying Paul as author was a sure guarantee that the text would be taken seriously by recipients, when it was written, and ultimately by the decision-makers assembling the Christian Bible over a century later, that we call the NT.
"Pastoral" is a proper word to describe I and II Timothy as well as Titus, because they carry information to be used by leaders of Christian communities about 100 years after the life of Jesus. These local persons, charged with shepherding flocks in the process we now call Christian Formation, were being given advice like a seminary graduate today might find in an alumnae newsletter. Read these three NT books with that relationship in mind, rather than as a group of formal biblical-doctrine treatises.
LETTERS THAT PROVIDE A ROLE MODEL:
Because the author of the Pastoral Epistles assumes the hierarchical role of the historical Paul, II Timothy was created to portray Paul as actually writing these words. Look beyond that approach to realize that these letters were written by an unnamed mentor to a person named Timothy, who is being encouraged, with love, to be true to the lessons entrusted to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The letter writer cautions about the difficulty that may come from sharing with others the details about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. In II Timothy 2:8-15, strengthening words are spoken to spur proper leadership action.
LETTERS THAT OFFER GUIDANCE FOR TODAY:
Do not let your multiple reading aloud of II Timothy make you into a biblical literalist who bogs down in the details of names, places, and possible relationships. Instead, let the evident human touch tip you off to something that only a biblical realist may conclude. II Timothy and the other two Pastoral Epistles were not written just for folk practicing community leadership in early Christian times. They span centuries, to touch and impact our lives today.
Think about the people and cliques that caused misunderstandings and friction within the group Timothy was charged to lead. Do you see them around you within the Christian groups you observe or are part of? Though the language in II Timothy is not as sharp as that of I Timothy, both suggest that all was not peaceful and perfect within every gathering of Christians. II Timothy 3:1-8 informs us of the situation. Though we live 2000 years later, this writer’s advice is equally descriptive and valuable today.
So, as you listen this October to the four selections from II Timothy that are included in Lectionary Year C, consciously lift these Bible words across centuries to impact life in your church congregation today. God empowers us all to be leaders, and even ordained clergy need mentoring members who gently, prayerfully, and lovingly assist them in making the words of II Timothy have meaning in parishes today. Paul, and the author pretending to be Paul, set in motion what you can help accomplish today. Are you ready for action?
How I and II Timothy are perceived depends on the viewpoint one takes about Bible books and their authors. Are you a biblical literalist or a biblical realist? Is the way you interpret the Bible open or closed? You decide.
LETTERS THAT ARE PASTORAL:
NT scholars agree that I and II Timothy were probably written by the same author. As we move onto the second of what are called "Pastoral Epistles," plan to spend 17 minutes reading II Timothy aloud. This letter really fits the caring description expected of a pastoral shepherd. While authoritative, II Timothy is a kinder and gentler text than I Timothy. The advice it gives was sure to have had a better reception with its original hearers, as it is more personable in its expression.
Once again, Paul did not write II Timothy, though centuries of use have ascribed it to him. The situations this epistle addresses certainly came into being in Christian communities decades after Paul's life. Identifying Paul as author was a sure guarantee that the text would be taken seriously by recipients, when it was written, and ultimately by the decision-makers assembling the Christian Bible over a century later, that we call the NT.
"Pastoral" is a proper word to describe I and II Timothy as well as Titus, because they carry information to be used by leaders of Christian communities about 100 years after the life of Jesus. These local persons, charged with shepherding flocks in the process we now call Christian Formation, were being given advice like a seminary graduate today might find in an alumnae newsletter. Read these three NT books with that relationship in mind, rather than as a group of formal biblical-doctrine treatises.
LETTERS THAT PROVIDE A ROLE MODEL:
Because the author of the Pastoral Epistles assumes the hierarchical role of the historical Paul, II Timothy was created to portray Paul as actually writing these words. Look beyond that approach to realize that these letters were written by an unnamed mentor to a person named Timothy, who is being encouraged, with love, to be true to the lessons entrusted to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The letter writer cautions about the difficulty that may come from sharing with others the details about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. In II Timothy 2:8-15, strengthening words are spoken to spur proper leadership action.
LETTERS THAT OFFER GUIDANCE FOR TODAY:
Do not let your multiple reading aloud of II Timothy make you into a biblical literalist who bogs down in the details of names, places, and possible relationships. Instead, let the evident human touch tip you off to something that only a biblical realist may conclude. II Timothy and the other two Pastoral Epistles were not written just for folk practicing community leadership in early Christian times. They span centuries, to touch and impact our lives today.
Think about the people and cliques that caused misunderstandings and friction within the group Timothy was charged to lead. Do you see them around you within the Christian groups you observe or are part of? Though the language in II Timothy is not as sharp as that of I Timothy, both suggest that all was not peaceful and perfect within every gathering of Christians. II Timothy 3:1-8 informs us of the situation. Though we live 2000 years later, this writer’s advice is equally descriptive and valuable today.
So, as you listen this October to the four selections from II Timothy that are included in Lectionary Year C, consciously lift these Bible words across centuries to impact life in your church congregation today. God empowers us all to be leaders, and even ordained clergy need mentoring members who gently, prayerfully, and lovingly assist them in making the words of II Timothy have meaning in parishes today. Paul, and the author pretending to be Paul, set in motion what you can help accomplish today. Are you ready for action?
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ September 19, 2016 The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ I Timothy
Having picked apart some of the pieces of what our English translation Bibles, from the KJV of 1611 to today, have called the First Letter of Paul to Timothy, in your last reading of the text this week, you have a tremendous opportunity to reflect on the complexity of writing a work like this in about 100 CE. Why? Because it becomes obvious, that its thoughts are disorganized. I Timothy needed the involvement of a good editor. Rather than taking this disorganization as a negative, however, use it as a positive way to consider just how works like I Timothy would have evolved in the ancient world.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS ORIGINATED:
The process went like this: Thoughts first would have been incised with a stylus into wax melted onto the top of a block of wood. Owners of this ancient-world notepad could gain a new writing surface anytime merely by melting the wax.
Content from notes then could be transferred into letter symbols permanently inked onto the textured surface of a prepared sheet of papyrus. This preferred paper of the ancient world was made from recomposed stems of papyrus plants. The sturdy result meant that, even centuries later, we are fortunate to have examples of papyri found in the dry climates of the eastern Mediterranean areas where Christianity was spreading. Contemporary survivors include the collection of Dead Sea Scrolls. Nevertheless, few ancient papyri exist today; none are examples of I Timothy.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS WERE COMPILED:
About 100 CE, when I Timothy was probably written, the individual papyrus sheets, traditionally adhered together to form a long-length document that could be rolled into a scroll, instead began to be organized into a new book-like form called a codex. Preferred by early Christians, this new method created a contrast that set Jewish scripture collections apart from those being assembled by Christians.
Considering the challenging technical process involved in producing NT documents, it is amazing that any of them ever came into being or survived for centuries. When their words first were written down, there was not any awareness by the authors that their thoughts would be important enough to be preserved for 2000 years and then read in the 21st Century.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS DIFFER:
Knowing the NT creation process helps us understand why I Timothy seems to have a choppy flow, when the entire text is read as a single unit. All writing in the first century was tedious. Physically getting thoughts down was challenging, even for a professional scribe. Creating a smooth continuity of ideas was elusive, although the author of I Timothy determinedly tried. The bits and pieces in the content of I Timothy enable us to realize that all Bible texts do not carry an equal message of quality.
I Timothy also allows us to contrast its style with the main Sunday scripture used through Lectionary Year C. The writer of the Gospel of Luke should be considered a communications star, because this lengthy text has an overall connecting scheme. Plan to set aside 3 hours and 40 minutes to read Luke’s gospel aloud, in full. This text gathers a variety of in-depth accounts under an arc from which the author never strays. The glory you will find in the Gospel of Luke will change your life.
Now that you are familiar with I Timothy, rejoice in its limited-content value. It contains some quotable verses and offers a window into the life of Christian communities, when they were searching for what would make them relevant in 100 CE. However, the best lesson to learn from I Timothy is that all Bible books are not equal. Our Bible is really a compact, hand-held library to be read and pondered. So venture on and make Bible reading a constant in your life. The Holy Spirit is waiting for you to open the book cover and begin reading the Word of God.
Having picked apart some of the pieces of what our English translation Bibles, from the KJV of 1611 to today, have called the First Letter of Paul to Timothy, in your last reading of the text this week, you have a tremendous opportunity to reflect on the complexity of writing a work like this in about 100 CE. Why? Because it becomes obvious, that its thoughts are disorganized. I Timothy needed the involvement of a good editor. Rather than taking this disorganization as a negative, however, use it as a positive way to consider just how works like I Timothy would have evolved in the ancient world.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS ORIGINATED:
The process went like this: Thoughts first would have been incised with a stylus into wax melted onto the top of a block of wood. Owners of this ancient-world notepad could gain a new writing surface anytime merely by melting the wax.
Content from notes then could be transferred into letter symbols permanently inked onto the textured surface of a prepared sheet of papyrus. This preferred paper of the ancient world was made from recomposed stems of papyrus plants. The sturdy result meant that, even centuries later, we are fortunate to have examples of papyri found in the dry climates of the eastern Mediterranean areas where Christianity was spreading. Contemporary survivors include the collection of Dead Sea Scrolls. Nevertheless, few ancient papyri exist today; none are examples of I Timothy.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS WERE COMPILED:
About 100 CE, when I Timothy was probably written, the individual papyrus sheets, traditionally adhered together to form a long-length document that could be rolled into a scroll, instead began to be organized into a new book-like form called a codex. Preferred by early Christians, this new method created a contrast that set Jewish scripture collections apart from those being assembled by Christians.
Considering the challenging technical process involved in producing NT documents, it is amazing that any of them ever came into being or survived for centuries. When their words first were written down, there was not any awareness by the authors that their thoughts would be important enough to be preserved for 2000 years and then read in the 21st Century.
HOW BIBLE TEXTS DIFFER:
Knowing the NT creation process helps us understand why I Timothy seems to have a choppy flow, when the entire text is read as a single unit. All writing in the first century was tedious. Physically getting thoughts down was challenging, even for a professional scribe. Creating a smooth continuity of ideas was elusive, although the author of I Timothy determinedly tried. The bits and pieces in the content of I Timothy enable us to realize that all Bible texts do not carry an equal message of quality.
I Timothy also allows us to contrast its style with the main Sunday scripture used through Lectionary Year C. The writer of the Gospel of Luke should be considered a communications star, because this lengthy text has an overall connecting scheme. Plan to set aside 3 hours and 40 minutes to read Luke’s gospel aloud, in full. This text gathers a variety of in-depth accounts under an arc from which the author never strays. The glory you will find in the Gospel of Luke will change your life.
Now that you are familiar with I Timothy, rejoice in its limited-content value. It contains some quotable verses and offers a window into the life of Christian communities, when they were searching for what would make them relevant in 100 CE. However, the best lesson to learn from I Timothy is that all Bible books are not equal. Our Bible is really a compact, hand-held library to be read and pondered. So venture on and make Bible reading a constant in your life. The Holy Spirit is waiting for you to open the book cover and begin reading the Word of God.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ September 12, 2016 The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ I Timothy
Reading all of I Timothy aloud multiple times, in the 22 minutes required, reveals many things unexpected. This text is crammed with quotable phrases that have been carefully borrowed and utilized by Christians over the centuries. And I Timothy’s comments about women are some of the strangest, most hierarchical and judgmental found in the NT.
What do passages about women in a document written about 100 CE have to do with us living today? We think, surely times are different, but are they really?
WOMEN IN TIMOTHY’S TIME:
In 100 CE, life for everyone in Roman Empire locations where Christian communities existed, was structured in a top-down way. This was such a man's world that, with very few exceptions. I Timothy is, in passages, almost a macho-male manifesto. Within the Roman sphere, male dominance was seen as essential for smooth, secular compliance, guaranteeing peace, prosperity and stability. Every person accepted that authoritative males in charge of their world knew what was best for all.
To the writer of I Timothy, women were definitely inferior to men. This part of the text nullifies Paul's teachings, a good reason to conclude that Paul was not the author of I Timothy. In Paul’s seven authentic letters, all believers in and under Christ Jesus receive the same abundant love from God. All humans are equal. That good news is not what this letter writer tells Timothy.
I Timothy has some interesting comments about women: 2:8-15; 3:4; 3:11-12; 5:1-16. Obviously this letter to Timothy is for guys’ eyes only, as the recipient is referred to as a “man of God” in 6:11. Timothy is told that the men who were the leaders of Christian communities must put women in a subordinate place. Women are not to display wealth in dress or ornament. They are to show reverence to God, “be serious, not slanders, but temperate, faithful in all things.” (3:11) This is a man-centric mandate.
Most difficult for me, as writer of the WDRG Study, are these words, “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” (2:11-12)
Attacks on women as deceivers and liars become especially bizarre in the words to Timothy on widowhood. Whatever happened to the message, in both the gospels and Paul’s epistles, about the responsibility of the whole Christian community to care for widows and children? In I Timothy, judgement of women nullifies the forgiveness and grace of God, brought to all through Jesus Christ, as preached by Paul.
WOMEN IN TODAY’S TIME:
For 2000 years, the roles women play have been evolving. In our country, the secular Equal Rights Amendment to our Constitution failed to become law in 1982, because only 35 of the required 37 states ratified it. Thankfully, other advances have made women less objectively submissive to male domination. Giving credit where credit is due, women can now share joint ownership of property with male spouses, where formerly they were denied that right, even in community-property states. Still, there is much to be prayerfully done to make us all equal on earth, as we are in the eyes of God.
Read these unusual portions of I Timothy as expressions of determined, controlling, wishful thinking of one biblical author in one NT letter. For us, this is jarring scripture; for Timothy, these passages contain an ideology masked as Christian. Thankfully, as Episcopalians, we’ve experienced that a woman’s place can be heading the House of Bishops, something this writer and Timothy could never have envisioned.
You will find it helpful to remember that, when I Timothy was written in 100 CE, the only scriptures in use by Christian communities were Jewish scroll collections of either Septuagint Greek or post-Temple Hebrew. As we know it, the NT did not exist, though it was in the earliest formative stage. Our Bible contains God’s wisdom of the ages, and to understand and live its meaning, we must uncover its origins.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ September 5, 2016 The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ I Timothy
For the rest of Lectionary Year C, we hope to understand the situation faced by the youthful Christian groups sprouting up and multiplying in the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea. In examining the challenges in each of these communities, do think of them in a fluid state. Consider that they may be struggling with internal growth pangs, like those of humans as they transition from adolescent to adult.
PEOPLE & TIME:
The title traditionally assigned to our reading this week, the First Letter of Paul to Timothy, is misleading and misunderstood. Biblical literalists, who assume "if it is in print it must be true," instantly miss basic facts about the heading of this interesting text.
Because of the content and the qualities of the Greek language used, almost all scholars of scripture agree that Paul did not write Timothy. They do acknowledge the debt to Paul: Without him there would be no audience for this epistle. Paul's work in founding Christian communities had been impressively successful. His labors produced a ripple effect that multiplied the numbers of Christians in the immediately succeeding generations.
In addition, the name "Timothy" almost certainly cannot be ascribed to a specific person, even the Timothy who is said to have accompanied Paul in his efforts. Very few names in the Bible can be properly used to identify a definite person. Across the Greek-speaking world, the names Paul, Timothy, and most others within Bible texts, were common names born by many people. So don't fall prey to looking at folk in the NT as being the only ones with those popular given names. Think instead how many people named Paul and Timothy you know 2000 years later, as both remain popular given names today.
The subject matter in I Timothy speaks to concerns evolving for Christians several generations past Paul. This text was probably first penned about the year 100 CE. Dropping the names of Paul and Timothy in the first two verses was a sure bet to give apostolic authority to the importance of this letter.
PERSONAL & PASTORAL:
The writer's style, as if speaking directly to the recipient, provides a sense of intimacy, giving this text a critical power. This technique is used to lure the hearer into a solid connection with the author. In this letter, familiarity is meant to build confidence, authority, and commitment to the principles stated.
Keep all of this in mind as you spend 22 minutes reading I Timothy aloud. Watch for contrasts like Paul's personal appeal to Philemon, the splendid language of Hebrews, and the Christian first-grade primer contained in Galatians. Since Pentecost, our study has offered us samples of texts that are lumped together with the generic description "letter." We've been blessed to have this differing variety of NT texts to examine before hearing their use in the Sunday Lectionary readings.
I Timothy is generally added to II Timothy and Titus into a collection called the Pastoral Letters. The bundling of similar content found in these three texts, provides guidance about community organization, governance, and cooperation. The presumed dating, a half century or so after Paul's work, recognizes the developing need to set up the maturing structure required for continued, sustained future growth. Addressed by name, Timothy and Titus are given management instructions for the groups they lead.
INSTRUCTIONS & ORDER:
In reading I Timothy, open your mind to the guidance given by the writer. This example of pulling individuals into a cooperative, cohesive group, shows us ways we may want to bring to our home parishes today. Consider that the first layer of Christian growth in Paul's time was generally aimed at individual commitment. In contrast, the Pastoral Epistles explain the challenges to be overcome in bringing individuals into one community, building strength through unity. After reading I Timothy, pause to ask, "Do these Bible words have meaning in church life today?"
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ Aug. 29 2016 The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Philemon
The Lectionary C epistle for the coming Sunday gives us a unique opportunity to look at how we use words, and how their meaning changes, with new translations of the Bible, across the centuries. The NT was written in Greek, translated into Latin, and retranslated into a myriad of other languages used by people throughout the world. English translations, alone, are many in number and reflect the time and place where they were made.
No original of any part of the NT exists. The oldest authenticated documents extant today are mere fragments that have survived from early copies of even earlier copies of the original writings. There is no one, true, master text existing for any part of the NT.
PHILEMON VIA TRANSLATION:
Your timing this week allows you to double your pleasure in reading Philemon. It is the only personal letter in the NT and takes only five minutes to read through once, aloud. Plan to do that twice this week, but use two different English translations, so you can discover the complexities of word meanings that come about in creating translations.
Start with reading Philemon aloud from the King James Version of the Bible. The KJV is known as the Authorized Version, because an actual act of Parliament made it the official Bible in England in 1611. World renowned for the beauty of its language, earlier, preliminary working editions of the KJV inspired the work of Shakespeare. Here you will find the elegant and learned hierarchical court language of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I of England. Enjoy! How comfortable are you in truly understanding the vagaries of a 400 year old translation today? Then ask yourself how you would re-translate this text version for an English-speaking world today.
Follow the KJV with your reading of Philemon aloud from one of the many available translations into English of the NT done in the last 50 years. Among the many NT translations on my bookshelf, my go-to pick is the New Revised Standard of the Bible or NRSV, copyrighted in 1989, in the format presented by Marcus J. Borg in his 2012 Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written.
Now that you have spotted word changes, you have probably, also, increased your vocabulary’s depth of meaning. Philemon makes this especially easy-to-do, as the personal nature of this letter contains almost everyday observations, filled with hidden, subtle meanings. Since Philemon is so short, have fun reading and rereading it to uncover the fine details it holds.
PHILEMON VIA PEOPLE:
To understand the basic meaning in Philemon, three important persons must be identified. First is Paul, who actually wrote this personal letter. Paul is responsible for Philemon's acceptance of Christianity.
In Paul's mind, Philemon probably followed the leadership custom, as head of an important household, by encompassing all of his family and servants, including slaves, as part of his conversion. Under Roman Law, in the middle of the first century CE, human beings would comprise the main portion of Philemon's actual physical property.
Religious conversion, unlike the Episcopal Confirmation we know today, was purely an individual decision by the one holding power in a household. Onesimus, a slave, did not, and could not, make a personal choice. Circumstances changed for Onesimus, when he had an unanticipated prison contact with Paul. For Onesimus, thanks to Philemon, he was nominally a Christian; thanks to Paul, he became fully a Christian.
PHILEMON VIA CONTENT:
In his personal letter to Philemon, Paul tries to explain to the "boss" that having a slave does not change the "job description" of household responsibilities for either of them. What has changed is that, as Christians, God gives equal human value to every single individual. In God's view, Philemon, Onesimus, Paul, and all of us, even 2000 years later, are to treat ourselves and each other with compassion, care, and love.
Paul stresses this point even stronger, by intimating that Philemon can substitute Paul himself for Onesimus. In this short, very personal letter from Paul, we are given a teaching that should cause us all to consciously think about how we treat one another. In Christianity, we are all one. Thanks to Paul’s personal letter to Philemon, we are reminded that we are to rejoice in one another.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ August 22, 2016 The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Hebrews
As we prepare to close the book on the Letter to the Hebrews, along with much last-minute wisdom, come two really important quotations to reflect on. It will take you less than five minutes to read Hebrews 13 aloud. Enjoy it, for the writer is speaking to an unknown audience 2000 years ago, and, most importantly, directly to you in the 21st century.
HOSPITALITY IN HEBREWS:
While Hebrews 13:2 has been a quotation bandied about over the centuries, concerning showing hospitality, does it really have a meaning for you? What do you think it really means? Take time to ponder this, and how it applies to you in your life.
This is a Bible quote that has been embedded in my brain for many years. My family name, “Aniol,” comes from my father’s Polish heritage and means “angel.” Therefore, I take this verse very seriously; because, as a human being, sometimes I have been welcomed with warmest hospitality, sometimes rejected, as I offered my God-given gifts. However, with my biblical surname, I always understand this line of text in a very personal way. May I suggest that you try on the idea of sensing it in this same direct way. After all, you are saints, holy people made in the image of God, who are called to be the angels that are God’s messengers.
HOSPITALITY IN CHURCHES TODAY:
So how do you interact with others? How do those who worship and serve with you, in your church, react and respond to strangers? And who is actually the stranger?
Verse 1, as it sets up the paragraph, gives us a clue not to be missed. We, all of us, are to “let mutual love continue.” The presumption here is that none of us is ever truly a stranger to ourselves or others, as God’s love has already bound each of us together. Our job is to recognize and accept God’s expansive and binding love and to let it flow unhampered, outward, to all we encounter. We are to freely share God’s love, so it may grow to totally encompass others. All whom we meet and greet are to be embraced, becoming part of the completeness of God’s gift of love. None of us is truly a stranger. However, if we fail to recognize the importance of encountering a stranger with hospitality, we may fall into the trap of believing that we, ourselves, are alone this world.
Imagine, in your heart, what it means to entertain an angel. Be aware; and do not miss the opportunity to share, even with total strangers, the love of God that you feel. In doing so, you, too, will become an angel. Remember, angels are messengers from God. And an angel is the most important earthly role you can play.
HOSPITALITY IN PERSONAL COMPLETENESS:
Hebrews 13:20-21 is referred to as the benediction for this text. Benediction in Latin merely means “good spoken thoughts.” These two verses sum up all that the writer of Hebrews has expressed in this eloquent book. Through Jesus Christ, we are created to be “complete in everything good.” And our role, as the angels we now know we all are, is to do God’s will, as it works in us. This is a lovely ending for an inspiring book. Amen.
As we prepare to close the book on the Letter to the Hebrews, along with much last-minute wisdom, come two really important quotations to reflect on. It will take you less than five minutes to read Hebrews 13 aloud. Enjoy it, for the writer is speaking to an unknown audience 2000 years ago, and, most importantly, directly to you in the 21st century.
HOSPITALITY IN HEBREWS:
While Hebrews 13:2 has been a quotation bandied about over the centuries, concerning showing hospitality, does it really have a meaning for you? What do you think it really means? Take time to ponder this, and how it applies to you in your life.
This is a Bible quote that has been embedded in my brain for many years. My family name, “Aniol,” comes from my father’s Polish heritage and means “angel.” Therefore, I take this verse very seriously; because, as a human being, sometimes I have been welcomed with warmest hospitality, sometimes rejected, as I offered my God-given gifts. However, with my biblical surname, I always understand this line of text in a very personal way. May I suggest that you try on the idea of sensing it in this same direct way. After all, you are saints, holy people made in the image of God, who are called to be the angels that are God’s messengers.
HOSPITALITY IN CHURCHES TODAY:
So how do you interact with others? How do those who worship and serve with you, in your church, react and respond to strangers? And who is actually the stranger?
Verse 1, as it sets up the paragraph, gives us a clue not to be missed. We, all of us, are to “let mutual love continue.” The presumption here is that none of us is ever truly a stranger to ourselves or others, as God’s love has already bound each of us together. Our job is to recognize and accept God’s expansive and binding love and to let it flow unhampered, outward, to all we encounter. We are to freely share God’s love, so it may grow to totally encompass others. All whom we meet and greet are to be embraced, becoming part of the completeness of God’s gift of love. None of us is truly a stranger. However, if we fail to recognize the importance of encountering a stranger with hospitality, we may fall into the trap of believing that we, ourselves, are alone this world.
Imagine, in your heart, what it means to entertain an angel. Be aware; and do not miss the opportunity to share, even with total strangers, the love of God that you feel. In doing so, you, too, will become an angel. Remember, angels are messengers from God. And an angel is the most important earthly role you can play.
HOSPITALITY IN PERSONAL COMPLETENESS:
Hebrews 13:20-21 is referred to as the benediction for this text. Benediction in Latin merely means “good spoken thoughts.” These two verses sum up all that the writer of Hebrews has expressed in this eloquent book. Through Jesus Christ, we are created to be “complete in everything good.” And our role, as the angels we now know we all are, is to do God’s will, as it works in us. This is a lovely ending for an inspiring book. Amen.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ August 15, 2016 The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ HebrewsIn the less than 20 minutes it takes to read Hebrews 11-13 aloud, you find yourself speaking some of the most glorious language of the Bible. Become so excited about this, that you share your reading with family, friends, and anyone you wish to invite to discover the wonders of the Bible.
Don’t be timid about sharing the Bible with others. People you read to may be nervously shy, simply because they fear they may reveal that they really do not know much about the contents of the Bible. By opening the door, you will offer gentle reassurance that the Bible really is just waiting to be encountered first-hand. Then, with your okay, this great book, the Word of God, will become a comfortable part of creating a new sense of spiritualism for all with whom you share it.
CLOUD OF WITNESSES:
There is something really timely in the description that begins Hebrews 12. Think Olympics! Think of the terminology of a race…a race that is your life.
The model of our current Olympic games is rooted in the same ancient world that birthed Christianity and the Letter to the Hebrews. Athletic events were held, not just at Olympus, but at major locations across the Greco-Roman world. Today, few of us are aware of the importance organized sporting games had for the same people who were drawn to the new religious life open to them with Christianity.
Keep this connection in mind with any reading of the NT, beginning with the seven authentic letters of Paul. As a boy in Tarsus, Paul observed the excitement created by the famous games held in that city. And Paul tells us this, as he uses metaphors about victorious racing terms in his writing.
Like the 2016 Olympic Games, the precedents of antiquity were planned to show off the best, highly trained athletes in a supportive competition that made all participants better, because they strove to meet the highest ideal they possibly could attain. As individuals, they were never alone in this quest; they were always supported by cheering onlookers…a cloud of witnesses.
TRAINING FOR THE RACE OF LIFE:
Reread Hebrews 12 once again. This time look at it as a guide to prepare for being effective in the race that is your life, and to share those efforts for and with the good of others. That strong human striving is what Christianity needed for a base at the time the Letter to the Hebrews was written. That is what this text challenges us to bring to our life in the world today.
In focusing on this sporting analogy, remember that the imagery presented in Hebrews moves the goal of the race from an earthly victory to a heavenly one. Instead of winners receiving the usual crown of laurel leaves, Christian victors will receive not a created thing, but a kingdom so strong that it cannot be shaken. That kingdom is the reward for victory that Hebrews, and all of the NT, promises to its readers and to us.
FOLLOWING THE ADVICE OF HEBREWS:
So, if the splendid words of the Letter to the Hebrews are given a mere cursory reading, the unexpected and very real understanding within this text can easily be missed. Here is an example which proves that each and every time you read any Bible book, you will discover unexpected riches, leading you to find a deeper meaning in your own life.
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews lays out a plan out for you that will help you win your life’s race. Prepare for victory and know that you are never alone. You are always surrounded by a cheering crowd of witnesses who share the race with you. Open your eyes and run your life race.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ August 8, 2016 The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Hebrews
In the Year C Sunday Lectionary, we now make a transition from instructions to the community and individuals that fill the text of Colossians, to proclamations about Christ Jesus, in glorious language. If you had the opportunity to read all of Hebrews aloud during our three-week break from email study lessons, you have fully sensed the majesty that exists in the Letter (Epistle) to the Hebrews. This book is more of a sermon or theological discourse than a letter.
READING HEBREWS ALOUD:
You will find thoughtful information for the first part of Hebrews in the WDRG Study archive from Year B. To read all of Hebrews aloud takes about an hour. (WDRG Study Archive Year B section of the Women's Ministry Blog.)
To read Hebrews 11-13, the selection chosen for Year C, takes less than 20 minutes. It is so magnificent to read, even in translation from the Greek through the Latin into a modern English version, that you will want to plan to immerse yourself by reading these three chapters aloud several times this month. You will find this especially enjoyable, inasmuch as awaiting your discovery are special verses you have heard often quoted before. In Hebrews, you find their origin.
WHO DOES HEBREWS ADDRESS?
Across the centuries, casual readers have thought Hebrews was probably addressed to people living within the Hebrew tradition. Discount that idea, because modern scholarship does not confirm it. No contemporaneous Hebrew group is mentioned within the text. The text of Hebrews was composed in Greek, not Hebrew. And the author of Hebrews is unknown. Instead of looking at this lack of firm information as a negative, consider it an opportunity to open up the words of Hebrews to have them speak directly to you.
Eliminating presuppositions allows us to imagine that this Word-of-God text in the Bible was written for us to be its audience. At some time or place, we've all been ready to receive the words of Hebrews, because there is a definite situation the text speaks to…those who find themselves strangers in a foreign land, outsiders living in a world that does not understand or accept them.
AN EXAMPLE OF HEBREWS IN LIFE TODAY:
During the three weeks I did not write essays for the WDRG Study, I lived in a strange world of which I was not a part. I was surrounded by language, customs, and expectations that I struggled to fully understand. Modern medical miracles do occur with Aortic Heart Valve Replacement Surgery. Rather than have doubt or flight remove me from the complexities involved with the complicated procedures, recovery, and rehabilitation required for my treasured Dick, I was blessed with a sense of determined faith that has seen me down the road into a new life ahead. I am one of the people to whom the author of Hebrews speaks.
HEBREWS THROUGHOUT HISTORY:
As you begin Hebrews 11, you encounter OT references to a cast of important characters. You will know of their heroic actions from childhood stories. The writer of Hebrews carefully chose them here, because they, like we who live our Christianity today, were each strangers in a foreign land. Their lives were beyond the boundaries and expectations of the environment in which they lived. (Here's a challenge for future reading of your own: Delve into and rediscover the stories of these OT people, using the knowledge and thoughts of your adult mind. You will be amazed at what you discover.)
Perhaps you have never taken the time to think of yourself as an outsider in your world. Consider doing that. It will change the way you look at the concerns in your life. Those issues will acquire a new balance. Think outside the boundaries that others in the world impose on you. Though trials, tribulations, and temptations of everyday life swirl around you, you need not be limited or tied down by them. Even with a future that is unknown, choose to live in your own renewed, safe place in world that God has given to you. All it takes is faith. And God gives you that, too.
We will start our exploration of the second part of the Letter to the Hebrews next week.Over the 3 weeks ahead, Year C's Hebrew 11-13 can be read in just 18 minutes. It is filled with really great stuff as we consider where this book fits into the timeline development of the early Church.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ August 1, 2016
Hebrews
We will start our exploration of the second part of the Letter to the Hebrews next week.Over the 3 weeks ahead, Year C's Hebrew 11-13 can be read in just 18 minutes. It is filled with really great stuff as we consider where this book fits into the timeline development of the early Church.
In the meantime, the best way to prepare for the August WDRG Study portions, is to take an hour to read ALL of Hebrews aloud. You can also re-read the background material on the first part of Hebrews is in the WDRG Study Archive Year B section of the Women's Ministry Blog.
.Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ July 18, 2016
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Colossians
In the less than 18 minutes it will take you to read the Letter to the Colossians aloud, you will find that the writer gives good advice, most of which still applies to life today. Included are lots of rules and regulations to make living good.
ANCIENT LAW CODES:
In the ancient world there were many codes of conduct, just as there are today. Judaism, and later Christianity, is based on the Law and the Prophets of the OT. Biblically, the Law is the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
The most famous collection of basic OT Laws is the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:1-17. Throughout the entire Torah, you will find many compilations of edicts and laws. Reading them through can be both overwhelming and fascinating fun. And law-like boundary lines are scattered throughout the OT books of the Prophets, as well as the Wisdom literature in both the OT and Apocrypha.
The OT laws are directed at the community-at-large, at household groups, and at individuals. Over many generations, from the creation of the earth until the time of Jesus Christ, the roots of these laws, with their emphasis on order through love, were forgotten or ignored. Humanity sloughed off these guidelines in ways that made them easy to avoid. Do you think of this as just an ancient situation? Can you sense this same confusion surrounding us today?
NEW TESTAMENT HOUSEHOLD CODES:
The Christian Bible writers also scatter advice throughout the NT. In Colossians 3:1-4:6, you encounter a literary sub-form that biblical scholars call a “household code,” because they are guideline lists at a very personal level. Martin Luther referred to these as "Haustafeln," naming this genre of writing.
In addition to the household code in Colossians, you may want to look at Ephesians 5:15-6:9, I Timothy 6:1-2, I Peter 2:13-21, and I Corinthians 7:1-4. All NT house codes speak to practical issues, as they were expressed to Christians in different times and places throughout the 1st century. The terms "master" and "slave" should be interpreted broadly, as that hierarchical existence was pervasive. It trickled throughout a deeply entrenched society, based purely on earthly power. No 1st century human lived exempt from this hierarchy. Do you see similarities in the world today?
In thinking about these household codes, be aware that today, some who call themselves Christians regard these words as their justification for abusing women, children, and anyone they might see as inferior. Verse-quoting people, claiming to understand the fullness of the Bible, pluck biblical words out of context. Tragically, this squeezes out the love that the Bible writers worked so hard to explain.
All the Christian NT writers, including the author of Colossians, did their best to return people to the original love of God. Their message was one of hope that comes through embracing our Lord Jesus Christ. NT authors were convinced that the message of Jesus is the last, best chance to reshape humanity back into the good world God created for us. Take time to let your mind dwell on the words written 2000 years ago. Do they have a meaningful message for us today?
LOOKING AHEAD:
Now, for sheer pleasure, reread Colossians on your own over the next week, while it remains in the Sunday Lectionary for Year C. Repeated reading aloud of any NT document changes your biblical encounter from strangeness to comfort. The short length of Colossians has much to teach us. Listening to it, as a whole, gives reassurance for how a Christian life is to be lived.
In the Year C Lectionary, the NT text assigned after Colossians begins near the end of Hebrews (Hebrews 11-13). Lectionary compilers decided to split the text of Hebrews into two years for best Sunday use, giving an opportunity for unique reflection on this rich text. The best way to prepare for the August WDRG Study portions, is to take an hour to read ALL of Hebrews aloud. (Background material on the first part of Hebrews is in the WDRG Study Archive Year B section.)
PERSONAL COMMENT:
As the writer of the WDRG Study essays non-stop for a year-and-a-half, I ask you to continue your Bible reading on your own for the next two weeks. Living within my personal household code, I will be settling into a new normal following my husband Dick's successful aortic valve replacement surgery. All went well, and all will be well, thanks be to God.
--Elaine Wilson
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ July 11, 2016
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Colossians
Instead of thinking of your Bible as a single book, consider it a mini-library that you can easily carry around with you. In fact, your Bible is so compact, you may want to formulate new ways to think about it, as sacred scripture. Your Bible is like a “Kindle," before there was an easy, electronic way to tote around books on your "to read" list.
CONTENT OF THE NT:
In the NT mini-library of your Bible, there are 27 books. Generically broken into literary categories, there are four biographical-type gospels, one history, and 22 assorted writings that can be lumped into the broad category of letters. Recently, in studying Revelation, we encountered a fantastical drama set into a letter form. And with Galatians, we examined a real, problem-solving letter that Paul wrote.
CONTENT OF COLOSSIANS:
Now, in Colossians, we are faced with an interesting document that could be described as "neither fish nor fowl." It begins and ends with a rather grandiose correspondence-like opening greeting and a long good-bye blessing. The writer here tries very hard to mimic Paul, using names and references that Paul himself might have used, if his life had lasted into decades later, when the problems described in Colossians actually existed.
Because Colossians is located in the NT in the midst of Paul's seven authenticated letters, and because earlier Bible translators and compilers incorrectly assumed Paul was the author, a title heading became attached to it that erroneously attributed it to Paul. Thanks to our just having finished the WDRG Study of Galatians before tackling Colossians, it is easy to juxtapose the two texts for comparison. Even in English translations from the original Greek, it is obvious to see that the writing style is quite different. And a bit of historical knowledge and reflection makes it possible to see that the content is truly different from what it would have been in Paul’s fledgling Christian communities such as Galatia.
CONTENT OF INTEREST:
Once you are freed to look at Colossians as the interesting document it is, you will find informative tidbits to ponder, as scholars do, in the less than eighteen minutes it takes to read the whole letter aloud. Don’t be overwhelmed with references to mystery worship and extra-terrestrial-type spiritual beings that plagued thoughts of 1st century Colossians. Just tuck them away in your brain for fun details to delve into on a day, when you need a merry mental challenge to contemplate.
Begin by thinking about Colossians 1:15-20. This is technically described as a Christological Hymn. It indicates an early development in how Christians were constructing, in their minds, just who Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is. Put on your scholar hat and muse over the glory in the words. Then let your thoughts rumble around in your brain. Just who do you think The Christ is?
CONTENT MISUNDERSTOOD:
Follow up by listening to the Colossians’ writer trying to relate to and clarify the problems that were leading the letter recipients astray. Evidently there were lots of false teachers spreading their irrelevant teachings in the area, after the original bearers of the Good News moved on.
This area of the Colossians, in what is now Turkey, was populated in the 1st century by both native Jewish and pagan, Gentile folk, along with people passing through on economic business trips. Temptations were abundant that might lure Christians astray. In reading the mid-section of this book’s text, let the words suggest to you that the world of the Colossians was really not all that different from what we encounter today—diversions that prevent us, almost unconsciously, from fully living the Good News in our lives. Are we the Colossians of today?
Colossae has, as of last year, not been excavated and studied by modern archaeologists and historians.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ July 4, 2016
The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C) +++ Colossians
Fast forward a generation. For the next four weeks, with the Epistle to the Colossians, you will be three generations out from the life, death, and resurrection of a man named Jesus. By the time the unknown author of Colossians sent his letter off, for a growing number of people, there was a strong, dedicated belief that this man Jesus, of probably their grandparents generation, was the Christ.
DID PAUL WRITE COLOSSIANS?
Though most Bibles now in print title this book The Letter of Paul to the Colossians, most scholars today agree that Paul did not write it. The problems or situations it addresses shines light on life in a community or communities of Christians more advanced than those Paul was forming from his work in the 50's to 60's of the Common Era.
WHAT CAUSED THE WRITING OF COLOSSIANS?
With Colossians following immediately after Galatians in the Year C Lectionary and our WDRG Study, you have an opportunity to move from the infant to the teenage growth periods of the forming Christian Church. Pressures of immediacy on Paul, as a parent figure for the groups he founded, now are replaced with the strong explaining and undergirding that must be done, as any body, individual or group, grows up. Comparing the content of the two, short NT documents, provides you with an opportunity that most readers do not take, to compare texts from two different decades.
Over the four weeks of July, read Colossians aloud over and over. Each time will take you about eighteen minutes. With each reading, you will be able to hear the advances in understanding of the theology from the communities of Paul's generation, to those evolving in different Christian mission areas several decades later.
WHO ARE THE COLOSSIANS?
Paul did not begin the Colossian community. Paul's followers, schooled in his thoughts and beliefs, started and nurtured this mostly pagan, Gentile group between Ephesus and Tarsus, near the southern coastline of what is now Turkey.
When we look at maps today, it is difficult to comprehend how complicated it was to establish, connect, and educate early groups of Christians. Distances were long, communication systems lacking; and the only personal postal service came from humans, mostly walking across the Roman roads set down for military and commercial uses, carrying pouches of documents. It is a miracle that Christianity actually spread, when one muses on the difficulties that must have been faced in creating, building, and supporting communities near the end of the first CE century.
DOES COLOSSIANS MATTER TODAY?
Writers of letters to these early communities expected them to be read over and over, copied, and passed on to other groups to also be read over and over. That is how Christianity spread.
Because of the complexity in creating letters in the ancient world, the content seems choppy to readers 2000 years later. There are few connecting transition paragraphs between themes. This difficulty is especially true in reading Colossians. As you read, being aware of this erratic technicality, you have the opportunity to peer back into the mind of the unknown writer.
There were a variety of ideas that the writer of Colossians was determined to get across. Can you spot them? There is the benevolent opening, a rich liturgical hymn, explanations of theology, and the first NT example of what is called a "household code" to be considered. In trying to smooth these jerky thoughts together, realize that in a single, multi-translated, and well-printed text for us, you are encountering a variety of messages that were triggers for weeks of discussion in the group receiving the letter.
As with any NT reading, begin by letting your imagination flow. Letters written 2000 years ago had meaning then and have meaning to us today, if you let the Holy Spirit be part of your time of reading. We are the Colossians of today.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ June 27, 2016 +++ The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Take the time, just one more time, to read aloud Paul's Letter to the Galatians before the WDRG Study of this text comes to a close. Remember, this reading will require less than 30 minutes. Savor every morsel of truth you find.
YOUR CHRISTIAN LIBRARY BEGINS:
Because Galatians is found in the middle of most NT Bible arrangements, we can easily forget the timely importance of this text. Paul, the first and only verifiably identified author of a NT text, probably wrote Galatians after I Thessalonians, making Galatians likely the second earliest of all the NT writings. When Paul wrote these two books about 50 CE, there was no NT; that collection, the one we have today, was finally was put in place about 350 CE.
In Galatians, Christians encounter for the very first time the concept of justification by grace, not law, by faith, not works. From the recipients of this epistle in Galatia, through the Reformation theologians beginning with Martin Luther, to each of us living today, the human struggle to understand and relate to a loving God springs from this letter from Paul. You are reading the very beginning statement of Christian belief.
GRACE NOT LAW:
Paul ignited Christianity in the pagan, Gentile communities across what is now central Turkey, around the city of Ankara. People were drawn in after hearing about a single, powerful God of love, who was a giver, without demands, of freedom and hope. Required for Christians was only the love of God, self, and neighbor.
Paul left Galatia, traveling on with his mission, while trusting that his simple message would remain intact. The Letter to the Galatians is his reaction, sometimes angry, on hearing that those he considered to be his children in the Christian family were being led astray by emerging leaders announcing that more was required to be a Christian. Because Jesus was a Jew, new leadership insisted converts must comply, first and foremost, with all of the Jewish laws. That included painful circumcision of all uncircumcised pagan males.
For Paul, to become Christian meant only to have a change of heart that would publicly be obvious in the living expression of love for God and neighbors. Paul, in his letters and in Luke's biographical reports in the Acts of the Apostles, stressed that full conversion came only through belief in the loving, sacrificial gift of Christ Jesus on the cross.
FAITH NOT WORKS:
In the vast world of pagan gods, none were thought to possess interest in compassionate caring about the human condition. The many Gentile gods were accepted as aloof in their non-relation to people. Those myriad gods had to be appeased and bargained with in hopes of receiving uncertain or token favors. Totally lacking in this world view was a concept of a true God of true love with the benevolent, non-demanding acceptance of humanity that Christianity bestowed.
For Paul, the only thing required to receive God's love as an individual was to place one's full faith and belief in a single God, who loved all humanity enough to become human fully, even through death upon the cross. Paul wanted his Christian family in Galatia to be aware that their faith would free their lives from any worldly bounds of slavery. Through Christ Jesus, all are free. And today, through Christ Jesus, we are free.
YOUR MESSAGE FROM PAUL:
In your final reading aloud of Galatians, imagine for yourself that Paul was writing directly to you in your own time and place. Pause to think of what would be your gods, smoldering below the surface in your life, binding you or expecting appeasement. Let Paul's words of Good News bring you faith, that through the understanding human presence of Christ Jesus in the world, God’s freeing grace is always the true and ultimate power in your life.
Peace and mercy be upon you. God's new creation is everything!
About 1605, El Greco painted Peter and Paul, who are celebrated on a June 29 holy day every year.
YOUR CHRISTIAN LIBRARY BEGINS:
Because Galatians is found in the middle of most NT Bible arrangements, we can easily forget the timely importance of this text. Paul, the first and only verifiably identified author of a NT text, probably wrote Galatians after I Thessalonians, making Galatians likely the second earliest of all the NT writings. When Paul wrote these two books about 50 CE, there was no NT; that collection, the one we have today, was finally was put in place about 350 CE.
In Galatians, Christians encounter for the very first time the concept of justification by grace, not law, by faith, not works. From the recipients of this epistle in Galatia, through the Reformation theologians beginning with Martin Luther, to each of us living today, the human struggle to understand and relate to a loving God springs from this letter from Paul. You are reading the very beginning statement of Christian belief.
GRACE NOT LAW:
Paul ignited Christianity in the pagan, Gentile communities across what is now central Turkey, around the city of Ankara. People were drawn in after hearing about a single, powerful God of love, who was a giver, without demands, of freedom and hope. Required for Christians was only the love of God, self, and neighbor.
Paul left Galatia, traveling on with his mission, while trusting that his simple message would remain intact. The Letter to the Galatians is his reaction, sometimes angry, on hearing that those he considered to be his children in the Christian family were being led astray by emerging leaders announcing that more was required to be a Christian. Because Jesus was a Jew, new leadership insisted converts must comply, first and foremost, with all of the Jewish laws. That included painful circumcision of all uncircumcised pagan males.
For Paul, to become Christian meant only to have a change of heart that would publicly be obvious in the living expression of love for God and neighbors. Paul, in his letters and in Luke's biographical reports in the Acts of the Apostles, stressed that full conversion came only through belief in the loving, sacrificial gift of Christ Jesus on the cross.
FAITH NOT WORKS:
In the vast world of pagan gods, none were thought to possess interest in compassionate caring about the human condition. The many Gentile gods were accepted as aloof in their non-relation to people. Those myriad gods had to be appeased and bargained with in hopes of receiving uncertain or token favors. Totally lacking in this world view was a concept of a true God of true love with the benevolent, non-demanding acceptance of humanity that Christianity bestowed.
For Paul, the only thing required to receive God's love as an individual was to place one's full faith and belief in a single God, who loved all humanity enough to become human fully, even through death upon the cross. Paul wanted his Christian family in Galatia to be aware that their faith would free their lives from any worldly bounds of slavery. Through Christ Jesus, all are free. And today, through Christ Jesus, we are free.
YOUR MESSAGE FROM PAUL:
In your final reading aloud of Galatians, imagine for yourself that Paul was writing directly to you in your own time and place. Pause to think of what would be your gods, smoldering below the surface in your life, binding you or expecting appeasement. Let Paul's words of Good News bring you faith, that through the understanding human presence of Christ Jesus in the world, God’s freeing grace is always the true and ultimate power in your life. Peace and mercy be upon you. God's new creation is everything!
About 1605, El Greco painted Peter and Paul, who are celebrated on a June 29 holy day every year.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ June 20, 2016 +++ The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Generation to generation to generation, things get handed down. For Jews, the most important thing handed down was the Law, the Torah, that they were expected to live by across the ages. Adherence to the Law was what Saul, with his given Jewish name, was so zealous in trying to enforce.
CHANGES IN THE LAW:
But the Law, by the time it reached the 1st century, had layers and layers of required obligations, each probably added subtly, with the intent to clarify what it meant to be righteous in the eyes of God. Today, we may recognize that it is not just ancient history where things evolve in this way. Compare it to what has happened as jurists have tried to clarify the intent of our U. S. Constitution. Think of the confusion and abuse of understanding now swirling around beliefs about the Second Amendment. Humanity, over 2000 years, still plays the same game with the Law.
SAUL & THE LAW:
Saul, as a Pharisee, thought he was being an outstanding Jew, when he was rabid about strong enforcement of the Law. Then, he was jolted to experience God's love, through a vision of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Along with his changed understanding, Saul was given the command to carry the truth of God's love beyond those he had persecuted, to the broader world that was Gentile, pagan, and Greek. So the same man, Saul the Jew, became ready for his newborn assignment, as Paul the Jew, with his translated-into-Greek name. He took on the challenge to spread God's love to the non-Jewish world.
Oft overlooked, with the focus on the drama of the Road to Damascus event, is that Paul did not instantly run head-on into doing what he realized he was destined to do. Instead, Paul took a time-out first, almost like Jesus going into the wilderness, to set in motion the perspective needed to carry out the plan he believed God had expected of him since his birth.
Years went by before Paul had a quiet meeting with the core leaders of the first group of organized Christians in Jerusalem, those who had followed Jesus through his Galilean ministry to death, crucifixion, and resurrection. For success in expanding Christianity beyond the Holy Land, Paul sought agreement and support from the original believers, who had personally experienced the active ministry of Jesus. They needed to work together, in concert, for God.
PAUL & REDEFINING THE LAW:
Paul had what was lacking in the Jerusalem founders...Greek language skills, travel experience across nearby lands, and actual Roman citizenship to protect him as part of an elite class within the Roman Empire. He did not seek to erase boundaries between Jew and Greek Gentile pagans; instead he sought to equalize the value of all life.
Roman societal practices devolved from Greek standards, and those standards became highly defined by Roman practice. Humanity, in that world situation lived with power structured and strictly enforced from the top down.
Paul was not trying to erase boundaries between Jew and Greek. His organizational mastery was now programmed to inform and unite all God's humanity into love.
THE LIVING LAW CHALLENGING PAUL:
Paul, in Galatians and his other six letters, speaks of slaves. We define that word through our understanding of the abuse of people-as-property that we know from our own past. It is difficult to believe, but slavery was even more egregious in the Roman Empire. With a pecking order from the top down, everyone was enslaved. Everyone was encompassed. Slaves had slaves; even those of the highest rank had a role to play, as they, themselves, were caught in a system that enslaved them to enslave others. Paul understood that his mission, grounded in the words of the OT and empowered by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was to set people free.
Reread all of Galatians aloud again. Remember, this will take you less than 30 minutes. Listen for themes of slavery. Then make Galatians have meaning for you. What in your world enslaves you? How do you enslave others? Listen to Paul, and learn. God wants us to be free. Pray. Live so that God's will is being done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
In France, the Musee de Cluny has this Byzantine ivory relief of Saint Paul carved in the 6th to early 7th century.
CHANGES IN THE LAW:
But the Law, by the time it reached the 1st century, had layers and layers of required obligations, each probably added subtly, with the intent to clarify what it meant to be righteous in the eyes of God. Today, we may recognize that it is not just ancient history where things evolve in this way. Compare it to what has happened as jurists have tried to clarify the intent of our U. S. Constitution. Think of the confusion and abuse of understanding now swirling around beliefs about the Second Amendment. Humanity, over 2000 years, still plays the same game with the Law.
SAUL & THE LAW:
Saul, as a Pharisee, thought he was being an outstanding Jew, when he was rabid about strong enforcement of the Law. Then, he was jolted to experience God's love, through a vision of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Along with his changed understanding, Saul was given the command to carry the truth of God's love beyond those he had persecuted, to the broader world that was Gentile, pagan, and Greek. So the same man, Saul the Jew, became ready for his newborn assignment, as Paul the Jew, with his translated-into-Greek name. He took on the challenge to spread God's love to the non-Jewish world.
Oft overlooked, with the focus on the drama of the Road to Damascus event, is that Paul did not instantly run head-on into doing what he realized he was destined to do. Instead, Paul took a time-out first, almost like Jesus going into the wilderness, to set in motion the perspective needed to carry out the plan he believed God had expected of him since his birth.
Years went by before Paul had a quiet meeting with the core leaders of the first group of organized Christians in Jerusalem, those who had followed Jesus through his Galilean ministry to death, crucifixion, and resurrection. For success in expanding Christianity beyond the Holy Land, Paul sought agreement and support from the original believers, who had personally experienced the active ministry of Jesus. They needed to work together, in concert, for God.
PAUL & REDEFINING THE LAW:
Paul had what was lacking in the Jerusalem founders...Greek language skills, travel experience across nearby lands, and actual Roman citizenship to protect him as part of an elite class within the Roman Empire. He did not seek to erase boundaries between Jew and Greek Gentile pagans; instead he sought to equalize the value of all life.
Roman societal practices devolved from Greek standards, and those standards became highly defined by Roman practice. Humanity, in that world situation lived with power structured and strictly enforced from the top down.
Paul was not trying to erase boundaries between Jew and Greek. His organizational mastery was now programmed to inform and unite all God's humanity into love.
THE LIVING LAW CHALLENGING PAUL:
Paul, in Galatians and his other six letters, speaks of slaves. We define that word through our understanding of the abuse of people-as-property that we know from our own past. It is difficult to believe, but slavery was even more egregious in the Roman Empire. With a pecking order from the top down, everyone was enslaved. Everyone was encompassed. Slaves had slaves; even those of the highest rank had a role to play, as they, themselves, were caught in a system that enslaved them to enslave others. Paul understood that his mission, grounded in the words of the OT and empowered by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was to set people free.
Reread all of Galatians aloud again. Remember, this will take you less than 30 minutes. Listen for themes of slavery. Then make Galatians have meaning for you. What in your world enslaves you? How do you enslave others? Listen to Paul, and learn. God wants us to be free. Pray. Live so that God's will is being done on earth, as it is in Heaven.In France, the Musee de Cluny has this Byzantine ivory relief of Saint Paul carved in the 6th to early 7th century.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ June 13, 2016 +++ The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Junk mail!!! This never-ending plague of our lives in 2016 fills our US Mail and email boxes. All of us do our best to deal with it. Sadly, because it just keeps coming, there seems to be nothing we can do about it. We are forced to take this abuser of time and life for granted.
THINKING ABOUT BIBLE LETTERS:
However, there is a kind of mail that God has given you total control over...the letters in your Bible. Of the 27 NT books, combined to form our Bible by 350 CE, five are narratives and 21 are generally referred to as letters. If Revelation, which opens as a letter, is counted, that number ups to 22.
No one would seriously consider Bible letters to be junk mail. However, the epistles (letters) inadvertently may end up being thought of as inferior to other NT texts; because, with no logical, flowing plot line, their content is difficult to read and understand. NT letters are mostly instructional or specifically meant to solve problems. This approach gives them special importance as documents that tell us about the actual, factual situation in the first century communities that were baby steps in the formation of the Christian Church.
Reading NT letters 2000 years after they were written is made extremely complex, because there is no way we can fully comprehend the context that created them. In our Bibles, we have only the answer part of a two-way written conversation. Although we are given the solution, we can only guess at what provoked the question that led to the writing of each of the NT letters. This fact is one reason that it is impossible to give a literal meaning to what each of the letters says. As with everything in the Bible, we are challenged to be open to finding imaginative ways to make the impact of the Bible truly our own.
FINDING BIBLE LETTERS:
The easiest way to quickly find any Bible text is to look in the Table of Contents. Galatians, the Sunday Lectionary Epistle for the first month after Pentecost in Year C, is located in ninth place in the NT. Don't let that placement mislead you. Scholars believe that Galatians is probably the second text written that is included in the NT, being composed after I Thessalonians, which is printed in thirteenth place. Scholars agree that Paul, the first and only NT author who can be truly identified, wrote both of these texts. So, modify the old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." For the Bible, the saying needs to be, “Don’t judge a book by its place in the Table of Contents.”
RECEIVING LETTERS IN PAUL'S TIME:
After human thoughts were written out in letter form, how were they mailed in the first century? Thanks to good roads that criss-crossed the Roman Empire, providing military and commercial support, letters could travel from destination to destination with some efficiency. These text messages, answers to specific community crises, were dispatched using a reliable and speedy method. However, there was no overnight mail. Reconstruction of journeys along most Roman Empire routes suggest that several weeks went by before Paul's letters were read aloud to their intended recipients.
Today, there is no way to uncover the details behind how any of Paul's correspondence traveled. Scholars believe that because receiving mail was a rarity, these epistles were treasured, copied, and shared lovingly with other groups to continue the spread of the Good News. Keep in mind, as you read Galatians, that this work miraculously survived. Galatians, thanks to Paul's intentional commitment to those he converted, gives us a peek into life in the beginning moments of Christianity.
HEARING LETTERS TIME:
Although 2000 years separates us from the conflicts that troubled the Christian communities in Galatia, the core of Paul’s message is critical to our understanding of what was happening there. Though there is terse anger in some of his Galatians comments, Paul is determined that the power of his message not be missed. The reading for Sunday (Galatians 3:23-29) holds the vision of the Church that Paul was birthing. Christianity is for all, and that includes male AND female.
This Roman road heads north into the vast area of Galatia from Tarsus, the town in southern Turkey that was the birthplace of Paul.
THINKING ABOUT BIBLE LETTERS:
However, there is a kind of mail that God has given you total control over...the letters in your Bible. Of the 27 NT books, combined to form our Bible by 350 CE, five are narratives and 21 are generally referred to as letters. If Revelation, which opens as a letter, is counted, that number ups to 22.
No one would seriously consider Bible letters to be junk mail. However, the epistles (letters) inadvertently may end up being thought of as inferior to other NT texts; because, with no logical, flowing plot line, their content is difficult to read and understand. NT letters are mostly instructional or specifically meant to solve problems. This approach gives them special importance as documents that tell us about the actual, factual situation in the first century communities that were baby steps in the formation of the Christian Church.
Reading NT letters 2000 years after they were written is made extremely complex, because there is no way we can fully comprehend the context that created them. In our Bibles, we have only the answer part of a two-way written conversation. Although we are given the solution, we can only guess at what provoked the question that led to the writing of each of the NT letters. This fact is one reason that it is impossible to give a literal meaning to what each of the letters says. As with everything in the Bible, we are challenged to be open to finding imaginative ways to make the impact of the Bible truly our own.
FINDING BIBLE LETTERS:
The easiest way to quickly find any Bible text is to look in the Table of Contents. Galatians, the Sunday Lectionary Epistle for the first month after Pentecost in Year C, is located in ninth place in the NT. Don't let that placement mislead you. Scholars believe that Galatians is probably the second text written that is included in the NT, being composed after I Thessalonians, which is printed in thirteenth place. Scholars agree that Paul, the first and only NT author who can be truly identified, wrote both of these texts. So, modify the old saying, "You can't judge a book by its cover." For the Bible, the saying needs to be, “Don’t judge a book by its place in the Table of Contents.”
RECEIVING LETTERS IN PAUL'S TIME:
After human thoughts were written out in letter form, how were they mailed in the first century? Thanks to good roads that criss-crossed the Roman Empire, providing military and commercial support, letters could travel from destination to destination with some efficiency. These text messages, answers to specific community crises, were dispatched using a reliable and speedy method. However, there was no overnight mail. Reconstruction of journeys along most Roman Empire routes suggest that several weeks went by before Paul's letters were read aloud to their intended recipients.
Today, there is no way to uncover the details behind how any of Paul's correspondence traveled. Scholars believe that because receiving mail was a rarity, these epistles were treasured, copied, and shared lovingly with other groups to continue the spread of the Good News. Keep in mind, as you read Galatians, that this work miraculously survived. Galatians, thanks to Paul's intentional commitment to those he converted, gives us a peek into life in the beginning moments of Christianity.
HEARING LETTERS TIME:
Although 2000 years separates us from the conflicts that troubled the Christian communities in Galatia, the core of Paul’s message is critical to our understanding of what was happening there. Though there is terse anger in some of his Galatians comments, Paul is determined that the power of his message not be missed. The reading for Sunday (Galatians 3:23-29) holds the vision of the Church that Paul was birthing. Christianity is for all, and that includes male AND female.
This Roman road heads north into the vast area of Galatia from Tarsus, the town in southern Turkey that was the birthplace of Paul.Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ June 6, 2016 +++ The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
The Epistle to the Galatians, on the first go-round of reading, can be a bit confusing. Because Galatians is short, taking less than 30 minutes to read aloud, do read it over and over again. With each reading, Galatians becomes less complex and strange. You will find Paul’s consciously explosive words contain the very basics of what a Christian is to be and to believe.
TRAVEL ACROSS CENTURIES:
Though we live on the same earth as the Galatians Paul was writing to, in reality we live in a very different world. Or do we? To your great surprise, the multiple readings will help you discover that the first century CE (Common Era) really had some of the same forces at play that we encounter in our lives today.
Paul created Christian communities in Galatia. Though Bible scholars do not agree as to where his precise congregations were located, the general consensus is that they were in the midst of what is today Turkey, probably in the area around the current capital city of Ankara. Ankara now has a multicultural population of about four and a half million people. In Paul’s day, this place was multi-cultural, too.
TRAVEL ACROSS GEOGRAPHY:
Christianity began with the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Holy Land. This was Jewish territory under Roman control. Jesus was a Jew in an agrarian environment; Paul was a cosmopolitan Jew from the Jewish diaspora that had formed colonies in the Roman Empire, fanning out around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul traveled to Jerusalem and became part of an active group of Pharisees, who verbally and physically attacked those in a new sect perceived not to be living a life according to ancient Jewish law.
While the followers of Jesus were establishing a renewed form of Judaism that became Christianity, Paul’s journey to stop them took him north of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus. His conversion experience en route is told first-hand in the Letter to the Galatians. He totally flipped from being anti-to being pro-Christian. Also described are Paul’s years of withdrawal for contemplation before he began his own efforts to spread God's good news.
Unlike the Jerusalem-based Christians, Paul was comfortable traveling around the Roman world to spread his story. That story was now fully internalized and bursting to be told. He began. In this letter, Paul tells us, as he told the Galatians, how he was empowered to spread the word of God. Only after he had begun did Paul seek the quiet approval of the Jerusalem leaders.
TRAVEL ACROSS CULTURAL PLANES:
When Paul began his travels across the Roman Empire, he first aimed his efforts at the Jewish inhabitants of the places he visited. He became part of their social and economic lives. While some Jews welcomed him, many considered him an interloper, rather than a guest, which caused him difficulties.
In the world of Paul's travels, the majority of the people were not Jewish, but were gentile pagans. They did not have one single loving, protective God, as did the Jews and those following Christ. Gentile pagans sought favors through attempts to appease the many possible gods they thought controlled their lives. This mind set meant Paul was faced with explaining something of which they had no concept: A God of love who demanded nothing of them but that they live with love for their neighbors.
TRAVEL ACROSS LEGAL CHALLENGES:
Just as few Christians today are steeped in the timeframes of OT history, so too did the gentile pagans lack that knowledge. The descriptive trail of the Jewish law Paul charts, begins with the story of Abraham's fresh understanding of God's relationship with human nature. This tale was followed by that of Moses, who brought defined, codified law into being. Early Christians of Jewish background adhered strongly to all the proscribed laws. The one mark that defined all Jewish males was circumcision, and gentile pagans were not circumcised. Believing that God placed love over law was the message Paul was trying to get across in Galatians.
While the Galatians, to whom Paul was writing 2000 years ago may seem to us today to have had a strange situation, is it really? Look around you. While you may have a personal relationship with a God who lovingly cares for you, do others experience the same? What diversions in our present lives can now become gods, like those of the gentile pagans? Pause to think. Think of Paul. Thanks to Paul, we know that through Jesus Christ, God unfailingly loves us.
This map of the provinces of the Roman Empire at the end of the first century shows the location of Galatia, whose people would have received Paul's letter
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ May 31, 2016 +++ The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
The Epistles in the Sunday Lectionary this month are from Galatians, a document that has been said to be as important in Church history as the Magna Carta is to world history.
It takes just 27 minutes to read Galatians in full. Do it without stopping, and you will get a sense of the personality of Paul. Over the coming month, read Galatians again, over and over. With each reading, you will discover more and more fascinating nuances, each revealing the challenges Paul faced in setting the growth of Christianity into motion. Life for Paul was full of complications. And Galatians can be full of curiosities for most Bible readers.
CURIOSITY #1:
In the 27 books of the NT library, Galatians is the ninth book. Find it after the four gospels, Acts, and Paul’s letters to the Romans, and I and II Corinthians. This location gives a false impression about Galatians for anyone looking at the NT for the first time.
Of all the NT documents, scholars believe that the earliest one written is I Thessalonians, thirteenth in the NT table of contents; and they agree that Galatians is the second NT book written. Just looking at printed NT lists belies this fact.
Many people do not realize that the NT order is arranged, first, with the narratives of the life of Jesus and the earliest history of the Church before it presents the other literary forms, generally called epistles, and the apocalypse. And many people do not realize that early Bible assemblers considered Paul’s letters to have priority of purpose, ahead of letters thought to have been written by others.
When the NT contents were organized, church leaders attributed 13 of the 27 books to Paul, and they were placed after the narratives. Scholars now agree that Paul probably wrote only seven of these. Possibly, over a decade in the mid first century, Paul authored his letters in this order: I Thessalonians, Galatians, I Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, II Corinthians, and Romans. No one knows for sure, as there is no way to reconstruct the needed evidence.
The NT arrangement for Paul’s authentic letters is different from the order in which they were written. This plan continues the OT tradition for arranging scrolls, as shown by the placement of the prophetic books. The largest scrolls were given prominence, and other texts were ordered based on their diminishing size. So, although Romans is the last of the letters Paul probably wrote, it is placed before the others because it is the longest. Galatians is middle-sized, so it was placed in the middle of the letters originally presumed to have been penned by Paul.
CURIOSITY #2:
The Galatians epistle does not have the form generally used for ancient letters. That is obvious even now to those unfamiliar with first-century correspondence. In reading it aloud, one finds that Galatians is a bit strange in style.
Readers today may find Galatians makes more sense if it is thought about as a first-century email; because that is what it is. Paul has been apprised of problems going on within the Christian communities that he founded in Galatia, so he forcefully sends advice to correct them. When Galatians is read aloud, Paul’s frustration clearly comes across. Galatians is not a gentle letter; it has parts that come close to being a tirade. That sense is not what most people expect when they read the Holy Bible. Paul’s exasperation with the Galatian situation comes across with full power. He is determined to get his point across.
CURIOSITY #3:
In Galatia, Paul had convinced many pagan gentiles living there to become Christians in the community he created. After Paul left, later visitors confused his Galatian congregations by saying that the only way to become true Christians was to first become truly Jewish, following all the requirements of the law, including circumcision for the uncircumcised. Total bewilderment must have disrupted the loving community Paul had formed.
Paul, born into a Jewish family, took being Jewish for granted. Before his personal conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Paul angrily persecuted Christians, because he was convinced that this new sect in Jerusalem was straying from true belief in God and must be punished by destruction.
Then, God changed Paul forever on the road to Damascus. Paul, blinded to his past, clearly saw God’s acceptance of all people in the vision he received of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this letter, Paul is determined to reassure the Galatians that nothing is required to be worthy of receiving God’s love. God is present always, for all. And, because of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we know that God is always present for us, too.
About 1600, the Italian painter Caravaggio used his imagination to create a baroque version with horse and groom of Paul's dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus This painting was for the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.
TRAVEL ACROSS CENTURIES:
Though we live on the same earth as the Galatians Paul was writing to, in reality we live in a very different world. Or do we? To your great surprise, the multiple readings will help you discover that the first century CE (Common Era) really had some of the same forces at play that we encounter in our lives today.
Paul created Christian communities in Galatia. Though Bible scholars do not agree as to where his precise congregations were located, the general consensus is that they were in the midst of what is today Turkey, probably in the area around the current capital city of Ankara. Ankara now has a multicultural population of about four and a half million people. In Paul’s day, this place was multi-cultural, too.
TRAVEL ACROSS GEOGRAPHY:
Christianity began with the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Holy Land. This was Jewish territory under Roman control. Jesus was a Jew in an agrarian environment; Paul was a cosmopolitan Jew from the Jewish diaspora that had formed colonies in the Roman Empire, fanning out around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul traveled to Jerusalem and became part of an active group of Pharisees, who verbally and physically attacked those in a new sect perceived not to be living a life according to ancient Jewish law.
While the followers of Jesus were establishing a renewed form of Judaism that became Christianity, Paul’s journey to stop them took him north of Jerusalem to the city of Damascus. His conversion experience en route is told first-hand in the Letter to the Galatians. He totally flipped from being anti-to being pro-Christian. Also described are Paul’s years of withdrawal for contemplation before he began his own efforts to spread God's good news.
Unlike the Jerusalem-based Christians, Paul was comfortable traveling around the Roman world to spread his story. That story was now fully internalized and bursting to be told. He began. In this letter, Paul tells us, as he told the Galatians, how he was empowered to spread the word of God. Only after he had begun did Paul seek the quiet approval of the Jerusalem leaders.
TRAVEL ACROSS CULTURAL PLANES:
When Paul began his travels across the Roman Empire, he first aimed his efforts at the Jewish inhabitants of the places he visited. He became part of their social and economic lives. While some Jews welcomed him, many considered him an interloper, rather than a guest, which caused him difficulties.
In the world of Paul's travels, the majority of the people were not Jewish, but were gentile pagans. They did not have one single loving, protective God, as did the Jews and those following Christ. Gentile pagans sought favors through attempts to appease the many possible gods they thought controlled their lives. This mind set meant Paul was faced with explaining something of which they had no concept: A God of love who demanded nothing of them but that they live with love for their neighbors.
TRAVEL ACROSS LEGAL CHALLENGES:
Just as few Christians today are steeped in the timeframes of OT history, so too did the gentile pagans lack that knowledge. The descriptive trail of the Jewish law Paul charts, begins with the story of Abraham's fresh understanding of God's relationship with human nature. This tale was followed by that of Moses, who brought defined, codified law into being. Early Christians of Jewish background adhered strongly to all the proscribed laws. The one mark that defined all Jewish males was circumcision, and gentile pagans were not circumcised. Believing that God placed love over law was the message Paul was trying to get across in Galatians.
While the Galatians, to whom Paul was writing 2000 years ago may seem to us today to have had a strange situation, is it really? Look around you. While you may have a personal relationship with a God who lovingly cares for you, do others experience the same? What diversions in our present lives can now become gods, like those of the gentile pagans? Pause to think. Think of Paul. Thanks to Paul, we know that through Jesus Christ, God unfailingly loves us.This map of the provinces of the Roman Empire at the end of the first century shows the location of Galatia, whose people would have received Paul's letter
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ May 31, 2016 +++ The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
The Epistles in the Sunday Lectionary this month are from Galatians, a document that has been said to be as important in Church history as the Magna Carta is to world history.
It takes just 27 minutes to read Galatians in full. Do it without stopping, and you will get a sense of the personality of Paul. Over the coming month, read Galatians again, over and over. With each reading, you will discover more and more fascinating nuances, each revealing the challenges Paul faced in setting the growth of Christianity into motion. Life for Paul was full of complications. And Galatians can be full of curiosities for most Bible readers.
CURIOSITY #1:
In the 27 books of the NT library, Galatians is the ninth book. Find it after the four gospels, Acts, and Paul’s letters to the Romans, and I and II Corinthians. This location gives a false impression about Galatians for anyone looking at the NT for the first time.
Of all the NT documents, scholars believe that the earliest one written is I Thessalonians, thirteenth in the NT table of contents; and they agree that Galatians is the second NT book written. Just looking at printed NT lists belies this fact.
Many people do not realize that the NT order is arranged, first, with the narratives of the life of Jesus and the earliest history of the Church before it presents the other literary forms, generally called epistles, and the apocalypse. And many people do not realize that early Bible assemblers considered Paul’s letters to have priority of purpose, ahead of letters thought to have been written by others.
When the NT contents were organized, church leaders attributed 13 of the 27 books to Paul, and they were placed after the narratives. Scholars now agree that Paul probably wrote only seven of these. Possibly, over a decade in the mid first century, Paul authored his letters in this order: I Thessalonians, Galatians, I Corinthians, Philemon, Philippians, II Corinthians, and Romans. No one knows for sure, as there is no way to reconstruct the needed evidence.
The NT arrangement for Paul’s authentic letters is different from the order in which they were written. This plan continues the OT tradition for arranging scrolls, as shown by the placement of the prophetic books. The largest scrolls were given prominence, and other texts were ordered based on their diminishing size. So, although Romans is the last of the letters Paul probably wrote, it is placed before the others because it is the longest. Galatians is middle-sized, so it was placed in the middle of the letters originally presumed to have been penned by Paul.
CURIOSITY #2:
The Galatians epistle does not have the form generally used for ancient letters. That is obvious even now to those unfamiliar with first-century correspondence. In reading it aloud, one finds that Galatians is a bit strange in style.
Readers today may find Galatians makes more sense if it is thought about as a first-century email; because that is what it is. Paul has been apprised of problems going on within the Christian communities that he founded in Galatia, so he forcefully sends advice to correct them. When Galatians is read aloud, Paul’s frustration clearly comes across. Galatians is not a gentle letter; it has parts that come close to being a tirade. That sense is not what most people expect when they read the Holy Bible. Paul’s exasperation with the Galatian situation comes across with full power. He is determined to get his point across.
CURIOSITY #3:
In Galatia, Paul had convinced many pagan gentiles living there to become Christians in the community he created. After Paul left, later visitors confused his Galatian congregations by saying that the only way to become true Christians was to first become truly Jewish, following all the requirements of the law, including circumcision for the uncircumcised. Total bewilderment must have disrupted the loving community Paul had formed.
Paul, born into a Jewish family, took being Jewish for granted. Before his personal conversion experience on the road to Damascus, Paul angrily persecuted Christians, because he was convinced that this new sect in Jerusalem was straying from true belief in God and must be punished by destruction.
Then, God changed Paul forever on the road to Damascus. Paul, blinded to his past, clearly saw God’s acceptance of all people in the vision he received of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this letter, Paul is determined to reassure the Galatians that nothing is required to be worthy of receiving God’s love. God is present always, for all. And, because of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we know that God is always present for us, too.About 1600, the Italian painter Caravaggio used his imagination to create a baroque version with horse and groom of Paul's dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus This painting was for the Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ May 23, 2016 +++ The Second Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Looking ahead to the last half of Lectionary Year C, we now have a wonderful opportunity to parallel the earliest formation of our Christian Church heritage. We are past the two great cycles of the Christian Year, Christmas with its bookends of Advent and Epiphany, and the glorious Great Fifty Days of Easter, prefaced by a serious Lent.We are now in what is generally referred to as Ordinary Time.
In our day-to-day living until next Advent, we have the chance to mirror the time of slow, consistent growth that began after the presence of the Holy Spirit empowered humanity at Pentecost. The eleven men from rural Galilee, along with their companion women and men, all followers of the unique person named Jesus, understood that what they had experienced together had suddenly taken on a new, resurrected life from the heavenly force of the Pentecost moment. Their world was firmly placed on a path called The Way. Thus, the creation of the Christian Church began.
WORDS IN CONVERSATION:
Touched by the Holy Spirit, this small group of Jews, gathered in urban Jerusalem, began sharing their good news with others with whom they came in contact. Their person-to-person ministry, strengthened their own beliefs and then pushed outward under the disciple Peter, who became the solid rock of a leader that Jesus had foreseen he would be. The motivation of these earliest Christians spread first through ordinary conversations, that then changed into forceful speeches across the city and throughout the Aramaic speaking countryside of the Holy Land.
Growth was not always smooth sailing for those following the former fisherman Peter.Remembering that even stormy waters can be calmed by the presence of God, the small Christian group persevered and grew in numbers. Included in their catch of people was a man who had openly persecuted them. He was an outside immigrant from the Jewish quarter of the Roman city of Tarsus, on the Mediterranean beyond Palestine. His Hebrew name was Saul.
WORDS IN LANGUAGES:
Unexpectedly, Saul's life turned upside down as he beheld a vision, seeing the resurrection of the crucified Jesus. God had overcome death, making life eternal. Saul, too, now reborn, took the Greek name Paul, and fulfilled his new identity in carrying the message of God's news to those outside the Holy Land.
Jewish Paul's past worldly experience enabled him to wander the Roman Empire, across what is now Syria, Turkey, and Greece. Beginning about twenty years after Jesus' earthly life, he carried the good news of Christ crucified and resurrected to all he met, first to Jews, and then to Gentiles, pagans unfamiliar with the concept of living with trust in a single, loving God.
Every place Paul wandered in his travels, he stayed long enough to create communities of Christians who believed in the power of One God loving all humanity.For a decade of his life, Paul was the chief Christian missionary to the world outside the Holy Land. After completing the formation of a Christian community, Paul would continue traveling to form others. However, he remained available and connected, as his Christian family grew across the Roman Empire. Paul exchanged letters in Greek, expressing his heartfelt message and practical advice.
WORDS IN LETTERS & SERMONS:
Remarkably, seven of Paul's epistles, authenticated by scholars, have survived in our NT. Before Year C ends, we will explore two very different ones, Galatians and Philemon.
Following Paul's example, second and third generation Christian writers continued to explain beliefs to expanding and multiplying congregations, who required lessons in theology and practical organizational structure. We will study this evolution in Colossians, I and II Timothy, and II Thessalonians. And we will look again at the sermon-like Letter to the Hebrews, that we considered in Year B.
WORDS IN HISTORICAL USE:
Plan to gain a new perspective on these Bible texts by reading this selection of NT epistles over the next six months. Experience a group of authors, writing during the fifty years after Paul, building on his example, as our basic Christian traditions began evolving.
As was done in NT times, read these 2000 year old letters aloud. Share them with others. Use the content of these epistles to begin simple conversations. In this season after Pentecost, you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to make the Bible live anew. With you, Christianity continues to be reborn.Dating from about 400 CE, this fragment, of the first chapter of Galatians, written in Greek, was found in Egypt and is safely kept in England’s Ashmolean Museum. Only one other small, existing fragment of Galatians, is older. No full copies of Galatians have survived from the earliest centuries of the Christian Church.
Women of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Study +++ May 16, 2016 +++ The First Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) (Year C)
What is the Trinity? The Trinity is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is the simple statement of belief found in the section on The Creeds in An Outline of the Faith on page 852 of The Book of Common Prayer. The Latin word “credo” means “believe.”TRINITY STATEMENTS:
Christians give credence to belief in the Trinity in both the Apostles Creed, the earliest baptismal statement used by people coming into the Christian Church, and the Nicene Creed, the communique released by those attending the first great council called by Constantine in 325 CE in the suburb of Byzantium (later Constantinople, and still later Istanbul).
However, the most explicit historical explanation of the Trinity is stated in the Quicunque Vult, most often called The Creed of Saint Athanasius. Athanasius (c.296-373 CE), the bishop of Alexandria, did not write it, but this statement of beliefs became identified with his name, as it expressed his theology.
Trinity Sunday was especially important in England, because of its connection with the consecration of martyr Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury on that day in 1162. By the 13th century, the Athanasian Creed was solidly accepted as one of the official three creeds of the Christian Church.
In drafting the first BCP for use in the post Revolutionary War Episcopal Church in 1785, a committee was guided by the first American Bishop, Samuel Seabury, to annual use of the Athanasian Creed only on Trinity Sunday. Later American BCP revisions set this creed aside. The current 1976 BCP, includes it in the Historical Documents of the Church section on pages 864-865. Take time to read this text. (bcponline.org) It is a statement standing against the heresies the Church encountered in the fourth and fifth centuries. Reflect prayerfully on the way the Athanasian Creed explains the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, concepts we may tend to take for granted today.
TRINITY UNDERSTANDING:
Trying to actually understand the depth of meaning that surrounds the concept of the Trinity can be very difficult. The realm of thought must move from an everyday practical one to that of a mystical vision.
In our modern world it is not easy to reflect upon the idea of one substance of God being three persons. We must recover the milieu of the ancient Greeks, where the foundation for conceptualizing the Trinity was grounded. You will discover a clue to understanding the Trinity in traditional Greek drama. Theatrical actors lost their human identity for the audience, when they put on a mask or persona. The individual became transformed seamlessly into a reality of character beyond pure humanity.
So, in your thoughts begin with the oneness of God. Let your human imagination and insight see the singleness of God covered by three different persona masks. The oneness never changes. Only the human way of seeing God does. Our never-changing God is one. We now encounter our single God in different ways. How do you experience God as parent, God as son, and God as spirit? God in three persons is our blessed Trinity.
TRINITY VISUALIZATION:
The Trinity gives you a special opportunity for a personal challenge this week. Make yourself a Trinity bookmark for your Bible. Take a piece of blank paper. Fold it into thirds. Your Trinity concept has begun. You have one sheet with three sections. Now, let your God-given creativity decorate each of the three portions with simple doodles or detailed drawings. You have created your own triptych version of the Trinity, your three in one, to use and to remind you, not only of your place in your Bible, but of your place in God’s world.
There is no scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. Generations of Christians have sought Trinity connections within possible Bible texts. A favorite is the account of the three men appearing to Abraham in Genesis 18. About 1400, Andrei Rublev used this story as inspiration for this famous painted icon of the Trinity.