Memories

Friday, April 20, 2007 -- Week of 2 Easter

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 958)
Psalms 16, 17 (morning) 134, 135 (evening)
Daniel 3:1-18
1 John 3:1-10
Luke 3:15-22

The story of Nebuchadnezzar (7th century BCE) is a perfect vehicle for the author of Daniel to comment on the crisis provoked by Antiochus IV (175-163) when he placed a statue of Zeus in the Jerusalem Temple and demanded that Jews worship or be killed. In the cultural context of Greece and Rome, such an act was a sign of loyalty, not unlike standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. When observant Jews refused to worship many were persecuted. The book of Daniel is written to encourage them.

Whenever I read Daniel I am also reminded of my past. My earliest familiarity with the Bible was reading a Bible story book at my grandparents' home. Daniel and the Lion's Den was my favorite story. I read it over and over. I can still see the black-and-white illustration of Daniel serenely standing among the lions. He looked young; not much older than I was. Maybe I could be like Daniel.

But the story of the three men being put into the fiery furnace was more troubling. I could imagine the lions' story, but the fire was too scary. I did enjoy learning to pronounce their names, however -- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (I remember playing some fun with that in later life -- something about a dinner serving shad roe, Michelob and a beer-to-go.)

The other memory that always returns is the giggling that inevitably happens whenever today's passage is read out-loud at Morning Prayer. The repitition of the lists invites either embarassed tounge stammering or wonder and drama from the oral reader -- "the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the couselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the province" and "the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble." A bit like Arlo Guthrie's 60's classic Alice's Restaurant -- "Thirty-four 8 by 10 color glossy pictures with circle and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us." So many good stories have wonderful repititious phrases. It's a reminder that the Bible was intended to be read out loud and listened to with the ear, not just read silently.

One more little reminder from my past. I remember being curious about 1 John. In 1:8 he writes, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us... If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Then in today's reading he says, "No one abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. ...Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God." It's one of a number of contradictions we find in scripture. (I once had a letter from someone listing 36 pairs of passages like this.) Like Jesus, the Bible is fully divine and fully human. It is written by human beings and it reveals God. We are part of the conversation too as we read, interpret and internalize its gifts.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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worship weekly
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learn constantly
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