The Hour of Darkness
Monday, December 13, 2010 -- Week of 3 Advent, Year One
Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 938)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
Isaiah 8:16 - 9:1
2 Peter 1:1-11
Luke 22:39-53
[NOTE: I just noticed on Tuesday, Dec. 14, that I failed to paste my reflection yesterday into the blog. Just sent the readings. Sorry. Here's what I wrote yesterday morning.]
In the prayer that Jesus taught his followers, he teaches us to pray to the Father, "thy will be done." Toward the end we pray, "Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil." (or "...lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.") In our reading today from Luke, Jesus kneels and prays that the cup of passion be removed for him. He begs that God might save him from the time of trial and deliver him from evil. Then he closes his prayer with these words: "yet, not my will but yours be done." Thy will be done.
When Jesus finds his friends sleeping, he urges them, "Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial."
Suddenly there is a commotion. Judas leads an armed crowd into the hiding place, probably the cave of an old oil press. There is a quick, aggressive reaction as one of Jesus' disciples strikes the slave of the high priest. Jesus' response is immediate and unqualified. "No more of this!" He heals the slave. For centuries Christians followed this command literally, and converts who were soldiers gave up their commissions before their baptism. Quakers, Mennonites and some other conscientious objectors continue this tradition of Christian non-violence in our day.
Jesus closes this section chiding the arresting party. They act as if he were an armed, revolutionary bandit. "When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!"
The darkness has come. It has its hour. Jesus is led away captive.
Today is the feast day of the saint of light, the martyr St. Lucy or Lucia, whose name means "light." For many centuries her feast day was the shortest day of the year, December 13. When Pope Gregory VIII reformed the calendar in 1582, the shortest day shifted to December 21/22. On St. Lucy's day, the hour of darkness would end and the light would gradually return with each day's lengthening. The Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, particularly enjoy St. Lucy's day as a festival of light. In many homes, a young girl in the family will dress in white (a symbol of purity, faith and the robe of martyrdom), will wear a crown of lighted candles upon her head, and serve special foods to the family. She will be called Lucy.
In our church, we celebrate a eucharist that we call our "Blue Christmas Service" on or near the feast of St. Thomas, December 21, now the longest day of darkness. We use that service as a holy container to honor those griefs and losses that seem especially present during the days before Christmas when holiday lights and music fill the air. Thomas was the disciple who was not with the others on Easter. He did not witness the resurrection, so while the others were rejoicing, his heart was filled with the traumatic images of the nails and the spear, the hour of darkness.
"Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil." Darkness happens. We pray that when darkness comes, it will have only its brief hour. Underneath all, we say, "Thy will be done."
It is through darkness that resurrection comes. Theologian Bob Capon is fond of saying that the requirement for salvation is that you die.
Although Jesus' disciples do not yet know it, the dawn that takes away all sin and condemnation is just around the corner. They begin the journey in the darkness. The journey to hell and back.
I'd like to close with a challenging quote from Bob Capon:
"I am and I am not a universalist. I am one if you are talking about what God in Christ has done to save the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some -- of only the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the sins of the world -- of every last being in it -- and he has dropped them down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up forever on the subject of guilt: 'There is therefore now no condemnation....' All human beings, at all times and places, are home free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not.
"But I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take with utter seriousness everything that Jesus had to say about hell, including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance of his already-given acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold Scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a tractate on hell. But I will not -- because Jesus did not -- locate hell outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’ parables of judgment. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning."
All are included in Jesus' journey through darkness into light. Let thy will be done, O God; save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p 938)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
Isaiah 8:16 - 9:1
2 Peter 1:1-11
Luke 22:39-53
[NOTE: I just noticed on Tuesday, Dec. 14, that I failed to paste my reflection yesterday into the blog. Just sent the readings. Sorry. Here's what I wrote yesterday morning.]
In the prayer that Jesus taught his followers, he teaches us to pray to the Father, "thy will be done." Toward the end we pray, "Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil." (or "...lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.") In our reading today from Luke, Jesus kneels and prays that the cup of passion be removed for him. He begs that God might save him from the time of trial and deliver him from evil. Then he closes his prayer with these words: "yet, not my will but yours be done." Thy will be done.
When Jesus finds his friends sleeping, he urges them, "Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial."
Suddenly there is a commotion. Judas leads an armed crowd into the hiding place, probably the cave of an old oil press. There is a quick, aggressive reaction as one of Jesus' disciples strikes the slave of the high priest. Jesus' response is immediate and unqualified. "No more of this!" He heals the slave. For centuries Christians followed this command literally, and converts who were soldiers gave up their commissions before their baptism. Quakers, Mennonites and some other conscientious objectors continue this tradition of Christian non-violence in our day.
Jesus closes this section chiding the arresting party. They act as if he were an armed, revolutionary bandit. "When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!"
The darkness has come. It has its hour. Jesus is led away captive.
Today is the feast day of the saint of light, the martyr St. Lucy or Lucia, whose name means "light." For many centuries her feast day was the shortest day of the year, December 13. When Pope Gregory VIII reformed the calendar in 1582, the shortest day shifted to December 21/22. On St. Lucy's day, the hour of darkness would end and the light would gradually return with each day's lengthening. The Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, particularly enjoy St. Lucy's day as a festival of light. In many homes, a young girl in the family will dress in white (a symbol of purity, faith and the robe of martyrdom), will wear a crown of lighted candles upon her head, and serve special foods to the family. She will be called Lucy.
In our church, we celebrate a eucharist that we call our "Blue Christmas Service" on or near the feast of St. Thomas, December 21, now the longest day of darkness. We use that service as a holy container to honor those griefs and losses that seem especially present during the days before Christmas when holiday lights and music fill the air. Thomas was the disciple who was not with the others on Easter. He did not witness the resurrection, so while the others were rejoicing, his heart was filled with the traumatic images of the nails and the spear, the hour of darkness.
"Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil." Darkness happens. We pray that when darkness comes, it will have only its brief hour. Underneath all, we say, "Thy will be done."
It is through darkness that resurrection comes. Theologian Bob Capon is fond of saying that the requirement for salvation is that you die.
Although Jesus' disciples do not yet know it, the dawn that takes away all sin and condemnation is just around the corner. They begin the journey in the darkness. The journey to hell and back.
I'd like to close with a challenging quote from Bob Capon:
"I am and I am not a universalist. I am one if you are talking about what God in Christ has done to save the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some -- of only the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the sins of the world -- of every last being in it -- and he has dropped them down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up forever on the subject of guilt: 'There is therefore now no condemnation....' All human beings, at all times and places, are home free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not.
"But I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take with utter seriousness everything that Jesus had to say about hell, including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance of his already-given acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold Scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a tractate on hell. But I will not -- because Jesus did not -- locate hell outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’ parables of judgment. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning."
All are included in Jesus' journey through darkness into light. Let thy will be done, O God; save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
__________________
Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: -- Morning Reflection Podcasts About Morning Reflections "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 missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office 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 -- Click for Divine Hours Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts. |
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 Our Rule of Life: We aspire to... worship weekly pray daily learn constantly serve joyfully live generously. Lowell Grisham, Rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church Fayetteville, Arkansas |
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