Living the Resurrection

Daily Office Devotional, Thursday, June 17. 2021

Proper 6, the week  of  Trinity Sunday

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Acts reading:

22‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power

. . . .

32This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.

(You will find the full text of today’s Acts reading at the end of this reflection.)

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 970)

AM Psalm [83] or 34; PM Psalm 85, 86

1 Samuel 2:27-36; Acts 2:22-36; Luke 20:41-21:4

Today we celebrate the Feast of Adelaide Teague Case. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

Theologian H. Richard Niebuhr writes about the centrality of Christ’s resurrection, “"An exalted Christ who was not also crucified and raised may be confessed as Lord, but he is not a Lord who burst the gates of hell." *  Peter’s sermon, as reported in today’s reading, throbs with confidence that Jesus indeed had burst the  gates of hell and had ascended to heaven as God’s son and Lord of all.

The earliest witnesses and the Gospel writers who recorded that witness were convinced that the dead body of Jesus had been quickened and transformed by God’s Spirit and had left behind an empty tomb.  Such a witness reaches well beyond my personal event horizon.  To embrace that requires a leap of faith that forces the door of my personal skepticism and takes me beyond the horizon of my experience.

I might well seek a tamer, alternative explanation of the resurrection were it not for two dynamics.  First, God as creator sits at the center of my cluster of convictions.  Material existence had its beginnings  in God’s action;  matter itself comes from God’s creative work (And, yes, I am an evolutionist).  Second, I have witnessed and experienced God’s healing activity in the healing of physical and psychological and emotional brokenness.

If I believe God worked that intimately with matter in creation, and if I believe that God’s Spirit works in the human body and human spirit to heal, must I not leave room for a resurrection that involves the transformation of a dead body into a living one?  Were I to conclude that the resurrection stories simply cannot be believed literally, would I not be closing the door on God’s healing activity in human experience today?  Would I not then have problems with the doctrine of God’s imminent involvement in the material creation? And, would not our entire theology of sacrament be undone?

Eduard Schweizer once wrote that " . . . proof cannot be given of Jesus' resurrection. Here, too, very much as in the crucifixion of Jesus, God exposes (Godself) himself to skepticism, doubt, and unbelief, renouncing anything that would compel (people) men to believe."  +  To embrace resurrection means to do battle with our own personal skepticism, but ultimately, in my judgment, to falter at this point is to risk placing God in a contemporary tomb.  Better to believe that Jesus has been set free by resurrection to complete his saving work in the world.

And, if you find your discomfort with the “how” of resurrection distracting, can you not affirm that Jesus lives? Every one of those who encountered the risen Christ or saw the empty tomb still doubted and struggled to come to faith in the risen Lord. Their struggles tells us something about how God worked secretly to bring Jesus to life. Even if their ways of resolving the mystery proved inadequate, we still could embrace the reality of resurrection and keep question marks behind our ways of trying to grasp the “how.”

If you can affirm that Jesus lives, you have resurrection faith and can leave the struggle with rational thought in the background to be revisited recurringly. To me the challenge is to live with the expectation that any situation can be transformed or overcome with Christ’s risen life. By getting absorbed in the rational struggles with the history we stumble through the challenges of the present moment without the expectation of resurrection possibilities.

Join me in exclaiming the Easter acclamation. “Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Allelujah!’ And, then go out to live under the leadership of that risen Lord looking for fresh outbreaks of resurrection life.As Peter Macky trenchantly observed: "The  Christian message without the resurrection is like a book without pictures or words; it may look like a book from the outside, but inside it is only the sham of blank pages.” #

* H. Richard Niebuhr, Resurrection and Historical Reason, (New York:  Scribner's, 1957), p. 30.

+ Eduard Schweizer, Jesus, trans David E. Green (Richmond:  John Knox, 1971), p. 49.

#Peter Macky, The Bible in Dialogue With Modern Man (Waco: Word, 1970), p. 217. Were he writing today, his book might be entitled The Bible in Dialogue With Today’s World View or something similar.

Collect of the Day, Proper 6, the week of  Trinity Sunday

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 230)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Adelaide Teague Case, educator (died 19 June 1948 CE). http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/adelaide_case.htm

https://schccompanions.org/honoring-adelaide-teague-case/

Collect of the Feast of Adelaide Teague Case

Almighty and everlasting God, who raises up educators and teachers of the faith in every generation of your church: Grant that following the example of your servant Adelaide Teague Case, we might be bold to proclaim the reconciling power of Christ's love in our own generation. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

A Collect for Protection

O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  (BCP, 124)

For Peace

Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 258)

A Prayer for Light

Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord;  and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night;  for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ,  Amen.  (BCP, 111)

A Collect for Mission

O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)

Daily Office  Epistle, Acts 2:22-36

22‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— 23this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 24But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. 25For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; 26therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. 27For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. 28You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” 29‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 31Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, “He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.” 32This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. 34For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, 35until I make your enemies your footstool.’” 36Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer 

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer 

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer