Sunday, May 26, 2013: “Today’s Scripture Readings”

 

A Reading from the Book of Proverbs (8:1-4, 22-31)

 

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live. The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth— when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world’s first bits of soil. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

 

> Trinity Sunday is the one Sunday that has to do with a doctorate, not a story.

> Ember Days (four times per year)

> Sundays after Pentecost used to be Sundays after Trinity in the 1928 Prayer Book.

> The readings now vary year to year.

 

> Follow the way of Wisdom – pictured as a female along with God.

> Pictured as existing along with God.

> Identified with the Holy Spirit of God.

> Explains why Wisdom is supreme over all else.

> Portrait of Lady Wisdom speaking along with God.

 

 

Psalm 8

 

1   O Lord our Governor, *

     how exalted is your Name in all the world!

2   Out of the mouths of infants and children *

     your majesty is praised above the heavens.

3   You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, *

      to quell the enemy and the avenger.

4   When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *

     the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

5   What is man that you should be mindful of  him? *

     the son of man that you should seek him out?

6   You have made him but little lower than the angels; *

     you adorn him with glory and honor;

7   You give him mastery over the works of your hands; *

     you put all things under his feet:

8   All sheep and oxen, *

     even the wild beasts of the field,

9   The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, *

     and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.

10  O Lord our Governor, *

      how exalted is your Name in all the world!

 

> Stands in under the greatness of God.

> The wonder that he even bothers with us at all!

> God is powerful over all of his enemies.

 

 

A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (5:1-5)

 

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

 

> A challenge for the Lectionary to find different readings for A, B, and C years.

> Sometimes Paul’s reasoning is hard to follow!

> Chain of consciousness.

> Jesus – God – Spirit.

 

 

The Holy Gospel of Our  Lord Jesus Christ according to John (16:12-15)

 

Jesus said to his disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

 

> This is also the Year B Pentecost reading as well.

> Spirit – “guides” – in Hebrew means to lead someone along the a road to truth.

> Father – Jesus – Spirit are all mentioned.

> There have been past battles over the Trinity.

> In 1054 this was one reason the Eastern and Western churches split from each other.