Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69; Judges 5:1-18; Acts 2:1-21; Matthew 28:1-10
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Psalm 69 & a song for deliverance from drowning waters. With raw honesty in Psalm 69, David confesses his sinfulness, while asking that the Lord’s honor nonetheless not be besmirched at the hands of those who are endangering his life. Despite his own faults, he protests the injustice of the accusations of his enemies, and he laments the shame of his abandonment by friends and family. In doing all this, he anticipates specific features of Christ’s experience 1,000 years later: zeal for his Father’s house (Psalm 69:9; John 2:15), the bearing of insult on God’s behalf (Psalm 69:9; Romans 15:3), and being offered sour wine for his thirst (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34, 48).
In all of this, David thinks of himself being threatened by drowning waters:
1 Save me, O God, *for the waters have risen up to my neck.2 I am sinking in deep mire, *and there is no firm ground for my feet.3 I have come into deep waters, *and the torrent washes over me.
16 Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; *let me be rescued from those who hate meand out of the deep waters.17 Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,neither let the deep swallow me up; *do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
It’s hard to imagine a better setup to Jesus’s dramatic question, in anticipation of the Cross: “Are you able to … be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38).
Judges 5 & a song of celebration for rescuing waters. Deborah’s song in Judges 5 recalls the way God enabled Israel’s victory over the Canaanite chariots (per yesterday’s narrative in Joshua 4) by a tremendous storm:
…the heavens poured,the clouds indeed poured water. …
The torrent Kishon swept them away, the onrushing torrent, the torrent Kishon (Judges 5:4 ,21).
It would appear that one of the reasons that the Canaanites’ mighty chariots of iron were so easily defeated by Deborah and Barak’s infantry was that Yahweh sent a mighty storm that so swelled the banks of the Kishon that the chariots had to be abandoned. As it had at the Red Sea, water proved to be a means by which the Lord brought deliverance to his people.
Thus, Deborah’s song anticipates the other half of Jesus’s baptism on the Cross: his rising to life and victory. In the waters of the River Jordan, Jesus had identified with his people’s sins, so that in his rising from those waters he could receive power from on high to minister life and healing to them. That’s why the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. That’s why he immediately journeys into the wilderness for his victorious contest with Satan.
Baptism portrays both dying and rising. The deluge drowns evil and empowers life. The (metaphorical) waters of (literal) death that swept over Jesus were simultaneously waters that washed away the power of evil and Satan and sin and death. Drowning waters prove simultaneously to be delivering waters, for Jesus rises to restore life. Just so, Jesus’s baptism of death destroys sin, and his rising from death confers life.
Matthew 28 and Jesus’s resurrection as baptism unto life. Here is the far side of “the baptism with which I am to be baptized”—Jesus rises unto life and strength and authority and healing presence. With the triumphant angel at the tomb, and Matthew’s brief resurrection account, the stage is set for Jesus’s final instructions to his disciples. Jesus announces that “all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to me,” and he commissions his followers to bring good news to all the nations of the earth. And he promises to be with them “to the end of the age.”
Acts 2 & the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the church receives its own version of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus: indeed, the Holy Spirit as Jesus’s very presence and power. Just as Jesus received the Spirit from heaven for his ministry at his baptism, so now the church receives the Spirit from heaven for her ministry at Pentecost: that “their sons and daughters may prophesy” (Acts 2:17). Now, by virtue of Jesus’s real and authoritative presence in the Holy Spirit, the nations (represented in the gathering of people from Parthia to Rome, and parts in between, in Jerusalem at Pentecost) may be discipled and baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:20).
Prayers at Baptism (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 305-306):
Deliver us, O Lord, from the way of sin and death. Lord, hear our prayer.
Open our hearts to your grace and truth. Lord, hear our prayer.
Fill us with your holy and life-giving Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer.
Keep us in the faith and communion of your holy Church. Lord, hear our prayer.
Teach us to love others in the power of the Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer.
Send us into the world in witness to your love. Lord, hear our prayer.
Bring us to the fullness of your peace and glory. Lord, hear our prayer. … Amen.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Jason Mackey - Pastoral Intern
Jason Mackey was drawn to the theological depth, biblical orthodoxy, and liturgical beauty of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke. He finds spiritual sustenance in the rhythm of daily prayer, and feels at home amongst the clergy and congregation. He also loves that the Cathedral ministers to Orlando and beyond.
An Orlando native, Jason grew up an atheist and became a Christian at nineteen, after a nearly life-ending skateboarding accident. During undergraduate studies in History at UCF, he helped plant a non-denominational Church, pastored small group communities, and started a surfing ministry. Recognizing the need for biblically literate leadership, he enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is currently finishing a Master of Divinity. While in Seminary, Jason has worked as a High School History teacher and Research Assistant. He read his way into the Anglican tradition studying Church history and theology, and would love to talk about that journey!
When the pandemic hit, classes went online, and Jason returned home to Orlando from the Gordon-Conwell campus in Massachusetts. Through God's kind providence, this presented the opportunity to begin serving at the Cathedral, while completing his degree from a distance. Jason has been helping with technical production as the Cathedral went online. He is so excited to exercise his gifts and passions for discipleship, education, and community-building as a Pastoral Intern at the Cathedral!
Noonday Prayer
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 71; Judges 4:4-23; Acts 1:15-26; Matthew 27:55-66
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)
Taken together, today’s readings Illustrate God’s unyielding intention to accomplish his purposes despite all opposition, and through the most surprising of means.
Notes from Judges. Judges highlights the heroism of two women, who act, undeterred by timid leadership within Israel or by military oppression from outside Israel.
Once again, doing “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” has led to Israel’s subjugation, this time under the despotic rule of King Jabin of Canaan. And once again, Israel “cried out to the Lord for help” (Judges 4:1-3). This time help comes from a remarkable woman, Deborah. She is a prophetess who receives revelation from Yahweh, a judge who arbitrates disputes, and an unexpected leader who calls Israel to arms.
Israel’s general, Barak, pushes back against Deborah’s initial instructions (from the Lord!) for battle against the Canaanites. He refuses to go unless she does. Deborah understands Barak wants her to put her life on the line to prove the truth of her message from Yahweh. She agrees to lead the Israelite forces and informs him, somewhat derisively, that the glory of the coming victory will go to a woman, not to him. As Yahweh promised, the Israelites successfully rout the Canaanites, thanks to Deborah’s brilliant leadership and tactics. The Canaanites’ greatest strength is their iron chariots. Deborah lures them close enough to the banks of the River Kishon that the chariots provide no advantage in the fight. The Canaanites are pursued back to their base and all except their leader, Sisera, perish under the sword of the Israelites. Sisera has fled in a different direction, to the home of a family who is on friendly terms with Jabin, the king of Canaan. The surprise in the narrative is that the woman who ultimately steals Barak’s glory and seals this victory is not Deborah, but someone else. When Sisera arrives at her home, the woman Jael pretends to offer aid and comfort to him. When she has lulled him to sleep, she drives a tent peg through his head. After this resounding defeat and the death of Sisera, the Israelites were able to destroy the rule of Jabin, king of Canaan.
Notes from Matthew. In our Matthew reading of the death and burial of Jesus, three women—each with her own story of Jesus’s ministration to her, and each with her own role in supporting his ministry—bear witness to Jesus’s death on Golgotha. Mary Magdalene had been delivered of seven demons (Luke 8:2). The other Mary is his mother (and also of his brothers James and Joseph). And there is the unnamed mother of the sons of Zebedee, recently rebuked for ambitiously pushing for the advancement of her sons (Matthew 20:20-28), but clearly unfazed in her devotion to Jesus.
And there’s also Joseph of Arimathea, an (up until now, at least) secret disciple of Jesus who happened to belong to the very Sanhedrin that had turned Jesus over to the Romans (see also John 19:38). We are not told what Joseph may have said or done during those proceedings, only that he “had not consented to their purpose and deed, but he was looking for the kingdom of God” (Luke 23:51). Now Joseph offers what he can: a resting place for Jesus’s body. (We know Jesus won’t need it for very long.)
Opposing God’s cause before, during, and after the crucifixion are the chief priests and Pharisees who persuade Pilate to let them have a guard of soldiers to make sure that Jesus’s body stays in the tomb. Refusing to believe Jesus is actually God, they foolishly believe Jesus’s disciples will conspire to steal the body and deceive the people into thinking there has been a resurrection.
Notes from Acts. The book of Acts provides a most revealing perspective on the way God uses evil intentions, noting that Judas’s betrayal fulfilled Scripture, and that his suicide could not thwart God’s plan for a full number of twelve in “position of overseer” (Acts 1:20; see Psalm 109:7). Even before experiencing the life-giving and wisdom-conferring bestowal of the Holy Spirit, the apostles know to seek the Lord’s guidance, expecting that he will work his plan, and that it will be undeterred by any kind of human resistance.
Whether it is the military might of King Jabin and Sisera, the impiety of the Sanhedrin, the cowardice of Pilate, or the treachery of Judas, a sovereign God resolutely works his unstoppable plan. In his own time and in his own way, the True and Living God puts down godlessness and frustrates foolishness. In his own time and in his own way, the Lord of heaven and earth manifests his power and goodness, and he brings his redemptive purposes to fruition.
I pray that no matter what goes on around you, you hold on to this promise: “‘I know the plans that I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT).
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Midday Eucharist
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 72; Judges 3:12-30; Acts 1:1-14; Matthew 27:45-54
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)
The book of Judges chronicles an entire phase of Israel’s history that is marked by a certain kind of accommodation that the Lord makes to the persistence of Israel’s sin. In yesterday’s reading we saw the framework of this era. Israel has refused to carry out God’s ban against idols in the land—and so Yahweh says, “I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died” (Judges 2:21).
Israel remains, for now, a federation of tribes that is often subject to political domination and spiritual pollution. What we will see in the book of Judges is a “testing”: Israel’s pattern of idolatry and rebellion, leading to pillaging and subjugation by enemies, after which Israel would cry for deliverance. This would lead Yahweh to raise up a judge to “deliver them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge” (Judges 2:18). Israel’s history becomes a cycle of rebellion, domination, repentance, relief. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Today we read about Ehud the Left-Handed. Under (the morbidly obese) King Eglon, Moab had invaded Israel from the southeast of Israel and established domination in the area surrounding Jericho (“the city of palms” — Judges 3:13). For eighteen years, Moab has required from the Israelites the payment of a tribute, the price of being under subjection. (Interestingly, this term comes from the word “tribe”; and we also get the word “contribute” from this.)
After an outcry for relief from the Israelites, Yahweh raises up a man to free them from Moabite domination. An unlikely hero, the Israelite Ehud, from the tribe of Benjamin, is responsible for delivering the tribute to the king. Ironically, and key to this story, he is left-handed: the name Benjamin means “son of the right hand.” And in Hebrew culture, a left-handed man gets no respect: the Hebrew phrase describing left-handedness is a scornful “man restricted in his right hand.” Planning to assassinate the Moabite king, Ehud fashions for himself a two-edged dagger, ideal for stabbing and easily concealed. His left-handedness provides the advantage he needs. It allows him to hide his dagger on the side of his body where a weapon would not be expected or detected.
After he delivers the tribute, Ehud shares that Yahweh has a private message for King Eglon. Courtiers are excused from the king’s chamber, the doors are locked, and Ehud stabs him with his homemade dagger. King Eglon is so obese that when Ehud stabs him, the fat closes completely over the weapon, hilt and all, and the king’s “bowels discharged.” Ehud has time to escape because the king’s attendants are reluctant to enter the chamber, thinking the king might be having intestinal issues. There follows the account of Israel’s military victory under Ehud, and the eighty years of peace he is able to establish.
God’s “left-handedness.” With today’s account of Christ’s death in Matthew, I can’t help but reflect on the contrast between the way Christ’s being pierced on the cross ushered a new and different kind of deliverance—not a mere eighty years, but an eternity, of rest. Nor can I help but reflect on the comparison between Ehud’s left-handedness and the scorned “left-handedness” of God’s plan to conquer sin and death through a most unlikely hero: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him … a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:2-3). A hero who conquers through the most unlikely of means: the nakedness, the humiliation, the scandal of a Roman cross: “’Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani’? that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Psalm 22:1 and Matthew 27:46). And this question gets answered in the most unlikely of ways: First, Christ’s own “you have done it,” and second, the anticipation of Christ’s own resurrection, confirmed in the rising of “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep” (Matthew 27:52).
“You will receive power…” There is an end to the cycle of rebellion, domination, repentance, and relief. At last, a new “wash, rinse, repeat” emerges in the book of Acts (the reading of which we begin today). “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). There will be power from on high, proclamation, repentance & faith, baptism, discipleship. And there will be a new type of relationship, deep and intimate, between God and each one of his children—those of us who know and love our Savior, Jesus Christ. Stay tuned.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Midday Eucharist
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 61 & 62; Judges 2:1-5, 11-23; Romans 16:17-27; Matthew 27:32-44
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Paul closes his magisterial letter to the Romans with four flourishes:
Living in the tension. … keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned … — Romans 16:17. From Romans 14 & 15 we find that Paul is willing to allow dissent within the community over some things — in fact, his refusal to provide definitive answers on them indicates that he thinks “love” is truer than pedantic precision. However, when it comes to denial of the foundational, core truths of Christianity (“the teaching that you have learned”), Paul brooks no compromise. He presupposes the Romans’ basic grasp of these truths (“your obedience is known to all” — see also v. 26). It’s worth an in-one-seating read through Romans with this question in mind: what’s negotiable for Paul? what’s not? how does that affect my living and thinking?
Blessing One: More than conquerors, revisited. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. — Romans 16:20. Paul offers an intriguing blessing that recalls God’s promise in the Garden of Eden that Eve’s seed would bruise Satan’s head. The final fulfillment of that promise will be even stronger, the crushing of Satan himself under the feet of the redeemed. It is profitable to meditate on the ways that Paul thinks about our situation as a “new creation” in Christ:
We are beneficiaries of the Last Adam’s obedience (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15)
We, like Eve, are susceptible to deception (2 Corinthians 11:3), and must be on our guard against the one who disguises himself as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Despite the danger around us (and within us?), God will make us ultimately victorious (remember 5:17; 8:37-39) — Jesus will return, and we will judge even angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)
Keeping good company. Timothy, my co-worker, greets you… — Romans 16:21. Paul was no maverick outlier, aloofly pontificating from on high. Writing from Corinth, he shares how he surrounds himself with proteges like Timothy whom he is training for ministry, and with confidants like his amanuensis/secretary Tertius whom he trusts to capture and convey his thoughts accurately in this letter. Paul’s ministry includes people like Pheobe, as well, whose patronage he had enjoyed while in the environs of Corinth (of which Cenchrea was a suburb) and whose service as deacon has won for her his trust to carry the letter to the Romans and to help in its implement by the Roman Christians (Romans 16:1-2). And, of course, Paul expresses his gratitude for his host in Corinth, Erastus, who also happens to be the city treasurer (Romans 16:23).
In an earlier letter, Paul warned the Corinthians that “Bad company ruins good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). His own life proves the converse—the power of the gospel is amplified in the koinonia—the sense of “partnership” or “friendship”—it creates (see, incidentally, Galatians 2:9; Philippians 1:5). I pray that each of us knows those relationships where there is mutual building up, support, and friendship in Christ.
Blessing Two: Now to God who is able to strengthen you… — Romans 16:25. Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that Paul’s last wish for us in this letter is that we know God’s strength. Paul has just reminded us that God will finally vanquish all that is evil. In the meantime, we live here as forerunners and heralds of that victory. We are armed chiefly with the knowledge that the gospel is the culmination of God’s work from before time. And we understand that this message holds promise for life, through “the obedience of faith,” for each of us and for all of us. I pray that you will find God granting, in his mighty Son, all the strength and courage that you need for this day.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Noonday Prayer
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 56, 57, & 58; Joshua 24:16-33; Romans 16:1-16; Matthew 27:24-31
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,”Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)
Sometimes in the Daily Office a single verse stops you in your tracks. Today, the thought of God bottling my tears invites reflection.
You have noted my lamentation;
[you have] put my tears into your bottle; *
are they not recorded in your book?— Psalm 56:8
On the run from the current King Saul, the future King David seeks refuge in a surprising place: “David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath,” of Philistia (1 Kings 21:10). David had to be pretty desperate to decide that, of all places, the safest place for him to seek refuge would be the home of Goliath. Gath had been the home of the Philistine champion Goliath, whom David had killed, bringing humiliating defeat to Philistia. Perhaps the fact that David now carries Goliath’s sword (see 1 Samuel 21:8-9) makes David think Gath’s king will honor him and provide him sanctuary. It turns out to have been as bad an idea as one might expect. “The officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. ‘Isn’t this David, the king of the land?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, Saul has killed his 1,000s, and David his 10,000s’?” (1 Samuel 21:10-11).
David, according to 1 Samuel 21:12-13, realizes his peril and plays a humiliating role: “he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.” The psalm’s superscription—Of David. A Miktam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath—gives us the physical setting of the psalm. David writes while under custody, as King Achish weighs his fate. The “lamentation” (an alternative translation of the Hebrew is “wanderings”) and the “tears” receive their setting as well: fear, anxiety, failure, disappointment, rejection. Ultimately,
David is banished from Gath: “Finally, King Achish said to his men, ‘Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” (1 Samuel 21:14-15).
David is the remarkable figure he is because of the way he processes his “stuff” with such honesty, and comes out with such faith in the end. Who can’t relate at some level to David’s tears? Who isn’t in need of such faith?
…you have put my tears in a bottle…— Psalm 56:8. Despite his situation, despite being hounded, attacked, and betrayed; despite his own fears and heartbrokenness in his circumstances; David holds fast to the truth that he is not alone in his distress. Yahweh has such care for him that David envisions each of his tears being acknowledged, treasured, and preserved by his Heavenly Father, his Counselor, Friend, and Advocate. The God who sees every sparrow that falls has numbered every hair on our heads; and he knows each and every tear we have shed (and will shed). He cares very much about the sorrow or fear or suffering we have endured, or are enduring, or will endure. He will give it meaning. He will make everything right one day.
An aside: Brilliant poet that he is, David uses a wordplay to communicate the tightness of the emotional connection between Yahweh and himself. It is David’s tears over his nōḏ(“lamentation” or “wanderings”) that God puts into his own nōʾḏ(“bottle” or “skin”). David can’t help but create something beautiful and elegant out of a situation that is anything but beautiful and elegant. Think of David as the original singer of “the blues.”
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise… — Psalm 56:4; and this is repeated and expanded in verses 10-11: This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid.What rescues David from getting lost in despair is his trust in God who makes and keeps promises. What sustains David is the trustworthiness of the God who speaks order in the midst of chaos, peace in the midst of strife, hope in the midst of despair. I pray we hear that voice in the midst of the chaos, strife, and despair all around us.
This I know: that God is on my side. — Psalm 56:9. And I pray that you and I can hold on to this thought, as David did in his day. May we cling to this thought even more firmly with the apostle Paul, who having seen its truth confirmed and transcended in the dying, rising, and ascending of Jesus, amplified it for us: “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+