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Lectionary Reflection
Year C, Proper 22
Standard (Episcopal) Lectionary
Revised Common Lectionary (Gospel Theme Track)
New Testament Lesson
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2 Timothy
1:(1-5) 6-14
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[Paul, an apostle
of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the
promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
To Timothy, my
beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am grateful to
God-- whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors
did-- when I remember you constantly in my prayers night
and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that
I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere
faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois
and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.]
For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God
that is within you through the laying on of my hands;
for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather
a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Do not be ashamed,
then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner,
but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying
on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works but according
to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to
us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now
been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ
Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed
a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason
I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the
one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he
is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted
to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you
have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you,
with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
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Reflection on 2 Timothy
1:(1-5) 6-14
by John
Gibbs, PhD
True strength and courage build
community, draw upon and nurture hope, and keep focused on their
long-range goal. It is not true strength and courage to bluster,
to be unilateral, to be reactive against external threats and
not proactive in pursuit of the long-term values within one’s
community. Those are signs of weakness, even cowardice.
“God did not give us a spirit
of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of
self-discipline” (v. 7). Love is not set in contrast to power,
nor power arrayed against love, not when they are conjoined
within self-discipline. The cynical contrast between “hard reality”
and kindness or gentleness has no place within the Church. Strength
and grace are not opposed: “be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus” (2:1). Soldier, athlete, farmer (2:3-6)—they all,
in their self-discipline, may and must live out the power of
love rather than the love of power, and they do it in the strength
of the Lord’s own “grace.” That is our realism, “for I know
the one in whom I have put my trust” (1:12).
Longer decades ago than I want
to remember, Paul Tillich wrote profoundly about the interactions
of “love, power and justice” (in a book with that title published
by OUP in 1954). In a culture of accentuated individualism the
insights of the “social gospel” have been very nearly eliminated.
But “for the sake of the promise of life” (1:1) we in the Church
can and must live out institutionally no less than personally
the interpenetrations of love, power, and justice.
Love needs power to be effective,
and to avoid sentimentalism. Power needs love to reach the hearts
and minds of people, and to avoid tyrannous oppression. Justice
needs love to be redemptive, and to avoid destructive retribution.
Eco-justice, a term that signals
care of both environs and neighbors, requires the disciplined
interactions of both power and love. When voluntary compliance
with mandates for care of the environment is lacking, then we
need a government big enough and powerful enough to enforce
behaviors of ecological care. When love for wilderness becomes
sentimental and escapist, that love is ineffective at the community
level (local, state, national, and international).
Moreover, love for the environment
entails no unavoidable neglect of human community and its economic
realities. The contrast between ecological care and economic
care is not “built in,” but a matter of cynical choice. Eco-justice
is a relational term. It aims to serve the relations between
humanity and nature, knowing full well that to care only for
human aspirations at the expense of the environment is a self-defeating
enterprise. Humans do not prosper for long by destroying their
nest, the earth.
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Reflections
on other Readings
[Standard (Episcopal) and Revised Common Lectionary]
for Year C, Proper 22
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Revised Common Lectionary
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Standard (Episcopal) Lectionary
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Old Testament
(Hebrew Scripture)
Lesson: |
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| Psalm: |
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Lanentations 3: 19-26 or
Psalm 137
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no reflection available
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New Testament
Lesson: |
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| Gospel: |
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John
Gibbs, PhD, a retired theologian, attended Trinity Episcopal
Church, Park Rapids, MN, when he originally wrote this reflection
in 2003. John and we welcome your comments. Please address your
comments or additional reflections to John
Gibbs or any MEESC
member, or mail them to:
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MEESC
c/o C. Morello
4451 Lakeside Drive
Eveleth, MN 55743-4400 USA |
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The MEESC assumes
that all correspondence received is for publication on this
web site. If your comments are not for publication, please
so note on your correspondence. The MEESC reserves the right
to decide which items are included on the website.
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This page last updated
2007-09-07.
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