This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings together with a headline from world news:
HOMELESSNESS ALREADY INCREASED IN UK
Studdert Kennedy as chaplain
When Jesus Came to Birmingham
When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do, ‘
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.
G.A. Studert-Kennedy
Studdert-Kennedy's funeral
Hebrews 2:1-10
2Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, 3how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 4while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.
5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. 6But someone has testified somewhere,
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour,
8 subjecting all things under their feet.’
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The Pioneer Spaceship going beyond our solar system
On this day the pastor and poet G.A. Studdert- Kennedy is remembered in the Episcopal Churches. He was a chaplain during the First World War, known as “Woodbine Willie” by the soldiers because he brought them cigarettes. He was a Christian Socialist and opponent of wars and capitalism but he never let his social and political convictions usurp the place of Christ in his life. In the poem above, for example, we may see the pastor who protested at the terrible life of the homeless in a great modern city (a protest still relevant today) but we also see a preacher who based his poem on the text from Matthew 25 “Inasmuch as you have not done it for the least of these my brothers, you have not done it for me”. He has much to teach us.
The writer to Hebrews would agree with Studdert- Kennedy that Jesus shared the sufferings of humanity-“he tasted death for everyone”- but he adds the picture of Jesus risen from death putting every evil, including death, under his feet. The writer admits that prophetic words about such a victory are meant to apply to humanity as a whole, but we don’t see that fulfilment yet. At present, humanity still suffers. But we do see Jesus, who is the pioneer for all humanity, crowned with glory and honour. As he has gone ahead of us, the writer implies, all we have to do is follow.
Hebrews uses a lot of unfamiliar ideas, many drawn from the ritual of Jewish religion, but the material rewards anyone who works hard at it. The theology of Jesus united with humanity in suffering so that humanity can be united with him in glory is one that Studdert-Kennedy would have understood. It is the writer of Hebrews who comes up with the marvellous definition of faith as the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. For those who have eyes for the apparently hopeless suffering of human beings, the gift of faith is especially transforming.
Emmock's Blog 
I have never heard of Studdert- Kennedy before, but I am glad to here.
In Canada we have some social reformers who have come from the ministerial ranks (primarily Baptist and Methodist), but they mostly left their Christian heritage behind, feeling that it was inadequate to address the problems of society.
I like your Studdert- Kennedy much more, because I think he is right. Christians, acting like Christians, can do much good in the world.
Thanks, Jeff. Yes, I think Studdert-Kennedy was a genuine saint with the disconcerting habit of saying plainly what ought to have evident to all, and doing what others had left undone. You can find out more about him by simply googling his name.
Do Baptists keep Lent? Or is it regarded as a popish plot, as it used to be by Scottish presbyterians. As a church that’s still our position but I think many individuals use it for private discipline nd of course most of us follow the RCL readings on Sundays. I try to increase my inadequte devotional life each Lent. This year, I’ll learn a new hymn every day-it’ll be a pleasure as well as an improvement!
I can’t speak for all Baptists, but at our church it would be fair to say we acknowledge Lent. So I let people know when Lent is, and what it is. As well, whatever series I am preaching (was going through 2 Kings) stops, and I switch over to a Lenten theme.
In our church we don’t worry too much about popish plots – no one would even know what that term meant. Most folks here come out of a Pentecostal or independent background, so their understanding of most church traditions (including the old animosities, thankfully) is pretty skimpy.
Since I come out of a Catholic background myself, I do not mind teaching on and participating in some of the traditions which I find beneficial.
I’m sure that’s a healthier atitude than pertains in Scotland where the old battles are still being fought. I was reading at the weekend that in my native city, Glasgow, when Rangers (Prod) play Celtic (Catholic) the domestic violence rate goes up 20%! How sad is that? The existence of separate schools for Catholics doesn’t help. So even small gestures of ecumenicity, like observing Lent, are important.