This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news

Opposition in Prison: Belarus under Absolute Power
Colossians 3:12-17

12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

A brief blueprint for a community of Christ

1. Remember who you are: God’s choice of people, dearly loved and (somehow!) holy.

2. Clothe yourselves with Christ: specifically with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience-virtues which the world does not value much.

3. When you have cause to complain-don’t. Forgive as you have been forgiven by Christ.

4. Crown these with the true love that creates harmony.

5. Allow the peace of Christ to rule your inner selves so that you live a common life.

6. Be thankful.

7. True thanksgiving means receiving the word of Christ and worshipping God.

8. All this is through Jesus.

 I’ve been amazed following the lectionary over the past week how many of the most inspiring biblical verses come from this letter.

 Luke 7:18-23

18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples 19and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ 20When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ’ 21Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Most of what is written in the Gospels about Jesus and John the Dipper seems to me to reflect a Christian need to put John in his place, that is, as a forerunner to Jesus, not competition. Here on the other hand is record of John’s doubts about Jesus. John preached about the imminent kingdom of God and here was Jesus who preached and healed in obscure villages. He might be excused for asking, “Are you the one or are to wait for another.” How can God’s kingdom be exorcisms in Galilee? Jesus acknowledges the difficulty, using the Jewish term for an obstacle which may cause someone to stumble. He suggests that the Dipper may recognise biblical prophecies in an accurate report of what he’s doing, but in truth the kingdom can only begin in this way because he works only by arousing trust rather than by celebrity or force. He is not Captain Marvel. He works, that is, by sharing amongst the common people the life that Paul simply calls “the peace of Christ.”