This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND OFFERS HOPE TO GAY CLERGY 

Romans 12:1-21

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ 20No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

no distinction of status: a quaker meeting

This is another of Paul’s great characterisations of the “shared life” (Greek koinonia) of the assemblies of Christ:

1. There is no distinction of status within the community, only differences of function as each person contributes according to their own ability. As they also receive according to their need, the early churches anticipate the Marxist prescription. This offering of themselves for the honour of God and the welfare of the community is called, “rational worship” (rational is a better translation of the Greek logike than spiritual. See above) Paul sees this generosity as a reasonable response to God’s goodness.
2. Paul’s commandments are robust and comprehensive, setting out specific attitudes and courses of action as obligatory for all members of the Christian community. If anyone is lucky enough to have lived in such a community, they know how precious Paul’s injunctions are. Indeed many of them echo the teaching of Jesus.
3. Although these commands are for the Christian community, they are not inward-looking. For example, Christians are to contribute to the needs of the saints (members of their own and other Christian assemblies) but are also to extend hospitality to strangers. They are to be good to each other but also to their enemies.
4. Paul issues commands which are specific but not too specific. There are a host of moral issues which arise in community life for which he gives no command. In his wisdom he knows he must leave people to work out these matters in their own time and place. Yesterday my own church, the Church of Scotland, took a definite but cautious step towards the ordination of persons in faithful same-sex partnerships. This would have surprised and probably angered Paul but he might have been able to see it as an outworking of the basic commands he had given in this and other letters, and ultimately of the gospel of Christ.

Luke 8:1-10

8Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

4 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that

“looking they may not perceive,

and listening they may not understand.”

vigorous prodigality

The parables of Jesus seem to have been a problem in the early church where perhaps the original Palestinian art of storytelling had been lost. Sometimes, as in the case of the explanation of the parable of the sower, the “official” interpretation seems at odds with the thrust of the parable itself. In itself, this parable seems to be about God’s way of sowing the seeds of his kingdom rather generously even on unpromising soil, confident that there will be growth from the good soil. God doesn’t force the kingdom on anybody but invites everyone to be part of it. The seeds may be the gospel message or Jesus and his apostles, or perhaps all who have been seeds of the kingdom down the ages from Moses to Malachi, but the main point is the vigorous prodigality of God’s sowing. Although the quotation from Isaiah is a little pessimistic, it points to parables as discriminatory: they ask for a decision, in this case, “Will you recognise the generosity of God in this man’s activity?”

It deserves close study by directors of mission within the church today who frequently seem to be engaged in a militant promotional exercise. Herding hordes of rapturous recruits into the Christian regiment is not the aim of God’s mission in Jesus. He certainly wants all to know his invitation but employs no deception and is prepared to be turned down. In Jesus’ ministry sober realism goes hand in hand with confidence in God’s Way. I suppose I should point to the connection between this and the “rational worship” of Romans 12.