Break Open the Word

  All Saints’ Day, 1 November 2020     Revelation 7:9-17 Psalm 34:1-10, 22 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12 The Collect   Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting.  Amen. Background: The Treaty of Kadesh For many Christians we only know of Kadesh from the verses of  Psalm 29 , and from other references in Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, and Ezekiel. But what is important about Kadesh is its influence on covenantal theology. A battle was fought at Kadesh at the Orontes River in 1274 BCE as Egypt, under Ramesses II, and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II, sought to limit the influence of the other in the lands of

The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, 25 October 2020     Track 1 or Track 2 Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46   Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18 Psalm 1 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46   The Collect Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.     Background: Authority   With the death of Moses in the Track One First Reading, and the continuing questions of Pharisees and Sadducees to Jesus regarding his authority, it seems like a good time to look at the issue of Authority in the Scriptures. To begin this discussion we need to recognize that there is no other religious authority than that which derives from God. It belongs to God alone. There is no word in Hebrew for the notion of authority. Sometimes, wh