Break Open the Word

All Saints' Sunday, 6 November 2016 Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 Psalm 149 Ephesians 1:11-23 Saint Luke 6:20-31 Background: All Saints’ Sunday One wonders how the popularity of this festival became so great that it has spilled over to the Sunday following, thus assuring its celebration. The original feast in the West was celebrated on 13 May (roughly similar to its celebration in the East) where it commemorated the dedication in 609 of the Pantheon in Rome by Pope Boniface IV to Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres . Later, ca. 735, the feast was moved to 1 November at the dedication of an oratory at Saint Peter’s Basilica for the relics of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs, and confessors. In some churches, the day has become conflated with All Souls’ Day (2 November) in which the general commemoration of the saints is combined with a remembrance of all the dead. First Reading: Daniel 7:1-3,15-18 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel ha...

The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26, 30 Octber 2016 Track One: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 Psalm 119:137-144 Track Two: Isaiah 1:10-18 Psalm 32:1-8 II Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 Saint Luke 19:1-10 Background: Sacrifice – What was sacrificed? There is a great deal of concern in the codes governing sacrifice that there be a level of purity in the animals that were sacrificed. They could not be blemished or damaged in any way, including being castrated. They were to be considered clean, which allowed mainly for bulls and oxen, cows and calves, sheep, lambs goats and kids, along with turtledoves and pigeons. The animal was required to be at least seven days old. Sacrifice, however, was not limited to animals. Bloodless sacrifices included the offering of flour or grains, wine and oil. At most sacrifices frankincense and salt were used, and in some instances leaven or honey. Of most importance, however, was the blood that was a product of the sac...