The Ark Gets Parked

With this week featuring both the Autumnal Ember Days and the Feast of St. Matthew (September 21st), our recaps of 1 Kings as featured in our Old Testament lessons from Morning Prayer will cover only Chapters 6–9, as our lectionary skips over Chapter 7 entirely. As a reminder, the Ember Days are days of prayer and penance which occur at the four seasons (“Ember Days at the Four Seasons” sounds like the name of a fancy restaurant), where we also pray for development of vocations for clergy. At St. Matthew’s, we’ve also taken to praying for the development of all vocations in the Church, including those of the laity.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsSeptember 19, 2024king, Israel

1st Kings, First

We continue our recaps of the Old Testament readings for Morning Prayer with the start of 1 Kings.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsSeptember 14, 2024king, Israel

David’s Dénouement Delayed by Doggerel and Data

The recap of our Old Testament Lessons from Morning Prayer continues with the final chapters of 2 Samuel. But don’t worry, David’s story will continue next week in 1 Kings.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsSeptember 7, 2024king, Israel

Absalom: Just Hangin' 'bout

We continue our recap of our Morning Prayer lessons from 2 Samuel. This week features the sad tale of Tamar, the tragic response of Absalom, and the fecklessness of David.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsAugust 31, 2024king, Israel

David: King of Israel, Giant-Slayer, & Peeping Tom

Ah, here it comes, David’s Babyface to Heel turn. This is always a sad week for my wife, because it represents a turning point in David’s story as well as indicating that we are moving headlong towards the end of Trinity Season and rushing towards Advent and the end of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our recap of 2 Samuel chapters 9-12.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsAugust 24, 2024king, Israel

Warriors, Witches, and Wives

Our look at 1 and 2 Samuel continues this week with the end of one and the start of the other. That’s right, you get two weeks of recaps for the price of one! You may notice that recaps of chapters get shorter and shorter as it goes on. I assure you, dear reader, that this is merely a technique of good storytelling, allowing our narrative to build momentum and urgency, driving us to the end (and is not in any way an indication that I wrote this in a couple of hours).

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsAugust 17, 2024king, Israel

David practices bigamy and Saul gets caught with his britches down (also, Samuel is dead)

We continue our recap of our reading of 1 Samuel from Morning Prayer this week. In this installment, David is in his wilderness years. As Bela Lugosi says in ‘Ed Wood’, “Home? I have no home. Hunted. Despised. Living like an animal!”

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsAugust 3, 2024king, Israel

David Enters, Stage Left

We continue our recap of 1 Samuel, which we’ve been reading during Morning Prayer. This week we are introduced to a hick from the sticks, David, son of Jesse. Slayer of lions, slinger of stones, shredder of lyres, and apparently not a chore to look at.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsJuly 27, 2024king, Israel

Introducing Long Tall Saul

Previously in 1 Samuel, chapters 1-9, we were introduced to Samuel, last of the Judges. The people began carping about having a king like all the grown up nations surrounding them, kind of like when I was a wee lad and everyone showed up after Christmas break with a brand new, diecast metal General Lee from ‘The Dukes of Hazard,’ so I started whining to my parents for one. Anyway, this week we continue our exploration of 1 Samuel with chapters 10-15, where we are introduced to Samuel’s pick for the crown, Saul.

Church HistoryFr. John CrewsJuly 20, 2024king, Israel

The King Shall Come

Psalm 145 always stands out to me when it comes up in the lectionary because a portion of it forms an older version of the prayer for grace before a meal: “The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them their meat in due season; Thou openest Thy hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness.” I love the image of everyone waiting to receive their meal--that’s a familiar image and it’s awe-inspiring to think of everything and everyone in the world doing that at once. It’s significant in the context of the Psalm, though, because it proceeds from the logic of kingship. The Psalmist repeatedly extols the permanence of God’s kingship and how the provision that all expect follows from their reliance on this permanence.

Prayer, Christian LifeFr. Hayden ButlerNovember 5, 2022kingdom, sovereign, king, king jesus, provision, return of the king

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