Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
September 29, 2021
Invitatory
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: First Corinthians 8:1-3
Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
In Luke’s account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the Pharisees complained about the boisterousness of the crowds, Jesus retorted by saying, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” For a long while, I heard this statement as a declaration that even things that we consider completely inert elements of nature have a place in rejoicing before God. I have become inclined, however, to read this differently now. In Jesus’ time, rocks and stones were very convenient weapons, ready-to-hand for anyone who wanted to act in animosity and judgment. We are remarkably able to use almost anything against almost anyone. And in this light, Jesus’ statement is all the more radical. Something about what the crowds saw in him could create a world where our most accessible weapons could be transformed into vehicles of song and rejoicing.
Part of the difficulty of our current time is that we are realizing the inability of knowledge to accomplish what we have long trusted would be its greatest promise. It was supposed to establish peace. It was supposed to make clear an order for the world and for our lives that would end all conflict. Knowledge is what we want to trust most. It was supposed to grant us certainty so that we could all be in agreement. But this isn’t coming to fruition. We still want to claim that it’s authoritative, but on numerous issues and in exasperating ways, it’s proving ineffective. What some insist is indubitable, others say is simply fake. Arguments can be made with extensive use of data all bent toward proving a point, and yet this can make no difference. Knowledge is showing that it’s not persuasive. And as a result, it’s becoming increasingly weaponized itself. A position is stated. Charges are met with counter charges. And the shouting begins. And we keep hoping that, suddenly, epiphanies will happen and knowledge will win. But there’s little in our actual experience that can make this more than a blind belief.
Maybe we should all admit that, regardless of how impressive our knowledge can seem, “anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge.” Which is a way of saying that knowledge alone isn’t sufficient for what we need as human beings, and no amount of knowledge accrued is enough to secure our lives and satisfy our desires. Knowledge isn’t the means to salvation.
Quite to the contrary, there is often a deep grace that can be found when people are able to admit what they do not know or that they do not know something. This isn’t necessarily a fault or a failure; it can be an acknowledgement that invites others into the kind of conversation that doesn’t descend immediately into polemics. Few things in our time would be more beneficial than learning and practicing a bold agnosticism. What a change this would be from the waves of rant on so many of the asocial media websites that drive the anger of our day.
Paul said that “love builds up.” Maybe what’s missing more than all else in our age of confrontation is a recourse to love when all else fails. Stamping our feet about knowledge is getting us nowhere. But love, as we say -- directly in opposition to knowledge -- is able to accomplish “infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” Love doesn’t seek convenient weapons. It sings. Somehow, we have to find our way to this.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
