18
19 Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church.
20 Alcuin, Deacon, and Abbot of Tours, 804 was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria.
21 John Eliot, Missionary among the Algonquin, 1690
22
23 Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543, and Johannes Kepler, 1630, Astronomers
24 Jackson Kemper, First Missionary Bishop in the United States, 1870
25 Bede, the Venerable, Priest, and Monk of Jarrow, 735 is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The Father of English History".


FIRST READING: Acts 7: 55-60   (RCL)

Acts 7:55 (NRSV) But filled with the Holy Spirit, he [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.


Acts 6: 1 - 7   (Roman Catholic)

Acts 6:1 (NRSV) Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word." 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Proch'orus, Nica'nor, Ti'mon, Par'menas, and Nicola'us, a proselyte of An'tioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.


Genesis 8: 1 - 19   (alt. for C of E)

Gene 8:1 (NRSV) But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; 2 the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, 3 and the waters gradually receded from the earth. At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated; 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ar'arat. 5 The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.
6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent out the raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out the dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; 9 but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark; 11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days, and sent out the dove; and it did not return to him any more.
13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh--birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth--so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.


PSALM 31: 1 - 5, 15 - 16   (RCL)

Psal 31:1 (NRSV) In you, O LORD, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name's sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
6You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.
7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken heed of my adversities,
8 and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.

15 My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16 Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.


31   In te, Domine, speravi    (ECUSA BCP)

1      In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame; *
     deliver me in your righteousness.

2      Incline your ear to me; *
     make haste to deliver me.

3      Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,
for you are my crag and my stronghold; *
     for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.

4      Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me, *
     for you are my tower of strength.

5      Into your hands I commend my spirit, *
     for you have redeemed me,
     O Lord, O God of truth.
 

15      My times are in your hand; *
     rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
     and from those who persecute me.

16      Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
     and in your loving-kindness save me.”



Psalm 33: 1 - 2, 4 - 5, 18 - 19, R. v. 22 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 33:1 (NRSV) Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright.
2 Praise the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.

4 For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

18 Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.


NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Peter 2: 2 - 10   (RCL)
                                    1 Peter 2: 4 - 9   (Roman Catholic)

1Pet 2:1 (NRSV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-- 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
"See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
"The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,"
8 and
"A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall."
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

h/t Montreal Anglican
It seems that the first readers were recent converts to the faith, “newborn infants”. If they have had a genuine conversion experience (“tasted ...”, v. 3), may they enjoy God’s nourishment (“spiritual milk”, v. 2) as an aid to growing into the salvation Christ brought us. In vv. 4-5, the author uses two metaphors for believers:
as living stones making up God’s building, “spiritual house”, and
as a “priesthood” dedicated to God (“holy”) presenting lives of faith and love (“sacrifices”) to him on behalf of all humans.

Christ is the “living stone”, the cornerstone, the foundation of the building, the Church.

The author then shows that Psalms, Isaiah and Hosea foretell this building image of Christ, Christians and the Church (vv. 6-8). In v. 7, Christ is the “stone”; he is rejected by the community’s pagan persecutors but to us he is of great value (“precious”). Their rejection was ordained by God before time (“as they were destined ...”, v. 8). In v. 9, the terms used of Christians are all from the Old Testament – where they refer to Israel. The Church, the new Israel, is “chosen” by God to proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection (“mighty acts [of God]”); it is God who chose the new Christians for conversion from paganism, “out of darkness into ... light”. In baptism, they have come from having no relationship to God (“not a people”, v. 10) to being “God’s people”, to receiving God’s gift of “mercy”.

Verse 1: “Rid”: The Greek word, apotithemi, is a technical term connected with baptism. See also Romans 13:12 (“lay aside”); Ephesians 4:22 (“put away”), 25; Colossians 3:8; James 1:21. [ NJBC]

Verse 2: “newborn infants”: In 1:3, the author writes “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” and in 1:23 “You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God”. [ NJBC]

Verse 2: “pure”: i.e. without deceit. [ NJBC]

Verse 2: “spiritual milk”: This metaphor is also found in 1 Corinthians 3:1-12, Hebrews 5:12-13 and Philo, On Husbandry. Perhaps the first readers are to conclude that the exhortation contained in this letter constitutes such “pure, spiritual milk”. [ IntPet]

Verse 2: “spiritual”: The Greek word is logikos. John 1:1 begins: “In the beginning was the Word”, Greek: logos. [ NJBC]

Verse 3: “tasted that the Lord is good”: This is from Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him”. Here “Lord” is taken as a reference to Christ. This psalm is much used in 1 Peter, e.g. in 3:10-12. [ IntPet] [ NOAB] [ NJBC]

Verse 4: In Matthew 21:42, Jesus answers the chief priests and elders (who are questioning the source of his authority): “‘Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’’”. [ NOAB]

Verse 4: “rejected by mortals”: IntPet says that unlike in Mark 12:10 and Acts 4:11, this is not a reference to Jews. Those who reject are simply human beings.

Verse 5: See also Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18. [ NJBC]

Verse 6: The quotation is adapted from the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 28:16, with the same deviation as in Romans 9:33: “... See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame”. [ NOAB] [ NJBC]

Verse 7: The quotation is Psalm 118:22: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. [ NOAB] [ NJBC]

Verse 8: The quotation is from Isaiah 8:14-15: “He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over – a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken”. [ NOAB]

Verse 8: “they”: The author says more on the pagan persecutors in 4:5 (“they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead”) and 4:17-18 (“For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?’”). [ NJBC]

Verse 9: “chosen race”: Deuteronomy 7:6 says of the Israelites: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession”. In 1 Peter 1:1 the author speaks of his first readers as “the exiles of the Dispersion” and speaks in 5:13 of “Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you” (where “Babylon” is a cryptogram for Rome, as it is in Revelation). [ NJBC] IntPet says that “chosen race” is a quotation from the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 43:20.

Verse 9: “royal priesthood, a holy nation”: See Exodus 19:6 ( Septuagint translation) and Isaiah 61:6 . NOAB suggests that “royal” and “priesthood” are both nouns: see also Revelation 1:6; 5:10.

Verse 9: “God’s own people”: A combination of the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 43:21 and Malachi 3:17 (“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them”). [ NJBC]

Verse 9: “him”: i.e. God. See also 1:15 (“he who called you is holy”); 2:21; 5:10 (“the God of all grace, who has called you”). [ NJBC]

Verse 9: “out of darkness into ... light”: This is a quotation from Isaiah 9:2. [ IntPet]

Verse 10: “you were not a people ...”: The following verses are applied to the Church:

    Hosea 1:6: “She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the Lord said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them”
    Hosea 1:9: “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God”
    Hosea 1: 10: “in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God’”, and
    Hosea 2:23: “And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’”. [ NJBC]


GOSPEL: John 14: 1 - 14   (RCL)
                  John 14: 1 - 12   (Roman Catholic)

John 14:1 (NRSV) "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Judas Iscariot has left to do his dastardly deed. Jesus now prepares his disciples for his departure. Belief in God includes belief in him (v. 1). He is going, through resurrection and ascension, to the Father, to prepare a place of permanent fellowship for them (vv. 2, 3). He will return to take them there, a place where there is ample room (“many dwelling places”). Thomas is logical, and bewildered. Jesus is the road map, “the way” (v. 6); he is ultimate “truth” and the source of “life” itself. Access to God is only through him. Being both God and human, to know him is to know the Father. Knowing him, they are already getting to know the Father and “have seen him” (v. 7) in Jesus.

Philip shows by his question in v. 8 that he still does not understand (“know”) Jesus, for Jesus is the revelation of God. The Son is present (“dwells”, v. 10) in the Father, and the Father in the Son. Father and Son are one and the same. A master entrusted his agent to act on his behalf in every way. Jesus is the Father’s agent, empowered to act completely for the Father. Jesus says, in essence, if you do not buy this mutual presence, then trust in me on the basis of what I do: you are seeing the Father’s “works” (vv. 10, 11), including miracles.

The faithful will continue these works. (The ones they do will be “greater”, v. 12, because Jesus has nullified sin.) By asking Jesus in prayer (“in my name”, v. 14), God will do whatever the faithful ask.

Verse 2: “my Father’s house”: Jesus has already spoken of this in 8:34-38 (“... The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever ...”). [ BlkJn]

Verse 2: “‘many dwelling places’”: 1 Kings 6:5 describes the Temple in similar terms. [ BlkJn]

Verse 3: Previously Jesus has only hinted at the possibility of the disciples following him: in 12:26, he says: “‘Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also’”. See also 13:36. Because the disciples follow his example, particularly in mutual love, they can eventually be with him, whereas the Pharisees cannot: see 7:33-36; 8:21; 13:33. [ BlkJn]

Verse 5: “Thomas”: Thomas expresses their bewilderment with characteristic bluntness: see also 11:16 (“‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’”) and 20:24-25. [ BlkJn]

Verse 6: “‘I am the way’”: He is the sole means of access to the Father: Jesus says in Matthew 11:27: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”. See also Luke 10:22; John 1:18; 3:3 (to Nicodemus); 6:46; Acts 4:12 (Peter’s speech before the Council) Romans 5:2; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:20. [ BlkJn] [ NOAB]

Verse 6: “‘I am ... the truth, and the life’”: Jesus is all-sufficient because he is both God and human. [ BlkJn]

Verse 6: “the truth”: 1:14 says “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth”.

Verse 6: “the life”: See also 1:4; 6:35 (“‘I am the bread of life’”), 6:48; 11:25 (“‘I am the resurrection and the life’”).

Verse 7: On Jesus being God, 1:1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. In 10:30, Jesus says “‘The Father and I are one’”.

Verse 7: “‘If you know me’”: They can know him since he is a human.

Verse 7: “you do know him”: BlkJn offers you are getting to know him. Because they know Jesus, they are getting to know the Father.

Verse 8: Moses makes a similar reasonable request in Exodus 33:18: “‘Show me your glory, I pray’”. Philip's misunderstanding, like Thomas’, helps Jesus to make his meaning clear. [ BlkJn]

Verse 10: For Jesus as agent of the Father, see also, for example, 3:34; 7:17-18; 8:28, 47; 12:47-49. [ NJBC]

Verse 10: “Do you not believe that ...”: BlkJn translates the Greek in a more understandable way: You believe, do you not, ...

Verse 10: “on my own”: The Greek literally means from myself . BlkJn translates it as on my own authority.

Verse 11: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me”: The unity of the Father and the Son is a recurrent theme in this part of the book: see also vv. 7, 9, 20 and 16:15; 17:21-23. [ BlkJn]

Verse 12: See also Luke 17:6 (“‘faith the size of a mustard seed”) and Matthew 17:20. [ NJBC]

Verse 12: “‘Very truly, I tell you”: In the Greek, “Very truly” is Amen, Amen. This double amen is characteristic of, and peculiar to, this gospel and is used to introduce solemn, almost oracular, declarations. See also 1:51; 3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24, 25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:1, 7; 12:24; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 16:20, 23; 21:18. [ BlkJn]

Verse 12: “works”: i.e. miracles. [ BlkJn]

Verse 13: For variants, see Matthew 7:7-8; 18:19; 21:22; and in Johannine writings, see John 15:7, 16; 16:23, 24, 26; 1 John 3:21-22; 5:14-15. Sometimes Jesus will answer the request, and sometimes the Father will answer when asked in Jesus’ name. At times the Father is addressed directly, and at times neither Father nor Son is specified (but one presumes that the Father is meant). [ NJBC]

Verse 13: “in my name”: This means ask as Jesus’ representative, while on his business, rather than invoking Jesus as a kind of magic spell. The meaning here is the same as when Jesus speaks of having come in his Father’s name in 5:43 and 10:25, and when Acts tells us that the apostles performed miracles in Jesus’ name: see Acts 3:6 (healing of a man lame from birth), 16; 4:10; 16:18 (a slave girl is cured). [ BlkJn]