Christ the King sermon

Just remember. Jesus is not Superman.

Vicar David Fleener
Sermon: Christ the King Sunday, 11.25.2007
Luke 23:33-43

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our true King and Sovereign. Amen.

Today's Gospel has special significance for me. About two years ago, not long after Lindsay and I were married, my Grandma Rosezella lay dying in Boone County Hospital in Columbia, MO. After suffering for years with a Parkinsons-type illness, she was finally about to die. Grandpa George had just transferred her to hospice care, and the whole family came to say their final goodbyes.

This was Labor Day weekend, so seminary classes were about to start. Lindsay and I rushed down to see her. She couldn't see or speak, but she did know I was there, and mouthed a greeting to me. At that point I reached for her King James Bible in the room, and Lindsay and I read several passages aloud. The last one we read was today's very Gospel. “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

I closed the Bible, and we visited with the rest of the family before going back home. She held on another week before she died.

When I look back on that time, I realize that I must have been trying to comfort myself more than Grandma. It's a common credo in hospitals and nursing homes that the family needs pastoral care and comfort more in such times than the dying. When we see a loved one die, we are confronted with the frightening specter of death itself.

But on the cross, facing that specter himself, Jesus assures the criminal, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

What is Jesus talking about? What is Paradise? And what does this text have to do with today, Christ the King Sunday?

As comforting as the Gospel is, there are some uncomfortable moments. It's paradoxical. You may remember this reading from earlier this year – it was read as part of the Palm Sunday Gospel. On Palm Sunday, the crowds wanted to crown Jesus king. But the royal procession does not last long. The procession into Jerusalem becomes the procession to the cross. We find the king himself on the cross, suffering and dying. No self-respecting king would be caught dead there if he could help it. But Jesus is there, and what's more, about to come into his kingdom. The cross is his throne.

Maybe we've been conditioned to dislike those who, like the religious leaders and criminal, call for Jesus to get down from the cross. But maybe in the back of our minds we're more like them than we thought. An obviously powerful messiah is an attractive messiah. What kind of messiah lets his mission come to the cross? At first glance – a weak one, that's who. A “Superman” Jesus, who destroys death by not having to suffer it himself, is a much more attractive Jesus.

About thirty years ago, Fr. Robert Capon, an Episcopal priest, wrote a few words about the Superman Jesus.

“. . . almost nobody resists the temptation to jazz up the humanity of Christ. The true paradigm of the ordinary American view of Jesus is Superman: "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American Way." If that isn't popular christology (what we believe the Messiah is), I'll eat my hat. Jesus -- gentle, meek and mild, but with secret, souped-up, more-than-human insides -- bumbles around for thirty-three years, nearly gets himself done in for good by the Kryptonite Kross, but at the last minute, struggles into the phone booth of the Empty Tomb, changes into his Easter suit and, with a single bound, leaps back up to the planet Heaven. It's got it all -- including, just so you shouldn't miss the lesson, kiddies: He never once touches Lois Lane.

You think that's funny? Don't laugh. The human race is, was and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don't want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It's not that we weren't looking for the Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we were looking for. Our kind of Messiah would come down from a cross. He would carry a folding phone booth in his back pocket. He wouldn't do a stupid thing like rising from the dead. He would do a smart thing like never dying."

Fr. Capon hits it on the head. Jesus, of course, didn't have “secret, souped-up, more than human insides.” He is God, sure, but he is also fully and completely human, with all of the frailties it comes with. When Jesus conquers death and promises Paradise as King, he does it precisely through weakness. The royal power of God doesn't involve a blaze of glory. It doesn't get us out of our humanity. That is precisely how the power of God saves us – in our humanity, with all of our imperfections. The power of God we see on the cross is extraordinary in its power to forgive despite intense, inhumane suffering -- “Father, forgive them”. It is also extraordinary in the promise of Paradise.

The promise of Paradise isn't some far-off thing. It's an immediate thing. “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” It might be more helpful to think of Paradise as representative of a restored relationship with God. In Revelation, the word is used to describe the Garden of Eden, a symbol for “pre-fall” humanity. When we are on our own crosses – when we face our own deaths, a family member's death, or are faced with some other weakness, we hear Jesus' promise, from the cross next to us, that “today” we will be with him in Paradise. Today we are restored to God. Today we are a part of Christ's reign.

We don't need a Superman Jesus. We need the fully human Jesus who shows his divine power as King by dying on the cross as one of us. When Grandma Rose was about to die in the hospital, she heard those words of promise from the One who has been there, who has seen and suffered it all, as we did. In that hospital room, the Reign of Christ burst from the pages of that old Bible, and for a few moments, Paradise itself was in that room.

Remember – Paradise is not some empty promise. It is a royal decree made from the throne of the cross. And praise and thanks be to God for not abandoning us in our humanity, but taking it head on in every way to make us citizens of his kingdom – of Paradise. That's royal power. Amen.

Daily Office 11.25-12.1

I had quite a Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope to write about it here soon.

In the meantime, here's the Daily Office schedule for the week:

Sunday:AM Psalm 118; PM Psalm 145 Isa. 19:19-25; Rom. 15:5-13; Luke 19:11-27

Monday:AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48 Joel 3:1-2,9-17; 1 Pet. 1:1-12; Matt. 19:1-12

Tuesday:
AM Psalm [120], 121, 122, 123; PM Psalm 124, 125, 126, [127] Nahum 1:1-13; 1 Pet. 1:13-25; Matt. 19:13-22

Wednesday:AM Psalm 119:145-176; PM Psalm 128, 129, 130 Obadiah 15-21; 1 Pet. 2:1-10; Matt. 19:23-30
Kamehameha and Emma Psalm 33:12-22 or 97:1-2,7-12 Acts 17:22-31; Matthew 25:31-40

Thursday:
AM Psalm 131, 132, [133]; PM Psalm 134, 135 Zeph. 3:1-13; 1 Pet. 2:11-25; Matt. 20:1-16

Friday:AM Psalm 140, 142; PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12) Isa. 24:14-23; 1 Pet. 3:13-4:6; Matt. 20:17-28
St. Andrew:AM: Psalm 34; Isaiah 49:1-6; 1 Corinthians 4:1-16PM: Psalm 96, 100; Isaiah 55:1-5; John 1:35-42

Saturday:AM Psalm 137:1-6(7-9), 144; PM Psalm 104 Micah 7:11-20; 1 Pet. 4:7-19; Matt. 20:29-34
Nicholas Ferrar:Psalm 15 or 112:1-9 Galatians 6:7-10; Matthew 13:47-52

Office readings 11.18-11.24

I will post these by the week instead of by the day. It's just more convenient that way.

As always, these are taken from http://satucket.com/lectionary

Sunday:

AM Psalm 66, 67; PM Psalm 19, 46
1 Macc. 2:29-43,49-50; Acts 28:14b-23; Luke 16:1-13

Monday:

AM Psalm 89:1-18; PM Psalm 89:19-52
1 Macc. 3:1-24; Rev. 20:7-15; Matt. 17:1-13

Elizabeth of Hungary:
Psalm 146:4-9 or 112:1-9
Tobit 12:6b-9; Matthew 25:31-40 or Luke 12:32-34

Tuesday:

AM Psalm 97, 99, [100]; PM Psalm 94, [95]
1 Macc. 3:25-41; Rev. 21:1-8; Matt. 17:14-21

Edmund of East Anglia:
Psalm 21:1-7 or 126
1 Peter 3:14-18; Matthew 10:16-22

Wednesday:

AM Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; PM Psalm 119:121-144
1 Macc. 3:42-60; Rev. 21:9-21; Matt. 17:22-27

Thursday:

AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45
1 Macc. 4:1-25; Rev. 21:22-22:5; Matt. 18:1-9

Thanksgiving Day:
AM: Psalm 147; Deut. 26:1-11; John 6:26-35
PM: Psalm 145; Joel 2:21-27; 1 Thess. 5:12-24

Friday:

AM Psalm 102; PM Psalm 107:1-32
1 Macc. 4:36-59; Rev. 22:6-13; Matt. 18:10-20

Clement of Rome
Psalm 78:3-7 or 85:8-13
2 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 6:37-4

Saturday:

AM Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13); PM Psalm 33
Isa. 65:17-25; Rev. 22:14-21; Matt. 18:21-35

R.I.P. Shadow: Oct. 1994-Nov. 17, 2007

One of my childhood pets, Shadow -- a gray cat, died today suddenly during an emergency visit to the vet.

He was 13.

He was a sweet, gentle cat who who would groom you if you put out your hand for him, and was named Shadow because he would follow you around like one.

Rest in peace.

Daily office

I may start posting these by the week, and then making reflections on the day as I see fit.

Saturday:

AM Psalm 87, 90; PM Psalm 136
1 Macc. 2:1-28; Rev. 20:1-6; Matt. 16:21-28

Hugh of Lincoln:
Psalm 112:1-9 or 15
Titus 2:7-8,11-14; Matthew 24:42-47

Day off, funeral reflections

It's nice to take a couple days off, especially after the last couple of weeks. I've been running on little but fumes after the 110th anniversary, presiding at my first funeral, and getting two projects together.

The funeral went smoothly. I got experience in writing a suitable funeral message in 48 hours! I may republish it for you at some point. Fortunately, Pr. Susan had everything in place, and she gave me a funeral sermon which I used as a template to write my own. There were a lot of people -- around 230 people, which shattered our expectations. We had estimated 100 earlier in the week.

Many clergy have told me that they prefer a funeral to a wedding any day. Why? Because there are no pretensions with a funeral. We all stand at the common gate we must pass through before the day of resurrection.

This reminds me of an unusual childhood anecdote. When I was around eight or nine, I asked my mother if I could go to a funeral -- any funeral. I can't remember WHY I wanted to go, except that I wanted to see what it was like! I was just understanding the idea of death at this age, too. My mother, rather shocked at such a macabre request, said, "How about a wedding? Weddings are happy!"

Maybe it was at that point I knew I was going to be a pastor. Weddings are happy, but the expectations added on can make that happiness short-lived. With a funeral, there's nothing but death and the grace of God before you. There's nothing to rely on but God's promises. No expectations. No pretension.

And it's a much better conduit for the proclamation of the Gospel.

I didn't think I would have said this a week ago, but I'm glad Pr. Susan couldn't get a substitute at LSTC! Otherwise I wouldn't have had this experience. And knowing LMC, we might go the rest of the year without a death like last year.

At least I have this Saturday off.

11.15.2007 Daily Office

Thursday:
AM Psalm [83] or 34; PM Psalm 85, 86 1 Macc. 1:1-28; Rev. 19:1-10; Matt. 16:1-12

Must run. I have an internship cluster meeting at 11:30 this morning!

It's nice to see the Maccabees in the readings for today.

11.14.2007 Daily office

I'll write something of substance soon...I've been buried under my work!

Seabury is one of my favorite Anglican saints. Read the story behind his ordination to the episcopate, and why English bishops wouldn't ordain him. Another criterion at work than the call of the Holy Spirit, I'm afraid!

Wednesday:

AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82
Neh. 7:73b-8:3,5-18; Rev. 18:21-24; Matt. 15:29-39

Consecration of Samuel Seabury:
Psalm 133 or 33:1-5,20-21
Acts 20:28-32; Matthew 9:35-38

11.13.2007 Daily Office

Tuesday:

AM Psalm 78:1-39; PM Psalm 78:40-72
Neh. 9:26-38; Rev. 18:9-20; Matt. 15:21-28

11.12.2007 Daily Office

Monday:

AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]
Neh. 9:1-15(16-25); Rev. 18:1-8; Matt. 15:1-20

Charles Simeon:
Psalm 145:8-13 or 96:1-7
Romans 10:8b-17; John 21:15-17

11.10.2007 Daily Office, Funeral

I am presiding at a funeral this morning. Pr. Susan had a previous commitment at LSTC, so guess who got tapped?

It's okay. After all, I am supposed to preside at one funeral during my time at LMC. This one isn't too complicated -- no Communion or anything. And if this year is like last year, it may be that no one else will die at that church.

I prepared my message last night -- a few short words on Psalm 23.

Pray for me, that I can be a presence of comfort and closure for the family.

Here are today's office readings. Today we honor my second-favorite pope! (After Gregory, of course!)

Saturday:

AM Psalm 75, 76; PM Psalm 23, 27
Ezra 9:1-15; Rev. 17:1-14; Matt. 14:22-36

Leo the Great:
Psalm 77:11-15 or 23
2 Timothy 1:6-14; Matthew 5:13-19

11.9.2007 Daily office

I took a day off yesterday. That may not have been such a good idea, as now the work is piled deeper and higher than ever before.

But, Eugene Peterson speaks of busy-ness as the worst trait a pastor can have -- also the one easiest to succumb to. I'm feeling that temptation now...

Here are today's office readings.

Friday:

AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73
Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36; Rev. 15:1-8; Matt. 14:13-21

11.8.2007 Daily Office

Thursday:

AM Psalm [70], 71; PM Psalm 74
Ezra 7:(1-10)11-26; Rev. 14:1-13; Matt. 14:1-12

Bible study tonight!

Reproduced from an email I sent yesterday. Next time I will send it to the entire email list.

Dear friends-

Ever wonder why parts of the Bible are so violent, especially towards women?

Ever wonder wonder why "God was so angry" back in OT times?

Ever wonder why some books are included in the Bible despite theirviolent history?

If so, then you are cordially invited to/ reminded of the Adult Bible Study this Wednesday evening. We continue our Forgotten Books of the Bible series with the Book of Nahum. Only three chapters long, Nahum contains some of the most violent, evocative poetry in the entire Bible, glee over the fall of an enemy, and perhaps, just perhaps, a rival goddess lurking in the text...

We will begin with Evening Prayer promptly at 7:15 in the upstairs chapel, followed by Bible Study in the lounge.

I hope to see you there.

Pax,

Vicar David

11.7.2007 Daily Office

My bad on not posting the offices this morning. I should have posted them before going to see Giulio Cesare last night. David Daniels was absolutely fabulous as Caesar, and Danielle de Niese as Cleopatra -- but it was nearly a five-hour opera. It started at 6:30 and we got out of there at 11:15. Eesh.

More Anglican saints today.

Wednesday:

AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96
Neh. 13:4-22; Rev. 12:1-12; Matt. 13:53-58

Willibrord:
Psalm 96:1-7 or 98:1-4
Acts 1:1-9; Luke 10:1-9

11.6.2007 Daily Office

All these Anglican personae in the Daily Office calendar are inspiring me to look at the ELW calendar. Usually there isn't much difference -- except we Lutherans have fewer "saints" to commemorate.

Another AB of Canterbury today. Goody. ;-)

Tuesday:

AM Psalm 61, 62; PM Psalm 68:1-20(21-23)24-36
Neh. 12:27-31a,42b-47; Rev. 11:1-19; Matt. 13:44-52

William Temple:
Psalm 119: 97-104
Ephesians 3:7-12; John 1:9-18

Sermon 11.3.2007

Some of you know that I preached at Edgebrook on Saturday night. Pr. Susan offered it to me, as she was going to preside, but I thought it would be a fun (!) exercise to write a sermon with only 24 hours advance notice.

The following is the result of that exercise, for good or ill!

I will preach again at LMC on Christ the King, November 25.

Sermon: Luke 6:20-31

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

How many of you studied the Beatitudes in Sunday School? When I was growing up in small-town Iowa, it seemed like we covered them every other week! We would study each of Jesus' lines to death – what it meant to be meek, what it meant to be a peacemaker, and what it meant to show mercy. After a while, they became “old hat.” They were simply a list of Christian virtues to add next to the Ten Commandments.

Funny thing is, I can never remember studying Luke's version of the Beatitudes, which we just heard. And after hearing the Gospel today, I realize that there may have been a reason for that! None of the blessings concerning meekness, mercy, peacemaking, or hungering and thirsting for righteousness show up. Not only that, Jesus accompanies these beatitudes with corresponding woes. There are fewer opportunities for blessedness, but more for damnation! Jesus then launches into his sermon, which, truth be told, isn't very Lutheran. Rather than giving us good news, Jesus tells us what we should do. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, turn the other cheek, do not withhold anything that belongs to you, give to everyone who begs from you. It's simply a list of attributes to strive for.

But this is no ordinary to-do list. This is a list of the impossible. We're all familiar with “Love your neighbors” and “Turn the other cheek,” even if we aren't so good at keeping that. But phrases like “Give to everyone who begs from you,” and “If anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again,” seem simply impossible. How can you build an economy when everyone is giving to those who beg? It makes begging pretty lucrative, doesn't it? We might say that it doesn't encourage responsibility. And we're not supposed to ask for stolen goods back? Sounds like a sit-down doormat ethic, doesn't it? What the heck is Jesus saying? Perhaps we might want to argue with Jesus. And, on All Saints Day, what does this have to do with the community of saints?

Luke wants to emphasize that the world is on the edge of a great reversal. The birth of the Messiah to an unmarried Jewish woman living on the wrong side of the tracks, the wisdom of the boy Jesus in the Temple, and the banquet of society's outcasts in Luke 14 all emphasize that God's values are not just different from our own. They are diametrically opposed! Blessedness in God's reign is applied differently.

Brian Stoffregen, a Lutheran pastor, gives a brief history of the meaning of “blessedness” in Greco-Roman society. Blessedness first applied to the gods – those beings who dwelt in the blessed realm in all contentment with no fear of death. Blessedness then applied to those few humans who managed to reach the realm of the gods after death – the blessed realm. Then, blessedness was applied the elites of society. To have power and rule over others meant one was blessed. Then, blessedness was applied to those who had a blessed life – those with many material possessions, big and beautiful things. If you had the most chickens, then you had lived a virtuous life, and the possession of all those chickens was your reward.

But, to whom does Jesus apply blessedness? Jesus applies blessedness to those who have nothing. In God's eyes, the blessed are those who go hungry. Those who sleep in the street. Those who have lost those they cared about. Those who are insulted and disrespected on behalf of Jesus.


So, why does Jesus point these people out as blessed, when they clearly don't appear blessed? Because in such people one sees the reign of God most fully revealed. In response to the claims of the powerful upon the Divine – the Roman Emperor claimed to be the son of a god, for example – Jesus, the Son of God, dwells with the most unlikely, unappealing people.

It is important to remember that Jesus changes audiences several times in his sermon – from the poor and hungry, to the rich and full, and finally the entire audience. What does this mean for us? What about those of us who aren't poor, who aren't hungry, and who are well-respected? Well, here is where we are all tied into the community of saints. Jesus, who has knit us all into one community of faith, calls on us to act as one community. We identify with those on the margins because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We realize that our ultimate dependence is on God and not on anything on this earth that we have or that we can do – and that he is not revealed in ways we might consider “proper” for God. Like Brother Martin Luther, we realize that God isn't in the high and lofty places, not in the Roman Emperors of the world, but in the streets – in the least powerful places. Places like the cross. As the community of saints, we all point to a man on the cross, and collectively say, “Apart from this man, I have no God.” As the community of saints, we see God and the true power of the Kingdom in those unlikely, weak places. And it is in those weak, unlikely places that Jesus has come for us. Soon, in the Eucharistic meal, we will encounter Jesus in the most humble substances – bread and wine. But it is in this meal that we experience the fullness of the community of saints – and the fullness of God.

Perhaps Pr. Eugene Peterson describes this unlikely revelation of God best in one of his poems based on the Beatitudes.

"Blessed are those who mourn"

Flash floods of tears, torrents of them,
Erode cruel canyons, exposing
Long forgotten strata of life
Laid down in the peaceful decades:
A badlands beauty. The same sun
That decorates each day with colours
From arroyos amd mesas, also shows
Every old scar and cut of lament.
Weeping washes the wounds clean
And leaves them to heal, which always
Takes an age or two. No pain
Is ugly in past tense. Under
The Mercy every hurt is a fossil
Link in the great chain of becoming.
Pick and shovel prayers often
Turn them up in valleys of death.

Thanks be to God for revealing himself, not in power and glory but in “every old scar and lament”, and in all unlikely places of the world – for all the saints. Amen.

110th Anniversary!

The liturgy, lunch, and concert were huge successes. Lindsay, my wife, did very well with some very challenging repertoire in the concert ("Let the Bright Seraphim" from Samson by Handel, and Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 by J.S. Bach). I enjoyed singing my aria from BWV 98. And I've never heard so much wonderful, genuine affirmation from a group of people before!

Using incense during the liturgy, wearing a dalmatic, and chanting the Kyrie from the SBH were bonuses! Of course, some of you may have noticed me frantically trying to re-light the charcoal two minutes before we were to start processing. Oh well. It was burning by the end of the service, at least. We'll be using incense again during Christ the King (November 25), so I'll get another shot at it.

Thanks to you all who put this whole program together. It will be one of my most treasured memories of internship.

11.5.2007 Daily office

The church generally considers Nehemiah "flyover" Bible (much like the Midwest is "flyover" country). For Lutherans, we have one reading from Nehemiah every three years, the third Sunday after Epiphany, year C. That reading consists mostly of names. Not exciting stuff.

But I'm glad the 2-year lectionary marches through the book. Any church seeking to turn around its ministry would do well to have a study of Nehemiah. Much of the book is concerned with Nehemiah's program to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, despite intense opposition from a cadre of regional warlords/troublemakers. Pastors would do well to read it as a study in determined leadership.

Monday:

AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65
Neh. 6:1-19; Rev. 10:1-11; Matt. 13:36-43

Richard Hooker Daily Office

Richard Hooker is someone my Anglican friends, as well as we Lutherans, should remember. He was the champion of the "via media" between the Roman church and Puritanism. In an age like this with plenty of extremism and a famine of civility, we would do well to remember an example like him.

Of course, his definition of "This is my body" got a little long-winded, but what do you expect?

AM Psalm 55; PM Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23)
Neh. 4:1-23; Rev. 7:(4-8)9-17; Matt. 13:31-35

Richard Hooker:
Psalm 37:3-6,32-33 or 19:7-11(12-14)
1 Corinthians 2:6-10,13-16; John 17:18-23

Daily office

Pray the All Soul's Office if you like, but it isn't good Lutheran theology. It's more of an Anglican/Roman Catholic thing.

We commemorate the dear departed on All Saints Day because every Christian is a saint. And also a sinner. But that's just good Biblical theology. Many Pauline letters begin with the greeting "to the saints" before Paul points out their sin!

AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51
Neh. 2:1-20; Rev. 6:12-7:4; Matt. 13:24-30

All Faithful Departed (All Souls')
Psalm 130 or 116:10-17
Wisdom 3:1-9 or Isaiah 25:6-9;
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 or 1 Corinthians 15:50-58;
John 5:24-27

Daily office

Happy All Saints!

And yes, 2 Esdras is really a book. It's an example of apocalyptic literature (in the same vein as Daniel and Revelation). It's in the Apocrypha, but no Western church granted it canonical status, not even Rome -- so it's something of an Apocrypha within the Apocrypha. My HarperCollins NRSV does state that "the Western Church was much attached to it", so maybe it was a 'guilty pleasure' sacred text or something!

AM Psalm 50; PM Psalm [59, 60] or 103
Neh. 1-1:11; Rev. 5:11-6:11; Matt. 13:18-23

All Saints':
AM: Psalm 111, 112; 2 Esdras 2:42-47; Hebrews 11:32-12:2
PM: Psalm 148, 150; Wisdom 5:1-5,14-16; Revelation 21:1-4,22-22:5