St. John’s Episcopal Church
Wednesday Service – Feast of Jeremy Taylor

Mark 13:32–37

Have you ever read an old book
that, despite its age, 
feels like it is breathing down your neck?

Like the author somehow 
wrote it for you
and for this exact moment,
even though they lived
hundreds of years ago?

That is what happens
when you read Jeremy Taylor.

Jeremy Taylor was a 17th-century Anglican bishop,
a preacher, a theologian,
and one of the finest writers in the English language.
They called him the “Shakespeare of the pulpit,”
and if you have ever waded into his prose,
you can see why.

But Taylor’s life was not all beauty and poetry.
He lived through England’s civil wars,
times of intense political and religious division
when it was not just ugly words being hurled,
but bullets and cannonballs.

Taylor himself was thrown into prison more than once,
depending on who was in charge at the time.
He knew what it was to lose favor,
to lose freedom,
to lose friends.

And because of that,
he became acutely aware
of the shortness and uncertainty of life.

* * *

One of his most famous works,
entitled Holy Living and Holy Dying,
is a long meditation 
on how to live
and how to die
in light of eternity.

Taylor wrote about daily repentance,
about keeping short accounts with God,
about treating each day
as if it might be your last.

And not in some fearful, morbid way, 
but in a way that frees you
to live with clarity and love.

He once wrote:

Holiness is not the melancholy of religion,
nor the empty shadows of a devout look;
it is the image of God stamped upon the soul.
To live holily is to live in the eye of God,
to do our work with cheerfulness and courage,
and to die with peace in our hearts
and glory in our eyes.

For Taylor,
that was not a warning to cower; 
it was an invitation to live
without wasting time on petty grudges . . .
to forgive quickly . . .
to serve gladly . . . 
to be found ready when the door finally opens.

He would have nodded knowingly
at today’s Gospel reading from Mark:
“Keep awake…
for you do not know
when the master of the house will come.”

* * *

Still, 
as inspiring as all that is,
even Taylor at his best
is only a dim reflection
of the One who lived it perfectly.

Because Jesus did not just preach readiness; 
he lived it every moment.

He knew his time was short.
He knew the cross was coming.
And still,
he spent his days healing the sick,
welcoming outcasts,
teaching the crowds,
loving his friends.

And when the moment came—
when the door opened and the hour struck—
he walked straight into it.
Not with fear.
Not with regret.
But with the kind of love
that only eternity can give.

* * *

That is the life Jeremy Taylor pointed toward:
a life aware of its brevity,
yet rooted in the unending mercy of God.

And the good news for us
is that in Jesus,
time is no longer our enemy.
Every moment—short or long—
is held in his hands.

So keep awake.
Love quickly.
Forgive freely.
And live each day in the light of the One
whose mercies will never run out.

Amen.