Lectionary
Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations. Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary
Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience. Believing that the questions we ask are often
more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I
intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for
readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are
invited and encouraged. All lectionary
links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and
Readings website.
FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK
FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK
12:1-14 Many congregations,
such as the one I serve as Interim Pastor, will be celebrating the Sacrament of
the Lord’s Supper this coming Sunday simply because it is the first Sunday of
the month. I could not expect a more
fitting passage than this one to preface the celebration yet is it simply a
quirk of the Lectionary that we have it this year.
12:1 God now speaks top
both Moses and Aaron. What about Mariam?
12:2 What month? I think Israel recognized at least two
calendars, one civil/religious and the other agricultural. How many ways do
contemporary Christians tell and mark time?
12:3 Why a lamb?
12:4 How many people does
it take to eat a lamb?
12:5 Why without blemish? From
the sheep or the goats?
12:6 Why keep it four days?
Or was it kept only three days if it was slaughtered at twilight?
12:7 I wonder what was dome
with the blood that was not put on the doorposts and lintel.
12:8 Why unleavened bread
and bitter herbs?
12:9 I can understand the
prohibition about not eating any raw lamb but why not boiled? Why roasted
whole?
12:10 Do not let anything
remain until the morning! But if
anything does remain until the morning, burn it. Why?
12:11 This sounds like the
original fast food.
12:12 What is the irony
here? Why is judgment executed on the
gods of Egypt rather than upon Pharaoh? Why are creatures other than humans
affected?
12:13 Is the blood a sign
for the whole congregation of Israel or a sign for God? Are creatures other
than humans also saved by the LORD passing over?
12:14 Do “day of
remembrance”, “a festival”, and “a perpetual ordinance” all mean the same thing?
149:1 What is a “new song”
and what is the difference between a “new song” and any other sort of song? How
shall PC(USA) Presbyterians, introducing the new hymnal Glory To God, read this passage?
149:2 Is there any
difference between “Israel” and “the children of Zion” or is this just an
expression of Hebrew poetry? How easily do Christians refer to the same
thing(s) with different words?
149:3 When was the last
time people worshiping in your congregation praised God’s name with dancing? When was the last time you heard a tambourine
(or a lyre) in worship?
149:4 I like the image of
God taking pleasure in me.
149:5 Did people really
sing for joy on their couches?
149:6 I like the imager of
singing but not swashbuckling.
149:7 I do not like the way
this Psalm has progressed from singing a new song of praise to using swords to
execute vengeance and punishment.
149:8-9 I do not like the
militaristic imagery as this is beginning to sound like the call a holy war. How
shall we deal with this in light of the history of the Crusades and current
Islamic terrorism?
13:8 Here is a solution to
our personal and national debt!
13:9 Of all the
commandments, even all the ten commandments, why are these four mentioned?
13:10 Can we forget the
commandments as long as we love our neighbor?
13:11 What time is it? “For
salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers” is logically a
true statement unless there is no salvation. The future is always growing
closer to the present no matter how far away the future may be.
13:12 What are the works of
darkness? What is the armor of light?
Can the Dead Sea Scrolls help us as we interpret this passage?
13:12-13 Is the assumption
that some types of behavior are more typically engaged in at night and
refrained from during the day?
13:13 May we logically
assume that “reveling and drunkenness, debauchery and licentiousness,
quarreling and jealousy” are among (or all of) the works of darkness?
13:14 Is putting “on the
Lord Jesus Christ” is the antithesis of gratifying desires of the flesh”?
18:15 How does someone
“sin” against you? How might Family Systems Theory inform of interpretation and
application of this verse?
18:16 What “word” are these
“witnesses” confirming?
18:17 What does it mean for
church member to be “as a Gentile and a tax collector”? This is beginning to
sound like a church disciplinary process.
18:18 Have we heard these
words before, in another context? What is the meaning of binding and loosing?
18:19 Just two? Anything?
Is this an example of hyperbole? What if two different groups of Christians
agree in the group but each group takes the opposite position of the other
group?
18:20 What does it mean to
“gather in my name”?
ADDENDUM
I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Churchof Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at
11:00 AM. 
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading your ruminations and pondering your questions. The Passover is always fascinating to me. God gives such precise detail on how and when it is to celebrated. I realize it is a foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice and our salvation through it, but I always wonder why Christians don't observe the Passover. Does the Eucharist replace the Passover?
What do you mean in your question regarding Rom 13:12 about the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks, nese.
I think that from a theological standpoint the Eucharist does indeed replace the Passover. Ever since the Church became predominately a Gentile movement the Passover lost its cultural and ethnic significance.
Romans 13:12 uses night/day and darkness/light language. I think one of the Dead Sea Scrolls uses children of light/children of darkness language. I wonder if Paul was influenced by some of the same theology and theological expressed in that scroll.
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