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
PREFACE: This Sunday is World Communion Sunday.
How will this influence how you approach these texts?
20:1 What might it mean
that what follows are referred to as “words”?
How did God speak them? Why does he Revised Common Lectionary skip over
some of these words?
20:2 Why, in the NRSV and
many other translations, does “LORD” appear in all uppercase letters? Why does
the LORD need an introduction?
20:3 What about other gods
“after” the LORD?
20:4 What about imaginative
or imaginary forms? Does Plato’s theory
of forms have anything to say here? What
about Anselm’s ontological argument? How
do we make idols today? How do Moslems
avoid making idols?
20:7 What about making a
rightful use of the name of the LORD? What is the name of the LORD?
20:8 When is the sabbath day?
I think Seventh Day Adventists have a right to boast about this one. How do you remember the sabbath day and keep
it holy?
20:12 This one comes with a
promise—or is it a reward? Why?
20:13 What is murder? We seem to have wordsmithed this one to
death!
20:14 Does this commandment
prohibit premarital sex?
20:15 Unless the thief is
already rich and has the government behind them?
20:16 What about bearing
false witness against people who are not your neighbor? Does Jesus have anything to add here?
20:17 Why does “house”
appear before “wife”? What about
anything that belongs to someone other than your neighbor?
20:18 Where did the sound
of the trumpet come from? Why were the people afraid?
20:19 Why did the people
think they would die if God spoke to them?
20:20 Is the fear of God
the only motivation not to sin?
20:1-20 Early in my ministry
I discovered Jan Milic Lochman’s Signposts to Freedom: The Ten Commandments andChristian Ethics and I highly recommend it as a
thoughtful interpretation of the Ten Commandments.
19:1-6 Do we have to buy
into a pre-Copernican three-tiered universe in order to read this as God’s
word?
19:1 How do the heavens
tell the glory of God?
19:2-4 Is anyone else
confused by these verses?
19:4b-6 Is this an anthropomorphic
personification of the sun? Why is the moon not mentioned?
19:7-9 Were you aware there
are so many synonyms for “law”?
19:10 Since when is the
law, any law, more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey?
19:11 Is reward the only
motivation for keeping God’s law?
19:11 Is this a rhetorical
question?
19:If one simply keeps away
from the riff raff, all will be well?
19:14 This verse is often
quoted/prayed by preachers before they preach a sermon, and I think wrongly so. A Prayer for Illumination prior to the
reading of Scripture is sufficient for both the reading of the word and the
preaching of the word.
3:4b Is there a pun or innuendo
at work here?
3:5 Is Paul bragging? Establishing
his Jewish credentials?
3:6 Did Paul really think
he was blameless under the law?
3:7 What gains might Paul
have had?
3:8 What has Paul lost?
3:9 Why is Paul so
concerned about righteousness?
3:10 How will Paul become
like Christ in his death?
3:11 Why the “if”?
3:12-14 What metaphor is Paul
employing? What prize is Paul looking forward to?
21:33 Is this really a parable?
Is it acceptable to equate God with the land owner? Who might the tenants be?
21:34-36 Who might the
slaves be? Why did the tenants treat the slaves as they did?
21:37 A son, but not
necessarily an only son.
21:38 How would killing the
son get the tenants the inheritance?
21:39 Who might the son be?
21:40-41 Who answered
Jesus? Who might the other tenants be?
21:42 Where might we read
this in scripture?
21:43 What is the issue,
producing fruits or not treating representatives of the landowner so harshly?
What are the fruits of the kingdom? Is this parable a “kingdom parable”?
21:44 Who or what is the
stone?
21:45 Why were the chief
priests and Pharisees listening? If verse 45 is true, what, then, is the irony
of verse 46?
ADDENDUM
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