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:
I recently got around to
reading Eugene L. Lowry’s Living with the
Lectionary (1992, Abingdon Press) and found this passage warning about
quick fix lectionary aids insightful. “The problem is that lectionary preachers
often turn to these helpful aids prior to having internalized the texts. When I
have inquired of lectionary preachers, how they prepare—the sequence of their
work—I find a trend. Often they read the text and immediately turn to the
published lectionary commentaries. They
may receive good advice, but altogether prematurely. In short, at the point in
sermon preparation when they ought to be internalizing the text and exploring
the many questions which might emerge, they are already finding answers to the
questions they have not yet raised. The result is a homiletical preparation
short-circuit.” (p. 25)
I think Lowry’s warning is
reflected in the way I prepare Lectionary
Ruminations 2.o. I first read the text and then consider what questions I
have or think it is important to ask of the text, perhaps make a few
observations and opine about the text, but I DO NOT CONSULT ANY LECTIONARY AIDS
as I write. Similarly, I think it would behoove readers of Lectionary Ruminations 2.o to first read the text and consider what
questions they ought to be asking and what questions the text asks of them
before reading Lectionary Ruminations
2.o.
40:1 Perhaps this all too
familiar passage reminds us that Advent is a season for the preacher to
comfort, while Lent is a season for the preacher to afflict.
40:2 This sounds somewhat
like legal language but good news none the less. What does it mean to speak
tenderly?
40:3 Whose voice is crying
out?
40:3-4 Having grown up and
spent most of my life in the mountains of West Virginia, I resonate with the
imagery of straight highways. On the
other hand, I fear someone might want to relate the “every mountain and hill shall
be made low” and language following to the ecologically devastating practice of
Mountain Top Removal Mining.
40:5 Who or what is the
mouth of the Lord?
40:6-7 How do these verses fit
in here? Has a new thought begun?
40:8 What does Isaiah mean
by “the word of the LORD”?
40:9 How can the prophet
get up to a high mountain if all the mountains will be made low? Where is God?
40:10 Is this militaristic
imagery and language?
40:11 This language and
imagery seems antithetical to the previous verse. Who is the mother sheep?
85:1 Does this verse assume
a theology of the land?
85:2 How do you and your
church deal with “Selah”?
85:1-2 Compare these verses
with Isaiah 40:1-2.
85:8 Does God speak peace
only to God’s people?
85:8-9 What about people
who do not turn to God in their hearts and who do not fear God? What does it mean to fear God? What does it
mean to turn to God in your heart?
85:10-11 I like this
imagery! The structure appears to be poetic.
85:12 Once again, I wonder
if this verse and the entire Psalm assumes a theology of the land? What is the connection between God and the
land, the land and God? Does this feed
into the Arthurian legend and the Fisher King?
85:13 Is this a
personification of righteousness?
3:8 I do not know where it
originated, but there is a joke that goes something like this. A person asks God if it is true that one day
to God is like a thousand years. God
answers “yes.” They then ask God if it
is true that God will give them whatever they ask for. God again answers “yes.” The person finally asks God for a million
dollars. God replies, “OK, I’ll do it tomorrow”. On the other hand I have often
heard this verse used to reconcile the six day story of creation with evolution
as if that solves all the apparent problems.
3:9 So God’s apparent
slowness is really an manifestation of God’s patience?
3:10 Of all the images that
one could employ, why employ the imagery of a thief? What
does the author mean by “the heavens”, “elements”, and “the earth”? Will what
is done on the earth not be disclosed until the day of the Lord?
3:11-12 Shall we refer to
this as the “Big Dissolution Theory?”
How do we reconcile this imagery with contemporary cosmology that posits
an expanding universe expanding at an increasing rate and which may expand
indefinitely? What is this verse asking?
3:13 Note that this is a “promise”,
not a threat. Where else can we find “new heavens and a new earth” language? I
am reminded of C. S. Lewis’ imager of a new heaven and a new earth in the final
installment of The Chronicles of Narnia.
3:14 What might be a spot
or blemish?
3:15a Once again, what
appears to be the Lord’s tardiness is actually our salvation.
1:1 For a minute, there, I
thought I was reading the incipit of Genesis. Exactly what is “the beginning of
the good news”?
1:2-3 Déjà vu! Why does
Mark quote Isaiah 40:3?
1:4 Never having been a
Baptist, I much prefer the NRSV “John the baptizer” rather than the more
familiar John the Baptist”. What about you? How did John’s baptism differ from
the baptism of the early church?
1:5 I think there is some
hyperbole here. Nevertheless, John is portrayed as a popular guy.
1:6 Has anyone else ever
heard the explanation that “locusts” is not a reference to insects but to a
nutty substance from a tree native to Palestine? What purpose might it serve to
describe John this way?
1:7-8 What power did John
have? How could John have known all of
this?
1:8 What is the difference between
baptism with water baptism with the Holy Spirit?
ADDENDUM
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