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 over-reliance 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
1:1 This is a very long
verse and sounds similar to “once upon a time”?
What do you know about the land of Uz?
What does it mean that Job “feared God”?
2:1 How many heavenly
beings are there? What is the meaning of
the name “Satan”?
2:2 Would not an omniscient
God not have to ask this question? Do I
hear an echo of Genesis chapter 3 verse 9?
Did Satan prefer the earth to heaven?
2:3 Why did the LORD bring
up the topic of Job? Since Satan had
just been on the earth, is this a put down of Satan, God saying to Satan “Job
is better than you”?
2:4 What is the meaning of
“skin for skin”?
2:5 What does it mean to touch
bone and flesh?
2:6 Is this going to be a
test of Job’s integrity or Satan’s power?
Is God testing, even tempting, Satan?
2:7 Is there a double
meaning to the phrase “Satan went out from the presence of the LORD”?
2:8 Some days, anyone of us
may feel like Job. Why was Job sitting among the ashes?
2:9 Was Job’s wife also
tempting him?
2:10 Job is, above all, a
man of clear logic. Job may not have
sinned with his lips, but what about with his heart or mind? Could Job curse
God and live?
26:1 This indeed sounds
like something Job might have said.
26:2 What about lead me not
into temptation? Did this Psalmist have a martyr complex?
26:3 Is claiming to walk in
faithfulness an example of religious/spiritual arrogance?
26:4 Could Jesus have said
this?
26:5 Would Jesus have said
this?
26:6 This Psalmist is
beginning to sound not only arrogant but self-righteous.
26:7 What are God’s
wondrous deeds?
26:8 Can we truly say this
when God is omnipresent? This seems to
reflect worship of a domesticated God confined to the Temple rather than a wild
and primitive wandering God sometimes abiding in a tent, sometimes a cloud, and
sometimes a column of fire.
26:9 How might “the day of
the Lord” inform our understanding of this verse?
26:10 What are evil
devices?
26:11 Is the Psalmist
pleading his case before God’s bench?
26:12 What does “level
ground” suggest or represent? What is “the great congregation”.
1:1 “A long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away...." Sorry, wrong story. What were the many and various ways God spoke
by the prophets?
1:2 What does the author
mean by “last days”? Why the plural
“worlds”?
1:3 What is the difference
between a reflection and an imprint?
What is his powerful word? Does
“purification for sins” presume any particular understanding of the atonement?
1:4 What name did he
inherit and from whom did he inherit it?
2:5 What is the coming
world? Read this in light 1:2.
2:6-8 What is the source of
this saying?
2:7 How are humans crowned
with glory and honor?
2:8 Are all things really
subjected to humans? Will all things someday be subjected to humans?
2:9 Where do we see Jesus
today? Is death suffering, of did Jesus suffer in a way that no human has
suffered and died?
2:10 Who are God’s many
children? What is perfection? Note the
plural “sufferings”.
2:11 We are family.
2:12 Where in the Gospels
does Jesus say this?
10:2 How many Pharisees,
two, twenty, two hundred? Were the Pharisees
seeking to “test” Jesus as God tested Job and the Psalmist? What could Jesus know about a man having a
wife?
10:3 What did Moses, or
what did God command you?
10:4 So much for family
values.
10:5 Is this the only commandment
due to our hardness of heart?
10:6 Which creation account
does this presuppose?
10:7 Does a woman not also leave
her parents?
10:8 What is the couple do
not enjoy or engage in sexual intercourse?
10:9 What about conjoined twins?
10:10 In whose house? Where the disciples also seeking to test
Jesus?
10:11 What about a wife who
divorces her husband?
10:12 The question is
answered. Did Moses say anything about a wife divorcing her husband?
10:11-13 Have Biblical
literalists arguing against same sex marriage ignore the fact that Jesus said
nothing about same sex marriage but rather said this about heterosexual
marriage and divorce?
10:13 Ouch. This sounds ugly in light of reported sexual
abuse of young boys by clergy and football coaches. I would prefer “laying on of hands” rather
than “touch”.
10:14 How can the kingdom
of God belong to little children? Can we
grow too big or too old for God’s kingdom? What does this say about removing or
excusing children from worship for “children’s church”?
10:15 I think a whole
sermon could be preached based on this single verse.
10:16 Who do we bless and
how do we bless them?
ADDENDUM
I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at
11:00 AM. Please
like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.
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