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.
43:1 Who is initially
speaking? To whom is the LORD speaking? What is the relationship, if any,
between redemption and calling by name?
43:2 What waters are being
referred to? When Christians read this
passage in light of the Sacrament of baptism, are we misreading the Hebrew
Scriptures, or simply exercising Hebrew Midrash from a Christian perspective? I wonder how post Shoah Jews read and
interpret this passage.
43:3 PC(USA) Presbyterians:
Do not forget the opening lines of A Brief Statement of Faith! How was Egypt given as a ransom? Why the mention of Ethiopia and Seba?
43:4 I like the first part
of this verse, but the second part rubs me the wrong way. If the LORD is giving
away people and nations, to whom or what is the LORD giving them to?
43:5-6 Note that all four
cardinal directions are named. These verses remind me of an invitation to the
Lord’s Table: “They will come from east and west, and from north and south, and
sit at table in the kingdom of God.”
43:6 Note that sons and
daughters are both mentioned, a rare inclusive verse!
43:7 Could this verse not
be used to argue for universalism? This verse
could provide for an interesting juxtaposition in relation to the exclusiveness
of Christian Baptism.
29:1 What does it mean to
ascribe? How do we ascribe? What, or which, heavenly beings are addressed
here?
29:2 Do you worship in holy
splendor? What does holy splendor look,
smell, sound, feel, and taste like?
29:3 What does the voice of
the LORD sound like? Would you recognize
it if you heard it? Being a sailor and
kayaker, I really like and relate to this verse. How do people who are land locked and had
never experienced the ocean or other large body of water understand this verse?
29:4 With a voice like this
the LORD deserves a contract as an announcer and/or commercial spokesperson.
29:5-9 Think of the
scene/passage in The Hobbit where
Bilbo and the dwarves find themselves amidst giants “hurling rocks at one
another for a game, and catching them and tossing them down into darkness where
they are smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with
a bang.”
29:6 Where is Sirion and
why is it mentioned?
29:8 Where is the
wilderness of Kadesh?
29:9 Who say “Glory”?
29:10 How are people in
flood ravaged Missouri hearing this?
29:10-11 How do we
reconcile images of a storm god with peace?
29:1-11 There is no still
small voice here, no safe, domesticated God. This Psalm is about the God of
fierce landscapes, the God of raw power represented by severe and intense
natural phenomena. I doubt many would be comfortable welcoming this God into
their clean, climate controlled, predictable sanctuaries.
8:14 Is the Jerusalem setting
important? What if the apostles had been
someplace else, other than Jerusalem, when they heard this news? Was it
surprising, or problematic, that Samaria (not Samaritans?) had accepted the
word of God? Why was James not sent?
8:15 Does this sound a
little judgmental to you? How it is possible that someone accepts the word of
God without receiving the Holy Spirit?
8:16 Who is this verse
talking about? Why, in the NRSV, is this
verse in parenthesis? How does this verse challenge some who insist on
baptizing “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?” or
else it is not a Christian, Trinitarian, Baptism?
8:17 What is so special
about the laying on of hands? Is it
possible for a person or a people to receive the Holy Spirit without being
baptized? Is either prayer or the laying on of hands not enough? Must prayer
and the laying on of hands be combined?
3:15 What people? When was the last time people in the pews of
churches you know were filled with expectation?
Why would people think John could be the Messiah?
3:16 What is so special
about the thong of a sandal? Is the
doublet “Holy Spirit and fire” merely poetic, or something more?
3:17 What is a winnowing
fork and what is it used for? What is a
threshing floor and what is it used for?
What is chaff? How do we preach
the Gospel in an urban environment where all people know about wheat is that
comes in five pound bags of ground flour and they probably have no idea what
the imagery of this passage is communicating?
Why was chaff burned? Does this
passage require the existence of a fire filled hell? Is this unquenchable fire
at related to the Holy Spirit and fire of the previous verse?
3:21 Really? All the people? Do you think this is an exaggeration, an
hyperbole? What does it mean for heaven
(singular, not plural) to be opened?
3:22 So the Holy Spirit was
someplace over the Jordan River, on the other side of earth from people along a
declination of plus or minus 180 degrees?
What is the meaning of “bodily form”?
If in some ways it was like a dove but not really a dove, how was it
different? What might a dove symbolize? Whose voice came from heaven and what
did it sound like? Where and when might
we hear these words again?
ADDENDUM
I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church
of Cadiz, Ohio but will be available to supply preach or serve in a part-time
of full-time position beginning late February or early March, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment