Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 is a further revision and refinement
of my Lectionary Ruminations and Lectionary
Ruminations 2.0. Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings
for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over 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
sometimes pointed and sometimes snarky comments and Socratic like questions, to
encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to lead a Bible
study, draft liturgy, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and
encouraged.
HAGGAI 1:15b-2:9
1:15b Who was King Darius and when did he rule?
2:1 Do these dates matter? How does the word of
the LORD come to a prophet? Has the word of the LORD ever come to you?
2:2 Who are these people?
2:3 Are these rhetorical questions? How much time
has elapsed between Haggai’s prophecy and the destruction of the temple?
2:4 What is courage? Does the 1957 Pulitzer
Prize winning Profiles in Courage offer any insight? Is the cowardly
lion from The Wizard of Oz any help here?
2:5 Is this spirit the Holy Spirit?
According to A Brief Statement of Faith – Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) “the
Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries I Church and culture,
to hear the voices of people long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.”
What does the Spirt
give you courage to do?
2:6 Why am I thinking of Paul Tillich’s The
Shaking of the Foundations?
2:7 Did this ever come to pass?
2:8 Why does the LORD need or want gold or
silver? Does this have any stewardship implications?
2:9 It sounds like the LORD is not only promising
to make the Temple great again but greater than it ever was.
PSALM 145:1-5, 17-21
Why is there a choice
of Psalms this week?
145:1 How can God’s name be blessed and praised if
God’s name is not pronounced?
145:2 How can Christians bless and praise God’s
name every day when most Christians probably only worship one day a week, if at
that?
145:3 This sounds like a Call to Worship. If God’s
greatness is unsearchable, then why do we engage in theological reflection?
Does this point to the via negativia?
145:4 Is this still true? Is this a biblical
mandate for Christian Education, catechesis, and faith formation? What mighty
acts might the Psalmist have had in mind?
145:5 How do you understand the word “meditate?”
Could this be construed in support of meditative and contemplative prayer?
145:17 Do kindness and justice always go hand in
hand?
145:18 Is the Lord distant to all who do not call on
the Lord?
145:19 What desires? What does it mean to fear the Lord?
145:20 Must the Lord destroy the wicked in order to
watch over all who love him? Can we assume that if someone is destroyed in any
other way than by natural death that they were wicked?
145:21 This sounds like a restatement of 145:1-2.
What is meant be “all flesh?”
PSALM 98
Why is there a choice
of Psalms this week?
98:1 Why sing a new song and not an old
song? What makes a song new? What marvelous things has the LORD
done? What does a metaphorical right hand symbolize? Is this
a right-handed conspiracy?
98:2 What victory?
98:3 How can love be steadfast love and how can
there be any faithfulness if the is no memory? Can this and the preceding
“victory” language lead to a militaristic and triumphalist faith and theology?
98:4 Is there a difference between “joyful noise”
and “joyous songs/praises?” What about noise that is not joyful? What about
funeral dirges masquerading as hymns?
98:5-6 I wonder how churches that eschew singing
accompanied by instruments handle these verses. I do not mean to malign Bach,
but why have we become so dependent upon the organ and piano while neglecting
strings and brass?
98:7 Now I know why I like ambient music that
incorporates natural sounds like breaking waves.
98:8 Is anyone else thinking of Julie Andrews?
98:9 Righteousness and equity do not scare
me. Do they scare you?
2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-5, 13-17
2:1-2 I wonder what Paul would say now about the
coming of the Lord nearly two-thousand years later. Christians should not be
shaken, but relieved, by apocalyptic visions.
2:2 Was someone else preaching and/or writing
letters claiming to be Paul?
2:3 How were Christians deceived then and how are
they deceived today?
2:4 Whom is Paul writing about? What temple is
Paul referring to?
2:5 Do those whom you taught or preached to remember
everything you have said? When and how long was Paul with the
Thessalonians? How long has he been away?
2:13-14 As a Presbyterian, I am hearing echoes of
call, election and predestination.
2:15 What does it mean to stand firm and hold
fast? What traditions is Paul referring to? Today, Protestants
usually eschew “tradition” while Roman Catholics embrace “tradition.” Might
the Wesleyan Quadrilateral help us handle and deal with tradition?
2:16-17 How do Trinitarians deal with non-Trinitarian
blessings and benedictions, or do you find an allusion to the Holy Spirit in
this verse?
LUKE 20:27-38
20:27 At some point in my youth I learned that the
Sadducees were the ones who denied the resurrection. That is why they
were “sad, you see.”
20:28 Do you find it odd that the Sadducees
referred to Jesus as “teacher?”
20:28-35 What do you know about levirate
marriage? Does this passage have anything at all to say concerning
marriage equality, family values, or society’s social welfare safety net? How
might couples, or women, who either want children but can’t conceive, or
couples who are childless by choice, hear this passage?
20:29 Is there any significance to the number
seven?
20:33 Maybe in the resurrection this woman will get
to pick the man she wants to be married to!
20:34 What does Jesus mean by “this age?”
20:35 So much for family values and the defense of
marriage!
20:36 How do angels figure into this?
20:37-38 If you were not so used to this argument,
would you buy it? Was the Sadducees' question about the nature of the
resurrection or the reality of the resurrection? Why am I thinking of
the Irish Philosopher George Berkeley?
ADDENDUM
I am a Minister Member of Upper Ohio
Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and am serving as the
Interim Pastor of the Richmond United Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio.
Sunday Worship at Richmond begins at 11:00 AM. Some of my other blog posts have
appeared on PRESBYTERIAN BLOGGERS and
The
Trek.
I remember reading about the first ascent of Mount Kennedy
in my Dad’s old July, 1965 National Geographic when I was still a
teenager. I read Jim Whitaker’s memoir A Life on the Edge when it was
first published. I recently reread those three National Geographic articles
as well as an article in the April 9, 1965 issue Life as I awaited the
delivery of Return to Mount Kennedy.
