Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

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.

ACTS 11:1-18

11:1 What Gentiles had accepted the word of God?

11:2 Where had Peter come from? What is the difference between a circumcised and uncircumcised believer?

11:3 What was wrong about Peter eating with uncircumcised men? I wonder if Peter ate with any women.

11:4 Some people may need step by step explanations and others may follow intuitive leaps. Which type are you?

11:5 Where was Joppa and is there anything special about it? I wonder why Peter was in Joppa. How and why did Peter enter a trance?  What is a vision?  Have you ever been in a trance or experienced a vision?  What is the difference, if any, between a “vision” and a “big dream”? Do you think trances and visions have a part to play in Christian spirituality today?

11:6 What is significant about the animals that Peter describes?

11:7 Did Peter audibly hear a voice that others could have heard, or did he hear a voice in his vision that others would not have been able to her? Whose voice did Peter hear?

11:8 What does it mean that something is profane or unclean? Had Peter been too concerned about purity and ritual cleanliness?

11:9 What had God made clean? Who voice said this?

11:10 It seems that for Peter, things come and happen in threes. Why might that be? Is this an example of synchronicity? Where was Caesarea and is there anything special about it?

11:11 See what I mean, “three” men!

11:12 What “Spirit” is Peter referring to? Does the “Spirit” ever talk to you?  Who is the “us?”  Who are these “six brothers?” Whose house did they go to?

11:13 Had this man also experienced a vison?

11:14 What is the definition of a “household?” What is the implication regarding baptism of infants?

11:15 So there was the rush of a mighty wind, tongues as of fire, and people speaking in various languages? It seems that the Holy Spirit fell upon these Gentile believers before they were baptized!

11:16 Would Peter not have remembered this saying of Jesus if the account narrated above had not happened?  Can we find this saying of Jesus in any of the Gospels? What sayings of Jesus might Peter never have remembered and are now long forgotten?

11:17 Is this a rhetorical question? How might we be hindering God today?

11:18 How can one be silenced and at the same time praise God? If Gentiles were not under the Law of Moses, then what did they have to repent of?

PSALM 148

148:1 Why is God usually praised from the heights but not the valleys?

148:2 Who, or what, are the host? Are angels also hosts?

148:3 How do celestial objects praise God? I am thinking of the Hubble Telescope.

148:4 How many gradations of heaven are there? How many heavens are between the highest heavens and the lowest heavens? What and where is the water above heaven?

148:5 Does this verse refer to one of the creation accounts but not the other?

148:6 Does this assume a pre-Copernican universe?

148:7 What are Biblical sea monsters?

148:8 If elements of weather obey God’s commands, then are natural weather disasters sent by God? How might this verse inform a Christian understanding of global climate change?

148:9 What trees, if any, are not included?

148:10 Does cattle include all domesticated livestock?

148:11 While present throughout this psalm, the Hebraic poetic parallelism is particularly evident in this verse.

148:12 Does this verse remind you of any other verse or passage from the Jewish Scriptures?

148:13 How can one praise the name of the Lord when the Lord’s is not to be pronounced?

148:14 What is a “horn” and what does it symbolize?

REVELATION 21:1-6

21:1 This Sunday we have at least two visions, this one and the one narrated in the First Reading from Acts.  Why do people no longer have visions like these?  When I read this passage, I think of how C.S. Lewis described the new heaven and new earth in his Chronicles of Narnia. Why would the sea be no more?

21:2 Why are cities feminized?  The story of God’s mighty acts might have started with a garden, but it ends with a city!  Apparently, God was into urban renewal. Note that the First Reading, Acts 11:5, also presents a vision of something coming down from heaven.

21:3 Note that the text says God will dwell with God’s peoples and does not say that God’s peoples will dwell with God. Why the plural “peoples?” Whose voice is heard?

21:4 We may usually associate this verse with The Service of Witness to the Resurrection.

21:5 Who is seated on the throne?  Write what?

21:6 Where is the spring of the water of life?  Did this passage lead to legends of the “fountain of youth?”  What about the hungry?

JOHN 13:31-35

13:31 Who had gone out from where or what?  Who is “the Son of Man” and what does this phrase mean?  Where does the image of “the Son of Man” come from?

13:32 What in the world is John saying here? Why all the emphasis on glory?

13:33 Who are the “little children?” Why are these “little children” distinguished from the Jews?

13:34 If this is a new commandment, what was the old commandment? Does the new commandment add to or supplant all previous commandments?

13:35 So the new commandment is that disciples are to have love for other disciples?  What about people who are not disciples?

                                                                  

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 4th Sunday of Easter Year C)

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.

ACTS 9:36-43

9:36 Is there anything we need to know about Joppa to help interpret this Passage?  What does the name Tabitha mean?  If Tabitha is not Greek, what language is it?  Does her being devoted to good works and acts of charity suggest an appeal to works righteousness?

9:37 Who are “they?”  Is there anything suggestive about her body being placed in “an upper room?”

9:38 What do we know about Lydda and why was Peter there? Who were these disciples that sent two men to Peter?

9:39 Do we need to know anything about weeping widows to help us understand this verse?

9:40 Why would Peter put them all outside. Did anyone remain in the room with Peter, and if so, whom? If no one remained in the room with Peter, how do we know what Peter did?

9:41 Who are “the saints?”

9:42 Why would people believe in the Lord rather than believing in Peter?

9:43 Do we know anything else about Simon, other than that he was a tanner? Does it matter that he was a tanner?

PSALM 23

23:1-6 Is this Reading too familiar for us to hear in it anything new?

23:1 Who is this Psalm speaking about?  Can the image of a first century middle-eastern shepherd still speak to an industrialized, postmodern world?

23:2 People usually do not mind being led, but most people do not want to be “made” to do anything, even lie down in a green pasture.

23:3 How is a soul restored?  What is a right path?

23:4 What is the darkest valley you have ever walked through?  What evil(s), if any, do you or most people fear?  What are rods and staffs used for?

23:5 What does it mean to have a table prepared for you?  Would you want to eat in the presence of your enemies?  Have you ever been anointed with oil?  Have you ever anointed someone with oil?  What might oil symbolize and signify? What does it mean for a cup to overflow? What might be overflowing from this cup?

23:6 Would you rather have goodness and mercy precede you or follow you.  Would you like to dwell in the house of the LORD the rest of your life?  What and where is the house of the LORD?

REVELATION 7:9-17

7:9 After what?  What is being described?  Who is robed in white, the lamb or the multitude? What do palm branches symbolize?

7:10 Did they cry out in one language or many languages?

7:11 How would you describe this scene in your own words? What sort of gesture is falling on one’s face?

7:12 Does it make any difference that they sing rather than say? What is the symbolism of a sevenfold ascription of praise?

7:13 Was this a rhetorical question?

7:14 What was the great ordeal? How does washing anything in blood make it white?

7:15 Where is this temple?

7:16 Does this remind you of anything, even other Scripture?

7:17 Is a lamb being a shepherd ironic? How many springs of the water of life are there?

JOHN 10:22-30

10:22 At what time? What is the festival of the Dedication? Does it matter that it was winter?

10:23 What is the portico of Solomon and where was it in the temple?

10:24 What suspense?  “If?” Why did Jesus prefer parables over plain language?

10:25 Did Jesus ever really come right out and tell he Jews that he was the Messiah?  What works was Jesus referring to?

10:26 Why did they not belong to his sheep? This is the third Reading this Sunday that mentions sheep!

10:27 Should we be reading this in juxtaposition to anything else this gospel?

10:28 What sheep snatcher might Jesus have had in mind?  Is there a difference between eternal life and everlasting life?

10:29 Why is Jesus so concerned about snatching?

10:30 Have fun unpacking this six word statement. How does it follow from what came before in this reading?

                                                                  

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 3rd Sunday of Easter (Year C)

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.

ACTS 9:1-6 (7-20)

9:1-6 Note that the first six verses are the Reading while verses 7-20 are an optional addition. I prefer to read all twenty verses for worship.

9:1 What does “meanwhile” tell us about how this passage functions in its literary context?  Was Saul only breathing threats and murder or had he already acted?

9:2 What are “letters to the synagogues” and why did Saul want them or need them?  How many synagogues might have been in Damascus at this time?  What do you know about Damascus? How would one “belong to the Way” and why is “Way” capitalized?

9:3 What does a light from heavenly usually symbolize?

9:4 Whose voice did Saul hear?

9:5 What is the meaning of Saul’s question “Who are you, Lord?”

9:6 Why tell him later and not at the present time?

(9:7) Who were travelling with Saul? How could they hear a voice but see no one? Did Saul see anyone?

(9:8) What might Saul’s blindness symbolize?  How might it have been caused?

(9:9) What might the “three days” allude to?  Why would Saul not eat or drink for three days?

(9:10) What else do we know about Ananias?  What is a “vision”?  Where before have we heard “Here I am, Lord?”  Can we read what Paul experienced as a “vison”?

(9:11) What do we know about Straight Street?  How popular of a name was Judas?  Where was Tarsus?  What do you think Saul was praying?

(9:12) Why is Saul’s vision not recounted from Saul’s perspective?  What is the symbolism and significance of laying on of hands as it related to healing?

(9:13) What had Saul done in Jerusalem?

(9:14) Did the chief priests really have the power to bind anyone?  Would Rome have permitted such an action? How would Ananias know what authority the chief priests had given to Saul?

(9:15) What does it mean to be an instrument whom the Lord has chosen?

(9:16) Why must Saul suffer?

(9:17) Since when did being filled with the Holy Spirit enter the equation?  Had Jesus told Ananias this or did Ananias come up with this on his own?

(9:18) What is the difference between “scales” and “something like scales?”  Does knowing that something physical seemed to fall from Saul’s eyes add or detract from the account?  Who baptized Saul? Was this for Paul Paul an  experience of the death and resurrection of Christ?

(9:19) What do you think was happening while Saul was with the disciples in Damascus? 

(9:20) How soon after his baptism and after regaining his strength is “immediately?”  Is “He is the Son of God” the core, the kernel of, the essence of the Gospel or just Saul’s early proclamation? Why does Saul refer to Jesus as the Son of God rather than the Messiah?

(9:1-20) This is not the only Biblical account of Paul’s conversion.  Where else can we read about it and how are all the accounts similar and different?

PSALM 30

30:1 Drawn up from what or where?

30:2 Why is “LORD” all uppercase in the NRSV? What does it mean to “cry to God for help?”

30:3 Where or what is Sheol and is it synonymous with the Pit? Why is “Pit” capitalized in the NRSV?

30:4 How can one give thanks to the LORD’s holy name when one is not supposed to pronounce the LORD’s holy name?

30:5 Why must the LORD be angry at all?

30:6 What prosperity?

30:7 How and why does the LORD hide the divine face and why was the Psalmist dismayed?

30:8 What is the meaning of “cried?”

30:9 Is the Psalmist bargaining with the LORD?  Is the Psalmist appealing to God’s logic or pride?

30:10 Must those who supplicate the LORD ask the LORD to hear them, or does the LORD listen to the prayers of all even when not asked to listen?

30:11 Why had the psalmist been mourning? Why do we not dance more (or at all) in worship?

30:12 Why does the Psalmist praise and give thanks? 

REVELATION 5:11-14

5:11 What do angel voices sound like?  What is the difference between living creatures and elders?  What is a myriad?  Is this hyperbole?

5:12 Note the sevenfold ascription of praise.  Why seven?  When was the last time you heard anyone singing a hymn “with a full” voice, especially in a Presbyterian church?

5:13 Are you surprised that every creature sings?  Apparently, all of God's critters do indeed have a place in the choir!  Why might these creatures offer only a fourfold ascription of praise when the angels and others around the throne offered sevenfold praise?

5:14 Who or what are these four living creatures?  Why am I thinking of the Book of Kells?  Who are the elders?  Why do they fall down when they worship?

JOHN 21:1-19

21:1 After what things?  Where is the Sea of Tiberias and what do you know about it? Hat were other names for this body of water?

21:2 How many people did Jesus appear before?  Why are the “two others” not named? Does their not being named invite you into the passage? Note that Thomas is present this time.

21:3 Why is it that Simon is usually the first one to always speak? Might his words have more than one meaning? Why would they fish at night?

21:4 Once again, the resurrected Jesus appears but those who knew him do not recognize him.  What gives? Is there any significance to this happening just after daybreak?

21:5 Why might Jesus have addressed those in the boat as “Children?”

21:6 What difference does it make what side of the boat you fish from?

21:7 What disciples didn’t Jesus love?  How did this disciple finally know that the person on the beach was Jesus? Why put on clothes to jump into the sea?

21:8 Were they dragging the net behind the boat because it was too heavy to lift into the boat?

21:9 Where did the fish and bread that was on the fire come from?

21:10 Why add more fish?

21:11 Is there any symbolic significance to the number 153?

21:12 We already had a “Last Supper.”  Is this the “First Breakfast?”

21:13 Why do we not serve little pieces of fish when we celebrate communion?

21:14 And the other two times were? Note that Jesus was raised. He did not rise.

21:15 More than what? More than fish? More than the other disciples? Is this the first time Simon is identified as “son of John?”

21:16 Where is this questioning heading?

21:17  Why did Peter feel Bad?  Is there any symbolic significance to Jesus asking Peter basically the same question three times?

21:18 What in the world, or in the otherworld, is Jesus talking about?

21:19 Why the parenthesis? How did the Gospel writer know how Peter would die?

21:1-19 Might we refer to this passage as “Grilling with Jesus” or “Barbecue on the beach?”

                                                                  

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

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 2nd Sunday of Easter (Year C)

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.

ACTS 5:27-32

During the Easter Season the First Reading is from the Book of Acts rather than from the Hebrew Scriptures.

5:27 Who brought whom from where?  What council?  Who was the high priest and what is the high priest’s function?

5:28 What in the world is the high priest talking about?  Who is the “we” who gave strict orders?  By what authority could they give such orders?

5:29 Why is only Peter named?  Who might be among the other “apostles?”  “We must obey God rather than any human authority” reminds me of one of the one of the Historic Principles of Church Order (see F-3.0101). Did all the Apostles say this in unison?

5:30 Note that Peter references the God of “our” ancestors. Did Peter consider the members of the council Abraham’s ancestors? Also note that God raised up Jesus, Jesus did not rise.  Why is the cross sometimes referred to as a tree?

5:31 What is the significance of God’s metaphorical right hand? What is the Greek word translated as “Leader” in the NRSV?

5:32 What “things?” are the apostles witnesses to?  How is the Holy Spirit a witness?  Is there a sense that God gives the Holy Spirit as a reward for obedience?

PSALM 118:14-29

118:14-24 These verses were part of the Psalm last week, on Easter!

118:14 Is there any difference between strength and might? How shall we understand the meaning of salvation in a Psalm compared to salvation in a New Testament text? This verse reminds me of a Taizé chant.

118:15 When was the last time you heard a glad song in worship?

118:15b-16 Is this the glad song referenced in 118:15?

118:17 What are the deeds of the LORD and could you recount them?

118:18 Is death the ultimate punishment?  For what was the psalmist punished?  Does this verse presume an angry God of wrath and vengeance?

118:19 Where are what are the gates of righteousness?

118:20 Where is this gate?

118:21 Does the LORD ever not answer?

118:22 What is the difference between a cornerstone and a keystone?  Why would builders reject a stone?

118:23 What is the LORD’s doing?

118:24 I thought the LORD made all days.

118:25 Note the transition from the singular to the plural. What sort of “success” was the psalmist asking for?

118:26 What does it mean to come in the name of the LORD?  Where and when have we heard this before?  Where and when will we hear it again?

118:27 What festal procession?  What are the horns of the altar?

118:28 What is the meaning of “extol” and how does it differ from giving thanks?

118:29 Does not “steadfast” love mean it endures forever?

118:14-29 Why this Psalm this day?

OR (Use PSALM 118:14-29 or PSALM 150, but not both.)

PSALM 150

The 2^nd Sunday of Easter (Year C) is the only Sunday this Psalm appears in the Lectionary.

150:1 Is God’s sanctuary the mighty firmament? What and where is the firmament?

150:2 What are God’s mighty deeds and ho many of them are there? How surpassing is God’s greatness? What does God’s greatness surpass?

150:3 I can not wait to recruit the accompanist to paly this and the following sounds! How do churches that do not use or allow accompaniment and musical instruments being used in worship interpret this verse?

150:4 When was the last time you experienced liturgical dance in worship? When was the last time you danced in worship?

150:5 Please note – LOUD!

150:6 What breathes and what does not breath? Can we praise God with our breath?

REVELATION1:4-8

1:4-8 Please note that this reading is from Revelation, NOT Revelations!  What difference does an “s” make?

1:4 Is there anything special about these seven churches besides the fact that John wrote to them?  What do you know about letter salutations in Greek and Hebrew cultures?  What are the seven spirits?

1:5 Does this verse presume a blood atonement theory?

1:6 How are we a kingdom?  Are we a kingdom of priests?

1:7 How can those who pierced him see him if they are dead when he comes?

1:8 Is it safe to assume that everyone in a church pew understands the meaning of “I am the Alpha and the Omega?” In the Classic Star Trek episode “All Our Yesterdays,” there is a librarian named “Mr. Atoz.”  www.imdb.com/title/tt0708415/ Compare this verse to verse 4.

 

JOHN 20:19-31

20:19 Is the setting our Saturday evening or our Sunday evening?  What or whose house were they in? Why did the disciples fear the Jews? What sort of greeting is “Peace be with you?”

20:20 Why did Jesus show the disciples his hands and side? Did the disciples not rejoice before they saw his hands and side? Did the disciples not recognize Jesus before they saw his hands and side?

20:21 Why is the “Peace be with you” greeting repeated? How did the Father send Jesus?

20:22 Why did Jesus breathe on the disciples?  What is the connection between breath and the Holy Spirit?

20:23 When interpreting this verse, does it make any difference that this is perhaps the latest Gospel? What is “The power of the keys?”

20:24 I wonder where Thomas was and why he was not there. Why was Thomas called “the Twin?” Who was his twin?

20:25 Do you know anyone who can honestly say “I have seen the Lord?”  Rather than referring to him as “doubting Thomas” I would rather refer to him as “I am not gullible Thomas” or “Skeptical Thomas.”

20:26 Were the doors also locked? Is it significant that it was a week later?

20:27 Do not doubt what?  Believe what?

20:28 Jesus invited Thomas to touch his wounds, but did Thomas do so?  Might “My Lord and My God” be an example of an early confession of faith?

20:29 For whom is this verse written? Who have not seen and yet have come to believe?

20:30 I wonder what other signs Jesus may have done that are not written in this book.  I think I feel an historical novel coming on: “The Other Signs of Jesus” I will title it.

20:31 This also reads like an early statement of faith. Is this verse talking about life in the here  and now or a future life everlasting in heaven?

                                                                  

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.