Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

4:11 Who is speaking? At what time?  What is the difference between “this people” and “Jerusalem?” Is there any connection between “a hot wind” and the wind that blew across the waters at creation or the Holy Spirit?

4:12 What speed of wind is needed for winnowing and cleansing? If this wind is not for winnowing or cleansing, then what is it for?

4:22 The LORD sounds like a typical parent of adolescents. When will we grow up into adulthood?

4:23 How could there be no light in the heavens?

4:24 What might quaking mountains symbolize or represent?

4:25 What does the emptiness represent or symbolize?

4:26 I am sure someone will ask the question about how a loving, merciful, grace filled LORD can be filled with such fierce anger.

4:23-26 Note the repetitive “I looked”.

4:27 Why am I thinking of Smaug? What is the difference between a partial end and a full end?
4:28 How does the earth mourn?  How shall we read this verse when in other passages God changes the divine mind?  Does process theology help us find a way out of this potential dilemma?

PSALM 14

14:1 What if a person says in their heart “I don’t know if there is a God or not?”  Was Pascal a fool? Juxtapose this verse with Jeremiah 4:22.

14:2 Where are the heavens (and where is God) in a Copernican universe? Why do humans seek after God?

14:3 Are “seeking after God” and “going astray” opposites?

14:4 Does knowledge always lead to doing the good?

14:4 What sort of knowledge is being asked about? It sounds as though evildoers are being contrasted with God’s people.

14:5 Are “the righteous” the opposite of “fools?” Are “the righteous” God’s people?

14:6 Whom is being addressed? Who is confounding the plans of the poor? I think some God-fearing politicians need to reflect on the verse.

14:7 What is the difference between Israel and Zion? If God is in the heavens, as suggested by the Psalmist in 14:2, then why look to Zion for deliverance?

1 TIMOTHY 1:12-17

1:12 Is Paul not being a bit presumptuous in stating that Christ Jesus has judged him faithful? Paul seems a little egotistical.

1:13 The old is over and gone.  Everything is fresh and new.  Is ignorance of the law really an excuse? What sort of ignorance might Paul have had in mind? What is the relationship between ignorance and unbelief?

1:14 What does Paul mean by “the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus?” Whose faith and love?

1:15 I hear liturgy here. It seems Paul must be the first or greatest in everything!

1:16 Paul received mercy because he was the foremost of sinners? I cannot help but post this Luther quote: “God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther)

1:17 I hear more liturgy.

LUKE 15:1-10

15:1 Is “all” hyperbole? What is the relation between tax collectors and sinners? What is the difference between listening and hearing?

15:2 Who are today’s equivalent of the Pharisees and the scribes and what do they grumble about?

15:3 Are parables always told in response to criticism?

15:4 Does this passage give any comfort to the ninety-nine? Why am I thinking of Kirk saying to Spock “…the needs of the one... outweigh the needs of the many.” If I were one of the ninety-nine, I would be upset. Would a sensible shepherd really act this way? Maybe God is not a sensible shepherd.

15:5 This reminds me of the iconic image of Jesus carrying a sheep on his shoulders.

15:6 Why am I hearing echoes of the Parable of the Prodigal Son?

15:7 Ergo Luther’s “Sin Boldly”? On the other hand, is anyone righteous?

15:3-7 Who is the lost sheep and who are the ninety-nine? God will search for the lost but the lost but not play hide and seek. Might we consider the Pharisees and the scribes righteous?

15:8 Why do I like this parable more than the one before it? Does the number ten symbolize anything? Is there any symbolism to the lamp? The shepherd lost 1/100 of the sheep and went looking for it. The woman lost 1/10 of her wealth and went looking for it. Many people today, upon dropping a penny, will leave it rather than picking it up. How valuable are we to God?

15:9 I wonder if the woman spent part of the found coin to celebrate its finding.

15:10 Why mention the angels here? Do our worship services express such joy?

                                                                  

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 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

JEREMIAH 18:1-11

18:1 How did the word come to Jeremiah?

18:2 Why does the location matter?

18:3 Is it any coincidence that the potter was working at his wheel?

18:4 In light of the second creation account, why is this imagery significant? No two pieces of handmade pottery are exactly alike! Once pottery is fired it is no longer malleable.

18:5 Note that in verse 1 the word came to “Jeremiah.” The narration is from the third person.  Here, it comes to “me.” The narration is first person. Does this change signal a shift in perspective?

18:6 What is the underlying threat and promise?

18:7 Note that the LORD is talking in generalities, not yet specifically about Israel.

18:8 How can a perfect, all knowing deity change its mind? Does anything other than Process Theology give an acceptable answer?

18:9 Building and planting are very different images and metaphors.

18:10 What is the difference between the LORD’s intentions and actions?

18:11 This is not the interpretation I would have offered. I prefer to think that the LORD is shaping Israel, not evil against Israel, that like the potter in 18:4 the LORD might pound down Israel into a lump in order to reshape Israel. The LORD might reshape us but never ignore us.

PSALM 139:1-6, 13-18

139:1 Note that this is past, not present tense. What tense does the Hebrew suggest?

139:2 I don’t care who knows when I sit down or rise up but care greatly about anyone knowing my thoughts from far away or even close at hand unless I tell them.

139:3 What is the meaning of path? Does the lying down in this verse pair with the rising up in the previous verse

139:4 What about words that don’t make it to my tongue? What about Freudian slips?

139:5 How does the LORD hem us in? Does the LORD entrap us?

139:1-5 I find it both troubling and humbling to think that the LORD knows me better than I know myself.

139:6 What knowledge is too wonderful, the LORD’s knowledge of us, or our knowing that God knows us better than we know ourselves?

139:13 How does this verse impact discussion and debate about freedom of choice?  Should it even inform the discussion and debate?

139:14 What does it mean to be fearfully made?  If the LORD’s works are wonderful, and I am one of the LORD’s works, then I am wonderful! The LORD doesn’t make junk! I think this verse supports the concept of Original Blessing rather than a fall/redemption theology that includes Original Sin.

139:15 Was I knit together in my mother’s womb or intricately woven in the depths of the earth? Why the change of metaphor? Or is the Psalmist referring to "mother earth?"

139:16 What book is being referred to?  Can I buy this book at Amqzon.com? Is this a proof text for predestination?

139:17 How much do thoughts weigh? What is the sum of God’s thoughts? The Lord discerns our thoughts from afar (139:2). How do we know anything about God’s thoughts?

139:18 Is this a poetic reference to infinity? What does the Psalmist mean “I am still with you?”

PHILEMON 1-21

1 How is Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus? What was Timothy’s status? In what way is Philemon a co-worker?

2 Who were Apphia and Archippus? Were the Philemon’s relatives? Why does Paul refer to Apphia as a sister and to Archippus as a fellow soldier? Whose house was the church meeting in?

3 How do Trinitarians deal with a non-Trinitarian blessing?

4 What is the meaning of “remember?”

5 Are you surprised by the “faith toward” construction rather than “faith in” or “faith of?”

6 Whom does Paul mean by “we?”

7 Whom de you receive joy and encouragement from?

8 What gives Paul the right or power to command anything of anybody?

9 How old might Paul have been?

10 Does the child/father relationship depend on chronological age as well as faith? What does Christian tradition tell us about Onesimus?

11 How and why was Onesimus useless? How is he now useful to both Paul and Philemon?

12 How did Onesimus end up being with Paul in the first place?

13 What does Paul mean by “service”?

14 What good deed is Paul referring to?

15 How could Philemon have Onesimus back forever?

16 What is the meaning of “both flesh and in the Lord?”

17 Does Philemon consider Paul a partner? Does Paul consider Philemon a partner?

18 To what account does Paul refer? How could Paul pay off an account if he were in prison?

19 Did Paul not write the preceding with his own hand? I think Paul just said something about what he said he would not say anything about.

20 What benefit is Paul referring to?

21 Considering verse 17, since when is a partner called upon to be obedient to another partner?
1-21 I consider this letter very personal but also very manipulative. Why do you think the early Christian Community chose to preserve and disseminate it?

LUKE 14:25-33

14:25 What is the difference between a small crowd and a large crowd? What does it mean that they were traveling with Jesus?

14:26 It sounds like it is time to throw conservative family values out the window. How does James Dobson exegete this verse? Hate seems such a strong, un-Christlike word!

14:27 How does one carry the cross?  How can Jesus say this before the crucifixion? Note that this verse talks about “the cross” and not their own cross, as in some translations.

14:28 Is it at all significant that Jesus chose a “tower” over any other kind of structure?

14:29 Where else in the Gospels do we hear about foundations?

14:30 Do any examples from your experience come to mind?

14:31 The point being? I wish Jesus had not used militaristic imagery.

14:32 Is Peace itself not a worthy goal and not just a way to avoid defeat?

14:33 What does giving up one’s possessions have to do with counting the cost of building a tower or calculating the cost of going to war? To whom was Jesus talking, the large crowds following him, his disciples, or us?
14:25-33 Is the cost of discipleship something that can really be calculated and considered? How might Bonhoeffer help us here?

                                                                  

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 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

JEREMIAH 2:4-13

2:4 What is the meaning of “hear?”  Am I hearing echoes of The Shema? What is the difference, if any, between house of Jacob and house of Israel? Perhaps this is just a Hebraic poetic device?

2:5 One becomes what one desires?  Is the LORD asking a rhetorical question?

2:6 They did not say this, but they should have. What is the LORD getting at?

2:7 What is the relationship between the land and the LORD’s heritage? Is the LORD espousing an environmental ethic? How have we defiled the land?

2:8 None of these things would ever happen today, would they?

2:9 This language sounds like it is from a court of law. I can understand the people being accused, but not their grandchildren.  Why must later generations suffer for the action or inaction of people generations before them?

2:10 Why Cyprus and Kedar? Such a thing as what?

2:11 Have the people sold their birthright for a bowl of porridge? How have we done the same or similar?

2:12 Why are the heavens brought into this?

2:13 A double whammy! You do know what a cistern is, don’t you?  Why would one need a cistern when one has a fountain? Why am I thinking of John 4:5-26?

PSALM 81:1, 10-16

81:1 Sing aloud.  Sing ALOUD!  Sing with gusto and spirit.  Shout.  SHOUT! Don’t mumble or whisper.  Let the people passing by the outside of the church hear what is happening inside!

81:10 See Jeremiah 2:6. If we open our mouths wide, what will the LORD fill them with?

81:11 Must listening involve submission?

81:12 So it is God’s fault?

81:13 What does it mean to walk in God’s ways? What are God’s ways?

81:11-13 This reads like a restatement of the Jeremiah Reading, nothing less than God’s indictment of the people.

81:14 But until then . . . ?

81:15 What is the difference between hating the LORD and not listening to the LORD’s voice?

81:16 What do the finest wheat and honey from the rock symbolize? Since when did honey come from a rock? This finest wheat and honey from the rock sounds tastier than bland communion wafers.

81:14-16 God does not speak of pending punishment but rather promised rewards.  It is easier to attract flies with honey (from the rock) than vinegar.

HEBREWS 13:1-8, 15-16

13:1 What mutual love is being referred to?

13:2 Does this allude to anything in the Hebrew Scriptures?  Have you ever entertained angels without be aware of it until later? How might this verse impact our immigration policy debate?

13:3 What does it mean to “remember?”  Why am I feeling guilty for not having renewed my membership in Amnesty International?

13:4 How might this verse inform debates about same sex marriage, if at all?

13:5 How can a capitalist read this with a straight face? Where has God said this?

13:6 Who or what is being quoted?

13:7 Does this refer only to leaders of religious communities or all leaders? Contrast this with Jeremiah 2:8.

13:8 Are you the same yesterday, today and forever?  What is the meaning and purpose of this verse in this context?

13:15 Verbal praise is a sacrifice pleasing to God, but is any other sacrifice needed?

13:16 Is “sharing” the only good work or just one among many?

LUKE 14:1, 7-14

14:1 This sounds like a memory, but the author cannot place the time or location.  I have such momentary lapses of recall, why shouldn’t Luke?  Or could this be a fictional account? Who were watching Jesus, the Pharisees? The other guests?

14:7 Where are the places of honor? While some were watching Jesus, Jesus was watching the guests.

14:8 Thus sit down at the place where you find your name card and don’t go exchanging name cards.

14:9 Who would want to experience such ignominious disgrace?

14:10 Why is it that when people go to concerts and plays, they want to sit near the front, but when they go to worship, they want to sit in the back? Are down and up only physical location descriptions or do they mean something more?

14:11 This sounds like one of the Gospel’s formulaic reversal of fortunes sayings.

14:12 Is “luncheon” really the best translation? Who do you invite into your home for meals or entertaining and why? I wonder why the  host invited Jesus.

14:13 Do we invite these people to the Lord’s Table?

14:14 So payment is deferred, but there is still a payment?

14:12-14 Is this a mere parable or a metaphorical interpretation and application of a later Eucharistic theology and the placement of that theology back into the text?

                                                                  

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 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

JEREMIAH 1:4-10

1:4 How did the word of the LORD come to Jeremiah?  How does the word of the LORD come to you or to anyone? Note that this narrative is told from the perspective of the first person.

1:5 How might this verse impact our thinking about predestination and issues related to ending a pregnancy?

1:6 In classic call narrative style, Jeremiah finds reasons and excuses for not answering God’s call. What are your excuses?

1:7 In classic call narrative style, God overcomes Jeremiah’s objections.

1:8 What do you fear? What are you afraid of?

1:9 This seems like an overly anthropomorphic metaphor for talking about God’s call.

1:10 This is quite a prophetic task, don’t you think? Who, today, are our Jeremiahs? Are the pen and the words of the LORD mightier than governments?

PSALM 71:1-6

71:1 What comes to your mind when you hear or read the word “refuge?” Being an outdoors sort of person, I naturally think of National Wildlife Refuges.

71:2 What does it mean for God to incline the divine ear?

71:3 What, if any, is the difference between a refuge and a fortress?  How do we deal with such militaristic images in our overly militarized world? Fortress, however, are defensive, not offensive.

71:4 How does God rescue?  Has God ever rescued you?

71:5 Why am I thinking of Princess Leah saying, “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope?”

71:6 does this single verse justify the lectionary pairing this Psalm with the Jeremiah 1:4-10 reading? You may want to juxtapose this verse with Jeremiah 1:5.

HEBREWS 12:18-29

12:18-19 Who is the “you?” Do these verses negate some people’s need for sensual and tactile aspects of religion and spirituality?

12:19 Why would the hearers beg that not another word would be spoken?

12:20 Why the parenthesis? Why would God want an animal that touched the mountain to be stoned to death?

12:21 Before what do you tremble with fear? Are you familiar with Rudolph Otto’s concept of the “mysterium tremendum?”

12:22 Note that it is the heavenly Jerusalem and not the earthly Jerusalem that is being spoken of. What do angels in festal gathering look and sound like?

12:23 Who are the firstborn?  How do we reconcile this with William James’ concept of the twice born?

12:24 What word did the blood of Abel speak?

12:25 Who is speaking? Who warned from earth? Who warned from heaven?

12:26 What does this shaking represent or symbolize? Why am I thinking of Paul Tillich’s The Shaking of the Foundations?”

12:27 What cannot be shaken?

12:28 What is an acceptable worship?  We might approach worship with reverence, but when was the last time most worshippers approached worship with awe? Why am I thinking of Annie Dillard writing in Teaching a Stone to Talk  “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

12:29 When was the last time you had to call the fire department to a worship service?

LUKE 13:10-17

13:10 Why does the specific location not matter?

13:11 How do we interpret this passage considering modern science and medicine?  Maybe some illnesses still cripple us spiritually even after we are physically healed. I wonder how old this woman was.

13:12 Apparently no statement of faith or good works were required.  Why would Jesus heal this woman and not others, or all, similarly oppressed?  Why her? Note that Jesus sets her free from her ailment, not her sins?

13:13 What does it mean that the pronouncement of healing proceeded the laying on of hands?  Why am I thinking of Reiki? Why do we generally no longer lay on hands when we pray for a person to be healed?

13:14 Ya gotta love institutional religion and its orthodox, legalistic practitioners, NOT! Who was being chastised, the people for coming to be healed or Jesus for healing?

13:15 Touché!  Jesus 1 – Hypocritical Religious Leaders – 0! Why might Jesus mention water?

13:16 What is the significance of Jesus referring to the woman as “a daughter of Abraham?”  Is the time she suffered from her illness of any significance?  How do we deal with questions about Satan? Why am I thinking about the Exodus?

13:17 I wonder what other “wonderful things” Jesus was doing.

                                                                  

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.