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.
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