Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 Links to 1st Sunday of Advent through Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

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.

We will soon be celebrating the First Sunday of Advent, followed by Christmas – Year B, the year of Mark.  Here are links to the various Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 covering the period from the First Sunday of Advent through Transfiguration of the Lord.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 1st Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 3rd Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 4th Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 1st Sunday of Christmas (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 2nd Sunday of Christmas (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for The Baptism of the Lord (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 2nd Sunday after Epiphany (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 3rd Sunday after Epiphany (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 4th Sunday after Epiphany (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for 5th Sunday after Epiphany (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for All Saints Day (Year A)

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.

REVELATION 7:9-17

17:9 After what?  How many is a great multitude?  Was anyone left out? Whose throne? Who or what is the Lamb? Why were they robed in white? Why were they holding palm branches?

17:10 What does it mean to proclaim hat salvation belongs to God and the the Lamb?

17:11 How many angels? We no angels missing? Who are the elders and how many were there? What or who are the four living creatures? What does it mean to fall on one's face and what does it symbolize?

17:12 How many attributes are ascribed to God? What does the number symbolize?

17:13 I wonder which elder. Maybe their name was Petros! Okay, where did they come from?

17:14 Why ask a question if you already know the answer? What is the great ordeal?  How can washing any clothing in blood make the clothing white?

17:15 I thought God did not need a temple. Were the elders constantly worshiping?

17:16 When did they hunger and thirst? When did the sun and scorching heat strike them?

17:17 How can the Lam be at the center of the throne if God is sitting on the throne? What is the water of life? Why and when were the elders crying?

PSALM 34:1-10, 22

34:1 Does "all times" mean all day and night? See Revelation 17:15. Is it possible to eat and drink while praising the Lord?

34:2 I sense a juxtaposition of boasting and humbleness. What was the Psalmist's soul boasting about? Who are the humble?

34:3 How can we exalt the Lord's name when we are not to pronounce the Lord's name?

34:4 What are your fear? What are you afraid of?

34:5 Do those who worship in the sanctuary where you worship look like they have radiant faces?

34:6 When has your soul cried? What troubles have you been saved from?

34:7 Which angel would this be? What does mean for an angel to encamp around someone?

34:8 How can we taste that the Lord is good? What does the Lord taste like?

34:9 What does it mean to fear the Lord. Are you familiar with Rudolph Otto's "mysterium tremendum et fascinans"   and concept of the numinous?

34:10 Who are the young lions? What does it mean to seek the Lord?

34:22 What does it mean to redeem a life? Who are the Lord's servants? WHat does it mean to take refuge in the Lord?

1 John 3:1-3

3:1 How do we see love? Are we just called the children of God or are we really the children of God? What does it mean to be a child of God. Whom is the writer calling children of God?

3:2 What were we before we were the children of God? Who will be revealed?

3:3 Is it hope that purifies? What does it mean to be pure?

MATTHEW 5:1-12

5:1 Why the plural crowds and not singular crowd? Why might have Jesus gone up the mountain? Would the disciples not come to him until after he sat?

5:2 What other ways are there to teach other than by speaking?

5:3 What are other ways to translate the Greek other than "Blessed?" Might "Happy" be an option? How do you pronounce "blessed?" What does it mean to be poor in spirit and who are they that are poor in spirit? Is it possible to be rich in spirit?

5:4 For what, do people mourn?

5:5 Who are the meek? How could they inherit the earth?

5:6 What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? What is righteousness?

5:7 What does it mean to be merciful?

5:8 What does it mean to be pure in heart?

5:9 What is a peacemaker and how does one make peace. Presbyterians in the PCUSA might wish to recall the 1980 report "Peacemaking: The Believer's Calling."

5:10 Who today are being persecuted for righteousness?

5:11 Have you ever been falsely reviled, persecuted, and/or been the object of evil talk because of Jesus? 

5:12 What prophets were persecuted?

ADDENDUM

I am a Minister Member of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and am serving as the Pastor of the Bethlehem United Presbyterian Church, Wheeling, WV. Sunday Worship at Bethlehem begins at 10:45 AM. Here is Bethlehem United's Facebook address: https://www.facebook.com/Bethlehem-United-Presbyterian-Church-102482088303980

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 Links to Trinity Sunday through Christ the King/Reign of Christ (Year A)

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 the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over thirty-five years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, and with sometimes pointed and snarky comments and Socratic like questions, I attempt 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.

Trinity Sunday
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/05/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-trinity.html

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 6
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/06/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-2nd.html

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 7
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/06/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-3rd.html

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 8
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/06/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-fourth.html

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 9
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-5th.html

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 10
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-6th.html

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 11
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-7th.html

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 12
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-17th.html

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 13
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-18th.html

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 14
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/07/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-19th.html

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 15
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/08/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-20th.html

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 16
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/08/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-21st.html

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 17
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/08/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-22nd.html

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 18
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/08/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-23rd.html

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 19
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/08/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-24th.html

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 20
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/09/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-25th.html

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 21
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/09/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-26th.html

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 22
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/09/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-27th.html

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 23
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/10/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-28th.html

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 24
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/10/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-29th.html

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 25
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/10/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-30th.html

All Saints' Day
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3404372588940834898/8773471856559511453

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 27

http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/10/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-32nd.html

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 28

http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/11/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-33rd.html

Christ the King/Reign of Christ
https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/11/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-christ.html

Five Key Concepts of Ministry – My Cannon

I listened to Natalie Angier’s book The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science on CD while driving to and from visiting family over the most recent Thanksgiving holiday. Early in the work, Angier asked something like “What would you identify as the five key concepts from your field? What is your field’s cannon?”

The question first forced me to think about what my field is. I hold a Master of Divinity degree, generally recognized as the basic requirement for ordained ministry in main line churches. I and many of my seminary alums would agree, however, that our seminary education prepared us more to be theologians, and even biblical scholars, than pastors engaged in parish ministry.

After over ten years of parish ministry I earned a Doctor of Ministry, generally recognized as the highest level of professional education relevant to pastoral ministry short of the more academic Ph.D. While some Doctor of Ministry programs focus on preaching, counseling, or spirituality, mine focused on Reformed Theology, perhaps the most academic of the various Doctor of Ministry programs offered by the seminary where I worked on and earned it. Working on that degree reinforced my self-identification as a theologian.

In addition to having served in both full time and part time pastoral ministry for over thirty years, during those part time years I also served six years as part time staff for a church regional governing body. I also taught as an Adjunct two semesters at a small Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College where I taught courses in Theology and ten semesters at a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) related Liberal Arts College where I taught courses in Religion and Philosophy.  My adjunct teaching experiences reinforced my self-understanding as a theologian.

This leaves me still pondering the question - what is my field? Is my field theology or ministry? I find it hard to separate one from the other. My theology informs my practice of ministry and my practice of ministry informs my theology in a cyclical dialectic. That is the perspective from which I answer Angier’s question about what I identify as the five key concepts from my field, or my field’s cannon.

The first key concept I think is essential to both theology and ministry and that I want worshipers in the pew as well as spiritual but not religious people and those who shun Christianity to know and understand is that the Bible is not one book dictated by God or written by a single author in one place at one time. The Bible is like a little library bound together. It is a collection of sixty-six writings (or more if you are a Roman Catholic) written by dozens of authors from various places and over nearly two thousand years whose original work was later edited by others and assembled together in one collection, a process that took centuries. These writings were assembled first by Jews and later adopted and added to by Christians because many found these writings to be theologically informative and spiritually meaningful.

Related to the above concept is understanding that The Bible was not originally written in the King James English, or any form of English. Most of the writings Christians consider the Old Testament were originally written in ancient Hebrew and  Aramaic and later translated into the ancient common Koine Greek. The Hebrew and Aramaic writings that were later translated into Greek were later translated into Latin. The Greek and Latin were eventually translated in English. That means that when we read the Bible in English that we are sometimes reading a translation of a translation of a translation.

A third key concept is the recognition that while there are certainly unique beliefs that separate Christians from Jews and from other people of faith, beliefs such as the affirmation that the mystery of God is best experienced, understood, and experienced as a Trinity, and that  Jesus is God in the flesh, Christianity is one of many world religions. As a religion or system of belief, Christianity shares many ideas and concepts with other world systems of belief or religions. Christians share with Jews and Moslems the core belief that there is only one God, and we believe in the same God, the God of Abraham and Sarah, although we have different understandings of what the God of Abraham and Sarah calls us to do and be. Some Christians have found affinity with Buddhism, although some would consider Buddhism more of a philosophy than a religion.

A fourth key concept is the interdisciplinary approach to ministry. Parish ministry is certainly informed by the Bible, but it is also informed by the history and tradition of theology and the church as well as the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, and sociology. The Apostle Paul often drew upon Greek philosophy in his writings. Augustine and other early Christian writers relied so heavily upon Plato that they can be said to have baptized Plato. Thomas Aquinas was influenced by Aristotle. Most parish pastors would probably agree that their counseling practice is as informed as much by Psychology as the Bible and Theology. Sociology has helped me understand the human dimensions of the Church and how congregations and even denominations have been influenced by the economic, educational, political, and racial ethnic background of their members.

Finally, even though Christians believe that the church is the body of Christ, that body often seems to be torn asunder by various expressions we call denominations. While some consider our plethora of denominations an affront, I think it is a gift. If we think of the church as the place we come to be spiritually fed and nurtured, then we might consider the universal church as a spiritual restaurant. I prefer Wendy’s, but when there is no Wendy’s around, I will satiate my appetite at McDonalds, Taco Bell, Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, or any other number of franchises or independent establishments. Even though I prefer Wendy’s, sometimes I tire of a single with fries and want to eat something else. It is all food. It is all nourishing. But I also trust that wherever I eat that the kitchen is observing sanitary practices and has passed its health inspection. Just like there are some eating establishments I would not eat in because of health inspection violations and unsanitary conditions, some congregations can be unhealthy and even dangerous. Stay away from them.  Find one that serves a varied menu of spiritually satisfying  and religiously healthy entrees.

Wild Encounter with a Cooper's Hawk

The wildest encounter I have ever had with an animal in the outdoors occurred during a canoe trip down the Delaware River in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area back in the summer of 1983. My co-leader Margaret and I were guiding adolescent summer campers on a combined canoe/backpacking that was taking us down the Delaware River and then north on the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey.

One day Margaret and I were in the same canoe. I do not recall who was in the bow and who was in the stern.  As we paddled downstream, one of us noticed what appeared to be a bird flapping its wings midair several feet over the water and a few yards from shore but going nowhere. Paddling closer, we realized the bird, a  Cooper's Hawk, had become entangled on a fishing hook suspended from a fishing line hanging from a tree branch out over the river.

Margaret steadied the canoe as I stood up in it. I reached up as high as I could and grabbed the line. I then pulled it down as low as I could, passing over the tangled bird until I could reach the line above it.  Using my Swiss Army knife, I cut the line about a foot above the hawk and sat back down in the canoe while I was holding the fowl by the line. Margaret paddled over to shore where we both climbed out onto the New Jersey bank with me still holding the hawk, suspended by its wing, the fishing line still in my hand.

Hawk after we removed the hook

While I held the hawk by the line, Margaret emptied a small nylon stuff sack and put the sack over the hawk's head, covering the beak. She then cradled the creature in her hands while softly singing to it.  I used my knife to carefully cut the three barbed hook, line attached, from out of the crook of the animal’s wing.

After I removed the hook, Margaret sat the hawk down on the bank and removed the stuff sack. The Hawk stood up straight, puffed out its chest, and pulled back its wings as if enjoying its freedom, and stared straight at us. I grabbed my  camera and snapped the attached photo. I don't recall how long all this took, but it seemed like a half hour or so.

Margaret and I had no idea how long the hawk had been suspended mid-air over the river by its wing, nor do we know what eventually happened to this beautiful creature, but we both felt intense satisfaction for having freed it from its predicament. The experience was the highlight of a very memorable trip. Thirty-seven years later, I still recall it as one of the most intense, transcendental wilderness encounters with an animal I have ever experienced.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 Links to 1st Sunday in Lent through Day of Pentecost (Year A)

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-five years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, and with sometimes pointed and snarky comments and Socratic like questions, I attempt 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.

We will soon be celebrating the First Sunday in Lent, followed by Easter, the Easter Season, and the Day of Pentecost – Year A, the year of Matthew.  Here are links to the various Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 covering the period from the First Sunday in Lent through the Day of Pentecost (Year A).

1^st Sunday in Lent

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2018/02/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-1st.html

2^nd Sunday in Lent

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/02/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-2nd.html

3^rd Sunday in Lent

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/03/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-3rd.html

4^th Sunday in Lent

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/03/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-4th.html

5^th Sunday in Lent

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/03/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-5th.html

Palm/Passion Sunday

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/03/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-palm.html

Resurrection of the Lord/Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/04/lectionary-ruminations-25-for.html

2^nd Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/04/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-second.html

3^rd Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/04/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-third.html

4^th Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/04/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-fourth.html

5^th Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/05/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-fifth.html

6^th Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/05/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-sixth.html

7^th Sunday of Easter

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/05/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-seventh.html

Day of Pentecost

https://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2017/05/lectionary-ruminations-25-for-day-of.html

Review of the Elton John autobiography "ME"

Elton John’s Your Song on a cassette copy of the Elton John album captured my interest in the early 1970s when I was but a young teenager. Then came Tumbleweed Connection, 17-11-70,  Madman Across the Water, Honkey Château, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, the quintessential Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, followed by Caribou, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I owned some on cassette and some on vinyl. Sometime during those teenage years, I pilfered a vinyl copy of the Friends soundtrack from my sister’s record collection and eventually found a copy of the original vinyl Empty Sky in a discount record bin. Elton John’s  music formed a major part of the soundtrack to my adolescence and I have been a fan ever since.

I have seen Elton John in concert only once. It was a rainy night in an outdoor venue in the late 1990’s somewhere near DC. The rain never stopped. The ground we were sitting on turned into a muddy mess. It seemed like he played a longer set than I imagined he usually did,  perhaps to reward his fans for sitting through and enjoying the show in such miserable conditions. I was wet, soaked to the bone, but not disappointed.

I went to see the movie Rocket Man the day it opened in a theater near where I live. It was not the movie I was expecting to see but I liked it. I wish, however, that it had taken the story further along Elton’s career path and life.

I received Elton’s autobiography ME for Christmas and started reading it a few days later. I have now finished it. I loved it. It is a clearly written 354 page “Tell All” overview of his life and career filled with drugs, rock stars, celebrities, a little sex, and some introspection boarding on the spiritual. I could not put it down. I laughed while reading some sections and nearly cried while reading others. I tried to remember where I was and what I was doing when he narrated specific incidents and periods, so it invited me to reflect on my own life and work.

I might be an Elton John fan, but I am not obsessive about him. I have never joined an Elton John fan club or read about him in the tabloids, but I still listen to his music, especially his early work. I read a lot in ME that I did not know about even though I was familiar with the rough outline of his stardom. ME filled in the blanks I was unaware of in an enjoyable way.

The 354 pages of ME include twenty-four pages of mostly color photographs, many of which include other famous rock stars and personalities. Perhaps best of all, there is a seventeen-page index which I think I will use to go back to read his comments about his early recordings.

If you like reading autobiographies of famous personalities, especially rock stars, or have been a fan of Elton John, ME is a must read.