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.
ISAIAH 63:7-9
63:7 Can you recount all the
gracious deeds and praiseworthy acts of the LORD? How many are there? What are
they? What is the difference between mercy and steadfast love?
63:8 In 63:7 Isaiah speaks in the first person plural
of “us”, but in verse 8 shifts to the third person “they” and “their”. Why
the shift? What difference does it make? What is Isaiah quoting?
63:9 I like that “It was no
messenger or angel” but the LORD’S presence that saved them. Remember,
Isaiah was writing before Christ! How was the LORD present if not
through an intermediary?
PSALM 148
This Psalm can easily be
adapted for use as a Call to Worship.
148:1 Is it stating the
obvious to identify this as a “praise” psalm. How can we praise the Lord from
the heavens?
148:2 This is the second time
(and the second reading) that angels are mentioned. Are angels part
of the heavenly host? What other creatures or beings are in the heavenly host?
148:3 How do the sun, moon
and shining stars praise the Lord? Maybe sometimes we should hold worship
services in observatories or planetariums.
148:4 What waters are above
the heavens? Must we buy into this pre-Copernican three tiered cosmology
to interpret this Psalm? What and where are the lowest heavens?
148:5 How is the name of the
LORD to be praised when it is not to pronounced? Which creation account does
this Psalm allude to?
148:6 What are the bounds of
the highest heavens and the waters above the heavens? How do we read and
interpret this in light of contemporary cosmology’s theory of an ever expanding
universe?
148:7 Even though, or perhaps
because, I am a kayaker and a sailor, I can more easily accept that the actual
sun, moon and stars praise the Lord than I can accept “sea monsters” praising
the Lord. What sea monsters are we talking about –Leviathan, Nessie, the
Kraken?
148:8 How does hot fire
relate to cold hail, snow and frost? These verses might work for the First
Sunday of Christmas in the northern hemisphere, but what about the southern
hemisphere?
148:9 What is the difference
between a mountain and a hill? The hills are figuratively alive with the sound
of music, praise music, and Julie Andrews is not even mentioned in the verse. Are
fruit trees and cedars the only two kind of trees?
148:10 Have all living things
now been included?
148:7-10 How can creation
continue to praise the LORD if humans pollute and destroy it? Does
Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” have anything to say regarding these verses?
148:11 Now we transition from
the natural world to the political realm.
148:12 I like the gender and
age inclusiveness of this verse.
148:13 What is “the name of
the Lord”? Dare we write it? Dare we speak it? If
not, how do we praise and exalt it?
148:14 What is “a horn” and
what does it symbolize?
HEBREWS 2:10-18
2:10 How is it fitting that anything suffer?
2:10 How is it fitting that anything suffer?
2:11 What
is the meaning of sanctification? Why would Jesus be ashamed?
2:12-13 Where did these quotes
come from?
2:14 Can we
read/teach/preach this without personifying “the devil”?
2:15 Can we be freed from
the fear of death without being freed from death? Why are so many people afraid
of death?
2:16 In the context of this
verse, who are the descendants of Abraham?
2:17 What was the function of
the high priest? Is “sacrificial” atonement the only possible understanding of
atonement?
2:18 Is there any difference
between how Jesus was tested and how we are tested? Why must anyone be tested?
2:14-18 This seems like a
fairly theological exposition of the incarnation, which is probably why this
passage was chosen for the First Sunday After Christmas, but we still end up
with suffering. The distance from the cradle to the cross, both in
terms of geography and time, is not much at all.
MATTHEW 2:13-23
2:13 In Matthew, how many
times does an angel appear to Joseph in a dream? Has an angel of the
Lord ever appeared to you in a dream? Why Egypt? John Shelby Spong
has a theory to explain why Egypt! Why would Herod want to destroy
the child Jesus?
2:14 Is there any
significance to their starting out at night? Why isn’t the child or the child’s
mother named?
2:13-14 Could this story be an
example of Midrash? Spong thinks so.
2:15 Could there have been
another theological reason for Jesus going to Egypt other than the fulfilling
of prophecy? What verse is being quoted?
2:16 The slaughter on the
innocents intrudes into the otherwise bucolic narrative of Christmas. Did
Why did Herod kill all children as old as two years?
2:17 So all the innocents
were slaughtered just to fulfill prophecy? Screw prophecy! Could be another
example of Midrash?
2:18 In its original context what
was this verse speaking about?
2:19 Another
angel, another dream, same old Joseph!
2:20 Why the plural “those”
when only Herod was seeking to kill Jesus.
2:21 It seems Joseph always
does what an angel tell him to do.
2:22 How many Dreams has
Joseph experienced now? With so many dreams mentioned in the Bible, why does
the church say so little about dreams, dreaming, and dream interpretation
(other than Jungians)? What is the difference between Israel and
Judea and where is Galilee?
2:23 Why is the author of
Matthew so eager to note the fulfillment of prophecy? It seems that
so far that is the purpose of this Gospel—to show the fulfillment of prophecy.
How prophecies have now been fulfilled?
2:13-23 It seems odd that Mary
and Jesus are never mentioned by name but are referred to as “the child and his
mother”.
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.
