Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, March 22, 2015, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

Preface: If you are preaching in a PC(USA) church this coming Sunday, how might the passage of amendment 14-F affect what you preach? Should it even make a difference? If so, why? If not, why not?

First Reading - Jeremiah 31:31-34

31:31 Why does Jeremiah write about coming days rather than a new age? What was the old covenant? Why the twin construction “Israel” and “Judah”?

31:32 God is a husband?

31:33 How does God put a law in a person?  How does God write on the heart? Will this new covenant abrogate or fulfill the old covenant?

31:34 Note that God will be the agent of divine knowledge, not people, and this will spell the end for Christian Education and faith formation.

Psalm - Psalm 51:1-12

51:1 Here are examples of Hebrew poetic parallelism.  Are steadfast love and abundant mercy the same thing? I am old enough to remember what a ink blotter was, but do younger people know what it means to “blot out”? May delete, erase, or strike over would be a better translation today.

51:2 Is iniquity the same as sin? Note that sin is singular.

51:3 Are transgressions the same as sin? Again, note that sin is singular, so why do many Prayers of Confessions use “sins” rather than ‘sin”?

51.4 Some Calls to Confession call us to confess our sins against God and neighbor, but can we really sin against anyone other than God?

51:5 If this is not a proof text for original sin, what is it? Does this verse have any bearing on the abortion debate?

51:6 What is the inner being? What is a secret heart? What is the relation between truth and wisdom?

51:7 What is hyssop and how does it purge? I wish the Psalmist had said “fresh snow” because the snow still around a week after the last storm was pretty dirty and ugly.

51:8 What is the source of this joy and gladness? God has crushed bones?

51:9 What is the meaning of “Hide your face”? Note that in this verse “sins” is plural. Note also that it is not transgressions but iniquities being blotted out (see 51:1).

51:10 This is one of my favorite verses of Scripture.  What is a clean heart? Does having a clean heart mean having a new and right spirit? Are we the passive recipient of a new and right spirit that God puts in us or do we bear some responsibility for welcoming and even nurturing a new and right spirit?

51:11 Is a holy spirit the same as a new and right spirit? I think we misread this Hebrew Psalm if we bring to it our Christian Trinitarian theology. Note that the previous spirit asked God to “put a new and right spirit within me” while this verse asks “do not take your holy spirit from me.”

51:12 One must have once enjoyed the joy of God’s salvation in order to be restored to it. What is a willing spirit?

Alternate Psalm - Psalm 119:9-16

Remember the Psalm 119 is an acrostic psalm. I will be using Psalm 51:1-12 rather than this alternate.

119:9 I wonder what the psalmist’s definition of a “young person” was. What is a pure way? What did the psalmist mean by the LORD’s “word”?

119:10 Note that the psalmists seeks the LORD with whole heart, not whole mind or intellect. Are the commandments the same as the “way” in 119:9?

119:11 Once again heart rather than mind or intellect. What does it mean to treasure?

119:12 How does the LORD teach? What are statutes?

119:13 How else shall the psalmist declare if not with the lips? What are ordinances?

119:14 What are the LORD’s decrees and do you delight in them?

119:15 How might the psalmist understood meditating? I wonder if what the psalmist had in mind was anything like mindfulness meditation or contemplative prayer? What are precepts? What are the LORD’s ways. Note that “ways” is plural!

119:16 Do you delight in the LORD’s statutes?

Second Reading - Hebrews 5:5-10

5:5 Is the common perception that priests become priests to glorify themselves? At the time of Jesus, how did one become the high priest of the Jerusalem Temple? When did Christ become a high priest? What are the functions of a high priest?  Where have we heard this quote before?

5:6 Where is this other place?  Who is Melchizedeck and what is the order of Melchizedek?

5:7 What is the difference between “prayers” and “supplications”? Does this verse describe the work of a high priest? Is our reverent submission a perquisite for God hearing our prayers?

5:8 Was learning obedience the purpose of Christ’s suffering?

5:9 How was Christ made perfect?  What is the theological difference between being perfect from before creation and being made perfect at some later time?

5:10 Is “designation” the same as “appointed” in 5:5?

Gospel - John 12:20-33

12:20 What festival?  Who are the Greeks? Does the adoration of the magi at all inform how we might read this passage?

12:21 Who was Philip?  Does his home town matter?  What are the possible meanings of “see”?

12:22 Why did Philip go and tell Andrew? I wonder where Peter, James and John were.

12:23 What hour has come?  Who is the Son of Man?  What does it mean to be glorified?

12:24 Why does Jesus often introduce sayings with “Very truly, I tell you”?  Would Jesus ever not speak truly?

12:25 Did the grain of wheat love its life or not love its life?

12:26 What does it mean to serve Jesus? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

12:27 Why is Jesus’ soul troubled? What “reason” is Jesus speaking about?

12:28 How is a name glorified? Is the voice for the benefit of Jesus or the benefit of the crowd standing around?

12:29 Why would some hear thunder and others hear the voice of angels? Do angels speaking sound like thunder?

12:30 I guess Jesus answered my question for 12:28.

12:31 Has the world already been judged? Who is (or was) the ruler of this world? Driven out to where?

12:32 What is Jesus speaking about his crucifixion, his ascension, both, or something else altogether? Does “all people” point to possible universalism? Does “lifted up” possibly allude back to last week’s reading from Numbers and John?

12:33 Once again, Jesus answers my question for 12:32.

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Churchof Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM.  Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.

Essential Tenets Affirmation of Faith

I have been preparing to present the PC(USA) Book of Order mandated session provided period of study and preparation for ruling elders and deacons per G-2.0402. Part of my preparation has been revising an Affirmation of Faith I first created in 1985. Here is the new revision that is is intended, in part, to generally identify "the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church" of the third question for ordination (W-4.4003b). Feel free to use it for instruction and/or in worship as long as it includes attribution.

Affirmation of Faith

(Adapted from the Book of Order F-2.03-05 by John Edward Harris ©2015)

One: We witness to the faith of the Church catholic.

All:   We witness to the mystery of the triune God

            and the incarnation of the eternal Word of God in Jesus Christ.

One: We uphold the affirmations of the Protestant Reformation.

All:   We uphold and affirm the Protestant watchwords –

            grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone.

One: We express the faith of the Reformed Tradition.

All:  We affirm the sovereignty of God

            who in Christ and by the power of the Spirit

            creates, sustains, rules and redeems the world.

        We affirm the election of the people of God

            for service as well as for salvation.

        We affirm covenant life marked by a disciplined concern

            for order in the church according to the word of God.

        We affirm faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation

            and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation.

        We affirm the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny,

            which calls the people of God

            to work for the transformation of society

                        by seeking justice

                        and living in obedience to the Word of God.

Prayers for #selma50 and #InternationalWomensDay or #IWD2015

I wanted to observe and pray for two events today, #selma50 and #InernationalWomensDay or #IWD2015,vso I wrote these two petitions and included them in the Prayers of the people at The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, Cadiz, Ohio, where I serve as Interim Pastor.



God of all people,

a day and fifty years following Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama,

we pray for improved relations among the races in our country.

We pray that Jew, Christian, Muslim, people of all faiths, and no faith;

Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and White European,

may once again link arms in common cause,

working together to end racism,

and to insure freedom, liberty, and equal rights for all your children.

On this International Woman’s Day, O God

we are reminded how you,

like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child,

are faithful still.

We pray that you will not forsake us now
as we seek to celebrate the gifts of women,

recognizing and giving thanks
for their many contributions to the church

and to society at large.

We pray that you will be faithful still

as we continue the struggle to guarantee equal rights,
including equal pay for women,

and that sexism will soon become an ism of the past.

You can also find these prayers, and The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, on Facebook.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, March 15, 2015, the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - Numbers 21:4-9

21:4 Where is Mount Hor? Be aware that “Red Sea” may be a scribal error or mistranslation.  Why did they avoid Edom?

21:5 Is this the plural “you”? Are God and Moses that closely associated?  What was the miserable food the people detested?

21:6 Why would the LORD send poisonous snakes. You may want to take a look at the Hebrew text and consult the gleanings in the Torah. Maybe the people needed St. Patrick as their leader rather than Moses.

21:7 There is nothing like a few poisonous snakes to motivate people to repent.  Although it is part of the dubious Longer Ending of Mark, how might this passage influence our understanding of Mark 16:18

21:8-9 What do you know about the psychological and spiritual symbolism of the rod of Asclepius?  What might Carl Jung have said about this passage?  Why did Moses make the serpent out of bronze when God had not said anything about bronze? Is there anything idolatrous about what Moses has fashioned?  See John 3:14.

Psalm - Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

107:1 Is it redundant to say that steadfast love endures forever?

107:2 Who are the redeemed?

107:3 Note the four cardinal directions. How did the redeemed become scattered?

107:17 Must illness always be a result of sin?

107:18 Why would someone loathe food?

107:19 Did the call on the LORD before they were in trouble?

107:20 How can a word heal? I like the image of a healing word more than the image of a bronze snake on a poll (see Numbers 21:9)

107:21 What are the LORD’s wonderful works to humankind?

107:22 Are the LORD’s deeds the same as the LORD’s wonderful works?

Second Reading - Ephesians 2:1-10

2:1 What sort of death is the author writing about? What is the difference between trespasses and sins? Shall we read this in light of Psalm 107:17?

2:2 Who or what is the ruler of the power of the air? What about earth, fire and water?

2:3 Does the argument presume a dichotomy between flesh and spirit? Is Paul saying that he was once disobedient?

2:4-5 How are mercy and grace related?

2:6 How can Paul speak of himself and those to whom he was writing in the present tense?

2:7 When and what are the ages to come? How many ages are there?

2:8 This might be one of the most important verses for Protestantism.

2:9 Why does Paul bring up works?

2:10 Is this a reference to the creation of Genesis? The argument seems to be that once saved by grace, good works will follow. Therefore, by extension, good works are evidence of our salvation.

Gospel - John 3:14-21

3:14 I love The Fourth Gospel! See Numbers 21:9. I think this is Midrash at its best! You may want to look at what John Sanford has to say about this passage in his Jungian/Psychological commentary on John entitled Mystical Christianity. Who is speaking in this verse?

3:15 Note that it is belief in the Son of Man, not merely looking upon him lifted up, that bestows eternal life.

3:16 Why do so many people quote this verse while ignoring the two verses before it? What is the meaning of “gave”? Should we read this in light of the akedah (Genesis 22:1-19)

3:17 So why does so much of popular Christianity sound condemnatory?  What is the meaning of “the world”?

3:18 What is the source of condemnation? Is John saying that all are condemned prior to God sending the Son? What does it mean to believe in a name?

3:19 How can we talk about light and darkness while avoiding racial overtones?  Is “shadows” or “night” a better image than “darkness”?

3:20 But not all evil deeds are done at night. Some evil deeds are done in broad daylight but nevertheless concealed. How does light expose evil?

3:21 What is one does good deeds away from the light?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM. Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, March 8, 2015, the Third Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - Exodus 20:1-17

The Big Ten is not a college athletic conference!

This week I am reading this passage partially through the lens of Bruce Feiler’s 2001 best seller Walking the Bible because I finished reading it a few days ago and also recently watched a DVD of the PBS Documentary by the same name. How does what you have recently read or watched inform and influence how you read and interpret the biblical text?

20:1 How does God speak if God does not have a physical body with vocal chords?

20:2 Note that LORD appears in all uppercase letters. Why?

 20:3 Do other people have another god or other gods? What other gods was the LORD God competing against in Exodus? What other gods does the LORD god compete against today?

Can we have other gods after God? Lesser gods after God?

20:4 What is an idol? With all due respect to Plato, what would the form of something in heaven look like?  Is there any place other than heaven above, earth below, or water under the earth?

20:5 God experiences emotions?  What other emotions might God experience? Would God not punish to the fifth generation? 

20:7 What is rightful use of God’s name?

20:8 How do Christians justify worshiping on Sunday rather than Saturday? Can any day of the week be a person’s Sabbath if they are required to work on Saturday?

20:12 How do children honor parents?  Is this word in effect only as long as our parents are living? Is this the only word out of the ten that comes with a cause and effect promise?

20:13 What is murder? Is there a difference between murder and killing?

20:14 What are the corollaries to this word? Can one argue that if sexual relations are reserved for marriage then marriage must include sexual relations?

20:15 Define theft.

20:16 Is it permissible to bear false witness against someone who is not your neighbor? Who is the neighbor?

20:17 Does it bother you that this word seems to categorize a wife as a piece of property? Is it permissible to covet something that belongs to a person who is not my neighbor?

Psalm - Psalm 19:1-14

19:1 How do the heavens speak?  Is the Hubble Space Telescope a microphone for the heavens?Is there any difference between the heavens and the firmament?  Is the Glory of God the same as God’s handiwork?

19:2-4d What do you make of these verses?  What are they saying?  Is speech being poetically equated with knowledge?

19:4c-6 Do these verses presume a pre-Copernican universe? Why does the psalmist write about the sun but not the moon?

19:7-9 How many synonyms “law” are there in these verses? Is “fear” in anyway a synonym for” law”? Do these verses justify the lectionary pairing this psalm with the Exodus 20:1-17 Reading?

19:10 At the close of the market on February 27, 2015 Gold was trading for $1212.60 an ounce. Three years ago it was trading for $1,683.30 an ounce. Does that mean that the law of God is less desirable than it was three years ago?  How sweet is honey?  Was there any other known sweetener at the time of the psalmist? I find the second half of this verse to be very sensual.

19:11 What is the reward?  Does this verse lead to works righteousness?

19:12 Do not forget the advice of the oracle at Delphi.  Know Thyself. Are our faults sometimes hidden from us or do we simply refuse to acknowledge them?

19:13 Who are the insolent? So I shal be blameless if I stay away from the insolent?

19:14 Pet Peeve Alert!  This is not a Prayer for Illumination.  Displays of personal piety by praying a personal prayer aloud before reading Scripture have no place in worship or at the lectern or pulpit before preaching or the classroom before teaching. If you want to pray this silently before you preach or teach, fine, but I do not want to hear you pray aloud for yourself.

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

1:1 How is the message of the cross foolishness?

1:19 Where is this written? Note the chiastic structure here and throughout this passage.

1:20 Who is the one who is wise?  Certainly not Socrates! Who is the debater of this age?  Was Paul erecting a straw opponent or might he have had someone or something specific in mind?

1:21 Is Paul using wisdom in more than one sense? As an amateur philosopher I am feeling a little hostility from and toward Paul in these words. Is Paul’s proclamation foolishness because his proclamation is about the cross?

1:22 And how shall we read John’s book of signs in light of verse and argument? See John 2:18 What is wrong with wisdom? Is a stumbling block the antithesis of a sign?

1:25 God is foolish and weak?

Gospel - John 2:13-22

2:13 What does it mean to go “up” to Jerusalem?

2:14 Why would anyone sell cattle, sheep or doves in the temple?  Why were money changers present in the temple?

2:15 Did Jesus drive out only the sheep and the cattle? What is the possible irony here?

2:16 Why were people selling doves? What is wrong with God’s house being a marketplace?

2:17 Where is this written?

2:18 See 1 Corinthians 1:22.

2:19 I doubt the Jews were asking to an after the fact sign.

2:20 Can we fault the Jews for hearing and understanding Jesus as they did?

2:21 Does this verse add to or detract from the account? Do Christians really need an explanation or is this an example of pointing out the obvious?

2:22 What was it about the resurrection that reminded the disciples about anything Jesus said?  What “scripture” did they believe? Is this remembering the same as the anamnesis of The Eucharist? Does this verse equate the word that Jesus had spoken with scripture?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM.  Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook. 

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, March 1, 2015, the Second Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

First Reading - Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

17:1 Last week, we encountered Noah and Noahic Covenant.  This week, we encounter Abraham and the Abrahamic Covenant.  How do these two covenants inform our understanding of Lent and Easter? Abraham was only ninety-nine year old? Well, at least he was not one hundred years old!

17:2 Of all people, why did God Almighty choose Abraham?

17:3 Why does Abram fall on his face? Why do we no longer fall on our faces when we encounter God Almighty?

17:4 What is the meaning of “nations”?

17:5 Why does God change Abram’s name to Abraham? Note the use of the past tense “I have made you”.

17:6 Will Abraham be exceedingly fruitful or will his descendants be exceedingly fruitful?

17:7 In verse 17:2 God Almighty promises to establish a covenant with Abraham.  In this verse, the promise is extended to Abraham’s offspring.

17:15 Why does God have Abraham change Sarai’s name to Sarah?

17:16 What is the difference between a covenant and a blessing?

Psalm - Psalm 22:23-31

22:23 What does the psalmist mean by “fear”? Why does the psalmist refer to offspring of Jacob/Israel rather than Abraham?

22:24 Is the Psalmist the afflicted?

22:25 What is the great congregation? What vows will be paid?

22:26 Why “poor” rather than “hungry” if the issue is their being fed?

22:27 Remember what? Why “families of the nations” rather than just “nations”?

22:29 Is life being contrasted with death? How can the dead bow down?

22:30-31 Is this promise for the church as much as for Abraham and his offspring? How does one proclaim anything to the yet unborn?

Second Reading - Romans 4:13-25

4:13 Did only Abraham have faith, or did his descendants also have faith? What came first, the promise or Abraham’s faith?

4:14 This sounds logical.

4:15 Again, this sounds logical. Whose wrath does the law bring?

4:16 What does Paul mean by “the faith of Abraham”?

4:18 Is “hoping against hope” the same as “faith”?

4:19 Is hope or faith ever misplaced?

4:20 This sounds like faith is trust rather than assent to doctrine. Is distrust the opposite of faith? Is distrust the same as doubt?

4:21 God may be able to do what God promised, but does God always do what God is able to do?

4:22 What is Paul quoting?

4:23 How could anything written about Abraham be written for Abraham’s sake alone?

4:24 It seems Paul is now arguing that faith is belief rather than trust. How are belief and trust the same and how are they different?

4:25 Must one believe only that Jesus was raised, or that he died for or trespasses and was raised for our justification?

Gospel - Mark 8:31-38

8:31 Why does Jesus not begin to preach this until Chapter eight? How many people in the pews understand “Son of Man” language? How much time should a preacher spend in a sermon unpacking “Son of Man” language?

8:32 Did Jesus not always speak openly?  Why did Peter rebuke Jesus?

8:33 Why did Jesus look at the disciples rather than looking at Peter when he rebuked Peter? What might be the multi-faceted meaning of “Get behind me Satan”? What are the “divine things” Peter out to be setting his mind on?

8:34 What cross? Is this the first time in Mark that Jesus or anyone else has mentioned a cross?

8:35 I think this is the kernel of wisdom in the husk of this passage. Was Peter seeking to save hi own life or the life of Jesus?

8:36 Is this anything like the Faustian bargain?

8:37 Is this a rhetorical question?

8:38 Who might Jesus have in mind when he refers to those who are ashamed of him? Was this warning only for those in Jesus’ day, or for the readers Mark was writing to and for, or for all generations? I can not recall ever being ashamed of Jesus but I have sometimes been ashamed of what others, including the Church, have done, and are doing, in his name.

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM.  Please like The Presbyterian Church on facebook. 

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, February 22, 2015, the First Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - Genesis 9:8-17

9:8 Why does God not address the women?

9:9 This is the first, the Noahic, not the Abrahamic covenant. The Covenant with Abraham came later.

9:10 What are the implications for an ecological ethic? “Every animal of the earth” reminds me of the Native American “All my relations.”

9:11 Apparently God did not know about global climate change.

9:12-13  And the name of this sign Roy G. Biv!

9:16 Does God really need a rainbow to be reminded of the covenant?

9:17 Is the sign of the covenant anything like the sign (and seal) of a sacrament?

9:13-17 The rainbow is not there for us but for God, to remind God. Sacraments are not there for God but for us, to remind us.

9:8-17 It is unfortunate that this passage does not mention the number forty.

Psalm - Psalm 25:1-10

25:1 I am used to hearing about the lifting up of the eyes and familiar with the lifting up hands.  I wonder how many instances there are of lifting up of the soul.

25:2 What is more biblical, trusting in God or believing in God? What, in your mind, is the difference between “trust” and “belief”?

25:3 What does it mean to wait for God and in this context who is waiting on God?

24:4-5 How can the LORD “make” us know? How does the LORD “teach”?

25:6 This sounds like the Psalmist is trying to remind a forgetful God.

25:7 I guess it is all right for God to forget some things, like my sins, but not other things, like God’s mercy and steadfast love. Are the “sins of my youth” the same as youthful indiscretions?

25:8-9 What is God’s “way”?

25:10 How many of the LORD are there? Cab this verse be used to defend religious and spiritual  pluralism?

Second - Reading 1 Peter 3:18-22

3:18 Christ was “made” alive in the spirit?

3:19 What spirits in what prison? Does this account for the “he descended into hell” phrase in The Apostles’ Creed?

3:20 Was this Second Reading selected in light of the First Reading, or vice versa? I compliment Paul on his theological creativity and seeing in the story of Noah a prefiguration of Christian Baptism.

3:21 Baptism may not remove dirt but what about sin?  Whose good conscience is being referred to?

3:22 What “authorities and powers” might Paul have had in mind?

Gospel - Mark 1:9-15

1:9 In what days? Why was Jesus baptized?

1:10 Who saw what? If you had been there what would you have seen?

1:11 Who heard this voice? Whose voice was this?

1:12 How many times in Mark do we find “immediately”? Why would the Spirit drive Jesus out into the wilderness?

1:13 Why “forty days” and not “forty days and nights”?  How was Jesus tempted by Satan? How shall we understand and interpret this “Satan”? Why does Mark mention that Jesus was with the wild beasts? How did the Angels “wait” on Jesus?

1:14 Why did Jesus not come to Galilee until after John was arrested?  Where was Jesus before he came to Galilee? What is the “good news of God”? For any news to be good one must recognize that things can always be better.

1:15 What time is fulfilled?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Churchof Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM. Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, February 15, 2015, the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - 2 Kings 2:1-12

2:1-12 How much does this reading influence our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of  Mark 9:2-9?  Can we read Mark 9:29, in part, as Midrash on this reading?

2:1 What is a whirlwind? Is there any significance to the fact that they were on their way from Gilgal?

2:2 What is the significance of Bethel?

2:3 Who are the company of prophets (see 2:5 as well)?  Why did Elisha bid them to keep silent?

2:4 Note the repetition of “stay here” and “as you yourself live” as in 2:2.

2:5 What do you know about Jericho? Note again the pattern of repetition, as in 2:3.

2:6 What do you know about the Jordan? Why this travel narrative? Why this continuous pattern of repetition and parallel structure, 2:2-3/2:4-5/2:6-7?

2:7 Is there anything significant or symbolic about the number fifty?

2:8 What is a mantel?  Is this a Midrash on Moses’ parting of the Red Sea?

2:9 What is a double measure of spirit?  Can prophetic spirit be willed or inherited? I would settle for half of Elijah’s spirit.

2:10 Does Elijah have the power to grant this request or does this power rest with God?

2:11 Why does a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear?  What is their relationship to the whirlwind? Note the appearance of fire in Psalm 50:3.

2:12 What are “the chariots of Israel and its horseman”? Why did Elisha tear his clothes in two?

Psalm - Psalm 50:1-6

50:1 Does God not summon from the setting of the sun to its rising?

50:2 What is perfect beauty? How does God “shine”?

50:3 Does this verse alone, with its “fire” and “mighty tempest,”  justify this Psalm being paired with the First Reading?

50:4 Who are God’s people?

50:5 Are we to assume from the First Reading that, at the time, only Elijah was faithful? Who initiated the covenant, God or the people?

50:6 How do the heaven’s declare God’s righteousness? I always ask the question when it appears: how do you deal with the “Selah”?

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

4:3 Is our gospel veiled?  What sort of veil is Paul talking about? Who are perishing?

4:4 Who, or what, is” the god of this world”? How does this verse illuminate our understanding of the Transfiguration and inform our interpretation of the Gospel Reading?

4:5 Why does Paul even have to write “For we do not proclaim ourselves”?

4:6 Where in Scripture did God say “Let light shine out of darkness”?

Gospel - Mark 9:2-9

9:2 Six days later, after what?  Why does Jesus always seem to take with him Peter, James and John?  What is the meaning of the word “transfigured”?

9:3 Was this in the days before Clorox and/or Oxi-Clean? Have you ever seen anybody dressed in dazzling white?

9:4 Why Elisha and Moses?  What do they represent and/or symbolize?  If you had to pick two people from the Jewish Scriptures to appear with you, whom would you pick? What do you think they were talking about with Jesus?

9:5 Why might Peter have wanted to build three dwellings?

9:6 Note that Peter (singular) did not know what to say, for they (plural) were terrified. Have you ever been terrified?

9:7 What does the cloud represent? Where and when have we heard something like this before?

9:8 What just happened?

9:9 Why would Jesus order Peter, James and John not to tell anyone about what they had just seen?  Why is “Son of Man” used here but not earlier in this account?  Why do Peter, James and John have to wait until after the resurrection to tell people about what they experienced?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM. Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, February 8, 2015, the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading  - Isaiah 40:21-31

40:21-31 This is one of the longer readings we have seen in a while.  How does the fact that this is not prose affect or influence your interpretation and application?

40:21 Are these merely rhetorical questions? Listen for an echo in 21:28. What are the foundations of the earth?

40:22 Who is “he”?  I am surprised by “the circle” of the earth as I would have expected a flat earth with four corners. Why are humans compared to grasshoppers?

40:23 These images seem to assert God’s sovereignty.

40:24 What are the “they”? What is Isaiah talking about?

40:25 God is now talking. As in 40:21, are these rhetorical questions?

40:26 Now who is speaking? What are the “these”? What is God referring to?

40:27 Is there any other instance in Scripture of anyone speaking these words? What is meant by “way”? What “right” is being referred to and has God really been ignoring it?

40:28 I hear an echo of 40:21.  This sounds like a confession of faith. Does either of the Genesis creation accounts inform this this verse?

40:29 What faitn and powerless might Isaiah have in mind?

40:30-31 This is one of my favorite passages to read as part of a Service of Witness to the Resurrection and that fact probably colors my interpretation of it.

Psalm - Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

147:1 Why is it that some worshiping communities simply do not like to sing hymns and spiritual songs? How can the church carry on its tradition of musical praise when many public schools no longer offer music education and fewer and fewer people are learning to play the organ?

147:2 Who are the outcasts of Israel? What period in Jewish history does this reflect?

147:3 Are the brokenhearted and wounded the same people as the outcasts of Jerusalem?

147:4 I wonder what God has to say about all the organizations that, for a small fee, will name a star after someone and then register that name. I wonder what names ancient Jews gave to the stars.

147:5 This sounds like a confession of faith as well as an expression of praise. Compare to Isaiah 40:28.

147:6 Note the inversion, lifting up the downtrodden and casting down the wicked, who were presumably on top because of their wickedness.

147:7 See my comments for Psalm 147:1. What is our closest equivalent to the lyre?

147:8 God the cloud coverer and rain preparer.

147:9 Does God give food even to carnivours?

147:10 So God is not a horse racing or track and field fan?

147:11 What is the meaning of “fear”? Do you fear God?

147:20c This is always a good way to end a Psalm and in this case the last/ending line echoes the first/opening line.

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

9:16 What is the meaning of “if”? I can almost resonate with Paul’s assertion about woe.

9:17 I think Paul’s comment calls for some spiritual and psychological honesty by those who preach.

9:18 How do “compensated” preachers handle this one?

9:19 How did Paul make himself a slave?

9:20 How could Paul make himself  Jew when he was already a Jew?

9:21 Who were outside the law?

9:22 How did Paul become weak?  Can anyone truly be everything to all people? How would Paul have dealt with a non-homogeneous, pluralistic worshipping, spiritual, religious community?

9:23 How did Paul share in the blessings of the gospel?

Gospel - Mark 1:29-39

1:29 Who were “they”? Where did Simon and Andrew live? Why are James and John mentioned?

1:30 So Simon was married? Who was and where was his wife?  Were he and Andrew living with Simon’s in-laws or were Simon’s in-laws and Andrew living with Simon? Who are “they” and who is “him”?

1:31 Who is “He”? What is the significance of her serving?

1:32 Is “all” perhaps hyperbole?  What is the relationship between being sick and being possessed?

1:33 I think “the whole city” is again hyperbole?

1:34 Did Jesus cure many or all? Did he cast out many or all demons? Is his not permitting the demons to speak an example of Mark’s messianic secret?

1:35 So Jesus was a morning person!  Why pray in a deserted place? Was Jesus alone?

1:36 Who were Simon’s companions and why were Simon and his companions hunting for Jesus?

1:37 Is “everyone” another hyperbole? Is Simon referring to physical or spiritual searching?

1:38 What towns neighbored Capernaum?

1:39 What if Jesus had proclaimed the message but not cast out demons? What if he had cast out demons but not proclaimed the message?  Must proclaiming the message and casting out demons go hand in hand? Why is there no mention in this verse of healing the sick (see my comments for Mark 1:32.

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM. Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.