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
15:34 Is the anything
significant about Ramah or Gibeah?
15:35 Who is “he”, the LORD
or Samuel? Was the sorrow caused by
having made Saul, rather than someone else king, or simply making anyone a king
over Israel?
16:1 What is a horn and why
would God want Samuel to fill one with oil?
16:2 Why would Saul kill
Samuel? So the LORD instructs and helps Samuel construct a ruse?
16:3 What do we know about
Jesse?
16:4 Why did the elders of
Bethlehem tremble when they saw Samuel?
16:5 Was Jesse one of the
elders? Were his sons? In this context,
what does it mean to be sanctified? Why sacrifice in Bethlehem? Why not Bethel
or Shechem?
16:6 Why did Eliab look the
part?
16:6-7 Things are not always as they seem. In both ecclesiastical and secular settings,
the person who most looks the part is not always the person God has
chosen. Nevertheless, they are still the
person chosen, hired, elected or called because they look the part. In this case, however, not so! Lesson
learned?
16:8 After he screwed up
with Eliab, how did Samuel know God had not picked Aninidab?
16:10 Should we associate
any symbolic significance to the number seven?
16:11 What if there had not
been an eight son?
16:12 What are the various
alternate translations of this verse?
16:13 Would the spirit of
the LORD not have come upon David if Samuel had not anointed him? Note that
David is not named until after he is anointed?
20:1 To whom is the
Psalmist writing? Does the reference to
God’s name serving as protection suggest that God’s name was understood by some
as having magical properties? Why the God of Jacob and not the God of Abraham,
or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
20:2 What sort help and
support might be imagined? What is the sanctuary?
20:3 What is the difference
between a burnt offering and a sacrifice?
20:4 What if the heart’s
desire and plans are not according to God’s will? See 1 Samuel 16:7.
20:5 Who are “we”? I wonder
what these banners looked like. I doubt
if they looked like the liturgical banners some churches display.
20:6 Who is the LORD’s anointed? What does God
ever do with the left hand, if anything?
20:7 Let this verse be a
warning to those advocating for increased spending on defense and who claim
that a nation’s security is directly related to the size of its armed forces.
20:8 Who are brought to
their knees and fall?
20:9 Why did the King need
saved? Who is “us”?
5:6 Why must we be away
from the Lord while at home in the body?
Can modern Christians read this without help from Descartes? How can we hear it as first Century
Christians would have heard it?
5:7 Must faith be set
against sight? What about the phrase “I will believe it when I see it.”?
5:8 Does this sentiment fly
in the face of incarnational theology?
5:9 How do we please Lord?
5:10 Does this suggest a
work’s righteousness?
5:11 What is the fear of
the Lord and how does one know it? Are you familiar with Rudolf Otto’s “Idea of
the Holy” and the mysterium
tremendum et fascinans?
5:12 “Again”? What is this
verse about?
5:13 What is Paul’s logic?
5:14-15 Does “die for all”
lead to a universalism? What does Paul mean “all died”?
5:16 What is a worldly
point of view?
5:17 Even though I agree
with it, this is a pretty bold statement.
Does it logically flow from what precedes it? Might this be Paul’s equivalent
of the “born from above” or “born anew” of
John’s Gospel?
4:26-27 I love the kingdom
sayings (parables), even though I do not fully understand them—sort of like the
person who does not know how seeds that were scattered take root and grow. Does
the type of seed matter or make any difference?
4:28 Does the soil really
do this by itself?
4:29 This sounds as though
reaping is a good, not a grim, undertaking.
4:30 Is this a rhetorical
question?
4:31 Not just any seed (see
Mark 4:26), but a mustard seed.
4:30-32 So, don’t judge a
book by its cover, or a seed by its size, or a son of Jesse by his age (see 1
Samuel 16:7 and 16:11)
4:33 I wonder what ever
happened to these similar parables, how many were remembered and preserved and
how many went in one ear and out the other and were forgotten? What does Mark
mean by “the word”? How able are we to hear the word?
4:34 So why did the disciples
often appear not to get it if Jesus explained the parables to them? How do
those to whom we preach or teach affect the way we teach or preach?
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.
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