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.
It is a subtle grammatical distinction that
makes an important theological and liturgical point when we identify Sundays “in”
Lent rather than “of” lent. Do I need to say more?
GENESIS
9:8-17
9:8 Why does God not
address the women? Why are the sons not named?
9:9 This is the first,
the Noahic, not the Abrahamic covenant. The Covenant with Abraham (and Sarah)
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 is Roy G. Biv! Note that the covenant is not just with Noah or
Noah and animals but the earth.
9:14 What is the science
behind this?
9:15-16 Would God forget
with this sign to jog the divine memory?
9:17 Is the sign of the
covenant anything like the sign (and seal) of a sacrament? By the 17th
verse, I am starting to hear redundancies.
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 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. How do we lift up our souls to the LORD?
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 for God?
24:4How can the LORD “make” us
know?
24:5 How does the LORD “teach”? Note
“wait” in this verse as well as 25:3.
25:6 This sounds like
the Psalmist is trying to remind a forgetful God. Maybe the Psalmist needed a
multi-colored reminder to set before 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 paths of
the LORD are there? Can this verse be used to defend religious and
spiritual pluralism?
1
PETER 3:18-22
3:18 Christ suffered
for whose sins? 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
Peter 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 Peter have had in mind?
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? Will we hear anything like this again in Mark’s
Gospel?
1:12 How many times in
Mark do we find “immediately?” Why would the Spirit drive Jesus out into the
wilderness? What do you think of when you hear “wilderness?”
1:13 Why “forty days”
and not “forty days and nights”? How was Jesus tempted by Satan? Mark
does not enumerate or name them, only Matthew and Luke do. 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 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
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