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.
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? What does a future king look like?
16:7 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? Pastor Nominating Committees could reflect on this reading.
16:8 After he screwed
up with Eliab, how did Samuel know God had not picked Abinidab?
16:10 Should we
associate any symbolic significance to the number seven?
16:11 What if there had
not been an eighth 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? I wondered how David’s brothers
felt about all this.
PSALM 20
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? Where is Zion?
20:3 What is the
difference between a burnt offering and a sacrifice? Was God’s favor bought?
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. Who won the victory?
20:6 Who is the
LORD’s anointed? See 1 Samuel 16:12-13. 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 will collapse
and fall?
20:9 Who is “us”?
2
CORINTHIANS 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
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? Is Paul suggestion, or asking, that the Corinthians brag
about him or knowing him?
(5:13) What is Paul’s
logic? Did some think Paul was crazy?
5:14 Does “die for all”
lead to a universalism? What does Paul mean “all died?”
5:15 How do we not live
for ourselves?
5:16 What is a human
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? This verse is often used as part of a
Declaration of Forgiveness after a Prayer of Confession.
Mark
4:26-34
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? What does “sleep and rise night
and day” add to the passage?
4:28 Does the earth
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), or …? What do the “birds of the air” nesting “in its
shade” add to the parable?
4:33 I wonder what ever
happened to those other 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 If Jesus did not
speak to the disciples in parable but explained everything, why did the disciples
often appear not to get it? How do those to whom we preach or teach affect the
way we teach or preach?
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. My various blog posts have appeared on PRESBYTERIAN
BLOGGERS and Appalachian
Trials.
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