Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

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 6:1-8 (9-13)

6:1 Who was King Uzziah and what year did King Uzziah die. Why does it matter? How did Isaiah see what he saw?

6:2 What is a Seraph? Why would seraphs cover their feet?

6:3 How many seraphs were there? What language might the seraphs have been speaking? I wonder the seraphs learned the Sanctus. Or were seraphs the first to give voice to the Sanctus? Is therefore anything significant about threefold praise?

6:4 What are pivots and thresholds? Were the seraphs the ones calling? Might the smoke have been the smoke of burnet offerings or incense? We have the smells but where are the bells?

6:5 Would you feel woe seeing such a sight? Is this a confession of sin?

6:6 What might the live coal signify?

6:7 How can live coal blot out sin?

6:8 Who are the “us?”

6:1-8 This passage reminds me of Rudolph Otto’s “Mysterium Tremendum” in The Idea of the Holy. Was it just a vision? “Handle Holy things with holy care!” If you think you saw a pink polka dot elephant in the back yard but know that it was a vision, dream, or hallucination, you are sane bu might want to talk with a spiritual director. If you think you saw a pink polka dot elephant in the back yard and later go out with a shovel and bucket to clean up its droppings, you are mentally ill and need to see a Psychiatrist.

I think that if you read this passage carefully, you will find it mentions all five senses. When was the last time you attended and participated in fully embodied, sensual worship? When was th e last time you experienced the awesomeness and the grandeur and God? I think what is missing in much contemporary society and even worship is a sense of awe. Are we underwhelmed? I think a fully embodied, sensual worship which seeks to expose the awesomeness and grandeur of God would overwhelm  people wanting a god they can domesticate, control, and manipulate.

(6:9) Is this a prophecy of judgement?

(6:10) Why would the Lord command a prophet to preach such a message?

(6:11) How many times have we wondered the same – how long? This is not a comforting vision.

(6:12) Why will the Lord do this?

(6:13) What is a terebinth? What do you make of “The Holy seed is its stump?”

PSALM 138

138:1 Before what gods will the Psalmist sing?

138:2 Why do protestants generally not bow in worship?

138:3 What is strength of soul?

138:4 Have all the kings of the earth really heard the words of God’s mouth?

138:5 Do you and your congregation sing of the ways of the LORD?

138:6 What glory is not great?

138:7 This reminds me of the 23^rd Psalm.

138:8 What is the LORD’s purpose for you?

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11

15:1 Why do Christians in Corinth need to be reminded of this?

15:2 Have you felt that you have believed in vain?

15:3 How, when, and where did Paul receive what he is now handing on?

15:4 Note that Christ was raised. He did not rise from is volition.

15:5 Was Cephas not one of the twelve? Was Judas among the twelve?     

15:6 Why mention that most are alive though some have died?

15:7 Who are the other apostles?

15:8 Has Christ not appeared to anyone since Paul?

15:9 Was Paul both the least and the last apostle, as far as he knew/

15:10 What is Paul?

15:11 Is there a difference between sharing one’s faith and imposing one’s faith?

LUKE 5:1-11

1:1 What are other names for the lake of Gennesaret?

1:2 Is there any significance to the number two?

1:3 So Simon was still in the boat?

1:4 Was Simon the one who first told this story?

1:5 Was Simon alone or were others with him? “If you say so” is an interesting expression coming from the mouth of Simon.

1:6 I wonder how many fish they caught.

1:7 This sounds like a lot of fish.

1:8 Why might Simon have felt this way and said what he said?

1:9 When was the last time you were amazed?

1:10 Was Simon’s brother Andrew not part of the business? What does fear have to do with anything. Might we see this story as a prelude to Pentecost?

1:11 What happened to what they left? What does it to follow Jesus?         

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

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.

JEREMIAH 1:4-10

1:4 Has the word of the LORD ever come to you, and if so, how? How do you know it is a word of the Lord and not some deception of the imagination?

1:5 I doubt this could be used as an argument for life beginning at conception as this sounds like life, or personhood, begins even before conception.  What do you know about the philosophy of George Berkeley and does it have any bearing on how we might interpret this passage?  Is this God talking to Jeremiah?

1:6 Is this “I do not know how to speak” and “I am only a boy” defense anything like that of Moses?

1:7 Such a defense, as above, never seems to work. Sometimes it seems like God calls us before we are prepared or ready and we get on the job training.

1:8 Do not be afraid of whom, the nations?

1:9 Does this remind you of any other accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures?  Is this entire Reading a call narrative?

1:10 Note two pairs of destructive activities and one pair of creative activities. How can a prophet do such things with only words? Is the pen, or the quill, or the word truly mightier than the aword?

PSALM 71:1-6

71:1 What comes to your mind when you hear the word “refuge?” What is so bad about shame? Have you ever felt shamed?

71:2 How does the LORD incline the divine ear?

71:3 How is a rock of refuge like a fortress?  Do any rocks come to your mind when you hear “rock of refuge?”

71:4 Is the Psalmist already in the hand of the wicked and the grasp of the unjust and cruel?

71:5 Every time I read this I think of “Star Wars IV – A New Hope” and Princes Leia pleading “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope.”

71:6 Does this verse justify the Lectionary pairing this Psalm with the First Reading from Jeremiah (See Jeremiah 1:5)?  Does this verse justify referring to the LORD as a midwife?

1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-11

13:1-13 Why read this in Sunday worship if there is no wedding to follow?  What can be said about this Reading that has not already been said?  Why do we tend to read this at weddings when we really need to read it at divorce proceedings and during church conflict?

13:1 What tongue do angels speak? Do you remember “The Gong Show?”

13:2 Those are big “ifs!”

13:3 Is this an allusion to a story Jesus told about a rich young man (see Matt. 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, and Luke 18:18-30)?

13:4-7 Is there anything missing from this definition/list?  How about Jenny (Ali McGraw) telling Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” as written by Erich Segal in Love Story?

13:8 Of the three Greek words for love, which word is Paul using? So love is nit teleological?

13:9 Is all knowledge partial? Does this suggest an apophatic form of spirituality?

13:10 When will the complete come?

13:11 Is there a difference between being childish and childlike?

13:12 It is a little enigmatic, nevertheless, this is one of my favorite verses.  Is there any play on the idea of “icon” here?  What is the difference between a thing reflected and its reflection? The best mirrors in Paul’s day were probably made of highly polished metal. Glass mirrors as we know them did not exist.

13:13 Where did faith and hope come from?

LUKE 5:1-11

4:21 Who is speaking?  To whom is he speaking?  What is the setting?  What scripture?

4:22 All?  Is this hyperbole?  When was the last time you were amazed by anyone’s words?  I think it is interesting that the speaker is identified as Joseph’s son rather than Mary’s son.

4:23 Where did this proverb come from?  What were people saying about his time in Capernaum?

4:24 What do you think about this? I wonder if Jeremiah had any such notion.

4:25 What does this have to do with anything?

4:26 Where was Elijah from? Is there anything significant or special about Zarephath in Sidon?

4:27 So?

4:28 Why were they filled with rage?  I thought they were all amazed.  What happened between verse 22 and verse 28?

4:29 Why am I thinking about swine?

4:30 What does it mean that “he passed through the midst of them?” Was this a sign? A wonder? A miracle?

                                                                  

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

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.

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NEHEMIAH 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

8:1 Is “all” hyperbole? What people gathered?  How many Americans will think of Richard Nixon when they hear this (Or maybe you are too young to remember the Watergate Scandal)?  Geographically, where is the Water Gate?  What does it mean that Ezra was a scribe?  What is the book of the law of Moses?

8:2 Was Ezra a priest, a scribe, or both?   Or were there two people named Ezra?  What about people who could not hear with understanding?  How do we hear or not hear with understanding?  Is there anything special about the first day of the seventh month?

8:3 This was not a twenty-minute reading of Scripture!

8:5 Why did the people stand up when Ezra opened the book? Does your congregation stand up when scripture is read? Did Ezra open a book or a scroll?

8:6 What does it mean to bless the LORD?  I thought God usually blessed individuals and communities, not the other way around.  What is the meaning of first raising hands and then bowing heads? When is it appropriate to worship with faces to the ground?

8:8 Who was reading, Ezra, or others as well, since it says “they?”  Note that “they” were not only reading but also interpreting.  This is beginning to sound like the reading of Scripture and the exposition of a sermon. Why could the people not understand what was read without interpretation?

8:9 So Ezra was both a priest and a scribe!  Is this a display of civil religion? Who were the Levites, what did they teach, and how and when did they teach it?  Why would people weep when they hear the words of the law?

8:10 Who is speaking? Note the sending of portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. What days are not holy to the Lord?

PSALM 19

19:1 Are these spiritual heavens or astronomical heavens?  What is the difference?  What is a firmament? Why am I thinking of images from the Hubble Space Telescope? These words take on special meaning as I reflect on them the morning of the blood red super wolf moon lunar eclipse of 2019.

19:2 Is there any significance to the day being paired with speech and the night being paired with knowledge? What is knowledge? What is significant about speech?

19:3-4a What is this, a conundrum?

19:4b-6 How can we interpret pre-Copernican poetry in a post-Copernican world?

19:6 Technically, the sun does not rise. The earth rotates on its axis. It only appears that the sun rises.

19:7 Is this verse the reason why the Lectionary pairs this Psalm with the First Reading?

19:7-9 How many synonyms of Law can you identify in these verses?

19:10 If one is familiar only with a tradition of hellfire and damnation preaching; and an image of a vengeful, wrathful, punishing God; how would these verses sound? I find it interesting that honey is the color of gold.

19:11 What is the reward? Is being rewarded the reason Christians in the Reformed Tradition keep the law?

19:12 Is this a rhetorical question?

19:13 Keep jerks away from me and I will not be a jerk?

19:14 Pet Peeve Alert! Why do so many preachers employ this as an exercise in personal piety by praying this verse before preaching?  Does not a more communal Prayer for Illumination, prayed before the reading of scripture, serve better?

1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

12:12 How can we hear old, tired metaphors in new ways?

12:13 What does it mean to “drink” of one Spirit?  Is Paul already thinking of the Lord’s Supper or does this imagery lead him to later comment about it?

12:14 Is this what we usually think of when we think of church membership? How is membership in the body of Christ different from membership in secular organizations?

12:15 Do you have any problem thinking of body parts (members) talking? Note that the foot is not excluded by the hand but excludes itself.

12:16 Note that the ear is not excluded by the eye but excludes itself. This and the previous passage is not about the body turning away members but members not thinking they are worthy to be part of the body.

12:17 If the whole body were Elders or Ministers of the Word and Sacrament, we would be in deep doo-doo.

12:18 Is Paul talking about the human body, the body of Christ, or both?

12:19-20 How many members does the human body have?

12:21 This is a reversal of 12:15-16. Now Paul is talking about parts excluding other parts.

12:22 What, or who, are your weakest members and how are they indispensable?

12:23 Is Paul still talking about the human body or the body of Christ, or both?

12:24 Is this Paul’s application of Jesus’ classic reversals such as the first becoming last and the least becoming the greatest?

12:25 Can you think of what dissension is like in the human body or is Paul no longer talking about the human body? What might Paul have meant by “dissension?”

12:26 Is this what it is like in your congregation? Perhaps The United States Congress needs to hear this more than Sunday worshipers.

12:27 Didn’t we know this was what Paul was talking about all along?

12:28 Is this meant to be an all-inclusive list or in any way hierarchical based on the order of those things mentioned? Some are people or positions and others are gifts. Is Paul confusing categories?

12:29-30 Are these rhetorical questions?

12:31 What are the greater gifts (note that it is plural)?

LUKE 4:14-21

4:14 Was Jesus earlier not filled with the power of the Spirit? Where did Jesus return from?  Note that “a report” is singular, not plural.  I wonder what the report was.

4:15 Had Jesus not taught, or not taught in synagogues, or not taught in their synagogues before this time? Is “praised by everyone”  an a hyperbole?

4:16 Note that he had been brought up in Nazareth but not necessarily born there.

4:18-19 What if Jesus had been handed a different scroll?  Who is speaking within the context of Isaiah?

4:20-21 Why were the eyes of all fixed on him? Would Jesus not have spoken further if the eyes of all had not been fixed on him? What if people had ignored him after he read and went about their business?

4:21 What did Jesus mean by this?

                                                                  

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

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 62:1-5

62:1 Who is speaking? Who will not keep silent and will not rest?

62:2 What is the significance of a new name? What will this new name be?

62:3 What is a diadem?

62:4 Why, in the NRSV, is “Forsaken,” “Desolate,” “My Delight Is in Her,” and “Married” capitalized? What is the meaning of married land?  Does this metaphor justify this passage being paired with John 2:1-11?

62:5 Does this verse inform any New Testament metaphors?

PSALM 36:5-10

36:5 Where does the LORD’s love extend from? What is the difference, if any, between steadfast love and faithfulness, or is this just a poetic construction?

36:6 Is this just a poetic way of saying height and depth?  Do dogs and cats and other animals and pets need to be baptized or born again to be saved?

36:7 This is the second occurrence of “steadfast love” in this Reading. What sort of avian creature is God being likened to?

36:8 To what does “house” refer?

36:9 Could this verse be behind myths and legends about the fountain of youth?  How do we see light in light?  Do we see light, or what light illuminates? Is light a wave, a particle, or both?

36:10 This is the third occurrence of “steadfast love” in this Reading. Does God’s steadfast love does not extend to strangers?

1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-11

12:1 Are most Christians today informed or uninformed about spiritual gifts? The way I understand spiritual gifts has been greatly influenced by the Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers book Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type.

12:2 Is this a valid portrayal of paganism?  What is the difference between Paganism and Atheism, and between Paganism and Agnosticism? Is the neo-Paganism (Wicca and other earth/nature-based religions) of today anything like what Paul meant by Paganism?

12:3 Really?

12:4 I cannot help but think I thinking about Isabel Briggs Myers and the MBTI at this point? Might the Enneagram also fit in here? What “spiritual gift” inventories are you familiar with, have you used, and do you recommend?

12:5 How are gifts and services related?

12:6 What does Paul mean my “activities?”

12:4-6 Is there any scheme at work here: gifts-Spirit, services-Lord, activities-God?

12:7 Have you been given a manifestation of the Spirit?

12:8 What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?

12:9 Are some not given the gift of faith? I wonder what Paul meant by “healing”. Do you think Paul would have been thinking about anything like modern medicine, counseling, or Reiki?

12:10 How do we post-moderns understand the gift of miracles?

12:8-10 Was this list meant to be exhaustive or just suggestive?

12:11 Are some gifts given but never activated?

JOHN 2:1-11

2:1 How does this passage foreshadow the resurrection?  Why is the mother of Jesus not named?  Who do you think was being married?

2:2 All the disciples or just some of the disciples? Why would the disciples have been invited?

2:3 Is the mother of Jesus stating the obvious?  Why tell Jesus?  Did Jesus not already know?

2:4 Why does Jesus address his mother as “Woman?”  What “hour” is Jesus referring to?

2:5 What gave the mother of Jesus the right and authority to tell the servants what to do?  Maybe she was catering the reception? Is “servants” a play on words?  Do the disciples always do what Jesus tells them?

2:6 Is there any significance in the number of jars?  Does the number of jars matter?  What are the Jewish rites of purification? Does it matter that the jars hold between twenty or thirty gallons?

2:7 Does this assume that the jars were empty?  Does whether they were empty or full before Jesus said to fill them make a difference?  Is it significant that the jars were filled to the brim?

2:8 Did the servants draw out water or wine?  Who and what was the chief steward?

2:9 This reads as if the servants drew water out of the jars but that the water turned to wine as the servants were taking it to the steward. What do you think happened?

2:10 Why serve good wine first and then inferior wine later?

2:11 If this was the “first” of his signs, how many more signs were there and what were they?  Is there any significance to “Cana in Galilee” being mentioned here as well as in 2:1?  Was his glory hidden before this?  Did his disciples not believe in him before this?

2:1-11 This is one of my favorite passages in my favorite Gospel.  I think I could preach several sermons to unpack, interpret, and apply it, especially after a few glasses of wine.

                                                                  

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.