Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 1st Sunday in Lent (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.

DEUTERONOMY 26:1-11

26:1 How shall we define this land? Is it only the dirt, or also the biodiversity?

26:2 How do we move from “some” to 10%.  What is the meaning of first? What difference does it make for our Stewardship that we are commanded to take some of the “first fruit” rather than what happens to be left over to present to God? Where is the place of the LORD?

26:3 “Your God” seems odd.  I would expect “our God.” This sounds like a liturgical formula.

26:4 Since it is the contents of the basket that matter, I wonder what happens to the basket.

26:5 Please, please, please know the difference in meaning and pronunciation between Aramean and Armenian. Did this wandering Aramean have a name? Who is your daddy? Might this passage suggest that faith is a journey or lead into a reflection on the Lenten journey?

26:6 Why not the overt mention of slavery or servitude?

26:7 How do we move from “ancestor” in 26:5 to “ancestors” in this verse?

26:8 What is the meaning of “mighty hand” and “outstretched arm?”

26:9 What does it mean for a land to flow with milk and honey?

26:10 Apparently fish and fowl and other animals were not brought. This seems to be a vegan offering. Is this set down before the priest, by the priest, or is the priest not at all involved in the setting down?

26:11 Who are Levites and why are they and aliens singled out?  Note that the people are to celebrate “with all the bounty,” not celebrate the bounty.

PSALM 91:1-2, 9-16

91:1-2, 9-16 How many ways does this Psalm identify God?

91:1 Is God’s shadow the same as God’s shelter?  What does a shadow shelter from?

91:2 What is the difference, if any, between refuge and fortress?  Is this couplet nothing more than an example of Hebraic poetic construction?

91:9 This verse contains the second appearance of “Most High”.  What does this title of God communicate that other titles do not? What is a refuge? How can one dwell in a diety?

91:10 I hereby proclaim this the backpackers’ and campers’ verse!

91:11-12, 13 Can we read and interpret these versus without hearing them applied to Christ?

91:11 What is your angelology? Do you have a guardian angel?

91:12 What about this verse troubles me? I have lost track of how many times my guardian angel let me down by letting me stub my toe.

91:13-14 Note the switch from the third person to the first person between verses 13 and 14.

91:14 Who is now speaking? What is God’s name and how can we know it if we are not supposed to pronounce it?

91:15 Is God present only in times of trouble?

91:16 What is the meaning of “salvation” in the context of this verse?

ROMANS 10:8b-13

10:8b This is Paul writing, not John.  What does Paul mean by “word.”

10:9 Is Paul calling for both verbal assent as well as spiritual assent?  The church can judge the first but not the second.  This is perhaps one of the oldest, and simplest, statements of faith.  Note what is does not say.  How did this short Biblical confession become expanded into the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, not to mention the Westminster Confession? What is the relation between Jesus being Lord and God raising Jesus from the dead?

10:10 What is the difference between being justified and being saved?  Did Paul really mean to relegate justification to the affections and salvation to confession?

10:11 What Scripture is Paul quoting?

10:12 What is the meaning of “Greek?” I wonder how anti-Semites manage to misinterpret this verse.

10:13 What does “call on the name of the Lord” mean and what does it sound like?  How can we interpret this without wandering into debate between inclusive universalism and exclusive particularism?  What are the implications for evangelism on the one hand and interreligious dialogue on the other? What is the difference between calling on the LORD God” and calling on the “Lord Jesus?”

LUKE 4:1-13

4:1-13 Do not forget to look at the parallels, beginning at Matthew 4:1 and Mark 1:12.

4:1 What does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit?  Can one be led by the Spirit if one is not full of the Spirit? Is wilderness simply a geographical reference or is it also symbolic? I referred you last week, and I will refer you again to Belden Lane’s book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.

4:2 What is the symbolic significance of forty?  What does it allude to? Who was there counting?  What is your demonology?  What would the physical, psychological, and spiritual state of anyone who had fasted forty days be like?

4:3 “If?”

4:4 Where is this written?

4:5 Is this physically possible in a round world?

4:6 Had any authority been given to the Devil, or is the Devil lying?

4:7 Why does the Devil want to be worshiped?

4:8 Where is this written?

4:9 “If?” Another if? It sounds as though the Devil is taunting or even attempting to sow seeds of doubt.

4:10-11 Where is this written? Note that even the Devil can quote Scripture! Look above at Psalm 91:11-12.

4:12 Where is this said?

4:13 What would be an opportune time?  This verse always reminds me of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel Last Temptation of Christ.  I think the movie adaptation is better than the book, but nevertheless, what does it mean for our faith that Jesus was tempted at least three times and perhaps more, even later?

                                                                  

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 Transfiguration of the Lord (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.

EXODUS 34:29-35 1:20-33

34:29-35 This reading was probably paired with the Gospel Reading because they both mention mountains, shining faces, and narrate a theophany.  What is the difference between reading the Luke passage through the lens of Exodus and reading the Exodus passage through the lens of Luke? To help you reflect of theophanies on mountains and in deserts, especially on mountains in the desert, I recommend Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.

34:29 If you had looked at the face of Moses, what would you have seen?  When was the last time anyone left a worship service with a shining face?  Do you know anyone whose seems to beam, not because they use make-up or cleansing cream, but because they seem to radiate a spiritual energy from within? Is anybody else thinking about auras?

34:30 What about the shining face of Moses scared Aaron and the people?

34:31 Why would Moses calling to the people help them overcome their fear?

34:32 What is the meaning of “in commandment?”

34:33 Why did Moses put a veil on his face?  Is there any value in drawing a possible metaphorical connection between the veil over Moses’ face and the curtain in the Temple?  Those familiar with Celtic Christianity might wonder if the veil over Moses face was made of gossamer.

34:34 Why would Moses take off the veil when speaking with God?

34:35 Could the Israelites see the shining face of Moses through the veil that he wore?

PSALM 99

99:1-9 How does this Psalm help interpret and shed light (pun intended) on both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading?

99:1 Why would people tremble just because the LORD is king?  Why would the earth quake just because the LORD sits enthroned upon the cherubim?  When was the last time you trembled in the presence of the LORD? What are cherubim and where might we find them?  Should we call Indiana Jones for help with this one?

99:2 Is the use of great and exalted and example of Hebrew poetic parallelism?

99:3 What is great and awesome about the LORD’s name?  Other than the LORD’s name, can you think of anything great and awesome? How can anyone praise the LORD’s great and awesome name when the LORD’s name is not to be pronounced?

99:4 What sort of justice does this Mighty King love? What is meant by equity?

99:5 What and where is the LORD’s footstool? “Holy is He!” is beginning to sound like a refrain.

99:6 What does it mean to cry to the Lord?

99:7 What did the LORD’s voice sound like?  Is there a difference between decrees and statutes or is this more poetic parallelism?

99:8 Why the past tense?  Note that verses 1-7 and 9 speak of the LORD in the third person while this verse addresses the Lord in the second person.  Why the change?  Is it significant? How can the LORD be both a forgiving God and an avenging God?

99:9 Where is the LORD’s mountain and does the mention of a mountain justify the lectionary assigning this Psalm for use on The Transfiguration of the Lord?  Is the psalmist suggesting that the LORD can be worshiped only at God’s holy mountain and nowhere else?

2 CORINTHIANS 3:12-4:2

3:12 What such hope? Does the church ever act anymore with boldness?

3:13 Moses did not act with boldness? Glory was being set aside?  Is Paul criticizing Moses? Does Paul’s use of Moses’s veil as a metaphor justify assigning this passage to The Transfiguration of the Lord?

3:14 Whose minds were hardened?  Are our minds ever hardened, and if so, how?

3:14-15 Be careful of possible anti-Semitic interpretation of these verses.  Christians as well as Jews often have hardened minds and can read the Hebrew Scriptures through a metaphorical veil which hides and distorts.

3:16 How does turning to the Lord remove the veil?

3:17 How do we interpret this verse considering the Doctrine of the Trinity? In this context, what is the meaning of freedom?

3:18 Even though our veil has been removed, we still do not look at the LORD directly, but through a mirror?  I might prefer to look at God directly, even if through a veil, than without a veil but at a reflection.  To what does “the same image” refer?  Is it the image of God in which humans were created? Is it the image of Christ?  Is it the image of Moses reflecting the image of God?

4:1 Who are “we?” What ministry?

4:2 What shameful things do we hide that we should renounce? Do Christians ever practice cunning to grow churches and ministries?

LUKE 9:28-36 (37-43)

9:28-36 You may want to check the parallels in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8. Why is there no Transfiguration in John? Why does the Lectionary assign a Gospel account of the Transfiguration the Sunday before the beginning of Lent every year in the three year cycle?

9:28 About eight days after what sayings? Does “about” suggest poor memories or an estimate? Is there any significance to the number eight? What mountain?  Why go up a mountain to pray? You too may want to read Belden C. Lane’s The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality    Can Jesus not pray anywhere?  Note that once again Jesus takes with him the elite three – Peter, James, and John – a counter balance to the REALLY big three – Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

9:29 Is this perhaps a midrash on Exodus 34:29-35? Why didn’t Moses’ clothes become dazzling white? Does your appearance ever change when you pray?
9:30 What is significant about Moses and Elijah?  Why these two men? Whom else might we have expected to be talking with Jesus?

9:31 What does appearing in glory look like. Have you ever seen anyone appear in glory? What departure? Could Peter, James and John hear the conversation?

9:32 Is this a veiled reference (pun intended) to someone’s future falling asleep in the Garden while Jesus prayed? Note that Peter is again mentioned but that James and John are relegated or demoted to Peter’s companions.

9:33 Who were leaving? What is the meaning of “not knowing what he said?”  How often do we, like Peter, stick our foot in our mouth, not knowing what we have said?

9:34 Did they enter the cloud or did the cloud overtake them? Why would entering a cloud (or being overtaken by a cloud) induce feelings of terror?

9:35 Whose voice?  Where and when have we heard this, or something like this, before?

9:36 Why did they keep silent?  When were “those days?”

(9:37-43) How do these verses add to, or detract from, the Reading’s focus on The Transfiguration?  If we choose to include these optional verses (I will probably not include them) then we might want to point out that while Peter wants to stay on the mountain to build a museum, Jesus descends back into the trenches and gets back to the business of exorcizing demons and healing the sick. In that regard, who are the faithless and perverse generation?

(9:37) How long had they been on the mountain? How great of a crowd?

(9:38) Does this verse echo 9:35?

(9:39) What does this sound like?

(9:40) Were the disciples that powerless?

(9:41) What is the meaning of this?

(9:42) Have you ever rebuked an unclean spirit? Are there such things as clean spirits?

(9:43) What does it mean to be astounded?  Why were they astounded at the greatness of God rather than the greatness of Jesus? When was the last time you were astounded by God?

                                                                  

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 7th 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.

GENESIS 45:3-11, 15

45:3 Why did Joseph have to Identify himself to his brothers? Why were his brothers dismayed? What do people in the pews need to know about the narrative preceding this passage in order to understand it, make sense of it, and put it into context?

45:4 There are interesting family systems dynamics at work here.

45:5 Do you think Joseph’s brothers were truly angry with themselves?

45:6 How did Joseph know about the future?

45:7 What is the difference between a remnant and many survivors?

45:8 Does Joseph let his brothers off the hook?

45:9 Is Joseph bragging?

45:10 Why would Joseph want his family near him? Where was the land of Goshen?

45:11 Note that Joseph refers to “your” household, not “our” household.

45:15 Would Joseph’s brothers not talk with him until after he kissed them and wept upon them?

PSALM 37:1-11, 39-40

37:1 We might fret because of the wicked, but are we truly envious of wrongdoers?

37:2 How soon does grass fade? Consider Isaiah 40:7-8 as well as 1 Peter 1:24.

37:3 Is this a carrot or a stick? Does God reward doing good?

37:4 Do you take delight in the LORD? What are the desires of your heart?

37:5 Have you committed your way to the LORD?

37:6 What does it mean to be vindicated? Do you need to be vindicated?

37:7 Does being still before the LORD mean anything like contemplative prayer. This verse seems to echo 37:1.

37:8 This is the third occurrence of “fret!” See 37:1 and 37: 7.

37:9 What does it mean to be cut off?

37:10 How does feed into apocalyptic theology and eschatology?

37:11 A 99% verse! See Matthew 5:5.

37:39 Where else might salvation come from? Where else do people look toward for salvation?

37:40 How does one take refuge in the LORD?

1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-38, 42-50

15:35 You and I might be this “someone!”

15:36 Why “Fool!?”

15:37 Sowing be the best metaphor if dead bodies were not traditionally buried in the ground?

15:38 I wonder how much 1 Corinthians 12:4-31 informs Paul’s thinking here.

15:42 But in nature, what is sown is not imperishable.

15:43 Is this physical life nothing but dishonor and weakness? How does Paul know about what he is agreeing for?

15:44 What is the distinction between physical and spiritual? What is the difference between a physical body and a spiritual body?

15:45 Where is this written?

15:46 Why must the physical precede the spiritual?

15:47 Modern cosmology would say all life is stardust!

15:48 What point is Paul making here? I s Paul discounting the incarnation?

15:49 What is the etymology and meaning of “image?” Can, and do, Christians bear two images?

15:50 I think Paul is now making more sense. If this is true, why do some go to great lengths to make dead bodies look like they are still alive and just sleeping?

LUKE 6:27-38

6:27 Are you listening? What sort of enemies was Jesus talking about?

6:28 What is the relationship between blessing and prayer?

6:29 What does being struck on the cheek symbolize? What is the difference between a coat and shirt?

6:30 Has Christianity historically encouraged begging like other religions have?

6:31 Sound advice. Who loves you and whom do you love?

6:32 Who loves you and whom do you love?

6:33 Who does good to you and to whom do you do good?

6:34 What has been the historically Christian attitude toward lending and the charging of interest?

6:35 A recap! Are Christians to do these things so that they will be rewarded?

6:36 What does it mean to be merciful?

6:37 It seems the church has often been quicker to judge and condemn than to forgive.

6:38 What is a “measure?”

                                                                  

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 6th 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 17:5-10

17:5 The LORD curses? Who trusts in mere mortals?

17:6 The cursed may be like shrubs in the parched desert but they still live.

17:7 Is there a difference between trusting in the LORD and the LORD being one’s trust?

17:8 What do you know about riparian zones? I am also thinking of several passages that speak of streams, water, living water, and wells.
17:9 Is the human heart depraved?

17:10 Does the LORD also search the mind and test the heart? Does the LORD know our heart and mind better than we ourselves know them?

PSALM 1

1:1 What advice do the wicked give? Are “the wicked,” “sinners,” and “scoffers” synonyms?

1:2 What does it mean to meditate on the law of the LORD?

1:3 See Jeremiah 17:8. Does this verse justify Psalm 1 being chosen for today’s Lectionary?

1:4 What is chaff?

1:5 It seems that “the wicked” and “sinners” are indeed synonyms.

1:6 Why am I thinking of Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken? Which way have you chosen to follow?

1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-20

15:12 Who were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? The resurrection is a central doctrine of the Christian faith.

15:13 I can find no fault with Paul’s logic.

15:14 Again, I can find no fault with Paul’s logic. On the other hand, I think we need to reflect on what we mean by “resurrection from the dead.”

15:15 Why is Paul engaging in this mental exercise?

15:16 Does this say anything different than 15:13?

15:17 Does this say anything different than 15:14? Is Paul repeating himself?

15:18 Well, yea!

15:19 Even though Christianity looks beyond this life and this world, does that mean we abandon this world and life?

15:20 Could Paul claim this if it had not been for his Damascus Road experience and encounter with the risen Christ? What is a first fruit.

LUKE 6:17-26

6:17 Why the distinction between “a great crowd of his disciple”: and “ great multitude of people?” What might the numbers have been? Is there any significance to the geographical identifiers?

6:18 How are hearing and being healed related? Is being troubled with unclean spirits different than being diseased?

6:19 What sort of power came out from Jesus? Is there a difference between touching Jesus and being touched by Jesus?

6:20 What does it mean to be blessed?

6:21 Are hunger and weeping related?

6:22 Was Jesus speaking to the multitude of people, to the great crowd of his disciples, or both?

6:23 What day?

6:24 This is a 99% verse!

6:25 The antithesis of 6:21

6:26 The antithesis of 6:22-23

                                                                  

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.