Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, March 7, 2010, the Third Sunday in Lent (Year C)

Posted each Thursday, Lectionary Ruminations focuses on the Scripture Readings, taken from the New Revised Standard Version, for the following Sunday per the Revised Common Lectionary. Comments and questions are intended to encourage reflection for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged. All lectionary links are to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website, but if you prefer another translation, feel free to use that instead. (Other references are linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)

Isaiah 55:1-9
vs. 1-2 I love the “waters”, “wine and milk” and “bread” imagery considering that, at the church where I serve, we will be celebrating the Eucharist.

vs. 2, 4 “Listen” and “”see”; two things we can all do more of when it comes to our relationship with God.

v. 6 Can the LORD be found today? Where?

Psalm 63:1-8
v. 1 Do our souls still thirst for God?

v. 4 In all sincerity, Evangelicals and Charismatics sometimes get this one right in so far as they lift up their hands and call on God’s Name. How about a little more embodied worship for the generally frozen chosen.

v. 5 I think the “rich feast” imagery becomes a little hypocritical and watered down when many will receive barely a crumb of bread and small sip of tepid grape juice at the Lord’s Table. Our liturgical actions often do not match our liturgical words.

v. 7 The “shadow of your wings” reminds me of last week’s Gospel reading.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13
vs. 1-5 Obvious references and allusions to the Exodus; so if it is so obvious, why do I state it?

vs. 3-4 When I hear “spiritual food” and “spiritual drink” I hearken back to the first two verses of the First Reading and verses 1 and 5 of the Psalm.

vs. 9 Is the “put Christ to the test” a reference or allusion to Massah and Meribah of Exodus 17:7?

v. 13 Shall we read this in light of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”?

There is a lot more in this reading to unpack. I have barely scratched the surface.

Luke 13:1-9
vs 2, 4 How can we read these verse verses this week without thinking of those who died in Haiti and Chili? Do these verses at this time invite us to wrestle with theodicy?

v. 6-9 The following is not original but I do not remember where I first heard it or read it. If we sometimes think preachers are serving up a little B.S. from the pulpit, perhaps it is because we need a little manure now and then to fertilize and nourish our faith into bearing fruit.
How do verses 6-9 relate to verses 1-6?

v. 7 How do we waist the soil God has planted us in?

ADDENDUM

This is my fourth Lectionary Ruminations contribution. My first was posted February 11, 2010 for the following Sunday, Transfiguration Sunday, February 14, 2010.

I and my blog Summit to Shore joined the Presbyterian Bloggers Community a year ago, in early February 2009, a month after I entered the blogosphere on January 5, 2009 with a post to my newly created blog, a post I entitled ex nihilo. The rest, as they say, is history. If you like what you read in Lectionary Ruminations, I invite you to visit my very eclectic blog and to post a comment.

Since joining the Presbyterian Bloggers Community I have enjoyed forming cyber friendships with some of the other members and occasionally have turned to them for help and advice about blogging in general and the Google Blogger platform in particular. I look forward to meeting some of the Presbyterian Blogger “brothers and sisters” at the upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly in Minneapolis.