Lectionary Ruminations for for Sunday, August 22, 2010, the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.)


Jeremiah 1:4-10
v. 1 Note the first person “the word of the LORD came to me” rather than the third person “the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.”

v. 5 Must this verse enter into the culture wars debate between pro life and pro choice? Also, note that Jeremiah is not a prophet to Israel or Judea but rather “the nations”.

v. 6 Typical protest? Or feigned inadequacy?

v. 7 A divine endorsement to counter the protest, real or not. Very formulaic.

v. 9 Jeremiah gets the words of the LORD in his mouthg rather than being touched with a hot coal.

v. 10 The divine appointment

Psalm 71:1-6
A very personal, first person Psalm rather than a communal Psalm.

v. 6 Is this verse the reason the reason this Psalm is paired with the Jeremiah Reading?

Hebrews 12:18-29
v. 18 A contrast between Mt. Sinai and the New Jerusalem?

v. 24 What word did the blood of Abel speak?

v. 25 Who is the one who is speaking?

v. 26 A singular “heaven” rather than heavens, plural.

v. 27 Thanks for the explanation. Does it really help to clear up things?

v. 28 When was the last time you experienced “awe” in worship? I think “awe” is mure preferable than “fear” and reminds me of Otto’s “Mysterium Tremendum”.

v. 29 Does this verse point back to verse 18, and does verse foreshadow this verse?

Luke 13:10-17
This is the Reading that will probably be the basis for my sermon.
v. 11 What is the meaning of “appeared”?

v. 12 Note that Jesus saw her. She did not ask for intervention. What ailments “enslave” us today?

v. 13 Why do Presbyterians and most mainline Christians seem to only lay on hands at times of ordination? You Presbyterians out there, take a close look at the W-2.1005c in the Directory of Worship and the "Service for Wholeness" in the Book of Common Worship.

v. 14 Incredible insensitivity not to mention bad theology

v. 16 What, if any, is the significance that this woman is identified as a “daughter of Abraham”? What does it mean that “Satan bound” her?

v. 17 When and where might Jesus be putting us to shame today?