Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, April 29, 2012, the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year B)


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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore.

v. 5 What happened the day before?  Who are “they” of the “their”?

v. 6 Annas and Caiaphas I am familiar with.  Who are John and Alexander?

v. 7 What prisoners?  Did what?

vs. 8-10 Peter’s response might have been better received if he had not accused his interlocutors of crucifying Jesus.

v. 11 What is Peter quoting, or quoting from?

v. 12 This sounds like confessional language.

vs. 1-6 Is this Psalm too familiar for us to hear it anew?

v. 1 Note that in the NRSV, LORD is all uppercase.  So what?

v. 2 Have you ever lied down in a green pasture?

v. 4 What is the darkest valley you have ever walked through?  Are a rod and a staff two different things or is this an example of Hebraic poetic repetition?

v. 5 Have you ever eaten a meal in the presence of your enemies?  Has your head ever been anointed with oil?

v. 6 What and where is the house of the LORD?

v. 16 Who is “he”?  What  does it mean to lay down one’s life?

v. 17 Ouch!  Here is a verse for the 99% of Occupy Wall Street.

v. 18 Why the moniker “little childen”?

v. 19 Considering verse 16, it is beginning to sound like “truth” is being personified.

vs. 20-21 It sounds like one’s heart is the same as one inner voice or conscience.

vs.23-24 Where have I heard something like this before?

v. 11 And which Psalm are you know thinking of?

v. 12 Who is the hired hand?

v. 16 I love this verse and its invitation to think about Christian universalism.  What does it mean for there to be many folds in one flock?

v. 17 Does the Father NEED a reason to love the Son?

v. 18 What command?

ADDENDUM
In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, April 22, 2012, the Third Sunday of Easter (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore


v. 12 When Peter saw what?

v. 13 What about Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Zilpa and Bilha?

v. 15 Is this the only occurrence of “Author of life”?  What was witnessed, the killing or the raising?

v.16 Whose faith?  What is faith in a name?

v. 1 God of my ight?   What about God of my left?  What does the Psalmist mean by “You gave me room”?

v. 2 Are vain words the same as lies?

v. 4 Sin only when you are not disturbed?  Ponder what?

v. 7 Who are the they of “their”?

vs. 1-8 Why was this Psalm paired with the First Reading?  What is their theological or thematic unity?

v. 1 It is one thing to be called a child of God. It is another thing altogether actually to be one.

vs. 2-3 Whom will be revealed?  God?  Christ? Jesus?   Was God not already revealed in Jesus Christ?  Does John have a another, a second, revelation in mind?

v. 4 I though sin is separation from God.  John’s definition of sin seems more instrumental and less existential than I am comfortable with.

v. 7 What is the difference between being a child and a little child?  Does this verse, especially in light of verse 4, lead to a theology of works righteousness?

v. 36 Where was Jesus standing and among whom was he standing?  What is the meaning of “peace be with you” and does it mean anything more than usual when spoken by the resurrected Jesus?

v. 37 What is the difference between being “startled” and being ”terrified”?

v. 38 What doubts was Jesus referring to?

v.39 The resurrected Jesus may have had flesh and bones, but resurrected flesh and bones, and therefore something inherently different than our pre-resurrected flesh and bones.

v. 41 Do ghosts eat?

v. 45 How does Jesus open OUR minds to understand the scriptures?

v. 46 Where is it thusly written?

v. 48 Witnesses of what things?

ADDENDUM
In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.

Friday, April 06, 2012

Americans' Views on Evolution and Trust in Science


Have you seen this? (from Biologos



And then there is this from the American Sociological Association:
Study: Conservatives’ Trust in Science Has Fallen Dramatically Since Mid-1970s
Trust in Science Has Also Declined Among People Who Frequently Attend Church  
WASHINGTON, DC, March 29, 2012 — While trust in science remained stable among people who self-identified as moderates and liberals in the United States between 1974 and 2010, trust in science fell among self-identified conservatives by more than 25 percent during the same period, according to new research from Gordon Gauchat, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
“You can see this distrust in science among conservatives reflected in the current Republican primary campaign,” said Gauchat, whose study appears in the April issue of the American Sociological Review. “When people want to define themselves as conservatives relative to moderates and liberals, you often hear them raising questions about the validity of global warming and evolution and talking about how ‘intellectual elites’ and scientists don’t necessarily have the whole truth.”
Relying on data from the 1974-2010 waves of the nationally representative General Social Survey, the study found that people who self-identified as conservatives began the period with the highest trust in science, relative to self-identified moderates and liberals, and ended the period with the lowest.
In addition to examining how the relationship between political ideology and trust in science changed over almost 40 years, Gauchat also explored how other social and demographic characteristics—including frequency of church attendance—related to trust in science over that same period. Gauchat found that, while trust in science declined between 1974 and 2010 among those who frequently attended church, there was no statistically significant group-specific change in trust in science over that period among any of the other social or demographic factors he examined, including gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
“This study shows that the public trust in science has not declined since the mid-1970s except among self-identified conservatives and among those who frequently attend church,” Gauchat said. “It also provides evidence that, in the United States, there is a tension between religion and science in some contexts. This tension is evident in public controversies such as that over the teaching of evolution.”
As for why self-identified conservatives were much less likely to trust science in 2010 than they were in the mid-1970s, Gauchat offered several possibilities. One is the conservative movement itself.
“Over the last several decades, there’s been an effort among those who define themselves as conservatives to clearly identify what it means to be a conservative,” Gauchat said. “For whatever reason, this appears to involve opposing science and universities and what is perceived as the ‘liberal culture.’ So, self-identified conservatives seem to lump these groups together and rally around the notion that what makes ‘us’ conservatives is that we don’t agree with ‘them.’”
Another possibility, according to Gauchat, is the changing role of science in the United States. “In the past, the scientific community was viewed as concerned primarily with macro structural matters such as winning the space race,” Gauchat said. “Today, conservatives perceive the scientific community as more focused on regulatory matters such as stopping industry from producing too much carbon dioxide. Conservatives often oppose government regulation, and they increasingly perceive science as on the side of regulation, especially as scientific evidence is used more frequently in the work of government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and in public debates over issues such as climate change.”
The study also found that the declining trust in science among conservatives was not attributable to changes among less educated conservatives, but rather to rising distrust among better educated conservatives. “It is a significant finding and the opposite of what many might expect,” Gauchat said.
As for the study’s implications, Gauchat said it raises important questions about the future role of science in public policy. “In a political climate in which all sides do not share a basic trust in science, scientific evidence no longer is viewed as a politically neutral factor in judging whether a public policy is good or bad,” said Gauchat, who is also concerned that the increasingly politicized view of science could turn people away from careers in the field. “I think this would be very detrimental to an advanced economy where you need people with science and engineering backgrounds.”
###
About the American Sociological Association and the American Sociological Review
The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The American Sociological Review is the ASA’s flagship journal.
The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA’s Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer, at (202) 527-7885 or pubinfo@asanet.org.


Comments? 







Thursday, April 05, 2012

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, April 8, 2012, the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Day) (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/

v. 34 To whom is Peter speaking?

v. 35 What does Peter mean by “nation”?

v. 38 What is the difference between being anointed with the Holy Spirit and being anointed with power?

v. 39 Who are “they”?

v. 43 All the prophets? Really?

v. 1 By definition, does not “steadfast  love” endure “forever”?

v. 2 This reads like common liturgy, that is liturgy for use in common, or public, worship.

vs. 15b-16 Do you think that the Psalmist might actually be quoting a Psalm that never made it into the Psalter? What is so special about the “right hand” of the LORD?  Is this an example of a bias toward right-handedness?

v. 17 What are the ‘deeds” of the LORD?

v. 19 What, and where, are the gates of righteousness?

v. 20 What is “this”?

v. 22 What stone might the Psalmist had in mind?

v. 24 What day has the LORD made?

v. 2 How does one hold firmly to a message?

v. 3 How did Paul receive what he is now handing on, and when did he receive it?  Where does Paul begin the narrative? Did he leave anything out?

v.9 While Paul considers himself the least of the apostles, he still considers himself an apostle.

v. 1 Who removed the stone? How and when was it removed?

v. 2 Which disciple is “the one whom Jesus loved”?  Why did Mary say “we”? Why the shift from the singular to the plural?

v. 5 Why might the disciple not have gone in right away?

vs. 6-8  What do you make of Peter seeing, but the other disciple seeing and believing?

v. 9 How do you reconcile this verse with the preceding one?

v. 11 It seems the Mary is alone, so why the “we” back in verse 2?

v. 12 Would you recognize an angel if you saw one?

v. 13 Do you hear an echo here?  Now it is “I”, not “we”.

v. 14 If you saw Jesus, would you recognize him?

v. 15 I definitely hear an echo.

v. 16 Does it make any difference that at first Jesus addresses Mary as “Woman” but late addresses her by name?

v. 17 As if Mary could hold on to Jesus after the ascension?

v.18 I think this makes Mary the first “witness” of the resurrection.

Christ is risen!  He is rise, indeed!

ADDENDUM
In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.