Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, October 21, 2012, the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

38:1 What was the LORD doing in a whirlwind?

38:2 What examples are there today of words without knowledge?  What is the difference between a word with and without knowledge?

38:3 Whose masculinity was in question?  Is this going to be a trial or an interrogation?

38:4 And the answer is?

38:5-7 How would you classify these questions?

38:34-41 Who asks these kind of questions anymore?

104:1-9 Can you find all four classical elements—earth, air, water, and fire—in this reading? 

104:1-4 How can an urbanized and industrialized Christianity still find any meaning in this psalm?

104:24 There are fewer species on the earth than there once were.

104:35 Perhaps the earth, Gaia, will consume the sinners threatening death to the planet God has entrusted to our care.  Will any humans survive?

5:1 Who are our high priests today? In what ways are you like a high priest?

5:2 Who are the ignorant and wayward of our day?

5:4 I think anyone who desires to be a priest (of any faith tradition) without a little fear and trepidation about actually serving as one is headed for trouble.

5:5 Who said this to Christ, and when and where?

5:6 and where might this other place be?  Who was Melchizedek?  This has got to be one of the most bizarre, mysterious verses of Scripture.

5:7 what is the difference between a prayer and a supplication?

5:9 How was Jesus made perfect?  Was he not perfect before being made perfect?  What is the meaning of perfection?

5:10 In addition to Melchizedek and Jesus, who else might have been or is a high priest according to the order of Melchizdek?

10:35 could anyone else other than these two have asked this question?

10:36 Did the Teacher no know their hearts and minds?

10:37 Had their Teacher granted their request, would the brothers have been content with where Jesus sat them?

10:37 What cup?  John’s baptism?

10:40 For whom do you think it has been prepared?

10:42 To whom was Jesus referring?

10:43-44 The classic reversal.

10:45 Assuming Jesus s talking about himself, why did he always refer to himself as the Son of Man?  Does this verse rule out any but a ransom theory of the Atonement?

ADDENDUM
In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North ChurchQueens 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.

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