Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, December 2, 2012, the First Sunday of Advent (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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. 

First Reading - Jeremiah33:14-16

33:14 The author of Jeremiah surely had Advent in mind when he wrote about the days that are surely coming.  What promise did the LORD make with Israel and Judah?

33:15 what is the difference between “in those days” and “at that time”?  Is this a mere literary device, or is something else going on here?  In the NRSV, why is “Branch” capitalized?  What is the difference between justice and righteousness?

33:16 Is salvation synonymous with safety?  What is the “it” that will be called “The LORD is our righteousness” and is there one word that is translated “The LORD is our righteousness”.

Psalm - Psalm 25:1-10

25:1 How do you lift up your soul to the LORD?

25:2 What is the difference, if any, between trust and faith?

25:3 Is the Psalmist appealing to the LORD’s sense of justice?  The LORD’s vanity?

25:4 Is this a prayer of supplication or surrender?

25:6 Can the LORD ever forget?

25:7 Apparently  the LORD can forget.

25:8 As if there were any doubt that the LORD is good and upright.

25:9 Does the LORD lead the humble, or do the humble follow?

25:10 How many paths of the LORD are there?  What is the difference between covenant and decrees?

Second Reading - 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

3:9 Who is the “you”?

3:10 Is it possible to pray a prayer that is not earnest?  What is lacking in your faith?  How 

can it be restored?

3:11 What are the possible meanings of “our way”?

3:12 In other words, be like us?

3:13 What is the grammatical relationship between “the coming of our Lord Jesus” and “with all his saints”?

Gospel - Luke 21:25-36

21:25 This sounds like reason enough for an interest in astronomy, but how do we interpret this pre-modern and pre-Copernican text in a postmodern, post-Copernican world?  How show residents of coastal New York and New Jersey interpret this passage in a post-Sandy state of disaster?

21:25 There will be no fear and foreboding if people in general, and politicians in particular, ignore or even deny the signs of global climate change.

21:27 Who ius the “Son of Man” and what kind of cloud will accompany his return?  Cirrus?  Cumulus? Mushroom?  How can we interpret this imagery when some want to take it literally, some want to take it metaphorically, and some discount it all together?

21:29 I have recently learned from a new awareness of fig trees, the ripe fruit will not last long before it falls off the branch and rots.

21:32 How did early Christians cope with disappointment when this prophecy was not (apparently) realized?

21:33 Heaven will pass away?

21:34 Dissipation?

21:36 How can one escape these 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.

I have been posting Lectionary Ruminations to Presbyterian Bloggers for nearly three years.  I will attempt to continue posting through the Scripture Readings for February 10, 2013, Transfiguration of the Lord.   I may continue posting Lectionary Ruminations to my personal blog,   Summitto Shore  but not here.  If you have been following these posts, please migrate over to my personal blog.

Lectionary Ruminations for for Sunday, November 25, 2012, Christ the King (Reign of Christ) Sunday (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. 

This Sunday, Christ the King 2012, marks the end of “Year B” in the three year lectionary cycle..  Next Sunday, The First Sunday of Advent 2012, will be the First Sunday of the “Year C” in the lectionary cycle.

Because this coming Thursday is Thanksgiving, I am posting the edition of Lectiuonary Ruminations on Wednesday rather than Thursday.

FirstReading - 2 Samuel 23:1-7

23:1 What is an oracle?  What is the significance of the fourfold designation, three of which relate to God?

23:2 Prior to any Christian doctrine of the Trinity, how did David understand and mean to use “Spirit”  Is David describing a continual state of affairs, or the situation this oracle only?

23:2-3 The Spirit speaks “through” David but God speaks “to” David.

23:4 Is David touting his own horn, or laying the foundation for how future monarchs will be judge?

23:4 From a later perspective, how did David’s “house” measure up?

Psalm - Psalm 132:1-12(13-18)

132:1 What hardships did David endure?

132:3-5 Did David keep his word?

132:6 Is there anything particularly significant about Ephrathah or the fields of Jaar?

132:7 Whose dwelling place and whose footstool.

132:8 This makes it sound like the LORD is a localized, place-significant LORD.

132:10 Must David and the Lord’s anointed be one and the same?

132:11 How many sons did David have?

132:12 This sounds conditional.

132:13 What is the meaning of the word “Zion” and where did the word originate?

132:14 Read this in light of verse 8.

132:15 What are its “provisions”?

132:17 What is a “horn”?  Is the horn the lamp?

132:18 This is quite a contrast between the anointed and his enemies.

Second Reading - Revelation 1:4b-8

1:4b a Classic Christianized Greco-Roman Salutation. Who, or what, are the seven spirits?

1:6 How are Christians a kingdom of priests?  What is the dirrefence between glory and dominion?

1:7 Is there any significance to the admonition being “look” rather than “listen”?  Why will all the tribes of the earth wail?

1:8 Is there any difference between Alpha and Omega in contrast to first and last?

Gospel - John 18:33-37

18:33 What headquarters; headquarters of what?

18:34 What sort of question is this?

18:35 Is Pilate’s first question a rhetorical one?  What has Jesus done?

18:36 This must have sounded rather cryptic and enigmatic.

18:37 Was Pilates deduction correct?  Did Pilate really say that Jesus is a king?  What is “the truth”?

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.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, November 18, 2012, the Fourth Sunday of Advent (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.





First Reading - 1 Samuel 1:4-20
1:4 Were Peninnah’s sons and daughters not also Elkanah’s sons and daughters?

1:5 Was Hannah related to Elkanah?

1:6 Who was Hannah’s rival?

1:8 How many wives did Elkanah have?  So much for family values!  If they were honest, how would most wives answer the Question Elkanah asked Hannah?

1:9 Who is “they” and why are “they” at Shiloh?

1:11 What is Hannah’s misery?

1:13 When you pray silently, do your lips move?

1:14 Read this in light of the First Christian Pentecost.

1:15 What does it mean to pour out one’s soul before the LORD?

1:17 How could Ely say this when he did not know Hannah’s petition?  Who or what gave Ely the right—the power—to answer prayer?

1:19 What do you know about Ramah?  Ya gotta love these Biblical euphemisms.

1:20 Who do we no longer give children names with personal, existential meaning?

 Canticle - 1 Samuel 2:1-10

1:1 Did Hannah pray, or did Hannah sing?  Who said , paraphrasing, “the person who sings their prayer prays twice”?

1:2 What, or who, do you think of when you hear the phrase “holy one”?

1:3-5 Is this the 99% speaking of the 1%, or maybe the 47% speaking of the 53%?

1:6-7 So what?

1:8 What does the second half of this verse have to do with the first half?

1:9 This verse seems to echo 1:4-5.

1:10 How does this verse relate to the verses preceding it?

 Second Reading - Hebrews 10:11-25

10:11 How are you like a priest?

10:12 What single sacrifice did Christ offer?

10:12-13 What source, if any, is being quoted?

10:15-18 Where did the Holy Spirit say this?

10:19 What sanctuary?  Does the blood of Jesus give us confidence or is it a ticket of entry?

10:20 What curtain might this be alluding to?  How was Christ’s flesh like a curtain?  Think about that one long and hard!

10:22 How can hearts be sprinkled clean from an evil conscience?  Note that while hearts are sprinkled clean, our bodies are washed.

10:23 What is the confession of our hope?  What is our hope?  How do we confess it?

10:25  to what does this “meeting toghether” refer?

 Gospel - Mark 13:1-8

13:1 Who came out of the temple and what had he been doing in there?  This sounds like something a tourist to New York says on their first visit.  Those of us who have lived in the Bifg Apple hardly notice.  Was this a particular disciple’s first visit to Jerusalem and the temple?

13:2 Is this prescient or a post AD 70 author reading back into a supposedly earlier event?

13:3 It was usually Peter, James and John who were privy to special moments with Jesus.  What is Andrew doing here?  Why two sets of brothers?

13:4 Think again about the question I raised in relation to 13:2.

13:6 To whom was Jesus, or the writer of the Gospel, referring?

13:8 Whew!  At least there is no mention of hurricanes or nor’easters.  After both within eight day, I was beginning to expect a plague of locusts.  What do birth pangs signify?  Is this describing the end of things as they are, or the birth of something new?

 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.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, November 11, 2012, the Thirty-Second 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. 

First Reading - Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

3:1 Naomi refers to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, as her daughter.

3:2 Boaz would be a kinsman by marriage, not blood.

3:3 Is there anything significant, or symbolic, about “the threshing floor”?

3:4 I think Ruth uncovered more than, or something else than, his feet.  Could this verse be employing a euphemism?

4:13 The LORD “made” her conceive?

4:16 The grandmother nurses her grandson?

4:17 Why would the women say “a son has been born to Naomi” when it was really her grandson, born to Ruth?  What is significant about this lineage?

Psalm - Psalm 127:1-5

127:1 Does the Psalmist have any particular house, or any particular city in mind?

127:2 This seems opposite of our workaholic culture

127:3 Does this verse justify pairing this Psalm with the reading from Ruth?

127:4-5 What do you make of this simile?

Second Reading - Hebrews 9:24-28

9:24 Is this a reference to the Jerusalem temple?

9:25 Does this verse have any bearing on our understanding of the Eucharist?

9:26 Since Priests do not sacrifice themselves; does this analogy break down in the final analysis?

9:26-27 Can you follow the argument in these two verses?

Gospel - Mark 12:38-44

12:38 Whom is Jesus teaching?  What do you know about the scribes?

12:40 How were scribes devouring widow’s  houses?

12:42 These are very common coins, still available from collectors.  With the rate of 

inflation, what would be their worth today?

12:44 The widow may have demonstrated faith, but was she practicing good stewardship?

ADDENDUM

This Sunday is Veterans Day as well as the Sunday after Election Day and the second Sunday after Sandy.  How do any of the above influence and inform preaching and liturgy?  I see nothing in the texts that lends itself to any of the above.  Maybe I will simply have to preach the Gospel the texts proclaim regardless of the civil calendar.

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.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, November 4, 2012, the Thirty-First 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. 

First Reading - Ruth 1:1-18

How shall we interpret this reading in light of the upcoming election and political debate about immigration?

1:1 What do you know about Moab?

1:2 Why so much information?

1:2-3 Why is all this background important?

1:11 What does Naomi mean?

1:14 To what do you attribute the difference between Orpah and Ruth?

1:16 How many times have you heard this verse quoted?

Psalm - Psalm 146:1-10

146:1-2 This is a statement of faith!

146:2-3 This is important to hear two days before our national elections.

146:5-9 These are important verses for us in the North East as we will be hearing them in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Second Reading - Hebrews 9:11-14

9:11 What are “the good things” and “the greater and perfect tent”?

9:12 What and where is “the Holy Place” and when did Christ enter it?

9:14 What is the difference, if any, between atonement and sanctification?

Gospel - Mark 12:28-34

12:28 Who are the “them” that were disputing?

12:29 The Shema!

12:31 The scribe asked for the greatest commandment.  Why does Jesus answer with two?

12:29-31 What about The Ten Commandments?

12:32-33 Read these verses in light of today’s Epistle!  This might offer an opportunity for a juxtaposition of the Epistle and Gospel for a theological dialectic.

12:34 How much farther does this scribe need to go to enter the kingdom of God?

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.

This past week, I was writing Lectionary Ruminations while hunkered down for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.  For some personal reflections, with photos, read some of my recent posts on Summit to Shore.