Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, December 30, 2012, the First Sunday after Christmas (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. 

FirstReading – 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26

2:18 What does it mean to minister before the LORD?  What is an ephod?

2:19 How old was Samuel that is robe was “little”?  What is the yearly sacrifice?

2:20 This is starting to sound sexist: Samuel’s father is named but not his mother!

2:26 How does one grow in favor with the people, let alone the LORD?  Does “stature” refer only to Samuel’s physical size?

Psalm- Psalm 148

148:1-2 These verses could easily be adapted for use as a Call to Worship.  Note, however, that it is the angels and the heavenly host, not humans, being called to worship.

148:3 The Hubble Telescope might offer us images of shining stars praising the LORD.

148:4 What waters are above the heavens?

148:5 Which creation myth does this allude to?

148:6 What comes to your mind when you think of sea monsters?

148:7 Shall we think of tornadoes and hurricanes as praising God even as they leave death and destruction behind?

148:11 After numerous physical features and living creatures are named, humans finally appear.

148:12 How does the presence of both “men” and “women” speak to patriarchy?  How does the presence of both “old” and “young” speak to a church that is graying and which has more or less failed to attract a younger generation?

148:13 What is the name of the Lord and how can n it be praised if it is not to be pronounced?

148:14 What is a horn and why would the LORD one for the people up?

SecondReading – Colossians 3:12-17

3:12 What does it mean to be God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved?  Is this about election and/or predestination?  Is there anything special about this list of five virtues?

3:13 This may be one of the hardest pieces of advice to the church follow.  If more church members were to put this into practice, the church would be much better off.

3:14 Love is a glue?  I am not a musician, so I would love some musical reader to explain perfect harmony.

3:15 Be thankful for what?

3:16 What is the word of Christ?  I thought Christ was the Word?  To teach and admonish one another means to be taught and admonished as well as to teach and admonish.  What is the difference among psalns, hymns, and spiritual songs?

3:17 Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus?

Gospel– Luke 2:41-52

2:41 Whose parents? I find it interesting that neither of the parents are named.

2:42 Is there anything special about being twelve years old?

2:43 How could Jesus’ parents not know that tier son stayed behind?

2:44 I wonder what other relatives were among the group.  Do you think that Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John were among them?

2:45 If you do the math, Jesus’ parents probably arrived back in Jerusalem approximately 36 hours after they left.

2:46 Were the three days after they originally left Jerusalem, or three days after their return?  Is this a literary prefiguration of and/or literary allusion to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection?

2:46 I wonder what questions Jesus was asking.  When was the last time a twelve year old asked you questions about your teaching?

2:47 His answers?  I thought Jesus was the one asking questions, not the one answering them.

2:48  How did Jesus treat his parents?  Was the mother of Jesus scolding him?

2:49 Is this another example of foreshadowing?  Do you think this is at all cryptic?  Was Jesus talking back to and sassing his mother?

2:50 Every twelve year old’s point of view!

2:51 Was Jesus not obedient before this time?  What do you treasure in your heart?  More specifically, what memories of your child or children, or any child, do you treasure in your heart?

2:52 Do you remember 1 Samuel 2:26?  Would we at all be inclined to juxtapose these two verses if they were not artificially paired by the Lectionary?  If Jesus was the Word made Flesh, how could Jesus increase in wisdom, let alone in divine favor?

ADDENDUM

How long after the fact do we include particular concerns in the Prayers of the People?  It will have been over two weeks, and the third Sunday by the time December 3o rolls around, since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut.  How many Churches will continue to include prayers for Newtown, or even those affected by hurricane Sandy, in their Sunday public prayers?  Here is a link to the first petition of my Prayers of the People the Sunday after Newtown.  The petition is original.

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens  www.northchurchqueens.org  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  but not here.  If you have been following these posts, please migrate over to my personal blog, Summit to Shore.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, December 23, 2012, the Fourth 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 - Micah 5:2-5a

5:2 What is the meaning of “Bethlehem”?  What is the significance, or insignificance, of Ehhpratah?  What sort of origin is from of old? When were ancient days?

5:3 Who is giving up?  Who is being given up?  Who is in labor?  Whose kindred shall return?

5:5a What does it mean to be “the one of peace”?

Canticle - Luke 1:46b-55

1:46b What is the first word in the Latin Vulgate translation of this verse?  How does one’s soul magnify the LORD?

1:48 What is the nature of this lowliness?  What does it mean to be called blessed?

1:50 What is the nature of this fear?

1:51 What does “in the thoughts of their hearts” mean?

1:54 What is the meaning of “in remembrance of his mercy”?

1:55 What promise is being referred to?

Second Reading - Hebrews 10:5-10

10:5 What came before this “consequently”?  Is it not essential to the argument?  Where did Christ say the following?  What body has been prepared?  What, or where, is the scroll of the book?

10:9 The “first” and the “second” refers to what?

10:10 Does this verse presume, or require, any specific theory of the atonement?

Gospel Luke 1:39-45

1:39 What days were those days?  Why did Mary go with haste?

1:40 Why did Mary not greet Zechariah?

1:41 What is the meaning of the child’s leaping?  Was it the child’s leaping that filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit?  If not, when was she filled?

1:44 How did Elizabeth know it was joy and not some other emotion?

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,   Summit to Shore but not here.  If you have been following these posts, please migrate over to my personal blog.

Here is a link to a prayer I wrote and used last Sunday, December 16, in in response to the violence at Newtown.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, December 16, 2012, the Third 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.

FirstReading Zephaniah 3:14-20

3:14 Why is Zion/Jerusalem referred to as a daughter?

3:15 Who made judgments against Israel?  Who were Israel’s enemies?

3:16 What day?  Who will say this to Israel?

3:17 I do not like militaristic imagery being applied to God.  This is what gave us the Crusades.

3:19 Are these oppressors the same as the enemies of verse 15?

3:20 We are they now if they are not home?

Canticle Isaiah 12:2-6

12:2 What is the relationship between trust and fear?

12:3 What, and where, are the wells of salvation?  Can water from the wells of salvation be bottled and sold?

12:4 What day?  How does one call on the name of the LORD when the LORD’s name is not to  be pronounced?  What are the deeds of the LORD?

12:6 Who is the Holy One of Israel?

Second Reading Philippians4:4-7

4:4 On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being lethargic and 10 being manic, how would you rate your community’s ability to rejoice?

4:5 How do you define “gentleness”?  Near is a relative term.  How near is the Lord?

4:6 This must be Bobby McFerrin’s favorite Bible verse.  What is the difference, if any, between prayer and supplication?

4:7 Are “hearts” and “minds” all inclusive?  What about body and soul?

Gospel Luke 3:7-18

3:7 What do you think was the size of the crowds?  How often do evangelists insult those they are preaching to?  What wrath is coming?

3:8 What fruits are worthy of repentance? What stones? 

3:9 Does this verse contribute to the imagery of Dante’s inferno?

3:11 This is not good news for the 1% Let’s tweet this verse to Republican members of the House of  Representatives!

3:12 Why “even”?  Other than John and Jesus, is anyone else in the New Testament ever referred to as a teacher?  I think it is significant the John is addressed the same way Jesus would be later addressed.

3:10-14 What do you make of the fact that tax collectors and soldiers are the only two groups or people mentioned?

3:15 What if John had been the Messiah?

3:16 How does water compare with fire and the Holy Spirit?  Might “untying the thong of a sandal” have been an idiomatic expression or colloquialism?

3:17 Oh no, more fire! 

3:18 I wonder what the other exhortations were?  Did the above really sound like good news to you?

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.

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,   Summit to Shore but not here.  If you have been following these posts, please migrate over to my personal blog.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, December 9, 2012, the Second 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 - Malachi 3:1-4

3:1 I would expect “Hear” rather than “see”.  Who is speaking?  Note that in the NRSV the first occurrence is “Lord” and the second occurrence is “LORD”.

3:2 Is this a rhetorical question?  What is a refiner’s fire like?  What is fuller’s soap?

3:3 who are the descendants of Levi?  How are gold and silver refined?

3:4 Why would an offering not be pleasing to the LORD?  How has the offering changed compared to times past?

Canticle - Luke 1:68-79

1:68 What is the first word in the Latin Vulgate?

1:69 Is there any savior that is not mighty?

1:70 Is there a grammer problem with a single “mouth” but plural “prophets”?

1:72 Had the Lord God of Israel forgotten the covenant?

1:76  What child?

1:78 What is “the dawn from on high”?

1:79 How does death cast a shadow?

Second Reading Philippians 1:3-11

1:3 when, and how often, does the author remember the Philippians?

1:5 How does one share in the gospel?

1:6 who began the work?

1:8 What is meant by “compassion of Jesus Christ”?

1:9 What knowledge?  What is full insight?

Gospel Luke 3:1-6

3:1 What year would this have been?  Why are all these people and their positions named?

3:2 Why was John in the wilderness?  Was this a prelude to desert spirituality?  What is so special about fierce landscapes?

3:3 Would this be both banks of the Jordan?  Is this the Jordan before it flows into the Sea of galilee or after it flows out from the Sea of Galilee toward the Dead Sea?

3:4 Where in Isaiah is the following written?  Did the prophecy dictate that John had to be in the wilderness, or did John’s being in the wilderness lend itself to this prophecy?  How does one make straight paths?

3:5 Why fill a valley?  Why make a mountain low.  In light of mountaintop removal mining, this verse raises images of bad stewardship of the earth.

3:6 Does “all flesh” include non-human flesh?

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,   Summit to Shore but not here.  If you have been following these posts, please migrate over to my personal blog.

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.