Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, September 23, 2012, the Twenty-Fifth 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 - Proverbs 31:10-31

v. 10-31 Is this an example of a sexist Lectionary, not necessarily because the reading itself is sexist, but because there is no “capable husband” text to balance it?   If Jesus had a wife, would she have been the sort of wife described in this Reading?

v. 10 On the other hand, comparing a woman to a physical item could be seen as sexist, suggesting that a capable wife is a possession, mere “arm candy”, like a “trophy wife”.

v. 18 Is there a double meaning here?

v. 26 At least this verse does not seem sexist.

v. 28 How would a wife who is childless, perhaps not by choice, hear this verse?

Psalm - Psalm 1

v. 1 Where do scoffers sit?

v. 2 What does it mean to meditate on God’s law?

v. 3 To borrow a phrase going around facebook, following the law of the LORD bears fruits, not nuts.

v. 4 What process is being alluded to here?

v. 6 Is thee a difference between the LORD watching over the way of the righteous and watching over the righteous?  Note that it is not the wicked who perish but the way of the wicked.

Second Reading - James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

v. 13 Socrates, Plato and Aristotle might agree.

v. 14 what is the relation between wisdom and truth?

v. 15 There seems to be at least two types of wisdom, earthly and spiritual.

v. 18 In or out of context, this is one of my favorite verses and one we should all keep in mind.  Why does the United States have a Defense Department (formerly the Ward Department) but has never had a Peace Department.  We have Military Academies but no nationally funded Peace Academy.

v. 1 Is this a naïve understanding of conflict?  How much of our conflict is based on psychological projection?

v. 2 I can not disagree.

v. 3 This is sounding like an indictment of the consumerist economy and marketing that appeals to selfish emotions.  How would this verse play out on Mad Men?

v. 7 I can do without devil language.

v. 8 This makes sense to me and based on personal experience seems somewhat true.

Gospel - Mark 9:30-37

v. 30 Who are “they” and where was “there”?  Why did he not want anyone to know it?

v. 31 Do you think that when Jesus teaches his disciples he is teaching the church, and that when he speaks to the crowd, he is speaking to the wider culture?  Why is Jesus portrayed as using “Son of Man” imagery and no other imagery?

v. 32 How often to people in the pews or in the classroom not understand the preacher/teacher but are afraid to ask a question?

v. 32 What do you know about Capernaum?  Whose house might he have been in?  Disciple’s arguing?

v. 34 Is Jesus not the greatest?  Oh, right, he is the least!

v. 35 Why did Jesus sit them down?

v. 36 Where did the little child come from?

v. 37 So welcoming a little child and holding him or her in my arms is akin to welcoming Jesus and thus God?  I can live with that.

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, September 16, 2012, the Twenty-Fourth 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,  http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/.

First Reading -Proverbs 1:20-33

v. 20 This passage seems to personify wisdom in the feminine, so why not use the original Greek “Sophia” rather than the English translation “Wisdom”?  This verse also seems to display the Hebraic poetic device of repetition.

v. 22 Does this verse contrast the simple with the wise?  Are the simple the same as scoffers and fools?

v. 23 Who is speaking?  Can all thoughts be expressed in words, or must some thoughts be expressed through non-lingual representative arts?  Does DaVinci’s Last Supper or Dali’s Last Supper say something about the Last Supper that words can not express?

v. 29 Is knowledge the same as the fear of the LORD?  Is knowledge the same as wisdom?

Psalm - Psalm 19:1-14

v. 1 The Astronomer’s Bible/Gospel!  What is a firmament?

v. 2. What is the relationship between speech and knowledge?

vs. 3-4 How does a voice go out through all the earth if it is not heard?

vs. 4b-6 How do you interpret and apply a passage that assumes a pre-Copernican three-tiered universe in a post-Copernican world?

v. 7 How did we transition from the heavens to the law?

v. 10 At the close of the market on Tuesday, gold was selling for $1,728.7/ounce.

v. 14 One of my personal pet peeves is that this verse should not be used as a public prayer by a preacher before the preaching of a sermon, ESPECIALLY after a Prayer of Illumination has already been prayed before the reading of Scripture.

Second Reading - James 3:1-12

v 1. Using PC(USA) nomenclature, is James referring to “Teaching” Elders in particular, Sunday School Teachers, or teachers of faith in general?

v. 2 How true!   Who, but Jesus, is perfect?

v. 3 What is the equivalent of a verbal bridle?

v. 4 Ahhhhhh, sometimes the will of the pilot is overcome by the wind, lack of piloting skill, poor equipment, etc.  I wish I could always guide my C&C 24 wherever I want it to go, but that is not always the case.

v. 5a The tongue not only boasts of great exploits but can take us places we never wished to go. 

v. 5b-6a I doubt the author had in minds the tongues of fire associated with Pentecost.

v. 6b But the same member that curses can also bless.  The same tongue that expounds hate can also verbalize love.

v. 7 I think this is not true.

v. 8 What do you think?

vs. 9-10 See my rumination for verse 6b.

v. 11 Not at the same time, but perhaps alternately.

v. 12 True, true, but what about reverse osmosis and distillation?

vs. 1-12 In the age of social media and the internet, is the tongue really the problem, or is it the mind that tells the tongue what to say and the fingers to type?

Gospel - Mark 8:27-38

v. 27 Was Caesarea a village and Philippi a village?  Like Minneapolis / St. Paul?  Who do people in our culture say that Jesus is?

v. 29 This is the question Jesus asks each and every one of us.  Who do you say Jesus is?  Does your answer depend on who is asking the question?

v. 30 Why the order not to tell anyone about him?  What do you know about “the Messianic Secret”?

v. 31 John the Baptist,  Elijah, one of the prophets, one Messiah, the Son of Man?  So many identities, titles, and names!  Why did Jesus refer to himself as the Son of Man?

v. 32 Why did Peter rebuke Jesus?

v. 33 Why did Jesus call Peter “Satan”?

v. 34 What does it mean to take up one’s cross?  What is your cross?

v. 35 This reads like a conundrum.

v. 36 Does this matter at all to a generation that is embracing YOLO?

v. 38 How was Jesus’ generation adulterous and sinful?

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, September 9, 2012, the Twenty-Third 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 - Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9,22-23

v. 1 What is the history and meaning of your name?  What name is above every other name?  What is “favor”?

v. 2 Is this ALL they have in common?

v. 8 Let the politicians beware.

vs. 22-23 This reads like a passage for the 99%

Psalm - Psalm 125:1-5

v. 1 How do you define trust?

v. 2 What is it about being surrounded by mountains that is good news?

v. 3 What is a scepter and what does it symbolize?

vs. 3-4 Is there a theology of reward and punishment informing this Psalm?

Second Reading - James 2:1-10 (11-13)14-17

v. 1 What “acts of favoritism” are being referred to?

v. 2-4 Have you ever witnessed any such thing?

v. 5-7 Some more Scripture for the 99%.

v. 8 Why is this law referred to as “the royal law”?

v. 11 This verse seems to me to get it backwards.

v. 12 What is “law of liberty”?

v. 14 Can faith save YOU?

v. 17 Faith, without works, might be dead.  But what are works without faith?

Gospel - Mark 7:24-37

v. 24 From where?  What do you know about Tyre?  Why did Jesus not want anyone to know he was in the house?

v. 25 How do post-modern, scientifically informed people of faith handle passages, like this one, that speak of “unclean spirits”?

v. 26 What difference does it make that she was a Gentile?  Of Syrophoenician origin?

v. 27 How do you react to the fact that Jesus said this?

v. 29 Why was her response rewarded?

v. 30 How could Jesus heal someone without that person even being present for laying on of hands?

v. 31 What do you know of Sidon?

v. 32 What sort of impediment do you imagine?

v. 33 Why in private?  Why put fingers in ears and touch tongues instead of laying on hands?

v. 34 What language is “Ephphatha”?  Where else in Scripture do we hear a world like this?

v. 36 What do you know about “the Messianic secret”?

v. 37 When was the last time you, or members of the congregation you are associated with, were astounded?

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, September 2, 2012, the Twenty-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 - Song of Solomon 2:8-13

v. 8 Who leaps over mountains?

v. 9 Time for a stag party?  Whose wall?

v. 11 What is so special about the springtime?

v. 12 Whose land?

v. 13 I think we have a refrain.

Psalm - Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9

v. 1 What is a goodly theme?  Why the king?   Sometimes it is easier to speak than write.

v. 2 Who is speaking to the king?

v. 6 What is the significance and symbolism of the royal scepter?

v. 7 What is the oil of gladness?

v. 9 What is a lady of honor?

Second Reading - James 1:17-27

v. 17 I am beginning to appreciate Luther wanting to omit James from the canon.

v. 18 Who is “he”?

v. 19 Does the use of “beloved” in the NRSV justify pairing this reading with the First Reading?

v. 21 How do you understand the reference to “the implanted word”?

v. 22 While we can “hear” but never “do”, can we “do” without, in some sense, first, or at the same time, “hearing”?

v. 25 How does “the perfect law” function like a mirror?

v. 26 Does this verse invite a comparison of religion to spirituality?

v. 27 Is it possible to keep oneself unstained by the world without withdrawing from the world?

Gospel - Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

v. 1 If they came from Jerusalem, where did they come to?

v. 2 What does it mean for something to be defiled?

v. 3-4 In the NRSV, these two verses are in parenthesis.  Why?

v. 5 Was this an open ended question or one designed to trip up Jesus?

v. 6 Was Jesus over reacting?

v. 7 Is any worship ever in vain?    Are not all doctrines nothing but human precepts?

v. 8 Which commandment?

vs. 5-11 These verses could raise an interesting dialectic between our understandings of and reliance on scripture and tradition.  While Protestants might point to the Roman Catholic reliance on tradition as something alien to Protestantism, as I protestant, I readily confess that Protestant’s appeal to a tradition, but a tradition that is not canonized.

v. 14 What is the difference between listening and understanding?

v. 15 A young child recently asked me if it were a sin to poop?  I did not appeal to this text when I answered “no.”

vs. 21-22 What is the difference between intentions and actions?  Another interesting dialect might be a comparison between ontological and teleological ethics.  Does folly really equal murder in terms of evil intentions?

ADENDUM

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, August 26, 2012, the Twenty-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 - 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43

v. 1 I wish someone would soon discover or disclose the whereabouts of the ark.

v. 6 This makes it sound like the cherubim were separate from the ark, but I thought they were part of its lid.

v. 10 Why are clouds associated with God’s glory?”  Maybe we ought to install fog generators in sanctuaries.

vs. 1,6,10-11 I probably will chose not to read and preach on these verses

v. 22 Was Solomon praying in the orans position?

v. 25 So this is a conditional covenant!

v. 27 Is this not still a theological conundrum, immanence vs. transcendence?

v. 30 Pray “toward” this place?  This sounds like Moslems facing Mecca to pray.  Which way do you face when you pray?  East, toward the sunrise?  Toward Jerusalem?  Perhaps it does not matter to you.

vs. 41-43 Do you discern any hint of universalism in these verses?

Psalm - Psalm 84:1-12

v. 1 Does this psalm praise God or God’s house?  Is there a difference?  Does it matter?

v. 2 I will trade you a Christian Cloister Walk for a Jewish Court.  What do you make of “heart and flesh”?

v. 3 I know of a church where a b-b gun or 22 caliber rifle was used to shoot and kill a bird that had found its way into the sanctuary and at least one person could never worship there again knowing that.

v. 4 In our 2012 context, what does it mean to “live” in God’s house?  When I hear people say that someone “lives at the church” it is usually meant in a disparaging way.

v. 6 What do you know about the valley of Baca?

v. 8 This could be used as a refrain to almost any prayer.

v. 9 What shield?

v. 10 I would rather be a servant in heaven than a ruler in hell.

v. 11 How does this verse illuminate verse nine?  How is God a sun?  How is God a shield?

Second Reading - Ephesians 6:10-20

v. 10 Why “finally”?  What has come before this?

v. 11 How does this verse illuminate Psalm 84:9 and 11?  Could this imagery be too militaristic for some.  How do you do deal with the assumption that we are engaged in a struggle with the devil?

v. 12 There goes any justification for the Crusades.  What is your take on Spiritual warfare?  You might find some guidance from the writings of Walter Wink, or even Carl Jung.

v. 13 What is the whole armor of God?  Where can I buy it?  Does it come with a money back guarantee?

vs. 14-17 Of all the armor mentioned, the sword is the only offensive weapon.  All the rest is defensive.

v. 18 What other way is there to pray?

v. 19 do you pray for the preacher when you are in the pews?  Do the people in the pews pray for you when you preach?  What is the mystery of the Gospel and why is it a “mystery”?

v. 19 Have you ever thought of yourself as an ambassador?

Gospel - John 6:56-69

v. 56 Are you and the people you teach and/or preach for getting tired of all this eating flesh and drinking blood stuff, or do you and they find it fascinating?  Do not forget the etymological meaning of “ruminations”?

v. 57 In our 2012 context, imagine Jesus standing before his followers and saying “Eat me!”

v. 59 Does the original context/setting at all matter?  What if Jesus had said these things in the Athens Agora?  Standing outside Le Pain Quotidian, Au Ban Pain, or Outback Steak House?

v. 60 Many, but not all?  Is this still not another theological conundrum (Sorry, I like that word.  See my rumination on 1 Kings 8:27)?

v. 61 Struggling with new ideas and wrestling with tough concepts is not the same as complaining, or is that what it usually boils down to in most religious settings?  Maybe we ought and need to be offended more often by the raw Gospel.

v. 62 Prescient?  Reading something back into the text?

v. 63 Is Jesus backpedaling?  Is he flesh or spirit?  Is he the Word incarnate or the Word spiritualized?

v. 64 OK, I know who betrayed Jesus.  But who were the ones (yes, it is plural) that did not believe?

v. 65 So no one can come to Jesus on their own?

v. 66 Can we assume that the ones who turned back are not mentioned?  No longer mentioned?  Not among “the twelve”?

v. 67 This is not quite a request for the strongest affirmation of faith, or affirmation of the strongest faith.

v. 68 Not that Peter asks “to whom” not “where” can we go.  Are the words of eternal life the sole possession of Jesus?

v. 69 At least this is a better affirmation than “I do not wish to go away”.  What is the difference, if any, between believe and knowledge?  You might find Calvin’s definition of “faith” insightful as you wrestle with that last question.

 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, August 19, 2012, the Twentieth 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 - 1Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

2:10 Having taught a Psychology/Philosophy course on Death and Dying, I hate euphemisms  for dying and death, even Biblical ones.  As Christians, we are called, and equipped, to look death in the face and call it by name.

2:12 To whom can Solomon give credit for the firmly established kingdom he inherited?

3:3 What does it mean to Love the LORD?  What were the statutes of David?  Note the plurality “high places”.  Where, and what were, these high places?

3:4 What was so special about Gibeon?

3:5 If you want to know more about biblical dreams and dreaming, read Morton Kelsey and John Sanford.

3:7 how old was Solomon when he experienced this dream?

3:9 Wasn’t the sin of Adam and Eve that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  What separates Solomon’s request from their action?

3:12 I am reminded of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion in the Wizard of Oz.  The Great Oz did not give then what they did not already have.  Solomon, in making his request, had already demonstrated that he possessed a wise and discerning mind.  I think Socrates would have approved.

3:13 God gives Solomon riches and honor.

3:14 Solomon must earn long life.

Psalm – Psalm111:1-10

v. 1 Alleluia.  But could dis even fulfill good, holy, instructional, jovial, kaleidoscopic, language?

v. 2 Can you list, in alphabetical order, or course, the works of the LORD?

v. 9 Is the name of the LORD so awesome and Holy that we cannot even attempt to pronounce it?

v. 10 What does it mean to fear the LORD? If the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, what is wisdom’s end?  Those who practice “fear of the LORD” or those who practice “wisdom” have a good understanding?

Second Reading - Ephesians5:15-20

v. 15 Apparently, wisdom is the theme of the day.  How do the wise and the unwise live differently? 

v. 16 Are our days, our age and time, evil?

v. 17 Is foolishness the opposite of, or the absence of, wisdom?  Is understanding the will of the Lord the same as wisdom?

v. 18 Is it ok to get drunk with something other than wine?  I good serving of vintage Spirit would taste pretty good right about now!

v. 19 What are the differences among psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?  Is this just a literary device?

Gospel - John6:51-58

v. 51 How many of Jesus’ “I am” sayings have we read in the Fourth Gospel before now?  What is the difference between living bread and au bon pain or le pain quotidian?  What other bread came down from heaven?

v. 52 The $1,000,000 question!

v. 53 How did Jesus segue from bread to bread and blood? 

v. 54 Not “will” have eternal life but “have” eternal life.  Nevertheless, they will not be raised up until the last day.

v. 55 Thank God they are not false food and false drink.

v. 57 Why “living Father” and not just Father?

v. 58 What bread did our ancestors eat and die? What does it mean to live forever? 

vs. 51-58  Is it even possible to read these verses without reading them through the lenses of a sacramental and Eucharistic hermeneutic?  How might we understand differently if we approached them with a tabula rasa heuristics?  I am inclined to read them as mystical, almost Gnostic verses filled with multivalent meaning.  This is the author of the Fourth Gospel at his or her best.

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.