Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, February 10, 2013, the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year C)

I have been posting  Lectionary Ruminations on Presbyterian Bloggers for three years.  With this post I complete the three year lectionary cycle.  This will be the last time I post my rumninations here. I plan to continue posting Lectionary Ruminations, revised, edied and expanded, to my personal blog,  Summit to Shore  .  If you have been following my Lectionary Ruminations on Presbyterian Bloggers, please migrate over to my personal blog.

First Reading - Exodus 34:29-35

34:29-35 This reading was undoubtedly paired with the Gospel Reading because they both mention mountains, shining faces, and narrate a theophany.  What is the difference between reading the Luke passage through the lens of Exodus and reading the Exodus passage through the lens of Luke?

34:29 If you had looked at the face of Moses, what would you have seen?  When was the last time anyone left a worship service with a shining face?  Do you knowing anyone whose seems to beam, not because they use make-up or cleansing cream, but because they seem to radiate a spiritual energy within them?

34;30 What about the shining face of Moses scared Aaron and the people?

34:32 What is the meaning of “in commandment”?

34:33 Why did Moses put a veil on his face?  Is there any value in drawing a possible metaphorical connection between the veil over Moses’ face and the veil in the Temple?  Those familiar with Celtic Christianity might wonder if the vei over Moses face was made of gossamer.

34: Why would Moses take off the veil when speaking with God?

Psalm - Psalm 99

99:1-9 How does this Psalm help interpret and shed light on (pun intended) both the First Reading and the Gospel Reading?

99:1 Why would people tremble just because the LORD is king?  Why would the earth quake just because the LORD sits enthroned upon the cherubim?  When was the last time you trembled in the presence of the LORD? What are cherubim and where might we find them?  Should we call Indiana Jones in for help?

99:3 What is great and awesome about the LORD’s name?  Other than the LORD’s name, can you think of anything awesome?

99:4 What sort of justice does this Mighty King love?

99:5  Where is the LORD’s footstool?

99:5 What did the LORD’s voice sound like?  Is there a difference between decrees and statutes?

99:8 Why the past tense?  Note that verses 1-7 and 9 speak of the Lord in the third person while this verses addresses the Lord in the second person.  Why the change?  Is it significant?

99:9 Where is the LORD’s mountain and does the mention of a mountain justify the lectionary assigning this Psalm for use on The Transfiguration of the Lord? 

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians3:12-4:2

3:12 What hope?

3:13 Glory was being set aside?  Does Paul’s use of Moses’s veil as a metaphor justify assigning this passage to The Transfiguration of the Lord?

3:14 Whose minds were hardened?  Are our minds ever hardened, and if so, how?

3:14-15 Be careful of possible anti-Semitic interpretation of these verses.  Christians as well as Jews often have hardened minds and can read the Hebrew Scriptures through a metaphorical veil which hides and distorts.

3:17 How do we interpret this verse in light of the Doctrine of the Trinity?

3:18 Even though our veil has been removed, we still do not look at the LORD directly, but through a mirror?  I might prefer to look at God directly, even if through a veil, than without a veil but at a reflection.  To what does “the same image” refer?  Is it the image of God in which humans were created? Is it the image of Christ?  Is it the image of Moses reflecting the image of God?

4:1 What ministry?

4:2 What shameful things do we hide that we should renounce?

Gospel - Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

9:28-36 You may want to check the parallels in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8.

9:28 Eight days after what sayings?  Is there any significance to the number eight? What mountain?  Why go up a mountain to pray?   Can Jesus not pray anywhere?  Note that once again Jesus takes with him the elite three— Peter, James, and John—a counter balance to the REALLY big three—Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

9:30 What is significant about Moses and Elijah?  Why these two men?

9:31 What departure?

9:32 Is this a veiled reference (pun intended) to someone’s future falling asleep in the Garden while Jesus prayed?

9:33 What is the meaning of “not knowing what he said”?  How often do we, like Peter, stick our foot in our mouth, not knowing what we have said?

9:34 Why would entering a cloud induce feelings of terror?

9:35 Whose voice?  Where and when have we heard this, or something like this, before?

9:36 why did they keep silent?  When were “those days”?

9:37-43 How do these verses add to, or detract from, the Reading’s focus on The Transfiguration?  If we choose to include these optional verses (I will not include them) then we might want to point out that while Peter wants to stay on the mountain to build a museum, Jesus descends back into the trenches and gets back to the business of exorcizing demons and healing the sick. In that regard, who are the faithless and perverse generation?

9:38 Does this verse echo 9:35?

9:40 Were the disciples that powerless?

9:41 What is the meaning of this?

9:43 What does it mean to be astounded?  When was the last time you were astounded by 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.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, February 3, 2013, the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.) 

I have been posting Lectionary Ruminations to Presbyterian Bloggers for nearly three years.  I will attempt to continue posting through the 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 my Lectionary Ruminations on Presbyterian Bloggers, please migrate over to my personal blog.

FirstReading - Jeremiah 1:4-10
1:4 Has the word of the LORD ever come to you, and if so, how?

1:5 I doubt this could be used as an argument for life beginning at conception as this sounds like life, or personhood, begins even before conception.  What do you know about the philosophy of George Berkeley?  Is this God talking to Jeremiah?

1:5 The “I do not know how to speak” and “I am only a boy” defense.  It never seems to work.

1:8 Do not be afraid of who, the nations?

1:8 Does this remind you of any other perhaps similar accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures?  Is this a call narrative?

1:10 Note two pairs of destructive activities and one pair of creative activities.

Psalm- Psalm 71:1-6

71:1 What comes to your mind when you hear the word “refuge”?  What is so bad about shame?

71:2 How does the LORD incline the divine ear?

71:3 How is a rock of refuge like a fortress?  Do any particular rocks to your mind when you hear “rock of refuge”?

71:5 “Help me Obi Wan Yahweh, you're my only hope.”

71:6 Does this verse justify the Lectionary pairing this Psalm with the First Reading from Jeremiah?  Does this verse justify referring to the LORD as a midwife?

SecondReading - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13:1-13 Why read this in Sunday worship if there is no wedding to follow?  What can be said about passage that has not already been said?  Why do we tend to read this at weddings when we really need to read it at divorce proceedings and in the midst of church conflict?

13:1 What do angels sound like?

13:4-7 Anything missing in this definition?  How about Jenny (Ali McGraw) telling Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” as written by Erich Segal?

13:11 Is there a difference between being childish and childlike?

13:12 It is a little enigmatic, nevertheless, this is one of my favorite verses.  Is there any play on the idea of “icon” here?  What is the difference between a thing reflected and its reflection?

13:13 Where did faith and hope come from?

Gospel - Luke 4:21-30

4:21 Who is speaking?  To whom is he speaking?  What is the setting?  What scripture?

4:22 All?  Is this hyperbole?  When was the last time you were amazed by anyone’s words?  I think it is interesting that the speaker is identified as Joseph’s son rather than Mary’s son.

4:23 Where did this proverb come from?  What were people saying about his time in Capernaum?

4:24 What do you think about this?

4:25 What does this have to do with anthing?

4:28 Why were they filled with rage?  I thought they were all amazed.  What happened between  verse 22 and verse 28?

4:29 Why am I thinking about swine?

4:30 How did he do this?

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, January 27, 2013, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (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. 

I have been posting Lectionary Ruminations to Presbyterian Bloggers for nearly three years.  I will attempt to continue posting through the 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 my Lectionary Ruminations on Presbyterian Bloggers, please migrate over to my personal blog.

First Reading - Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6,8-10

8:1  Is “all” hyperbole? What people gathered?  How many Americans will think of Richard Nixon when they hear this?  Geographically, where is the Eater Gate?  What does it mean that Ezra was a scribe?  What is the book of the law of Moses?

8:2 Was Ezra a priest, a scribe, or both?   Or were there two people named Ezra?  What about people who could not hear with understanding?  How do we hear or not hear with understanding?  Is there anything special about this date?

8:3 This was not a twenty minute reading of Scripture.

8:5Why did the people stand up when Ezra opened the book?

8:6 What does it mean to bless the LORD?  I thought God usually blessed individuals and communities, not the other way around.  What is the meaning of first raising hands and then bowing heads?

8:8 Who was reading, Ezra, or others as well?  Note that they were not onlky reading but also interpreting.  This is beginning to sound like the reading of Scripture and the ex[position of a sermon.

8:9 So Ezra was both a priest and a scribe!  Who were the Levites, what did they teach, and how did they teach it?  Why would people weep when they hear the words of the law?

8:10 Who is speaking? Note the sending of portions to those for whom nothing is prepared.

Psalm - Psalm 19

19:1 Are these spiritual heavens or astronomical heavens?  What is the difference?  What is a firmament?

19:2 Is there any significance to the day being paired with speech and the night being paired with knowledge?

19:3-4a What is this, a conundrum?

19:4b-6 How can we apply pre-Copernican poetry in a post-Copernican world?

19:7 So that is why the Lectiionary pairs this Psalm with the First Reading!

19:7-9 How many synonyms of Law can you identify in these verses?

19:10 Id one is familiar only with a tradition of hellfire and damnation preaching; and an image of a vengeful, wrathful, punishing God, how would these verses sound?

19:12 Is this a rhetorical question?

19:13 Keep jerks away from me and I will not be a jerk?

19:14 Pet Peeve Alert! Why must so many preachers employ this as an exercise in personal piety before preaching?  Does not a more communal Prayer for Illumination serve better?

SecondReading - 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

12:12 How can we hear old, tired metaphors in new ways?

12:13 What does it mean to “drink” of one Spirit?  Is Paul already thinking of the Lord’s Supper or does this imagery suggest his later comments about it?

12:26 Perhaps Congress needs to hear this more than Sunday worshipers.

12:28-31 Is this meant to be all inclusive or in any way hierarchical based on the order of those things mentioned?

12:31 What are the greater gifts (note that it is plural)?

Gospel- Luke 4:14-21

4:14 Was Jesus earlier not filled with the power of the Spirit?  Note that “a report” is singular, not plural.  I wonder what the report was.

4:15 Praised by everyone?  Is this hyperbole?

4:16 Note that he had been brought up in Nazareth but not necessarily born there.

4:18-19 What if Jesus had been handed a different scroll?  Who is speaking within the context of Isaiah?

4:20-21 Would Jesus not have spoken if the eyes of all had not been fixed on him?

4:21 What did Jesus mean by this?

ADDENDUM

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 http://www.wyzant.com/Tutors/RidgewoodTutor page and follow the appropriate links.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, January 20, 2013, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (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. 

I have been posting Lectionary Ruminations to Presbyterian Bloggers for nearly three years.  I will attempt to continue posting through the 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 my Lectionary Ruminations on Presbyterian Bloggers, please migrate over to my personal blog.

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5

62:1 Who is speaking?

62:2 What is the significance of a new name?

62:3 What is a diadem?

62:4 What is the meaning of married land?  Does this metaphor justify this passage being paired with John 2:1-11?

62:5 Does this verse inform any New Testament metaphors?

Psalm - Psalm 36:5-10

36:5  Where does the LORD’s love extend from?

36:6 Is this just a poetic way of saying height and depth?  Do dogs and cats and other animals and pets have to be baptized or born again to be saved?

36:7 What sort of avian creature is God being likened to?

36:9 Does this lead to myths and legends about the fountain of youth?  How do we see light in light?  Do we see light, or what light illuminates? Is light a wave or a particle?

36:10 So God’s steadfast love does not extend to strangers?

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians12:1-11

12:1 Are most Christians today informed or uninformed about spiritual gifts.

12:2 Is this a valid portrayal of paganism?  What is the difference between Paganism and Atheism? Agnosticism?

12:3 Really?

12:4 Why am I thinking about Isabel Briggs Myers?

12:4-6 Is there any scheme at work here: gifts-Spirit, services-Lord, activities-God?

12:8 What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?

12:8-10 Was this list meant to be exhaustive or just suggestive?

Gospel - John 2:1-11

2:1 How does this passage foreshadow the resurrection?  Why is the mother of Jesus not named?  Who do you think was being married?

2:3 Is she stating the obvious?  Why tell Jesus?  Did he not already know?

2:4 Why does Jesus address his mother as “Woman”?  What “hour” is he referring to?

2:5 What gave the mother of Jesus the right and authority to tell the servants what to do?  Maybe she was catering the reception.  Is “servants” a play on words?  Do the disciples always do what Jesus tells them?

2:6 Is there any significance in the number of jars?  Does the number of jars matter?  What are the jewish rites of purification?

2:7 Does this assume that the jars were empty?  Does it make a difference?  Is there any significance that the jars were filled to the brim?

2:8 Did the servants draw out water or wine?  Who and what was the chief steward?

2:9 This reads as if the servants drew water out of the jars but that the water turned to wine as the servants were taking it to the steward.

2:10 Why serve good wine first and then inferior wine?

2:11 If this was the “first” of his signs, how many were there and what were they?  Is there any significance to “Cana if Galilee” being mentioned twice?  What do you know about Tabgha?  Was his glory hidden before this?  Did his disciples not believe in him before this?

2:1-11 This is one of my favorite passages in my favorite Gospel.  I think it could several sermons to unpack, interpret, and apply it. 

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, Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, January 13, 2013, the Baptism of the Lord (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 - Isaiah 43:1-7
43:1 To whom is the LORD speaking?

 43:2 What waters is being referred to? When Christians read this passage in light of the Sacrament of baptism, are we misreading the Hebrew Scriptures, or simply exercising Hebrew Midrash from a Christian perspective? I wonder how post Shoah Jews read and interpret this passage.

43:3 PC(USA) Presbyterians: Do not forget the opening lines of A Brief Statement of Faith. How was Egypt given as a ransom? Why the mention of Ethiopia and Seba?

43:4 I like the first part of this verse, but the second part rubs me the wrong way.

43:5-6 Note that all four cardinal directions are named.

43:6 Note that sons and daughters are both mentioned, a rare inclusive verse!

43:7 Could this verse not be used to argue for universalism? This could provide for an interesting juxtaposition in relation to the exclusiveness of Christian Baptism.

Psalm - Psalm 29

29:1 What does it mean to ascribe? How do we ascribe? What, or which, heavenly beings are addressed here?

 29:2 Do you worship in holy splendor? What does holy splendor look, smell, sound, feel, and taste like?

 29:3 What does the voice of the LORD sound like? Would you recognize it if you heard it? Being a sailor and kayaker, I really like and relate to this verse. What if I was land locked and had never experienced the ocean or other large body of water?

 29:4 I think the LORD deserves a contract as an announcer and/or commercial spokesperson.

 29:5-9 Think of the scene/passage in The Hobbit where Bilbo and the dwarves find themselves amidst giants “hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them and tossing them down into darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang.”

29:10-11 How do we reconcile images of a storm god with peace?

Second Reading - Acts 8:14-17
8:14 Is the setting important? What if the apostles had been someplace else, other than Jerusalem, when they heard this news? Should it be that Samaria (not Samaritans?) had accepted the word of God? Why was James not sent?

8:15 Does this sound a little judgmental to you?

8:16 Who is this verse talking about? Why, in the NRSV, is this verse in parenthesis?

8:17 What is so special about the laying on of hands? Even though this is the Epistle for Baptism of the Lord, Baptism is not mentioned in this verse. Is it possible for a person or a people to receive the Holy Spirit without being baptized?

Gospel - Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
3:15 What people? When was the last time people in the pews of churches you know filled with expectation? Why would people think John could be the Messiah?

3:16 What is so special about the thong of a sandal? Is the doublet “Holy Spirit and fire” merely poetic, or something more?

3:17 What is a winnowing fork and what is it used for? What is a threshing floor and what is it used for? What is chaff? How do we preach the Gospel in an urban environment where all people know about wheat is that comes in five pound bags and they probably have no idea what the imagery of this passage is communicating? Why was chaff burned? Does this passage require the existence of a fire filled hell?

 3:21 Really? All the people? Do you think this is an exaggeration? What does it mean for heaven (singular, not plural) to be opened? So the Holy Spirit was someplace over the Jordan River, on the other side of earth from people along a declination of plus or minus 180 degrees? What is the meaning of “bodily form”? Whose voice came from heaven and what did it sound like? Where and when might we hear this again?

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, January 6, 2013, the Epiphany of the Lord (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 - Isaiah 60:1-6

60:1 While this is a very appropriate text for Epiphany, what was the original light Isaiah was referring to?

60:2 How do we deal with cultural pejorative association with darkness?

60:3 Does “nation” refer to political entities or peoples?

60:4 Where were the sons and daughters?

60:5 How do we read and interpret this when humans have overfished most species?

60:5 Does this passage shed light on the reading from Matthew, or should we interpret the Matthew Reading as Midrash on this Isaiah 60:1-6?

Psalm- Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

72:1 What does it mean that God gives the king justice?

72:2, 4 I wish Congress would read these verses!

72:6 Are you familiar with the King’s connection to the land in the grail legend?

72:10 Do you think this verse justifies this Psalm being associated with Epiphany?

72:12-14 More verses for 99% or 47%?

Epistle - Ephesians 3:1-12

3:1 So Paul was a prisoner for the Gentiles but not the Jews?

3:2 Paul seems to be emphasizing his ministry to the Gentiles while not saying anything about the Jews.

3:3 What mystery is Paul talking about?

3:4 What is the mystery of Christ?  Why all this talk about mystery.  Is Paul trying to appeal to Gentile mystery religions?

3:5 Note the plural apostles and porphets.  Paul places himself in a company.  He is not alone.

3:6 What body?

3:7 How does one become a servant of the gospel?

3:8 I would rather be the least of all the saints than the greatest of all the sinners, but are not all saints forgiven sinners?

3:9 If you know the plan of the mystery, then is it still a mystery?  This mystery was hidden “in” God?

3:10 Is this one of the earliest uses of the “church”?  Rulers and authorities are in the heavenly places?

3:11 Do “eternal purposes” require a doctrine of predestination or a sort of Christian fatalism?  Where does free will fit in here?

3:12 I like the note of “boldness and confidence” rather than the shame and doubt.

Gospel - Matthew 2:1-12

2:1 When was the time of King Herod?   Forgetting what you think you know from familiar carols, according to this Scripture, how many wise men were there?  Must the original “Magi” be translated “men”?  Where in the East might they have come from?

2:2 What does it mean that the Magi saw a star at its rising?

2:3 I can understand why Herod would be frightened, but why would all Jerusalem be frightened?

2:4 Are the chief priests and scribes in any way the Jewish equivalent of the pagan Magi?

2:6 What prophet is being quoted?

2:7 Why did Herod practice secrecy?

2:8 What is the meaning of “sent”?

2:9 Do you know how to use a sextant?  What sort of stars rise, move, and then stop?

2:10  When was the last time you were overwhelmed with joy?

2:11 House?  What happened to the stable?  How many treasure chests might there have been?  What is the symbolism, if any, of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  Does the fact that three types of gifts are mentioned mean that there had to be three magi?

2:12 Have you ever been warned in a dream?  What other dreams and how many other dreams are there, in any, in the Gospel According to Matthew.  What might Morton Kelsey, John Sanford, Joseph Campbell and/or Carl Jung have said about this dream?

 ADDENDUM

This is the first Sunday since 2008 that Epiphany falls on a Sunday.  The Lectionary Readings for Epiphany are the same for Years A, B, and C.  It has been my desire, when the service of Epiphany is at night, to combine it with a star watching party including local astronomers with their telescopes, a desire not yet realized.

How long after the fact do we include concerns in the Prayers of the People?  It has been a few weeks since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut.  How many Churches continue to include Newtown 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  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 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.