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Christmas 2A – Celebrating Redemption
That’s a pretty obvious theme, but it would seem even more odd to skip it! The second Sunday in Christmas is a good day to commemorate these events. There are a few different items that strike me here. The connection of the return from exile with the redemptive mission of Jesus. This shouldn’t be surprising, [...]
Keeping Up with the Church Year
One of the great benefits of using the lectionary, especially for major days during the church year, is that it helps us keep these various days in context. It’s easy for Christmas to be simply the holiday of giving, the one that allows us to sing all that good music and have some parties. Keeping [...]
Profitable Scriptures
It’s been about six weeks since my last post, and unfortunately that’s actually a fairly short gap for the way I’ve kept this blog up. But the two Old Testament passages this week (Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Psalm 19 or Psalm 119:94-107) as well as the epistle caught my attention. In the modern church we read [...]
Appealing to Grace
While there is much violence in the Old Testament (and a certain amount in the New), the basic ideas of grace are still expressed regularly. Nowhere is this clearer, in my opinion, than in the appeal to salvation history in passages of judgment and of exhortation. The Old Testament passage and the Psalm for Proper [...]
What Would YOU Ask God to Do?
I want to focus on just one line of text. In 1 Kings 3:5, God tells Solomon to ask God what God should give Solomon. It’s a simple enough question. Most of us remember the answer. Solomon wants wisdom. God decides to give him wisdom and lots of riches as well. As I reflect on [...]
Who Does the Calling (9B, 2 Sam. 5:1-5
This is a seemingly simple story. The elders of Israel finally recognize David as king after a long time of rebellion and civil war. All come together and make a covenant with David and he becomes their king. But if you think back in the story, you may recall that in 1 Samuel 16, the [...]
Hard to Lead? (Easter 6B, Acts 10:44-48)
Scripture: Acts 10:44-48 OK, for those who might be unacquainted with the lectionary, let me note that the Acts passage takes the place of the standard Old Testament reading this week. To keep things together, I therefore categorize it as Old Testament. Acts is in the New Testament, obviously! How hard is it to lead [...]
Tell Your Story
I talk about this quite a bit (here, for example), but I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. It’s very difficult to get people to listen to your theology, your theories about how God works. It’s much easier to get them to listen–and understand–when they hear your story. Psalm 107 from this week’s lectionary [...]
God is in Creation (Psalm 19/Lent 3B)
I have always loved Psalm 19, and I also regard it as a unified Psalm even though it is divided into two parts. Those two parts, however, convey a unified central message. God is the creator and this is why he is also the lawgiver. In the ten commandments, also part of this week’s reading, [...]
Isaiah 40:25 – The Trouble with Talking about God
Isaiah 40:25 asks us to consider who might be comparable with God, and who might be considered his equal. Now we normally use this passage to talk about God’s great power and how he is unique, the creator, someone greater than anyone we know. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But when I think of [...]
