Lent week 5

Psalm: Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16
Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Gospel: John 12:20-33
Epistle: Hebrews 5:5-10

This week we are in the fifth week of Lent and we can begin to anticipate Easter.  If your church is like mine than preparations are underway for Palm Sunday and Easter activities, we have ridiculously named ours “Eggstravaganza.” (Which is an improvement to “Easterpalooza” which Kelcey’s old church once had) I cannot criticize the preparation, for in a very real sense it ought to mirror the preparation happening in our hearts and lives.  Lent has always been a time of preparation, as we discussed in the post on Ash Wednesday.  So at the offset this week I encourage you to examine your life and see if you are preparing yourself for Christ’s return.

Lent week 4

Psalm: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Old Testament: Numbers 21:4-9
Gospel: John 3:14-21
Epistle: Ephesians 2:1-10

Our theme this week is about salvation.  We serve a God who saves.  (You might be familiar with the song "Let God Arise" that makes this statement again and again.  We even sang it in church this morning.)  Our Psalm is about the God who saves.  In some of the verses we didn’t read, those who dwell in darkness, those who sail the seas, and those who are oppressed are all reached by the salvation of God.  I had to laugh at the 9 verses dedicated to sailors who will be saved by God. (23-32)  In our particular verses, God saves the fool who calls out to him.  I find this interesting because so often the fool in the Psalms says in his heart “there is no God.” (14:1, 53:1) The fool is not viewed very highly in Bible and it often seems like they have no hope. But praise be to God that even the fool is reachable because don’t we all seem to play the fool at some point in our life?

Lent Week 3

Psalm: Psalm 19
Old Testament: Exodus 20:1-17
Gospel: John 2:13-22
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

I am really struggling with today’s Scriptures, not because they are individually challenging, but taken as a whole I’m left trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

I know I haven’t been discussing the Psalm the last few weeks, but Psalm 19 deserve our attentions.  First, the imagery is absolutely amazing; “The heavens use no words…Yet their voice goes out into all the earth.”  Secondly, this Psalm has been used historically to argue for a geocentric view. (The sun revolves around the earth)  Look at verses 4-6 for the wonderful metaphor of the sun coming out of its tent each morning like a bridegroom.  Having been recently married I think this image is appropriate since I couldn’t the goofy yet I’m sure radiant smile I wore my wedding day.  Finally and real briefly, look at the structure of the Psalm.  Verse 1-6 speak of creation, 7-9 praise the Law, and 10-13 return to creation as a metaphor for the Law.  We, in the Church tend to have a negative view of the Law, but Psalm 19 challenges that because the Law, like creation, came from God.  The Lord is the author and creator of both, and both reveal who God is.

Elaine Pagels and Henri Nouwen

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/07/148125942/the-book-of-revelation-visions-prophecy-politics

If anyone is up for an intellectual challenge. This interview certainly provides room to grow and think.  See the link above.

Well, after waiting for 3 days, the transcripts aren't posted for the interview even though the two days after this interview are. I'm not sure why this interview isn't be posted.  So I will have to try to explain her points without the transcripts.

Elaine Pagels made two points that caught my ear. First, she discusses approaching the Scripture as a non-believer.  (see minute 32:50)  She discusses how she approaches the reading the Scripture in a fundamentally different way then a believer.  I can say exactly what she does in terms of any classic and powerful piece of literature.  Also see 34:50 for her words of approaching the text as a journalist and a historian.  She approaches the Scripture in someways like an outsider, but as a historian she says she wants to be able to see all sides to the story.  Also, if your interested the first 30 minutes are her discussion of Revelation itself and quite informative and useful.  In fact, she is more accurate than plenty of other things said and believed by Christains today.

Lent week 2

Psalm: Psalm 22: 23-31
Old Testament: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Gospel: Mark 8:31-38
Epistle: Romans 4:13-25

Well, here we are the first week of March, I can’t believe it! Tornado season has already started in the Midwest. This is also the second week of Lent; already those Lenten commitments are becoming a burden. For me, I definitely want to sleep-in and then when I do wake up it is easier to read the newspaper instead of reading my Lent devotional and Bible.  My prayer is that we will continue to draw near to God during this season.

We have some interesting themes in this week’s passages.  Genesis 17 I think is the third time Abraham is called and met by the Lord.  But in this chapter, for the first we get circumcision as the mark of the covenant.  The story of Abraham is no secret to us, but let me just point that Abraham will be the father of “nations.” This calling and promise to Abraham comes just a few verses, but actually 14 years, after the birth of his son Ismael.  Ishmael and Isaac both become fathers of nations in their own right.  Genesis plays this story out by telling the genealogy of Ishmael at Abraham’s death in chapter 25.