Week 9

Psalm: Psalm 14 or Psalm 145:10-18
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 11:1-26
Gospel: John 6:1-21
Epistle: Ephesians 3:14-21

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know the Olympics have started.  Naturally, many people are caught up in Olympic fever. I think I heard that NBC had like 63 hours of coverage just yesterday. So for those of you with nothing to do for two weeks and a time-machine, congratulations.  For the rest of us, get ready for some late nights watching primetime coverage.  Ok, enough of the Olympics, time to move on to something almost as exciting: adultery and murder.  If you’ve read the passage from 2 Samuel, then you know this is the well-known story of David and Bathsheba.  After the initial affair with Bathsheba, which was spur of the moment lust, David does everything very methodically to cover his tracks.  He tries to call Bathsheba’s husband from war so that it would seem the child was his.  However, Urriah is too honorable, which makes what comes next worse.  Since his first plan doesn’t work, David tries to get Urriah drunk so maybe then he will sleep with Bathsheba. That doesn’t work.  Finally, as a last act of desperation, David has Urriah murdered during a battle.  During this battle we have to imagine that even more men were killed because of David’s plan to have Urriah killed.

Week 8

Psalm: Psalm 89:20-37 

Old Testament : 2 Samuel 7:1-14
Gospel : Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Epistle : Ephesians 2:11-22

Welcome to another Sunday.  The story of David continues this week as well as a great message from Paul in Ephesians and a weird assortment of readings from Mark.  

This week we again have a high point in David’s life and a little bit of a low point.  First, the low point: the Lord has given him victory over his enemies and he is able to finally rest and focus on other matters.  David recognizes where his victories came from and so wants to honor God by building God a house, a temple, to dwell in.  David feels guilty that he has a grand palace while the Lord is still moving about in a tent.  But the Lord tells David that he will not be able to build the temple.  In this account in Samuel, a reason really isn’t given, but one can try and read through the lines.  It seems to me like the Lord wants to ensure that David’s son has something to do and is honored by God.  By letting this honor fall to him, the Lord shows his blessing to David’s descendants.  This actually brings us to the high point in this passage, but first a word from 1 Chronicles 22.   

week 7

Psalm: Psalm 85
Old Testament : 2 Samuel 6:1-19
Gospel : Mark 6:14-29
Epistle : Ephesians 1:3-14

Well another week has passed us by and we have had quite the full weekend. But no doubt very few are concerned with my personal life, so let’s jump in to the text.  The story of David continues this week with the moving of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.  If you remember from the life of David, David captured the city of Jerusalem earlier and declared that this would be the capital city of Israel.  This week that idea of David’s is brought to fruition with the presence of the Lord, the Ark, being brought into the city.   

The Ark has a long and strange history.  After its use in the desert and the conquest of Canaan it actually ended up in the hands of the Philistines.  It brought misfortune to the Philistines so they returned it to the Israelite where it kind of fell out of importance during the reign of Solomon.  David is initially terrified of the power of the Ark; it did after all kill Uzzah when he touched it.  (vs. 6-10)This is not something you just leave around the house.  So, David brings the Ark to somebody else’s house to deal with.  But after that house is blessed David decides that maybe he does want the Ark after all.

The Christian Calendar

What time is?  Or better yet, how do we tell what time it is?  Many things in life tell us what time it is.  If you have kids, the school calendar might guide your life.  You might work at a business and are controlled by the fiscal calendar.  Maybe you’re like me and counting down the days until soccer starts again in Europe.  Personally, we count time by birthdays, anniversaries, deaths, or other significant events.  It seems like we just can’t get away from time. 

 So, what time is it?  Perhaps a better question is whose time is it? The answer, of course, is God’s.  God is the creator and sustainer of all that are, including time.  One last question, what comes to mind when you hear the word liturgy or the Christian Calendar?  Does that sound too “Catholic” and stuffy and boring? I hope that if it does, I can show you how the liturgy and the Christian Calendar can be used to draw us into a closer relationship with Christ.

week 6

Psalm: Psalm 123
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-13
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

This week we continue the story of David as well as the reading from 2 Corinthians and Mark.  I have been enjoying the story of David and am looking forward to spending some time in study soon in the “Samuels.” Last week, if you remember, was the story of Saul and Jonathan’s death where David was overcome with grief.  We discussed how Saul had actually been trying to kill him for most of their relationship because he was jealous of David. After Saul’s death, a civil war occurred in Israel and again David’s life was in danger, this time by Abner, a commander of Saul’s army and one of Saul’s sons Ish-bosheth.  

To make a long and intriguing story short, Ish-bosheth makes Abner mad so Abner joins David.  But, David’s friends aren’t happy and don’t believe Abner because Abner had just been trying to kill all of them.  So one of David’s commanders murders Abner…oh and then Ish-bosheth is also betrayed and murdered by two of his commanders, thus ending the line of Saul.  David actually mourns the loss of Abner, just as he did last week over the death of Saul.  David didn’t relish or enjoy the fight and victory over his enemies.  He laments that the people of God are at war and killing each other.  And thus ends another happy episode in the life of King David. 

Week 5

Psalm: Psalm 30
Old Testament : 2 Samuel 1:1-27
Gospel : Mark 5:21-43
Epistle : 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

As I suggested last week, I am going to start with the Gospel and Epistle readings so I don’t short change the New Testament.  The second half of Mark 5 is the story of a healing inside a miracle. The story begins with an official named Jarius asking Jesus to hurry and heal his daughter who is essentially on her death bed.  A large crowd gathers and you can imagine that it is taking Jesus a painfully long time to arrive at Jarius’ house.  Not only is Jesus going slow, someone in the crowd reaches out and touches Jesus’ cloak and is healed.  Somehow Jesus can tell that he has healed someone though his cloak and stops the whole procession to figure it out.  The disciples sound exasperated, as if to say, “Of course someone touched you, were in a crowd!”  A lady comes forward with a 12-year-old malady and admits she reached out to touch Jesus.  Let us take a moment to understand that Jesus has just been touched by an unclean woman.  A woman who, because of her condition, hasn’t been able to be “clean” or sacrifice to God for 12 years!  But Jesus doesn’t even address that.  He heals her and tells her to go in peace.