Ordinary Time Week 14

Psalm: Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9 or Psalm 15
Old Testament: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
  or Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Epistle: James 1:17-27

There are many challenging passages in the New Testament, and the write of James is guilty of writing a few of them. His words from chapter 1 are a challenge to all those who confess to be followers of Christ. Christianity has never been about purely believes: being able to consent to a few propositional phrases. There are other religions where this is the case, and indeed the Early Church struggled with this view in their debates with the Gnostic Christians. James is unequivocal in his argument that if we only believe in Jesus, but that this doesn't stir us to action, then perhaps we have wrong beliefs or have not yet come to understand who Jesus truly is. He exhorts his readers to be "doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." (vs. 22) Later on in his letter James writes, "faith, if this has no works, is dead, being by itself." (17) One of the classic debates in Christianity, which reached its breaking point in the Protestant Reformation, is between faith and works, law and grace. Paul repeatedly deals with these ideas in his letters, but here in James the author just cuts through all the polemics and says the two can never be separated. Faith and belief may come first, and we are saved purely through faith in Christ alone, but salvation always produces works.

Ordinary Time Week 13

Psalm: Psalm 84 or Psalm 34:15-22
Old Testament: 1 Kings 8 (1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43
  or Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Gospel: John 6:56-69
Epistle: Ephesians 6:10-20

'Tis the season for all things Back to School! Many of you have already started or you kids have, but students come back to classes this week for us. So this has me thinking about beginnings and starting things off right, and I think other than our Psalm this week, the scriptures all have something to say about how to start something off on the right foot.

Our Ephesians reading is a well-known passage of Scripture, especially for anyone who has ever been a child in church or been involved with children's ministry for awhile. In Ephesians 6:13-17 Paul uses the metaphor of a soldier getting ready for battle to explain how Christians are to approach their conflict with the worldly powers. He calls this the "armor of God." Of course we can see why this metaphor is used in children's ministry: it is easy to visualize and relatable to things children have seen before. But in terms of what I want to talk about today, armor is all about preparation. First, and obviously, armor is done before any actual battles begin. Second, armor must be put on in a certain order to be effective. Third, the sword must be sharp and all equipment fine-tuned to its specific purpose. Finally, in order for the armor to be effective, it all must be present. You can't go to battle, without a sword or a shield; every part serves a function from the boots all the way up to the head gear. Paul uses the metaphor of armor to his own uses and reminds us of the importance of being prepared and intentional in how we approach our lives.

Ordinary Time Week 12

Psalm: Psalm 111 or Psalm 34:9-14 
Old Testament: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14 or Proverbs 9:1-6 
Gospel: John 6:51-58 
Epistle: Ephesians 5:15-20

We continue the story of David and his family this week. In 2 Kings 2, David dies and is succeeded by his son Solomon.  Our reading leaves out the end of chapter 2, but I think it is important to read over because it reveals how tenuous the David monarchy is at this point and some of the themes we have discussed in the past weeks about the royal family come through. After David's death, the first incident concerned the immediate line of succession. There was no guarantee that the next king of Israel would be from the line of David, and indeed, there is a rebellion after Solomon's reign which leads to the split of Israel--Judah in the south and Israel in the north. But after David, it seemed clear that the next king would be one of his sons and the heir-apparent was Adonijah, the eldest son alive it appears. Adonijah tried to force David's hand and attempt a coup almost declaring himself king before David's death. The coup however was not against David, but rather against his younger brother Solomon. Of course, we all know that Solomon becomes king, but what I didn't know was that immediately following David's death, he executed Adonijah; Joab, David's nephew and former general of the army; and Shimei, a man who at one time cursed David when he was running from Absalom, then begged for and received forgiveness from David, and finally on David's deathbed, was condemned by David to be killed for his deeds. So Solomon's reign started a lot more violently than I knew, and also marked a turning point from his father's reign.

Ordinary Time Week 11

Psalm: Psalm 130 or Psalm 34:1-8 
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
  or 1 Kings 19:4-8 
Gospel: John 6:35, 41-51 
Epistle: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Well since last week I misread the Lectionary passage and discussed some of the struggles the David had with his children, I think we can leave the reading from 2 Samuel aside this week. But in chapter 18, David's family struggles continue and his son Absalom, who is the leader of the rebellion against him, is killed by David's soldiers. So this chapter kind of acts as a closing bookmark to the familial struggles that were begun in chapter 13, which we explored last week.

Instead I want to focus on the words of Jesus from John 6. John 6:35 is the first of Jesus' seven "I am" sayings in John. It doesn't take a Biblical scholar to realize that the author of John is placing Jesus in the same category as the God of the Old Testament. If there is any doubt about Jesus being divine, the author also uses seven sayings--seven being a divine number. So these seven sayings are critical I think to the life and mission of Jesus according to John, and how Jesus is to be understood in relationship to the Father, humanity, and indeed all of creation.

Ordinary Time Week 10

Psalm: Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 78:23-29 
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
  or Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 
Gospel: John 6:24-35 
Epistle: Ephesians 4:1-16

***Editor's (me) note: I misread the 2 Samuel passage, so I was working with 2 Samuel ch. 13. So you get a bonus reading and post about a passage the Lectionary leaves out. Congratulations!***

Another week has come and gone, and I cannot believe we are already into the second week of August. The summer is going by quick! Of course all the stores are full of back-to-school sales and we're about to get into the swing of all the school activities.

But the Church Calendar doesn't really focus on things like going back to school or the start of the English Premier League this weekend, but we do have some interesting passages from scripture nonetheless. I want to focus on the reading from 2 Samuel because it presents to me a pretty clear picture of what happens when humanity abandons God and his decrees. To set the scene for what happens with Amnon and Tamar we have to back into David's story and a particular command that the Lord gave the Israelites. When Amnon's birth is announced in 2 Sam 3:2, along with five other brothers, the text says that each son was born of a different mother. And apparently these six sons and six wives was just the start because in 2 Sam 5 it says, "Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron." (13)