Christmas Sunday

Psalm: Psalm 96
Old Testament: Isaiah 9:2-7
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14, 15-20
Epistle: Titus 2:11-14

Merry Christmas!

Today is both Christmas and a Sunday! Perhaps you have heard the consternation this is causing in the Protestant community about whether there should be a church service today or not. I would rather not rehash all the arguments I have seen on social media, but I think it is important to remember that Christmas is first, and always, a Christian religious holiday. Before it became a retail blockbuster, a day to spend with family, or a day off work, it was a time to celebrate God coming incarnate into a baby. Christmas is much like Easter, which is a day that a church service is natural a part of the celebration. Church on Easter is easy because it always falls on a Sunday. But somehow we manage to both go to church and spend time with family. In my estimation, the question this year should not be, should we have church this year, rather, we should ask ourselves why we don't have church every year on Christmas?

Advent Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Old Testament: Isaiah 7:10-16 
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25
Epistle: Romans 1:1-7

Today we look at the Christmas story through the eyes of Matthew. His account seems to get the short stick around Christmas and Christmas Eve in favor of Luke's. And indeed, this year on Christmas Day we are reading from Luke for the first time during Advent. Matthew however gives us some interesting details that we often incorporate into our Christmas story and nativities, especially the wise men that only he tells us about.

Advent Week 3

Psalm: Psalm 146:5-10 or Luke 1:47-55
Old Testament: Isaiah 35:1-10
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
Epistle: James 5:7-10

Welcome to week three of Advent! By now the holiday preparation are in full swing, or if they're not your trouble. Hopefully, you have some company coming to look forward to or you may be traveling yourself. Christmas times is partially about the joys of family and friends getting together and going to Christmas parties and dinner at the family's house. This aspect of the holiday time reminds me of one of the key aspects of Advent, and indeed the word's definition: arrival or coming. Advent is not just about God coming to earth in the incarnation, but also about humanity coming back to God. In our our reading today from Matthew, John, unable to go himself, sent his disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah. The question couldn't have been asked and the answer given without John's disciples coming to Jesus.

Advent week 2

Psalm: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Old Testament: Isaiah 11:1-10
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
Epistle: Romans 15:4-13

This week I want to focus on the theme of hope. This is a difficult place to get to in the midst of waiting. Last week, with my midweek Limerick, I focused on waiting. We all understand waiting, as I said, for things big and small. But how do we, in the middle of (to be honest) crappy times, still find hope? What hope do we have after 2,000 years in still waiting in expectation for Christ's return (another Advent theme)?

An Advent Limerick

Wait!? A word we all hate with a passion

We prefer to spend our time a dashin'

We want things real soon

Feed on golden spoon

Yet still God says it remains a fashion

A little limerick, because that is the only type of poetry I can write. All of us are in various states of waiting. It is just a fact of life. Kelcey and I find ourselves in a season of waiting in a few big things as many of you know. Most recently, we have been buying a house, which as many of you know is a huge process. Even now, after we have closed on the sale, we still have to wait 2 weeks to move in! It has tested our patience, but is also exciting.

Advent Week 1

Psalm: Psalm 122  

Old Testament: Isaiah 2:1-5  
Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44  
Epistle: Romans 13:11-14

I have decided to write some more posts on the Lectionary since I wasn’t writing very much on other topics. Hopefully we can all grow in Christ and we can teach each other some things.

Another season of Advent is upon us. For many, the decorations are already up and the shopping season has started before the Thanksgiving dishes were washed and put up. But, I want to pause and again ask a question we have pondered on this blog before: whose time is it? So often we want to know what time it is. What time is the football game? When is the meeting? How many days until Christmas? These questions all have a numerical answer, but the question of whose time is it has a person as an answer; it is God’s time. Advent is the start of the Christian Calendar and it is always good to pause and reconsider the fact that God is the Creator and the Sustainer of all creation. Time and creation have a goal and are heading in the direction of God’s Kingdom coming fully. We celebrate during the Advent season, and especially the Christmas season, that God is not only over time, but that he also entered into our time and space in the person of Jesus. God actually became a helpless baby, lived and breathed, died, was buried, and then rose again to redeem and restore creation and time.  Jesus' life and death provide the means whereby God’s rule over time can be complete.

Ordinary Time Week 25

Psalm: Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 or Psalm 17:1-9
  or Psalm 98

Old Testament: Haggai 1:15b-2:9 or Job 19:23-27a
Gospel: Luke 20:27-38

Epistle: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

Welcome to another Sunday in the life of the Church--the Presence of Christ on the earth. We stand as a Kingdom set apart and bear witness to the fullness of the Kingdom that will come at Christ's return. These are important things to remember especially as we prepare for the election in the USA this week. The Church and the State are not one and the same and are often in conflict. Christ's reign was inaugurated on a cross and although it is for all people, it is message is one particularly for the marginalized, the poor, and the weak. The world can't understand the cross. It can't understand that in God's Kingdom the way to greatness is through service; the way to glorification is to die to self and pick up the cross. The Apostle Paul wrote that, “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) The cross is only understood through faith.

All Saints Day

Psalm: Psalm 149
Old Testament: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Gospel: Luke 6:20-31
Epistle: Ephesians 1:11-23

This week is All Saints' Day! So today it would be appropriate to honor that and call it All Saints' Sunday. November 1st (All Saints' Day) and November 2nd (All Souls Day) are two days in the church when we celebrate those who have gone before us in the faith and have led the way for us. There is a lot of medieval superstition and unnecessary secular/un-biblical traditions that have arisen concerning these days. As an example we need look no further than the secular notion of Halloween in the USA or something like Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) in Latin American Cultures. The traditional holy days, like every religious holiday have been hijacked by the secular culture. However, we in the Protestant church also believe that the Catholic Church has gone too far and that there was a lot of synchronization in the medieval period that even they have lost the original meaning. We can see this by the fact that there are two days--All Saints and All Souls. Nov. 1st was a time to honor those who were Saints, officially "beatified" by the Church, or those who add obtained heaven already. Whereas Nov. 2nd arose as a time to honor and pray for those who were still stuck in Purgatory and maybe help them along on the path to heaven.

Ordinary Time Week 21

Psalm: Psalm 66:1-12 or Psalm 111
Old Testament:  Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
    or 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c
Gospel:  Luke 17:11-19
Epistle:  2 Timothy 2:8-15

I know we have been focusing on the Gospel readings the last few weeks, but I think we have had some compelling accounts from Jesus' life so I want to draw our attention to again. The Gospels are full of strange, compelling, and challenging stories. This week we have a story we have probably all heard before, but is interesting nonetheless. Each of Jesus' healing miracles are distinct, but this one in particular was probably a one-off situation. The most likely place for this story in the narrative of Luke is after chapter 9 where Jesus is rejected by a Samaritan village and changes his travel plans to skirt the area of Samara and is thus now traveling along its border with Galilee. Remember, in Luke, Jesus is on this journey to Jerusalem (the crucifixion in particular) and this account today is one of the last moments before he heads up to Jericho and then finally arrives at Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

In this episode, as Jesus enters into a village, most likely a Samaritan one, he is approached by 10 lepers. A few brief observations of the scene: first, notice the lepers stand far off and yell at Jesus. They were considered unclean by the Jews and had to keep the prescribed distance from everyone else, lest they spread their uncleanliness. Second, notice the fact that the lepers, at least one of whom was Samaritan, still followed the Mosaic Law. Finally, all the lepers recognize that Jesus is someone who could help them.

A word about the Samaritans, they were related to the Jews and as always is in these types of disputes, there were two competing views of their origins. The Samaritans themselves claimed they were descended from the northern tribes of Israel that survived the Assyrian conquest. They believed that they preserved the true faith of Israel handed down from Moses and the Patriarchs. Their scriptures only included a modified Pentateuch. And most importantly, and we see this in the gospels, they did not believe that Jerusalem was the central location of Yahweh worship. Rather, they believed that Mt. Gerizim, near shechem, was the place for God's temple. It is easy to see why the Jews and Samaritans did not get along. For starters, Jews believed Samaritans were a mixed race of the various people groups the Assyrians imported after the conquest. This was a fundamental problem for Jews who sought to maintain purity as the People of God. Additionally, the Jews believed that the Samaratians had incorporated other religious beliefs into their own and fundamentally altered what it meant to follow Yahweh.

Ok, with that in mind, we can see how profound and unusual it was for Jesus, a Jew, to be talking to Samaritans and what is more, lepers! These were definitely 2 groups to be avoided. But despite the perceived religious differences, Jesus still told them to go see a priest. He doesn't mention where or which group of priests. A normal Jew at the time would simply dismiss a Samaritan, but even if they were forced to interact with one they wouldn't put their two groups of priests on the same level.

This whole interaction reminds me of the scene in John 4 with the Samaritan women at the well. There Jesus and the women argue about which mountain, Gerizim or Jerusalem, was the Mountain of God. Jesus moved past the sectarian bickering to get at the need of the women, just like he does here with the lepers. And thus, all 10 lepers are healed, Jew and Samaritan. Although Jesus sent healed them, he still sent them to the priests, this was to follow the religious and social customs of being welcomed back into the life of the community. The trip to the priest was just to validate that the healing had occurred and thus heal them not only physically, but also relationally and emotionally as they would once again be able to join their friends and family in daily life.

One final point in the story. Luke uses an interesting word here to say that the lepers were healed when they were on their way to the priest. He says they were cleansed (katharizo) rather than healed (therapeo), his usual word. One of the definitions of this word could be "to pronounce clean in a Levitical Sense." (greekbible.com) his is significant not only because a Samaritan is involved, but also because of the nature of leprosy and the fact that this is one of the few times Jesus actually told people to go to a priest. Generally he had harsh things to say about the religious authorities.
 

The overarching theme in this story, like others in Luke, is that the foreigner or outsider became the unlikely hero who recognized who Jesus was. It began at his birth, with the shepherds attending to honor the occurrence. There is of course the story of the Prodigal Son, found only in Luke, the parable of the Good Samaritan, Zaccheus the tax collector, and other countless and nameless sick, leprous, poor, and the demon possessed who Jesus validated and heald. 

The message Luke is making is that Jesus' Gospel, or good news, is for everyone. Even the most unlikely individual can be welcomed! And this is definitely a message our modern ears need to hear, especially in this current political climate. So this week, may we be attentive to the Samaritans in our own lives who are ostracized or belittled. And may we be willing to extend the love of the Father as Jesus did by the power of the Spirit.

Grace and peace.

Ordinary Time Week 20

Psalm: Psalm 37:1-9 or Psalm 137
Old Testament: Lamentations 1:1-6
 or Lamentations 3:19-26 or Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Gospel: Luke 17:5-10
Epistle: 2 Timothy 1:1-14

I want today to turn our attentions toward the book of Lamentations this week. It is not a place we turn to very often. In fact, If we are not in the midst of mourning or tragedy, we would rather ignore it. Yet, Lamentations the book, and lament in general, have a place in the human condition and the liturgical life of the church. Just as a reminder, Lamentations is generally thought to have been written by Jeremiah, also known as the Weeping Prophet. However, like every "traditional author" in the Bible, this has been challenged in recent biblical scholarship.

Ordinary Time Week 19

Psalm: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 or Psalm 146 
Old Testament: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
  or Amos 6:1a, 4-7 
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

I am still trying to catch up with these posts and spend some time each week in the Lectionary texts. The beauty of the Lectionary is that it keeps us engaged in all areas of the biblical text each and every week. This week we have a clear theme that emerges across at least the two New Testament passages, and it is similar to last week: wealth is not the be-all-to-end-all. This ending pericope in Luke ch. 16 is actually the end of a whole section on wealth and it's potential pitfalls.

Ordinary Time Week 18

Psalm: Psalm 79:1-9 or Psalm 113
Old Testament: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
  or Amos 8:4-7
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

This week I will admit that I am not really inspired or coming up with any great insights in terms of the Scriptures this week. Sometimes that just happens. I have said before that often during Ordinary Time the Scripture readings seem to each go in a different direction and that is definitely true this week. So it will be a short post this week and I am just going to mention the Gospel reading, but definitely read all four passages if you have time.

Ordinary Time Week 17

Psalm: Psalm 14 or Psalm 51:1-10

Old Testament: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

 or Exodus 32:7-14

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Today in Luke we have two parables about losing things. Everyone hates to lose things, so Jesus picked a universal truth as an analogy for what he was teaching. I'm trying to think back to a time when I lost something that I couldn't just replace, like computer files, homework, my glasses, or a favorite jacket. There is always that moment of anxiety at the realization of what has occurred. I remember losing my glasses in Rome and thinking how am I going to see anything the rest of the semester! Luckily, they were right where I thought I had left them when were taking pictures.

Ordinary Time Week 16

Psalm: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 or Psalm 1 
Old Testament: Jeremiah 18:1-11
  or Deuteronomy 30:15-20 
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Epistle: Philemon 1-21

This Sunday I think the most appropriate thing to do is to talk about Philemon. The Epistle is so short it is only one chapter long. And you will notice that the reference from the Lectionary doesn't even give a chapter number. But to add insult to injury, the whole thing is only 25 verses, and the Lectionary doesn't even include the last four verses! So, I think when Philemon is read one time in the 3 year cycle, it ought to get its due.

Philemon was written by Paul at some point when he was prison, the consensus date among scholars is some time around 60 AD. If you follow New Testament and specifically Pauline scholarship, then you know that the authorship of virtually every book has been questioned and in certain cases the consensus has become that Paul did not in fact right a letter bearing his name. Saying that however, Philemon is one Epistle where it is generally agreed that Paul did indeed write this letter. There are numerous reasons for this, but they're  not that exciting, so I'll move on.

Ordinary Time Week 15

Psalm: Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Old Testament: Jeremiah 2:4-13
  or Proverbs 25:6-7 or Sirach 10:12-18
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
Epistle: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Welcome to another week of Ordinary Time. We will remain in Ordinary Time until Advent, and just a reminder, "ordinary" does not mean plain or worse secular, rather it comes from the Latin ordinal or counted. All time is God's time and it is important to remember that in the midst of this Ordinary Time.

Moving into our readings this week, In Luke we have another Sabbath story similar to last week. There are seven Sabbath stories in the Gospels and five of them are found in Luke. (2 unique ones not found in any other Gospel; John also has two unique to him.) Like last week, Jesus first healed an individual and then showed the pharisees how their hypocrisy blinded them from acts of mercy and love. Next however, he offers two short parables about dinner guests.

Ordinary Time Week 14

Psalm: Psalm 71:1-6 or Psalm 103:1-8

Old Testament: Jeremiah 1:4-10

 or Isaiah 58:9b-14

Gospel: Luke 13:10-17

Epistle: Hebrews 12:18-29

Today I am just going to say a few words concerning Jeremiah and Luke. First, in Jeremiah we have the calling of the prophet to his ministry by the Lord. Jeremiah is typical of the experience in the Old Testament: God calls, prophet protests their unworthiness, God reassures and sometimes equips or symbolically purifies the prophet (Isaiah and Jeremiah get touched on the lips, Ezekiel eats a scroll), finally there is the commissioning where the prophet is sent out with the summary of his message given (Ezekiel has a great example of this element in Ez. 3). Jeremiah's message, "To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant," (vs. 10) is repeated throughout his ministry and is a warning cry to God's people that justice and exile will come if the people don't change their behavior.

Ordinary Time Week 13

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 or Psalm 82

Old Testament: Isaiah 5:1-7

 or Jeremiah 23:23-29

Gospel: Luke 12:49-56

Epistle: Hebrews 11:29-12:2

We have a couple of enigmatic passages this week, of which the exact meaning of the text is not clear. In Hebrews, we have the ending of the "Chapter Of Faith," of which we read some of last week. In general, we can understand the argument he is making: "faith" is not something new that the followers of Christ in the Church are now proclaiming. In fact, the idea is present in the Hebrew Scriptures right back to the founding of Israel, exemplified in Abraham's obedience and even back to Abel in the creation narrative. The verses this week are one long et cetera, basically saying the list is so long that the author just had to wrap it up by saying, "you get the idea." But at the very end the author had this strange statement,

And all these [men and women of faith], having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. (11:39-40)

What does it mean that apart from us, (followers of Christ) the saints of the Old Testament are not complete? In others words, how are we now completing them long after they have died? I could understand it more if the text said Jesus completed them and through the cross perfected their relationship to the Father. But I just don't see what we have to do with it. So like I said, a little bit of a mysterious passage here. And sometimes we have to learn to live with mystery.

Ordinary Time Week 12

Psalm: Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 or Psalm 33:12-22

Old Testament: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

 or Genesis 15:1-6

Gospel: Luke 12:32-40

Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

I am still a few weeks behind, but I am still plugging away and posting when I can. This week I mostly want to focus on the reading from Isaiah. My NASB Bible heads this section as, "God has had enough." That alone should make us pause and wonder what was so bad that even God got tired of it. The answer unfortunately, was that God was tired of Israel's dry and performative sacrificial worship system. It had become entirely void of any meaning and God's Laws no longer had any say on how the people lived. I have a note in my Bible from a class in college under this section that says Israel had become "worship addicts." They were addicted to performing the ceremonies and the rituals but they no longer wanted to follow the heart and intentions of the Covenant God had set up.

Ordinary Time Week 11

Psalm: Psalm 107:1-9, 43 or Psalm 49:1-12

Old Testament: Hosea 11:1-11

 or Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23

Gospel: Luke 12:13-21

Epistle: Colossians 3:1-11

This week I was struggling to find a common theme across the passages, knowing of course during Ordinary Time the passages don't always relate. But by the time I got to Colossians something stood out. The text reads, "set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." (Col. 3:2) In Colossians, Luke, and Hosea the overwhelming idea is that God must be the first thing in one's life.

Looking at Hosea first, we have a negative image of what happens when this isn't the case. By the time of Hosea, Israel and Judah were on the wrong path of disobedience and breaking the Covenant of the Lord. As we saw last week with Hosea's wife and children's names, Hosea was calling the people to repent. We of course know that didn't happen and conquest and exile would come to each nation. The first half of Hosea chapter 11 is Hosea pointing out how God kept reaching out to his people, yet they kept turning away. Over and over the refrain is, "I [God] did ______, but they [Israel] did______." (vs. 10) The text doesn't quite say that the exile could have been prevented if the people had just followed after God alone, but Hosea does offer an image of the future when the relationship will be restored. In this future vision, Israel "will follow the Lord; He will roar like a lion." This was a reality that never fully came to fruition, but it remained the ideal for the People of God.

Moving into Luke, we read the parable of the rich man who produced so much wealth he decided he needed to build a bunch of barns and storehouses to keep his crops. The man was so pleased and said to himself, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry." (vs. 19) But in his greed he forgot where his priorities should lie according to the Covenant of the Lord. That very night, the man died and Jesus left his audience with the question of who now will own what the man has prepared? It certainly won't do the rich man any good! The implications are that the man was not going to go to Paradise with the righteous. The final line of the pericope ties this story to the other passages, "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (vs. 21) The meaning is clear, we have a higher calling and goal in this life. We can't be short-sighted and focused only on earthly treasures.

Finally, as I mentioned, Col. 3:2 reads, "set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." Paul is making some really dense arguments in this chapter concerning a number of topics, but for our purposes today, when Paul says "set your minds on things above," he doesn't mean cloister ourselves together in a holy circle. Rather, he goes on to list a bunch of characteristic we shouldn't have, followed by ones we should posses. He writes,“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” (vs. 12-14) Our view of eternity and Life Everlasting in the Kingdom dictates how we are to live our lives now, day in and day out.

The scripture is full of exhortations of this kind. Our relationship to Christ affects how we are to live. Thanks be to God that we don't do this on our own. We are both in Christ, and have his Spirit in us. Let us seek to live like Christ each and every day and follow him as we seek the things above.

Grace and peace.

Ordinary Time Week 10

Psalm: Psalm 85 or Psalm 138

Old Testament: Hosea 1:2-10

 or Genesis 18:20-32

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

Epistle: Colossians 2:6-15, 16-19

Happy Sunday to everyone. The heat of the summer is upon some parts of the country I hear, although San Diego remains nice and this week I was on vacation in Yosemite. John Muir said many memorable things about Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but I came across this new one for me, "God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild." We can all recognize the beauty in places like Yosemite. But Muir understood that in nature, unmarred by human exploitation, beauty can be found everywhere. God's creation shouts the wonders of his power, but also the depths of his love and the extent of free agency he has given his creation, not least of all humanity. There are a lot of Psalms that express this sentiment, but unfortunately Psalm 85 is not one of them. So I will skip over it, but it for the record it appears to be a Psalm from the Post-Exilic period praising God for restoring his people.

Ordinary Time Week 9

Psalm: Psalm 52 or Psalm 15

Old Testament: Amos 8:1-12

 or Genesis 18:1-10a

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42

Epistle: Colossians 1:15-28

The passage I want to look at today is the Gospel reading, since we discussed it last week as well with the parable of the Good Samaritan. This story of Mary and Martha follows that parable and interestingly, Bethany, where they lived, is on that same road between Jerusalem and Jericho where the Good Samaritan took place.

So the question I have to ask is why does Luke place this account right after the Good Samaritan? First, you will recall that the Good Samaritan was about the most unlikely of heroes imaginable, a good-for-nothing Samaritan, loving his neighbor and thus fulfilling Torah. The Kingdom of God was expanding to include those the Jews had rejected, but God hadn't. That springboards us into the account of Mary and Martha where it is not a racial separation, but one of gender.

Oridnary Time Week 8

Psalm: Psalm 82 or Psalm 25:1-10
Old Testament: Amos 7:7-17
  or Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Epistle: Colossians 1:1-14

Today we have the very timely parable of the Good Samaritan in our Gospel reading from Luke. The funny thing about this story is that although it was timely when Jesus spoke the words, I don't think there has ever been a time in human history when this parable didn't need to be spoken to a group of people. Right off the bat, we have to say just how radical this message is. Humanity is inclined in our very nature to define who is in and who is out. We are predisposed to set up boundaries, groups, and families, and then to war and oppose whoever we deem to be outside our group.

Ordinary Time Week 7

Ordinary Time Week 7

Psalm: Psalm 30 or Psalm 66:1-9

Old Testament: 2 Kings 5:1-14

 or Isaiah 66:10-14

Gospel: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Epistle: Galatians 6:1-6, 7-16

I want to do something a little different this week from my normal post. As I was reading Gal. 6 I stopped short at the words in verse 17, "From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus." The "brand-marks" of Jesus Paul wrote. I don't think I have ever heard this passage preached on, nor do I recall ever reading it, although of course I have. The word for "brand-marks" in Greek is stigmata: a word that I always thought referred to the phenomenon of having Jesus' five wounds appear on a believer. In the Middle Ages, and even today, experiencing "Stigmata" is seen by some to be a sign of blessing from God on a prophet.

Ordinary Time Week 6

Psalm: Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 or Psalm 16

Old Testament: 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

 or 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21

Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

Epistle: Galatians 5:1, 13-25

In reading these passages today I was struck by one strange detail from the Gospel of Luke: in verse 51 it says that Jesus knew the time of his Ascension was near. It is strange that the Ascension takes center stage at this point, even over the crucifixion, death, or resurrection. But before we ponder over that detail, let's first take a look at the verse as a whole and what is happening in this passage. Verse 51 is classic Luke and is found in no other Gospel. Jesus 'sets his face toward Jerusalem' the text reads. The author of Luke is focused on Jerusalem more than the other Gospels and Luke also presents Jesus on a journey towards a goal--the Passion Week. In Acts as well Luke presents the church, through the various evangelists, as on a journey.

Ordinary Time Week 5

Psalm: Psalm 42 and 43 or Psalm 22:19-28

Old Testament: 1 Kings 19:1-4, 5-7, 8-15a

 or Isaiah 65:1-9

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Epistle: Galatians 3:23-29

Today we continue the story of Elijah and Ahab. These two could star in a superhero comic book I think. Elijah would be the superhuman larger-than-life hero who can do no wrong. Ahab would be his archnemesis supervillain who even has the quintessential sidekick, Jezebel. Jezebel also plays the stereotypical beautiful seductress who does the supervillain's dirty work. It's hard for this imagery not to come across, for example, when Jezebel killed Naboth to get his vineyard for Ahab. (Ch. 21) But in today's episode, Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah because of the humiliation Elijah had just brought to the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. (We read that last week, but just in case you forgot, that was when Elijah built an altar and poured water all over the sacrifice and the Lord burned it up, while the sacrifice to Baal remained fire-free.) Supervillains always make the mistake of giving people warning before their evil plans in the comics and so did Jezebel. This warning allowed Elijah time to escape to Mt. Horeb. It is there that one of the most famous theophanies occurred: Elijah is met by God in the gentle "gentle blowing," rather than in the windstorm, earthquake, or fire. (1 Kings 19:11-12)

Ordinary Time Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 5:1-8 or Psalm 32

Old Testament: 1 Kings 21:1-10, 11-14, 15-21a

 or 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15

Gospel: Luke 7:36-8:3

Epistle: Galatians 2:15-21

This week we have four really good passages. Each one really deserves their own series of posts. I hope you have time to read all of the passages this week. I am actually going to say a few words about each passage which is something I haven't done in quite awhile.

Ordinary Time Week 3

Psalm: Psalm 146 or Psalm 30
Old Testament: 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24) or 1 Kings 17:17-24 
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
Epistle: Galatians 1:11-24

Today we have two contrasting stories of two widows and their respective children being raised from the dead. The first incident involves Elijah and a widow from Sidon. You may remember the story: she was on her way to cook her last meal for her and her son when Elijah stopped her and asked for water and bread. The customs surrounding hospitality demanded that the women help the visitor, yet the reason Elijah was even in Sidon was because of a major drought in the region. Despite the women only having enough for one last meal, on the promise from Elijah that she will have enough to get her through the drought, she brought Elijah the water and bread. You'll probably remember that Elijah ended up staying with the women for the remainder of the drought and her flour and oil never ran out.

Ordinary Time Week 2

Psalm: Psalm 96 or Psalm 96:1-9

Old Testament: 1 Kings 18:20-21, 22-29, 30-39

 or 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

Epistle: Galatians 1:1-12

Today is the start of Ordinary Time proper. To repeat a point I said a few weeks ago, during Ordinary Time we have 4 scriptural passages that don't necessarily go together. So trying to find connections between them isn't always appropriate, but sometimes they may be present. Today is also Memorial Day (it is actually tomorrow, but some churches honor it on Sunday) in the USA and not surprisingly, the Lectionary doesn't consider that theme. The Lectionary is grander and more universal than one country and one time-period. So although it is appropriate to honor secular holidays, the Lectionary constantly reminds and pulls us back into God's time and space.

Trinity Sunday

Psalm: Psalm 8
Old Testament: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 
Gospel: John 16:12-15
Epistle: Romans 5:1-5

Today is Trinity Sunday! Liturgically, it makes sense that after we celebrate the life of Christ throughout most of the year, leading up to his Ascension and then the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that now we would celebrate and recognize God as fully Father, Son and Spirit. So although it makes sense to now celebrate the Trinity on a particular Sunday, it is unique for the Lectionary to celebrate a theological doctrine. There are not Sunday's dedicated to the atonement, freewill, or eschatology (end-times). In reading a little bit about the development of Trinity Sunday it appears that a church service was created around the time of the Arian heresy to counter the anti-Trinitarian doctrine Arius was espousing. This was sometime around 300 AD, so relatively early in Church history, and roughly contemporary with the first Council of Nicea in 325 which was convened to deal with questions surrounding the Arian controversy. You can find a good history and primer on this information in any good encyclopedia or by just reading some Wikipedia articles. They are pretty decent and succinct.

Pentecost Sunday

1st Reading

 Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9

 Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

2nd Reading

 Romans 8:14:-17 or Acts 2:1-21

Gospel

 John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Happy Pentecost Sunday! Pentecost is one of the few holidays that Christians and Jews still celebrate with the same name. Easter (the day after Passover), Christmas, epiphany, the Ascension, are all distinctly Christian. Pentecost however, is counted the same for Jews and Christians. Indeed, Jesus' disciples were celebrating Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on them and changed the meaning of the observance for Christ's followers. The question I want to try an answer today is, why did the Holy Spirit come on Pentecost? Was there something significant about that day in the Jewish life we can gain some insight from?

Ascension Sunday

Psalm: Psalm 47 or Psalm 93

Acts: Acts 1:1-11

Gospel: Luke 24:44-53

Epistle: Ephesians 1:15-23

Today is Ascension Sunday! In case that needs defining, the Ascension of Jesus is when, after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to be with the Father. Traditionally, this is always celebrated on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter. (Acts 1:3) The moment of the Ascension is only directly recounted in Acts ch. 1, although Luke briefly states that Jesus was carried into heaven at the end of his Gospel. But despite the sparsity of direct references, the event is taken for granted in Jesus' later depictions in the New Testament as sitting beside the Father in heaven. Indeed, no other text gives any other explanation for Jesus return to heaven other than the one Luke offers.

Easter Week 6

Psalm: Psalm 67
Acts: Acts 16:9-15

Gospel: John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9
Epistle: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

Our verses from Acts 16 this week concern the first converts on the European continent. Paul received a vision from a Macedonian man asking him to come to them and preach the Gospel. The group had intended to continue traveling and ministering in Asia Minor, but instead got on a boat and headed towards Greece. Their first stop was Philippi and an interesting thing occurred, rather than going to a synagogue on the Sabbath, as was their custom in other cities, they went outside the city by a river. In Paul's other stops their first visit was always the local synagogue. He wasn't always well received by the Jews, but he did try to persuade them to follow Jesus. Indeed, at one stop on his first missionary journey at Pisidian Antioch, his first Saturday at the synagogue was meet with enthusiasm by the Jews and they invited Paul to speak the following week. But the next week a large group of Gentiles showed up as well, and out of jealousy, the Jews chased Paul and his companions away and were no longer receptive to his message.