Pentecost 7C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for July 3, 2016

Greek Orthodox icon of the 70 apostles.

Greek Orthodox icon of the 70 apostles.

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14

In the time of the Kings, the Arameans and Israel were enemies. So Naaman, an Aramean military leader, must have been wary when his servant suggested that he go to Israel to heal his leprosy. But leprosy was a terrible disease, disfiguring and contagious; its victims were ritually unclean. So Naaman complied, but then the prophet Elisha wouldn’t even see him, sending a servant with advice that sounded too simple to be true. But Naaman’s servants urged him to try Elisha’s proposed sevenfold bath in the Jordan, and just like that, Naaman was cured.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 66:10-14

In the final chapter of Isaiah, the people have returned from exile to Jerusalem, full of joy at the return but facing the hard work of rebuilding the city and a new Temple. It is a time for rejoicing, the prophet declares, and a time for healing. God will shower prosperity on the city, and, in beautiful language envisioning God as a loving mother, God will nurse and carry the people as a mother comforts her child.

Psalm 30

Can you imagine Naaman praying this beloved Psalm of thanksgiving for recovery from a grave illness? The Psalmist thanks God: ” I cried out to you, and you restored me to health.” Then he urges everyone, all of us who are God’s servants, to give thanks for all God’s gifts; to be thankful for an end to the sadness that often accompanies illness. We thank God for turning the weeping of those long dark hours of night into the celebration that comes at dawn, when our mourning turns to joyful dancing.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 66:1-8

Echoing the trust in God’s protective power that we heard in the Isaiah reading, the Pslamist calls on all the earth to be joyful in God and sing the glory of God’s name. Recalling how God protected the people of Israel escaping slavery in Egypt by turning the sea into dry land, the Psalm reminds us to sing in full voice to praise the God who protects us, making our voices heard.

Second Reading: Galatians 6:1-16

Our journey in Paul’s letter to the Galatians comes to an end today. We have heard Paul declare repeatedly that Christ’s message is for all humankind – Jew and Gentile, man and woman, slave and free. He has stood strong against opponents who argued for a more exclusive way. Now, his letter ends with a strong reminder not only to accept one another but to do as Jesus taught us: Share all good things , carry each other’s burdens, and in so doing, fulfill the law of Christ. In other words, love our neighbors as ourselves.

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

In last week’s Gospel, we heard Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” demanding that those who would follow him leave everything else behind. Now Jesus enlists a crowd to help him spread the Good News: He calls 70 followers to hurry through the countryside, “like lambs in the midst of wolves,” to tell villagers that the Kingdom of God is drawing near. Those who reject them, like the Samarian villagers in last week’s Gospel, are rejecting Jesus; those who welcome them are welcoming Jesus.

Pentecost 6C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 26, 2016

Christ Pantocrator

Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Byzantine style, from the Cefalù Cathedral, Sicily, c. 1131

First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14

The two books of Kings sum up the story of Israel’s kings from David’s time until the then-united kingdoms of Israel and Judah fell and their leaders went into exile. We’ve been following the journey of the prophet Elijah, chosen by God to speak truth to King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and to warn following kings that disaster lay ahead. Now Elijah is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot – you can see an interpretation of it in one or our church windows, back beside the organ – and his helper, Elisha, takes up Elijah’s mantle and mission.

First Reading (Track Two): 1 Kings 19:15-16,19-21

The two books of Kings sum up the story of Israel’s kings from David’s time until the then-united kingdoms of Israel and Judah fell and their leaders went into exile. As we join the narrative here, the prophet Elijah, who had been chosen by God to speak truth to Israel’s kings and to warn them that disaster lay ahead, was despairing because he feared death at the hands of his foes. But God gave him strength and sent him on with instructions to choose Elisha as his successor. Elisha hesitates – foreshadowing the reluctant followers in today’s Gospel – but he finds the will to come along.

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

Stormy metaphors of dark clouds, thunder, lightning and pouring rain fill this Psalm with images of a God whose mighty deeds shout out God’s great power and might. The Psalmist is troubled in the dark of the night, crying out untiringly, seeking comfort for his soul but refusing to accept it. But then he finds hope by reflecting on God’s power in the storm and remembering how God gently led the people out of slavery and protected them in the desert.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 16

Titled “Song of Trust and Security in God,” this Psalm is held by tradition to be a prayer of King David when he sought God’s protection and guidance. While those who follow false gods will just get themselves in trouble, the poet sings, by accepting God as “my portion and my cup,” his heart will be glad and his spirit will rejoice, knowing that God will not abandon him to the grave.

Second Reading: Galatians 5:1,13-25

Having assured the Galatians that we are all in one with Jesus, no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, Paul urges all to stand firm in faith and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to use the freedom that God gives us not to “bite and devour” one another but to accept the fruit of the Spirit in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

From now through the end of the Pentecost season, we will follow Luke’s account of Jesus’ long journey from his home in Galilee toward Jerusalem, his Passion and the Cross. As the journey begins, we see a side of Jesus that may surprise us with his seeming frustration and impatience. Is his command to come and follow him so urgent that disciples must leave the dead un-buried; is there really no time to bid their families farewell? Once Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” it seems, everything now focuses on bringing in the Kingdom. Nothing else is more important than that.

Pentecost 5C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 19, 2016

Mary with a jar of ointment.

Mary with a jar of ointment. Oil paint on oak panel by Jan van Scorel (1495–1552);
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-15

The prophet Elijah was bold and strong. He fought the priests of Baal, and he spoke truth to the power of evil King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Elijah was kind. He called on God to make a poor widow’s food last for months and restore her son to life. And at the end of his story , he is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Today, though, we see Elijah worn down and afraid of Jezebel’s revenge. At the brink of despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God sends winds, an earthquake and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 65:1-9

We near the end of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy, and the prophet has called on God to withhold God’s anger, even though the people have broken the covenant and behaved badly. God responds: Those who have been rebellious, who have provoked God’s anger, God will repay. But God will be just and righteous. “I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.” A remnant will remain to inherit Zion, God’s holy hill.

Psalm 42 and 43

Today’s connected Psalms speak in poetic language, filled with lamentation but ending at last in hope and faith. The Psalmist’s soul longs for God as a deer longs for water; his soul thirsts for God. But when faith falters, the Psalmist asks over and over why God has forgotten him. Finally, though, faith wins as he begs God to send out God’s light and truth, and lead him to God’s holy hill.

Psalm 22:18-27

In words that seem consistent with God’s response to Isaiah’s plea, today’s Psalm calls on God to stay close, to protect the people from danger, from the sword and from wild animals. All the congregation, praise the lord; let Israel stand in awe of God and know that God works justice and righteousness to all who seek and praise God, not least the hungry poor who seek God for protection and food.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

Paul continues laying out his argument for accepting Gentiles into the infant church without requiring them to strictly follow Jewish law. Gentiles are in no way second-class Christians, he proclaims: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Jesus. All of us are heirs to God’s covenant with Abraham.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Luke’s account of Jesus sending a man’s demons into a herd of pigs may seem a little strange to us, but it might have made Luke’s original audience laugh, with its allusions to the hated Roman army in the name of the demon, “Legion,” residing in a naked man living among tombs with swine. But consider the context of recent readings, and we suddenly see Jesus offering love and grace to a Roman centurion, a sinful woman, and now a ritually unclean man. Luke wants us to see clearly, as Paul did in Galatians, that God’s love is unlimited and available to all.

Pentecost 4C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 12, 2016

Mary with a jar of ointment.

Mary with a jar of ointment. Oil paint on oak panel by Jan van Scorel (1495–1552);
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

First Reading: 1 Kings 21:1-21a

The bible is filled with stories about evil people, perhaps to show us vivid examples of how not to behave. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel (whose very name has become an insulting term) surely rank among the nastiest, as we see in this shocking story of their plot to have Naboth killed so the king can steal Naboth’s vineyard and make it his garden. But rough justice soon is served, as an angry God summons the Prophet Elijah to warn Ahab that he faces a gory fate: dogs will lick up his blood.

First Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15

King David was Israel’s greatest leader, but like so many heroes in the bible, he was deeply flawed: he was an adulterer and a murderer, too, who had the beautiful Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle so he could have her for himself. But now God’s messenger Nathan tells David a story that tricks him into cursing and threatening with death a figure that turns out to be David himself. A merciful God spares David’s life, but Nathan foretells that the child of his illicit union shall die.

Psalm 5:1-8

In words that might remind us of wicked people like Ahab and Jezebel, the Psalmist calls for help, describing a God who hates wicked people, braggarts and liars, abhors evil and will destroy evildoers. “Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,” the Psalmist sings, promising to go into God’s house, bowing down in awe and hoping for God’s great mercy.

Psalm 32

Like many of the Psalms, this is traditionally attributed to David. It certainly would fit the part of a repentant king seeking God’s forgiveness after having been confronted with his terrible acts. As long as the Psalmist labored under guilt, he moaned and his bones withered under God’s heavy hand. Once forgiven, his heart leapt up, embraced by God’s mercy. Just as it was for David, so it can be for us: “Great are the tribulations of the wicked; but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord.”

Second Reading: Galatians 2:15-21

Paul continues his argument that Gentile converts to Christianity need not be bound by Jewish laws requiring circumcision, kosher dietary restrictions and other Old Testament purity codes, a requirement that surely would have discouraged new Christians! Pointing out that he himself died to the law so he might live to God, Paul insists that it is our new faith in Jesus Christ that saves us, not justification through following the former Jewish law.

Gospel: Luke 7:36 – 8:3

Pharisees were highly educated scholars and preachers, pillars of the synagogues, but – probably thanks to rowing tensions in the early church – the Gospels often portray them as argumentative, rules-bound hypocrites. Simon the Pharisee did invite Jesus to table fellowship. But when the “woman who was a sinner” comes in and anoints Jesus with the respect and love that the Pharisee had failed to show, it is she who earns his praise and forgiveness of her sins. Is this woman Mary Magdalene? The Gospel doesn’t specifically say so; but note that in the verses that conclude this Gospel, Magdalene has appeared as one of Jesus’s followers.

Pentecost 3C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 5, 2016

Elijah Resuscitating the Son of the Widow of Zarephath; painting by Louis Hersent.

Elijah Resuscitating the Son of the Widow of Zarephath; painting by Louis Hersent.

First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16

We meet the Prophet Elijah again, this week sent by God to travel outside Israel to a Gentile town called Zarephath. God assures Elijah that an elderly widow and her son will feed him. But this isn’t so easy. Zarephath is gripped by a drought, and the widow and her child are about to die from the famine; she is not at all eager to feed a man of different faith. With God’s help, though, a tiny portion of meal and oil is enough to feed them all and to last until the rains come. (In the following verses, the boy sadly dies anyway, but God answers Elijah’s prayer and revives him.)

Psalm 146

As we’ve noticed before, the six Psalms that conclude the Psalm book – the hymn book of the Temple in Jerusalem – ring out with resounding worship and praise. Pay particular attention to this Psalm’s sharp focus on God’s preferential care for those whom Jesus would call “the least of these”: The oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner; the blind, and “those who are bowed down.” And – echoing God’s care for the widow of Zerephath and her child – the stranger, the widow and the orphan.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-24

Picking up where we left off last week with Paul’s “astonished” response to the Galatians, Paul continues pushing back against other evangelizers who came to Galatia after he had left and taught a less inclusive Gospel, demanding that Gentile converts follow strict Jewish law requiring circumcision and dietary practices. Paul presents his credentials, recalling that he had been zealous in his Judaism but now proclaims Jesus to Jews and Gentiles alike, having received revelation directly from God.

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

Can we hear parallels between Elijah and the widow of Zarepeth and Jesus and the widow of Nain? Immediately after healing the centurion’s servant, Jesus goes to a nearby town and restores life to a widow’s son. Like the widow of Zarephath and the centurion, too, this widow responds to her son’s new life with joy and faith. She declares Jesus a prophet and a man of God, and the crowds that will follow Jesus throughout the Gospel continue to grow.

Pentecost 2C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 29, 2016

Christ Heals the Centurion's Servant

Christ Heals the Centurion’s Servant. Sebastiano Ricci, oil on canvas, 1726-29; The Prague National Gallery.

First Reading: 1 Kings 18:20-39

This Sunday we return to Ordinary Time, six months of liturgically green Sundays that last until Advent. We return to the Gospel of Luke where we left off before Easter, and follow Jesus’ life to the days before his last week in Jerusalem. Our First Testament readings move through Israel’s ancient history in 1 and 2 Kings to a tour of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah, followed by a quick sampler from other, minor prophets. Our New Testament readings will offer us the writings of Paul and other leaders of the early church in Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, and 2 Thessalonians. Today’s First Reading from 1 Kings tells the ancient story of the Prophet Elijah calling down God’s power to bring a wandering people back from their fascination with the pagan god Baal.

Psalm 96

The Lectionary usually chooses a Psalm to fit the spirit of the day’s other readings, and this exultant song of praise for God and God’s greatness fits in well with the 1 Kings account of Elijah demonstrating God’s power and might: God’s glory is declared among all the nations, not to Israel alone. God is great, God is greatly to be praised, and God “is more to be feared than all gods.” The gods of the other nations – surely including Baal of the Canaanites – are only idols.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:1-12

There’s trouble in Galatia, and Paul is righteously angry. Paul loved the people of this church, but after he moved on to his next mission, meddlers arrived with false teachings: a new and contrary gospel, confusing and perverting the Gospel of Christ that Paul had taught! Paul’s revelation came to him directly from Christ, he proclaims. Curse the false gospel and those who proclaim it! Watch this theme develop as we spend six weeks with Galatians.

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

Roman centurions appear several times in Luke’s Gospel and his Acts; and somewhat surprisingly they are regarded favorably, even though they were ranking officers in the hated, occupying Roman army. This event comes immediately after Jesus has taught love of neighbor in the Beatitudes. Perhaps Jesus’ recognition of this Roman’s faith shows the world that Jesus has come for all the nations.

Trinity Sunday C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 22, 2016

The Trinity in an illuminated initial D in a 13th Century French manuscript, the Wenceslaus Psalter.

The Trinity in an illuminated initial D in a 13th Century French manuscript, the Wenceslaus Psalter.

First Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

One of the fascinating threads in the beautiful tapestry of scripture is the image of God’s divine wisdom personified as a woman. At the moment of creation we see God the Creator, God’s creative Word and God’s Spirit breath moving over the waters to separate light from darkness and earth from sea. Wisdom is there, the book of Proverbs tells us in these poetic verses, and she cries out joy in the new world, delighting in God’s creation.

Psalm 8

Many of the Psalms are ancient hymns, sung in the Temple in Jerusalem. And just as we have a variety of hymns to express joy, sadness, praise, and prayer, the Psalms serve many purposes. Today’s psalm is all about praise: We lift our voices in joyful appreciation for the God who created this universe and everything in it. As we hear these verses today, remember that we must care for God’s creation even as we take pleasure in it.

Canticle 13

In place of a Psalm this week we sing Canticle 13, “A Song of Praise” – a litany of praise and exaltation to God as Creator and King. Remember the story of the three young men who danced and sang in defiance of the flames in King Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace? Protected by God, as told in Daniel and the apocryphal Song of Azariah, they walked unharmed through the fire, singing this hymn of praise to God and all creation. These final verses, added to the young mens’ song in Christian times, conclude the Canticle with resounding praise to the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5

Is Paul offering the dubious wisdom, “No pain, no gain”? Hardly. Paul is not saying that suffering is good, much less that God makes us suffer. Rather, Paul says we should rejoice in God’s grace in spite of our suffering. He was writing to a mixed congregation of pagan and Jewish Christians who often faced persecution in the generation after Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. He tells them that God’s love, poured into us through the Holy Spirit, provides the strength to hang on to hope even in the face of suffering.

Gospel: John 16:12-15

Today, Trinity Sunday, we hear one of the shortest Sunday Gospel readings in the Lectionary. But it is among the most powerful, in another passage from Jesus’s talk with the disciples at the Last Supper.There are things about God that we just can’t understand, Jesus tells his friends. But he also assures them that the Holy Spirit will be with them, as the Holy Spirit is with us: bearing the glory of Creator and Son, and guiding us all toward the truth.

Pentecost C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 15, 2016

A Maronite Christian icon depicting the first Pentecost.

A Maronite Christian icon depicting the first Pentecost.

First Reading: Acts 2:1-21

Come, Holy Spirit! It is Pentecost, and the Spirit – the Advocate that Jesus had promised that God would send to she apostles in his name – comes into the room in wind and tongues of fire. This is a noisy, exciting scene. We might interpret it as a reversal of humanity’s division into many languages at the Tower of Babel: every person in the crowd of spectators from many nations hears the apostles speaking in his or her own native tongue. Peter then preaches to the crowd in the apocalyptic words of the Prophet Joel, foretelling that God would pour out the Spirit on all God’s people in the last days.

Psalm 104:25-35, 37

We sing this resounding hymn of praise today, celebrating God as the creator of all the earth and everything that lives on it. God made all things great and small, even the countless creatures that live in the sea; even Leviathan, the great whale, which the Psalmist imagines that God made “for the sport of it.” God feeds all creation, in life and in death. May God rejoice in all creation as we rejoice in God. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”

Second Reading: Romans 8:14-17

In this short reading we see Paul sketching ideas that the early church would eventually work out as Trinity and proclaim in the Nicene Creed: God, Abba, the Father, sends God’s Holy Spirit to lead us to become children of God, with Jesus, the Son of God, with whom we suffer and through whom we are glorified.

Gospel: John 14:8-17, 25-27

Does the end of today’s Gospel sound familiar? We heard the ending verses just three weeks ago, when Jesus assured the apostles that God would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name, to guide them and remind them of all that Jesus taught. Now we hear the preceding verses, in which Jesus assures the apostles that Jesus dwells in God and God in Jesus: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” God has done God’s works through Jesus; and through the power of the Spirit, those who believe in Jesus may also do those works.

Easter 7C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 8, 2016

Farewell Discourse

Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse to his eleven remaining disciples, from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308–1311.

First Reading: Acts 16:16-34

Paul casts out a very irritating demon from a slave girl, but this angers her owners, who had made money from her “fortune-telling.” The owners have Paul and Silas flogged and thrown in jail, but a surely God-sent earthquake frees them. They reassure the jailer, who gratefully accepts baptism with his family. Now, think about how this echoes Jesus’ first sermon: Through Paul and the Spirit, captives are released, the oppressed go free, and the good news is proclaimed.

Psalm 97

This ancient song of praise envisions God as a mighty king who commands clouds and darkness, lightning and fire; a ruler so powerful that the earth itself is afraid. Recalling the history of the chosen people in warlike terms, it proclaims a righteous Lord who defeats the false gods of graven images, bringing joy to the cities and people of Judah.

Second Reading: Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21

Our quick tour through Revelation brings us to the book’s final verses. Jesus is coming back soon, prepared to enter the holy city, the New Jerusalem, where he will invite all those who have followed Jesus’ way. “Come. … let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

Gospel: John 17:20-26

As Jesus’ long final conversation with his apostles at the Last Supper concludes, his words become so poetic that it may seem hard to follow them at first. A deep connection of love unites the Father and Son, and, Jesus prays, is given also to the people of God: As Jesus and the Father are one, so will we all be one in God. As Jesus told us to love one another as he has loved us; now he asks the Father to love us as the Father has loved Jesus.

Easter 6C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 1, 2016

First Reading: Acts 16:9-15

An ancient Greek Orthodox icon of St. Lydia, wearing purple robes.

An ancient Greek Orthodox icon of St. Lydia, wearing purple robes.

As we move into the final weeks of Eastertide, our readings remind us that God’s love is for everyone, all earth’s nations and all earth’s people: Jesus did not come for only a chosen few. In our reading from Acts, we find Paul taking Jesus’ message into pagan Greece for the first time. He sees a man in a vision but, arriving in Macedonia, encounters a woman, Lydia, a wealthy and influential member of her community. Baptizing Lydia and her household, Paul begins the community that will become the church at Philippi, extending the Christian movement into Europe.

Psalm 67

This short but exuberant hymn shouts praise for God and all of God’s works, and asks for God’s blessing. All the earth knows God’s ways, the psalmist sings. Let all the world’s people praise God. God judges all the people fairly, and guides all the world’s nations. “May all the ends of the earth stand in awe of God.”

Second Reading: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

As we read into the final chapters of Revelation, we suddenly recognize that the New Testament is ending with a vivid description of the author’s vision of life at the end of time. The final judgement has come, and all God’s people from all nations have come together in peace. Even earthly kings now worship a higher king in a city that needs no temple, for God is its temple; the New Jerusalem is so brilliant in the graceful glow of the Lamb that it needs no other light.

Gospel: John 14:23-29

John’s account of Jesus’ Last Supper with his apostles extends through five full chapters. He tells them that must leave them, but tells them not to be afraid, assuring them that God the Father will come to them and Father and Son will be with them even when Jesus has gone away. The words that Jesus uttered just before his passion and crucifixion resonate with us again as the Ascension and Pentecost draw near: Jesus is going back to the Father, but they will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to guide the people in Jesus’ name. The people of God show our love by keeping Jesus’ word.