Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 15, 2018

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1506-1507), oil painting by Andrea Solario (c.1465-c.1520). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Click image to enlarge.)

King David, now reigning over the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, celebrates at the arrival in Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covenant. This shrine that the people had built in the desert as a holy throne for God was a central part of Israel’s worship. Its arrival was met with great celebration, music and dancing; David himself leaped and danced with all his might. In one curious, verse, though, we hear that David’s wife, Michal, saw him dancing and “despised him in her heart.” What was up with that? Later verses suggest that Michal, the daughter of Saul and sister of Jonathan, both of whom had recently died, didn’t think that David was decently dressed during his dance in front of all the people of Israel.

First Reading (Track Two): Amos 7:7-15

As the Prophet Amos and John the Baptist both learned, prophesying can get you in trouble, even when you’re just repeating God’s message. Amos, a humble shepherd and sycamore tender, never expected to become a prophet. But he responded when God called him to warn Israel’s leaders that their God had measured them and found them wanting. When Amos warned King Amaziah to expect destruction and exile, the angry King told Amos to get out of his sight, to go back where he came from. Amos learned, as John the Baptist would discover some six centuries later, that prophecy was dangerous and could get him killed. But both heard God’s call and could not refuse.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 24

Today’s Psalm, one of the many that tradition attributes to King David himself, is thought to have been intended as a processional chant as the priests and congregation approach the Temple. The priest calls out, “And who shall stand in his holy place? Who has the right to come in and worship? “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,” the crowd sings back, awaiting the protection of God, the King of Glory, creator of the earth and all that is in it. (We’ll hear this Psalm again on All Saints Day this year.)

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 85:8-13

This beautiful Psalm segment offers a gentle pause between the anger in Amos and the violence of John the Baptist’s death. God will speak peace to the people; the faithful people will hear peace. When Heaven and earth meet in truth and righteousness, righteousness and peace share a tender kiss. God grants prosperity and a fruitful harvest, truth springs up, and righteousness goes before.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

After almost two months with Second Corinthians, our second readings now turn for the next six weeks to the letter to the Ephesians. A letter most likely written to the people of Ephesus in Paul’s name by a later follower around the end of the first century, it speaks to an early Christian community that faced persecution. Some of its chapters include “difficult” passages (which we won’t hear in our readings this year) that urge wives to submit to their husbands and slaves to obey their owners. Today’s reading, though, from the introductory verses, focus on grace as God’s free gift through Jesus. We also catch a glimpse of an evolving theology that Christ was present with God even before the creation of the Earth.

Gospel: Mark 6:14-29

When evil King Herod learned about the healings and miracles that Jesus and his apostles were performing up in Galilee, he was likely both angry and afraid. In a quick Gospel flashback, Mark recalls the gory story about Herod, at the insistence of his new wife and her daughter, ordering John beheaded and his head brought in on a platter. Now that rumors are swirling about Jesus and his activity in Galilee, people are wondering if Jesus is John, brought back to life. Herod is afraid. “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 8, 2018

Jesus commissioning the Twelve Apostles (1481), fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494). Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

David has mourned the deaths of King Saul and Saul’s son Jonathan, David’s beloved friend. Now David is called by all the tribes and elders to be formally anointed king over all Israel: both the Northern Kingdom with its capital at Hebron, and Judah, the Southern Kingdom, where Jerusalem is the capital. The elders, who had sworn fealty to Saul, now pledge loyalty to David, recognizing that God had called him to be shepherd over Israel. David was to reign for 40 years, becoming greater and greater and earning for Jerusalem the title “City of David.”

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 2:1-5

It’s frustrating when we have something to say, but people won’t listen. It doesn’t feel good, does it? Hold this thought as we hear Sunday’s Track Two readings, as each connects in some way with this spiritual challenge. In our first reading, God calls Ezekiel to prophesy to Israel, an impudent and stubborn people who have rebelled against God. They may choose to hear or not to hear, Ezekiel is told; but he is to speak truth so they will know that they have heard a prophet.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 48

Our Psalm echoes the founding narrative of Israel’s kingdom in Jerusalem, Royal David’s City, where the first temple would be built atop Zion, God’s holy mountain. The Psalmist sings praise to the greatness of God, who placed the city of the great king on the lofty hill of Zion, the very center of the world. Let the kings of the earth who might march on Zion in hope of conquest look and be astounded, the Psalmist sings. Let them writhe and tremble and run away, for God has established this citadel forever.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 123

Traditionally understood as a “song of ascent” as the priests and people go up to the Temple in formal procession, Psalm 123 calls on our merciful God to hear the peoples’ prayer. They have suffered the contempt, scorn and derision of the indolent rich – something like Israel’s “one percent” as seen from their lowly state. Now they lift up their eyes to God enthroned in the heavens, asking for mercy.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

This passage is the last of seven readings that we have heard this summer in Second Corinthians. These verses are framed by Paul’s angry and sarcastic dissertation about a group of missionaries that he calls “super-apostles,” who apparently came to Corinth after he left, bringing ideas differing entirely from his own. Bible historians and theologians aren’t sure what Paul means about the “third heaven” or the unknown “thorn” that troubles him. But the ambiguity ends when he makes his point: Through prayer and reliance on God’s grace through Christ, we all can struggle successfully, despite our weakness, to endure hardships that come from both within and without.

Gospel: Mark 6:1-13

Growing crowds have been following Jesus around Galilee as he teaches and heals, and now they follow him back home to Nazareth. His old neighbors and friends are astounded at first, too, by his teaching and preaching in the synagogue. But then they remember that they know this guy. He’s the carpenter’s son! What makes him so high and mighty? Indeed, Jesus said, prophets are not without honor except in their home town. Then he sends out his followers, two by two, to tell the good news, but he warns them to expect more of the same. Don’t dress up, he says. Don’t act special. If people won’t welcome you for the word you bring, move on down the road until you find people who will.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 24, 2018

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1695), oil painting by Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630-1708). Indianapolis Museum of Art. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 or 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16

The Track One lectionary offers two options this Sunday: The familiar story of the battle between young David and the Philistine giant Goliath; or the less familiar story that follows it, telling of the ominous encounter between King Saul and David after Goliath was slain. Both narratives build toward David’s rise to become King, and jealous Saul’s inclination to kill David before he can assume the crown. We stay with Saul, David and Solomon through August, before our First Testament readings turn to an anthology of wisdom including Proverbs, Job, Esther and Ruth.

First Reading (Track Two): Job 38:1-7,34-41

Even in times of chaos and fear, God remains with us. Surely we are all familiar with the trials of Job, tested by God at the urging of the adversary, retaining his faith in spite of horrifying tests that would break even the strongest. Now, nearing the end of the book, Job, finally gets his wish that God come out of hiding and listen to him. But God, speaking out of a whirlwind with power and might, sets Job in his place with words like thunderbolts: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” Job quickly repents; and at the end his fortunes are restored.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 9:9-20 or Psalm 133

A passage from Psalm 9, accompanying the David and Goliath reading, gives thanks to God who protects the people in time of trouble and oppression; who never forsakes those who seek protection in God’s name. We heard Psalm 133, which goes with the reading about David and Saul, just after Easter. It celebrates the joy of living in unity, using the luxurious metaphor of anointing with fine oil so abundantly that it runs down one’s hair and beard.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32

This beautiful hymn of praise to a God of mercy who protects us in peril sets a pitch-perfect tone for today’s Gospel story about Jesus stilling the storm. The psalmist remembers an event when a storm came upon some travelers whom God had redeemed, who had gone down to the sea in ships. When they cried out to God, the storm gave way to calm. They arrived safely on the shore, and we are called to join them in thanks and praise to a loving God who protects us from peril and delivers us from distress.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

The theme of this letter rests on Paul’s effort to reconcile and restore good relations after a period of trouble and anger in the church in Corinth. Paul himself has suffered many things for following in Jesus’ way, he writes: beatings and prison, hunger and sleeplessness, riots and more. If he doesn’t mention storm and shipwreck, we know that Paul endured those trials, too. Through all difficulties, he urges the people to remember that God is with us. Open wide our hearts and accept God’s love.

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

We continue to follow Jesus and the apostles through his ministry as told by Mark, following him now from the Jewish territory on the west side of the Sea of Galilee across the deep lake to Gentile country on the other side. This sets the scene for the beloved Gospel story of Jesus calming the stormy waters to save the ship. This time, though, pay particular attention to the reactions of the apostles. They are terrified! Jesus doesn’t seem to know that they are in deadly danger. Does he even care that they are scared? And then, after all is calm, they are awestruck by the discovery that Jesus really did have power to still the storm.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 17, 2018

The Sower (1850), oil painting on canvas by Jean François Millet (1814-1875). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Click image to enlarge.)

Saul, named king of Israel amid great hopes, hasn’t worked out. In fierce and bloody verses just before this reading, God had ordered Saul to gather an army and attack the neighboring Amalekites, utterly destroying all that they have and killing all their people and livestock. But against God’s command Saul spared the king and kept the best spoils for himself. Now God regrets having made Saul king, and rejects him. In today’s reading God sends Samuel to Bethlehem to find the next king from the sons of Jesse. Much to everyone’s surprise, God passes over seven strong, handsome sons to choose the youngest, David.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 17:22-24

It is only a few days until the Summer Solstice, and all nature has turned green and lush at last. How fitting that many of Sunday’s readings touch on planting, growing, and new life! Much of the prophet Ezekiel’s writings are filled with angry recriminations to a people in exile, but today’s passage looks forward more gently toward a restored Israel, using the metaphor of a mighty cedar, a lofty tree that provides nesting space for birds and shade for many creatures. The prophet’s words offer an inspiring reminder that, with God’s help, a mighty tree can grow from a sprig. In the beauty of creation, we know that God is good.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 20

Fitting with the militaristic theme of Israel’s kings and their call to holy war against their neighbors, the Psalm for Sunday’s Track One option is understood as a prayer for victory, a blessing before battle, calling on God to defend the people, send help and strength, accept their offerings and advance their plans. Rather than trusting in chariots and horses, the people call on the name of God to give victory to Israel’s king.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 92:1-4,11-14

Echoing the promise in our first reading of the mighty cedar that grows from a sprig, this Psalm of praise and thanksgiving sings of mighty trees, too – cedars of Lebanon and lofty palms – standing for those who grow and flourish under God’s nurturing care. Through righteousness, justice, and faith in God’s loving kindness, we hope to remain ripe and fruitful all our lives.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-17

The metaphor of growth and fruitful harvest doesn’t jump right out at us in these verses from Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, but look closely and perhaps we can catch a glimpse of it in the last verses: When we choose to live in Christ, our lives change. Just as the leaves fall in autumn and our flowers and gardens die, only to return full of life in the spring, everything that is old passes away in Christ’s new creation. Everything becomes new for us again in the life we gain through Jesus.

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

Like so many of Jesus’ parables, the two featured in Sunday’s Gospel draw metaphors from seeds and sowing, tiny beginnings that grow up to yield food from the earth. But something more is happening here: These are the first of 18 parables in Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus tells stories that hint at the nature of the Kingdom of God. “The Kingdom is like” is surely the most frequent introductory phrase in the Gospel. Here, too, begins another recurring theme in Mark: Jesus tells mysterious parables that intentionally disguise his mission, and he tells his followers to keep his healings secret. Was Jesus’ call for a Kingdom of God, a kingdom that might replace Roman rule, too dangerous an idea to bring up in public?

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 10, 2018

Garden of Eden (1530), painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). In the foreground: Prohibition of God to Adam and Eve, in the middle ground: Creation of Adam, the Fall, Discovery of the Fall, the Expulsion from Paradise. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 8:4-20,11:14-15

This reading may at first appear to be an obscure passage from Israel’s early history, but it marks a significant turning point: Having settled in the Promised Land under the guidance of judges (temporary military leaders), the nation now faced rising difficulties with corrupt judges, including the prophet Samuel’s own sons, who had taken bribes. The people clamored for a king to lead them in the manner of their neighboring nations. Samuel opposed this idea, declaring that God was Israel’s king. But with God’s direct guidance, Samuel finally gave in and named Saul king; but Samuel warned that the people would come to regret it.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 3:8-15

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God forbade, they suddenly realized that they were naked. Then they realized that they had defied God’s command. No wonder they were scared! They covered their bodies and hid. When God found them, they blamed each other, and they blamed the snake. What would have happened if they refused to take the fruit? Would the bible have ended just like that, Adam and Eve living happily ever after in Eden? But Adam and Eve did disobey God and lost their home in the garden. Bear in mind, though, that God came out of the garden with them, and stayed with a people of free will and belief through all the ages.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 138

Even from on high, God cares for the lowly. This lovely Psalm of thanksgiving praises God and exults in gratitude that God stays with us when we are in trouble, and answers us when we call. In words that echo the familiar verses of the beloved 23rd Psalm, we remember that God keeps us safe even when we walk in the midst of trouble and that God’s strong hand protects us from our enemies.

Psalm: (Track Two): Psalm 130

We hear this Psalm of hope in God’s redemption now and then in Lent; and it is often chosen, albeit less frequently than Psalm 23, as a Psalm for use in the burial of the dead. Titled “De Profundis” (“out of the depths”), it reminds us that we wait in hope for God’s love and grace even in times of grief, pain and despair, . Even in death we await the resurrection, as in night’s darkest hours we wait for morning light.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Do not lose heart, Paul tells the Christian community of Corinth, even though we may feel as if we are living a life of affliction and wasting away in our fallen world. That anguish is only momentary in God’s greater intent: God raised Jesus from the dead, and God will raise us, too, Paul writes. The pain that we feel today is only passing. Through God’s grace we will come to live forever in God’s glory beyond all measure.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35

Last Sunday we saw Jesus rouse the anger of the Pharisees when he healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Now, accompanied by a huge, excited crowd that has been following him, he’s in trouble with his family and neighbors. The neighbors think Jesus has gone crazy, or is possessed by a demon, which in those times amounted to the same thing. His mother and brothers come out to talk to him, but his reply probably did not make his family happy: He tells them that his followers are his family now, with work to do in a broken world full of sinners.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 3, 2018

Christ heals the man with paralyzed hand (c.1180). Byzantine mosaic in the Cathedral of Monreale, Palermo, Sicily. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our liturgy now moves into the long season after Pentecost. For six months we will walk with Jesus and the apostles, hearing Mark’s Gospel narrative of Jesus’ early ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross. During this season we have a choice of two “tracks” of Lectionary readings for first reading and the Psalm. Sunday’s first reading for Track One, which we also heard after Epiphany earlier this year, tells us of the young prophet Samuel, puzzled by a mysterious voice that calls him in the night that he eventually discerns as God’s call.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Sunday’s Track Two first reading foreshadows the Gospel with a passage about Sabbath from the First Testament’s “other” Ten Commandments narrative: not the familiar version in Exodus but a somewhat more extended list in Deuteronomy. While the Exodus version tells us to rest on the seventh day because God rested on the seventh day after the creation, this commandment is more nuanced: Because the people were once slaves who never had rest until God brought them out of Egypt, all creatures should rest and give thanks on the Sabbath – all the family, resident aliens, even slaves, and all the family livestock as well.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

We heard this Psalm on the second Sunday after Epiphany. Now we repeat it on the second Sunday after Pentecost. God knows us as intimately as the potter knows his clay, the Psalmist sings. God knows our every thought, whatever we are doing, wherever we are; God knows every word that we speak and every idea that we imagine. Even before we were born, God knew us.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 81:1-10

This song of praise and joy to God who led the people out of Egypt imagines an orchestra of ancient instruments ringing out in exultation. Sing with joy, it shouts; raise a song with timbrel, harp, lyre, and ram’s horn to accompany the people’s voices in praise of God who heard the people’s voices and came to save them. Recalling the first commandment, we recall, “There shall be no strange god among you … I am the Lord your God.”

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

We will spend six weeks hearing passages from Paul’s second letter to the Christian community in Corinth, Greece. This shorter letter – actually several short epistles later combined in a single volume – was written several years after the first, and it follows what Paul calls “a painful” return visit with this beloved but often argumentative community. In this portion (perhaps the last of the letters), that quarrel seems behind them, and Paul offers beautiful words of encouragement for hope after despair and survival after loss. Death may come, as it did to Jesus, but life flourishes in us through the glory of God that makes the life of Jesus visible in our mortality.

Gospel: Mark 2:23-3:6

These two short narratives from early in Mark’s Gospel set a theme that will recur through Mark and through the Gospels: Jesus is not afraid to challenge authority, and Jesus has little patience for rote obedience to the rules – specifically rigid Pharisaical interpretations – when a practical need makes it more sensible to bend or ignore them. So we see Jesus and the disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry; then Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, as the Pharisees look on with angry horror and begin plotting ways to destroy him.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.