Posted
each Thursday, Lectionary Ruminations
focuses on the Scripture Readings, taken from the New Revised Standard Version,
for the following Sunday per the Revised Common Lectionary. Comments and questions
are intended to encourage reflection for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word.
Reader comments are invited and encouraged. All lectionary links are to the New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
of the Bible via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings
website, but if you
prefer another translation, feel free to use that instead. (Other references may
be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)
43:2 What waters is being
referred to? When Christians read this
passage in light of the Sacrament of baptism, are we misreading the Hebrew
Scriptures, or simply exercising Hebrew Midrash from a Christian perspective? I wonder how post Shoah Jews read and
interpret this passage.
43:3 PC(USA) Presbyterians:
Do not forget the opening lines of A Brief Statement of Faith. How was Egypt given as a ransom? Why the mention of Ethiopia and Seba?
43:4 I like the first part
of this verse, but the second part rubs me the wrong way.
43:5-6 Note that all four
cardinal directions are named.
43:6 Note that sons and
daughters are both mentioned, a rare inclusive verse!
43:7 Could this verse not
be used to argue for universalism? This
could provide for an interesting juxtaposition in relation to the exclusiveness
of Christian Baptism.
29:1 What does it mean to ascribe? How do we ascribe? What, or which, heavenly beings are addressed here?
29:2 Do you worship in holy
splendor? What does holy splendor look,
smell, sound, feel, and taste like?
29:3 What does the voice of
the LORD sound like? Would you recognize
it if you heard it? Being a sailor and
kayaker, I really like and relate to this verse. What if I was land locked and had never
experienced the ocean or other large body of water?
29:4 I think the LORD
deserves a contract as an announcer and/or commercial spokesperson.
29:5-9 Think of the scene/passage
in The Hobbit where Bilbo and the
dwarves find themselves amidst giants “hurling rocks at one another for a game,
and catching them and tossing them down into darkness where they smashed among
the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang.”
29:10-11 How do we
reconcile images of a storm god with peace?
8:14 Is the setting important? What if the apostles had been someplace else, other than Jerusalem, when they heard this news? Should it be that Samaria (not Samaritans?) had accepted the word of God? Why was James not sent?
8:15 Does this sound a
little judgmental to you?
8:16 Who is this verse
talking about? Why, in the NRSV, is this
verse in parenthesis?
8:17 What is so special
about the laying on of hands? Even though
this is the Epistle for Baptism of the Lord, Baptism is not mentioned in this
verse. Is it possible for a person or a
people to receive the Holy Spirit without being baptized?
3:15 What people? When was the last time people in the pews of
churches you know filled with expectation?
Why would people think John could be the Messiah?
3:16 What is so special
about the thong of a sandal? Is the
doublet “Holy Spirit and fire” merely poetic, or something more?
3:17 What is a winnowing
fork and what is it used for? What is a
threshing floor and what is it used for?
What is chaff? How do we preach
the Gospel in an urban environment where all people know about wheat is that
comes in five pound bags and they probably have no idea what the imagery of
this passage is communicating? Why was
chaff burned? Does this passage require the
existence of a fire filled hell?
3:21 Really? All the people? Do you think this is an exaggeration? What does it mean for heaven (singular, not plural)
to be opened? So the Holy Spirit was
someplace over the Jordan River, on the other side of earth from people along a
declination of plus or minus 180 degrees?
What is the meaning of “bodily form”?
Whose voice came from heaven and what did it sound like? Where and when might we hear this again?
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