Month: December 2017
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First Sunday after Christmas
[A liturgical note: Technically, when Christmas Eve is on a Sunday, and Christmas is on a Monday, we end up with no Sundays for Christmas. Technically, today is Epiphany, or rather, the Sunday before Epiphany, which is January 6. “January 7 through January 13, inclusive” is set aside for Baptism of the Lord. Then we […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion (Ephesians 4 1-16)
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, December 31, is Ephesians 4:1-16. Here are some questions we might get to in our class on this text: In v1, the author says he is “the prisoner in the Lord.” Later, he talks about the “bond of peace” (v3). Later, he talks about Christ “making captivity itself a […]
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Exegetical Exercise (Ephesians 4 1-16)
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, December 31, is Ephesians 4:1-16. Here are my notes on the text: Context: we usually think of the book of Ephesians as a letter, and it has some of the typical forms of a letter – a greeting, salutation, some thematic material, some instruction, and a conclusion. However, it […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion (Matthew 2 1-12)
Our* text for Sunday, December 24 (Christmas Eve!!) is Matthew 2:1-12. Here are some questions we might want to consider: What are the things we “already know” about this text? For instance, what are our memories of hearing it or learning it as children, or our expectations based on paintings or nativity scenes or re-enactments […]
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Christian Doctrine (19)
Here are my summary notes for Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr., Christian Doctrine, Chapter 19, “What’s Going to Happen to Us? The Doctrine of the Christian Hope for the Future,” which is also (just in time for Christmas) the final chapter in this series: We know we are going to die, and everyone we know is […]
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Exegetical Exercise (Matthew 2 1-12)
The text we’re studying this week is Matthew 2:1-12 – “the story of the wise men.” It is one of those texts that we think we already know. In fact, some of us might think we know it so well that we’re wondering “How can there be anything new in this?” since we’ve heard it […]
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Third Sunday in Advent
Three vignettes from the Third Sunday in Advent, here in our congregation: In our class discussion of Acts 14, we came to a conclusion: Luke is saying “the church is a community of dramatic new life.” So, think about the church today. Would we agree with that description? People in class said yes. “I’m happier […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion (Acts 14 8-11, 19-23)
On Sunday, December 17, we’ll be studying and discussing the Uniform Series text Acts 14:8-11, 19-23. The text includes the first part of a story about a healing miracle performed while Barnabas and Paul are preaching in Lystra, a city in Asia Minor; it then jumps to the conclusion of the story of Barnabas’ and […]
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Christian Doctrine (18)
These are my summary notes [and comments] on Chapter 18 of Shirley W. Guthrie, Jr.’s Christian Doctrine, “Living or Dead? The Doctrine of the Church”: Guthrie begins by observing how much people complain about the church. He agrees the church is “in trouble.” Church numbers are declining and church influence on individuals and society at […]
Matters of Interpretation 