Month: June 2018
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Matthew 18 21-35
The Uniform Series text we’re studying for Sunday, July 1 is Matthew 18:21-35, the “parable of the unforgiving servant.” Here are some questions raised by the text that we might (or might not) find it useful to consider in class:
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From Socrates to Sartre at Super Speed
T.Z. Lavine. From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest. New York: Bantam Books, 1984. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project] How this book ended up on the Read Me Shelf is a mystery. It doesn’t look like it came from any of the usual book stores, and it’s old. This makes me think that […]
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Notes on Matthew 18 21-35
The Uniform Series or “common text” for Sunday, July 1 is Matthew 18:21-35, “the parable of the unforgiving servant.” Here are some notes on the text:
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Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our class couldn’t help noticing the relevance of the story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31 to our own world. Today, as then, some people interpret material success as a sign of God’s favor. Today, as then, some people believe that anyone who’s destitute, suffering, sick, whatever, is that way because they’ve made bad choices, because […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Luke 16 19-31
Our Uniform Series – Present Word text for Sunday, June 24 is Luke 16:19-31, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Here are some questions we might want to consider in class:
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Notes on Luke 16 19-31
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, June 24 is Luke 16:19-31, Jesus’ story of “the rich man and Lazarus.” Here are my notes on the text:
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Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
After church this morning, our music director came up to me and said, all excited, “did you notice what I played for the offertory?! Because I know you like that song …” And I had, yes, and I thought it was so cool. And then I thought … what’s really cool is being part of […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion Matthew 15 1-9
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, June 17 is Matthew 15:1-9. [Some notes on that text are here.] Here are some questions we might (or might not) want to consider in class:
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Notes on Matthew 15 1-9
The Present Word and Uniform Series text for Sunday, June 17, is Matthew 15:1-9, Jesus’ endorsement of the distinction between the commandments of God and the traditions of “men.” Here are my [hasty*] notes on that text: Background and Context We are still in Matthew, in the midst of a long narrative section that features […]
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Proper or Ordinary?
The brand new PC(USA) Book of Common Worship (2018) calls the Sundays after Epiphany “Sundays after Epiphany,” and the Sundays after Pentecost “Propers.” (That is, it has entries for Proper 4, Proper 5, … Proper 28. Proper 28 falls on Sunday, November 13-19, the Sunday before Christ the King Sunday).
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Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In class this morning, we went through as many of the possibilities of meaning of the three parables we’d read in Matthew 13 as we could think of. Lots of different things occurred to us: we should be careful about just taking whatever “comes up” – maybe it isn’t good for us! Recalling that Jesus […]
Matters of Interpretation 