Month: August 2018
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Genesis 1 1-13
The text we are studying for Sunday, September 2 is Genesis 1:1-13, the story of the first three days of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth. [Some notes on the text are here.] Here are a few questions that we might want to consider in class: Normally, we think of things as having […]
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Notes – Genesis 1 1-13
The text we are studying for Sunday, September 2 – the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, which just might be significant – is Genesis 1:1-13, the first three days of the story of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth. This is a familiar text – so much so that sometimes I think I […]
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Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15
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What I Like Most is Having Lots of Time
Someone asked me the other day whether I like teaching. I don’t really know how to answer that question. I like students. I like talking to them, I usually like listening to them when I can get them to talk to me, I like thinking about what they are thinking and why they are thinking […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Colossians 3 5-17
The text we are studying for Sunday, August 26 is Colossians 3:5-17. Here are a few questions that we might be able to consider in class: V5 uses the language “put to death” for “whatever in you is earthly.” What is our response to that? (E.g., does it seem harsh? Do we feel we’ve accomplished […]
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Notes – Colossians 3 5-17
The text we are studying for Sunday, August 26 is Colossians 3:5-17, a portion of a letter to the church at Colossae that provides instructions for Christian living. Here are my notes on that text: FIRST IMPRESSIONS: More lists. The literary analysis approach doesn’t get much traction with these texts … BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Colossae […]
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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Some days church is like this: We talked about Romans 12:9-21 in class, mostly thinking out loud about times something had been challenging for us: was that “not avenging ourselves”? was that “hating what was evil and holding fast to what was good”? was that loving? Practically, day by day, making those decisions requires … […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Romans 12 9-21
The text we’re studying for Sunday, August 19 is Romans 12:9-21, a portion of Paul’s instructions to the Christians in the first century CE church in Rome about how to conduct their everyday lives. Here are a few questions about the text that we might or might not want to consider in class: Do we […]
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Lamin Sanneh on World Christianity
Lamin Sanneh. Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. Christianity is not identical to western imperialism. So says Lamin Sanneh, in Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003). Christianity is not even necessarily the ideological tool of 19th century colonialism. It is not […]
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Notes – Romans 12 9-21
The Uniform Series text for Sunday, August 19 is Romans 12:9-21, the climax of Paul’s instructions to the Roman church, that is, the Christians living and working in Rome. Here are my notes on that text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: What’s happened so far? Paul has developed a whole argument about how everyone, even those who […]
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Images of Faithfulness
The images we have in our minds when we think about things or answer questions make some difference. Maybe we ask ourselves “What does it mean to be faithful?” or “Am I being faithful here?” And when we answer this question, maybe we think of ourselves as house-sitters (like, for instance, Mark 13:34-37) – so […]
Matters of Interpretation 