Month: February 2019
-
Study Notes – Luke 14 7-14
We are studying Luke 14:7-14 for Sunday, March 3. This text presents two of Jesus’ short discourses, delivered at a Sabbath dinner, revolving around the theme of social position. [Study questions on the text are here.] Here are my notes on this text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Our text is from the gospel of Luke, which […]
-
Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
We said our last good-byes as a congregation to Mr. Warren Moses this morning, at a memorial service before the regularly scheduled Sunday worship service. Nothing elaborate. Just several of the members of the congregation standing up to tell a personal story or two about how Warren had touched our lives, had left an indelible […]
-
Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Psalm 91
We are studying Psalm 91 for Sunday, February 24. Psalm 91 is a popular “favorite psalm” of human trust and divine assurance. [Study notes on this text.] Here are a few questions we might want to consider as we study and discuss the text: Verse 1 evokes an image of place and stability: “living” or […]
-
Postmodern Dialectics for Bible Study
Westphal, Merold. Whose Community? Which Interpretation? Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church. The Church in Postmodern Culture, James K.A. Smith, Series Editor. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project.] This marvelous book by Merold Westphal ended up on the “Read Me” shelf because it was cited in a paper I read […]
-
Out of Sight
Why would anyone start going to church? That is far from obvious. Not that there are no reasons for going to church, or no good reasons, or even no genuinely compelling reasons. I love church. I always have – if “always” can mean “ever since I was a little girl, not counting the twenty-odd years […]
-
Study Notes – Psalm 91
We are studying Psalm 91 for Sunday, February 27 – a popular psalm of trust in God’s protection. [Study questions for this text.] Here are my notes on the text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: This is the last in our three-week study of psalms, a book of the Bible that has been called “the hymnal of […]
-
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
People have a tendency to contrast contemplative spirituality with more “practical” or “active” forms of spirituality. But in fact, all forms of spirituality have their practical and material side, even the most contemplative. Today, after the Sunday school hour, there were four or five people busy in the multi-purpose room setting up the labyrinth. The […]
-
Younger
This came in email from Plough. It’s here because I didn’t want to lose it: Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up […]
-
Questions for Reflection and Discussion – Psalm 66
We are studying Psalm 66 for Sunday, February 17: an ancient Hebrew praise song, focused on God’s mighty acts of power and God’s acceptance of repentance. [Study notes on Psalm 66.] Here are a few questions we might want to consider before or in class: The psalm begins with a call to “make a joyful […]
-
Hooked on the Juice
Stanley, Andy. Irresistible: Unleashing the New that Jesus Brought to the World. ePub edition, Zondervan, 2018. How did this book, of all books, end up in the “Read Me” collection at all, let alone read ahead of all the others? Funny story … I have been practicing not taking the “someone is wrong on the […]
-
Not So Simply Irresistible
Stanley, Andy. Irresistible: Unleashing the New that Jesus Brought to the World. ePub edition, Zondervan, 2018. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project] Andy Stanley clearly has a well-defined audience in mind for Irresistible. I’m equally clearly not in it. First, that audience is explicitly Christians, particularly church leaders but also lay people who will […]
-
Study Notes – Psalm 66
We are studying Psalm 66 for Sunday, February 17. Psalm 66 is a song of praise to God for God’s mighty works. [Study questions on Psalm 66 are here.] Here are my notes on this text: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: Again, all things we know about Psalms will help us in reading Psalm 66. These are […]
Matters of Interpretation 