Month: December 2019
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Study Notes – 1 Kings 8 1-13
We are studying 1 Kings 8:1-13 for Sunday, January 5 – the first Sunday of the new year 2020 bringing us the story of the first day of worship in Solomon’s new Temple for YHWH. The story is told in almost [not quite] identical fashion in 2 Chronicles 5:1-6:2. Here are my notes on the […]
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First Sunday of Christmas
Sometimes what happens at church is that I have to face uncomfortable facts about myself and seriously consider what needs to change. A lot of people were out of town or sick this morning, and the weather was dismal and rainy, which probably did not help boost attendance, either; the choir had to make do […]
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Questions for Reflection and Discussion – 1 Chronicles 17 16-27
We are studying 1 Chronicles 17:16-27 for Sunday, December 29. This text records David’s response to the news that God will bless David’s lineage with the kingship of Israel far into the future. [My notes on the text are here.] Here are a few questions we might ask ourselves as we consider this text: How […]
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Help with Difficult Conversations
Stone, Douglas, Patton, Bruce, and Heen, Sheila. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. 10th Anniversary Edition. Penguin, 1999. [An Installment of the “Read Me” Project.] These reflections on Difficult Conversations are not a commentary on Christmas with the family. It’s a pure coincidence that I got Difficult Conversations on loan from one of […]
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Christmas Eve – Lessons and Carols
Even if the distinctly non-liturgical church of my childhood had had anything like “Lessons and Carols,” which it didn’t, our family always had a party at our house on Christmas Eve, so we wouldn’t have been there.[*] I had to grow up and move here and become a Presbyterian to learn that there is something […]
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Study Notes – 1 Chronicles 17 16-27
We are studying 1 Chronicles 17:16-27 for Sunday, December 29. After our glance at Mary’s prayer of praise last Sunday, we are coming back to 1 Chronicles and picking up where we left off a couple of weeks ago, with David’s response to YHWH’s announcement that YHWH is going to bless and establish David’s “house.” […]
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Fourth Sunday in Advent
It is almost Christmas – Jesus’s birthday, as we tell the pre-schoolers in the Sunday school class after fellowship time. We are all excited for Christmas. And we have two new students today, who have come with relatives … another one of the gifts of Christmas. The story today is that Mary and Joseph couldn’t […]
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The Darkest Evening of the Year
Tonight, on this longest (“darkest”) evening of the year, my thoughts turn once again to … Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Since I heard one of my professors tell this story, I have always experienced a twinge of embarrassed hesitation to admit this. Here’s the story: A friend of mine took a class […]
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Study Notes – Luke 1 39-56
We are studying Luke 1:39-56 for Sunday, December 22. This is the episode enshrined in western art and iconography as “the visitation,” when Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and is the occasion for Mary delivering the speech that has come to be known as “the Magnificat.” I am still supposed to be grading, […]
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So, Just Your Ordinary Gothic Murder Romance SciFi/Time Travel Mystery Novel, eh?
Turton, Stuart. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Sourcebooks Landmark, 2018. [An Installment of the “Read Me” Project.] This is one of those books that wind up on the stack because someone else in the house was reading it and enjoying it so much that I got curious and a little envious and said “Hey, […]
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Third Sunday in Advent
We learned that the wife of one of our dear classmates passed away early this morning. It shades everything. Here, now, in the middle of this hectic season of relentless merriment, we are thinking of our friend and of loss and of grief … We often say, I often say, that “we don’t just have […]
Matters of Interpretation 