Month: March 2020
-
Taking Risks
“Taking risks” doesn’t sound like something people should do while in COVID-19 purdah[*]. We are faithfully avoiding crowds of 10 or more people and eschewing the kind of physical contact that could spread viruses for the sake of reducing risks, not running them. But there are lots of different kinds of risks. One kind of […]
-
Reflecting on Malachi 2 1-9 and 3 5-6
We are studying Malachi 2:1-9 and 3:5-6 for Sunday, March 29, the last Sunday before Holy Week. We are still trying to figure out how to reflect on Scripture together while staying physically apart. One option that’s always available is sharing comments in the comments section, so please feel free to do that! [Some notes […]
-
Think of it as a Learning Experience
Steele, Claude M. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. W.W. Norton, 2010. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project.] This is not a book about race in the United States. And yet, it is not not a book about race in the United States, either. The concepts the author explores […]
-
Studying Malachi 2 1-9 & 3 5-6
We are studying Malachi 2:1-9 & 3:5-6 for Sunday, March 29. The focus is on Malachi’s indictment of the priesthood in post-exilic Israel. We’ll have to think about how this does, or doesn’t, pertain to a religious world in which we don’t have a hereditary priestly class that is responsible for administering the system of […]
-
Gathering While Not Gathering
We had an abbreviated Sunday morning worship service online, via Facebook Live, at our usual gathering time on Sunday morning. Here’s what I noticed: I don’t know what I’m doing. [How does Facebook Live work? What page do I have to be on? OK, how do I make a comment? Wait, what … ? Etc.] […]
-
Reflecting on Micah 3 & 6
We are studying portions of the book of Micah, Micah 3:1-2, 9-12, and 6:6-8, for Sunday, March 22. We haven’t quite worked out how we will share our thoughts about the text with one another this week, but we are working on that. In the meantime, some notes on the text are here, and here […]
-
Can I Skip the Wild Heart?
Brown, Brené. Braving the Wilderness: the quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone. Vermilion, 2017. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project.] Our congregation has been studying Braving the Wilderness together for the past several weeks, as a next step in our participation in the Golden Rule 2020 project. [We finished up […]
-
Studying Micah 3 1-12, 6 6-8
We are studying portions of the book of Micah, Micah 3:1-2, 9-12, and 6:6-8, for Sunday, March 22. Even though we won’t be meeting in person, we can still spend time with the text and think about what it means for us. [One thing we might want to do would be to share comments here. […]
-
Olde Tyme Religion Goes Viral
Martin Luther’s letter “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague” has started to feel so timely that people are talking about it on Twitter. The Lutheran Reporter has kindly made the full text available online with the permission of Fortress Press. It is definitely worth reading. Faith Lutheran Church in Radcliff, Kentucky (right down […]
Matters of Interpretation 