Month: March 2021
-
Studying Isaiah 53 4-11
We are studying Isaiah 53:4-11 for Sunday, April 4 – Easter! Christians have embraced this challenging text since the early days of the church as a portrait of Jesus’s redemptive suffering and ultimate triumph. There are lots of ways to embrace a text. This Easter we might want to think about which of those ways […]
-
Humanity
Jesus probably loved birds. Don’t you think? Because lots of people love birds. Jesus seems like he would have been one of those people. I was startled into thinking of this yesterday. The author of a book I’m reading (James Martin, SJ, Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone) quotes Pope Francis talking about how […]
-
Palm / Passion Sunday (B)
Call to Worship [based on Psalm 118 and Mark 14 & 15] This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!Let us gather to remember:Remember the excitement, the joy, the hope;Remember the promise, the friendship, the love;Remember the courage, the faithfulness unto death;Let us gather to remember, […]
-
Shabbat shalom
… it lies with yourself how much of the immeasurable becomes reality for you. Martin Buber, I and Thou, Translated by Ronald Gregor Smith, Scribner Classics, 2000 (1956), 42. Image: “The Synagogue,” Wacław Koniuszko, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
-
Reflecting on 1 Kings 18 5-18
We are studying 1 Kings 18:5-18 for Sunday, March 28. This is the story of Elijah’s conversation with Obadiah, a prelude to the prophet Elijah’s face-off with the prophets of Baal at the end of an epic drought. [Some notes on the text are here.] Here are some questions we might want to consider or […]
-
Studying 1 Kings 18 5-18
We are studying 1 Kings 18:5-18 for Sunday, March 28. This is the story of Elijah’s encounter with Obadiah and then Ahab, king of [the northern kingdom of] Israel. This story is the prelude to Elijah’s more famous contest with the “prophets of Baal” at Mt. Carmel. There’s a lot more going on in this […]
-
Feeling the Music
“Words make you think thoughts, music makes you feel a feeling, but a song makes you feel a thought.” Yip Harburg I didn’t learn that quotation at church. But I learned the truth of it at church. A hymn is a song. And it is probably fair to say that most of us churchgoers learn […]
-
Fifth Sunday in Lent (B)
A Call to Worship (based on John 12:20-33) Angels sang of a baby in a stable: “Glory to God in the highest!” People praised the one who healed on a dusty road, shared bread in a wasteland: “Glory be to God!” Let us join those who ask to see Jesus now, And learn to recognize […]
-
Shabbat shalom
This is part of the basic truth of the human world, that only It can be arranged in order. Only when things, from being our Thou, become our It, can they be co-ordinated. The Thou knows no system of co-ordination. But now that we have come so far, it is necessary to set down the […]
-
Reflecting on 2 Kings 22 14-20
We are studying 2 Kings 22:14-20 for Sunday, March 21. This is the story where King Josiah of Judah sends a delegation to the prophet Huldah to confirm that the “book of the law” he has just heard is an authentic word from God. His next step, described in 2 Kings 23, will be to […]
-
Studying 2 Kings 22 14-20
We are studying 2 Kings 22:14-20 for Sunday, March 21. This is the story of Huldah, the woman prophet, who authenticates the “book of the law” found in the Temple during the reign of [good] king Josiah of Judah. [Some questions on the texts are here.] Here are my notes on this text: BACKGROUND AND […]
-
Basic Sociology
Every church is a sociological reality. As such it is subject to the laws which determine the life of social groups with all their ambiguities. Paul Tillich [1] As far back as I can remember, I’ve had “sociological imagination.” One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting in our backyard thinking about my cousins, who […]
-
Fourth Sunday in Lent (B)
A Call to Worship (based on Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22) Let us give thanks loudly and joyfully From every direction, in gratitude For light instead of darkness, For healing and wholeness instead of sickness and despair, For purpose and peace instead of empty passions and perfectionism, For redemption, for homecoming, for life abundant! Let us worship […]
-
Shabbat shalom
In the beginning is relation — as category of being, readiness, grasping form, mould for the soul; it is the a priori of relation, the inborn Thou. Martin Buber. I and Thou. Translated by Ronald Gregor Smith. Scribner Classics, 2000 (1958). 39. Image Jiří Meitner, “Dream of Goldfish”, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Matters of Interpretation 