Month: September 2021
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Happy Birthday, Baby Brother
You’re a hero. Image: United States Treasury Building, by Rchuon24, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Teachers Day
The Duke of Sheh asked Tsze-lu about Confucius, and Tsze-lu did not answer him. The Master said, “Why did you not say to him, ‘He is simply a man, who in his eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that […]
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Hospitality and Hostility and Wondering About That
Most of us – people, I’m thinking, human beings – are not good at welcoming and condemning at the same time. That sounds obvious, but it was a hard sentence to come up with. Most of us – people, I’m thinking, human beings – don’t think of ourselves as “condemning.” We more often think of […]
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Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Call to Worship [Based on Psalm 124] Praise God, who made heaven and earth;who makes life and a place for life,who is on the side of life.Rejoice in God, who rescues life from death;who is on the side of righteousness and renewal;who restores hope.Thank God, who liberates life for love and service,who is on the […]
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Shabbat shalom
Creation happens to us … Martin Buber, I and Thou, translated by Ronald Gregor Smith, Scribner Classics, 2000 (1958), 83. Image: “Kedumim Synagogues Nechamat Rachel Givat Shalem,” (an image of “the four kinds” in stained glass window of synagogue), photographed by Daniel Ventura CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons
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Reflecting on Acts 2 32-33, 37-47
We may want to ask ourselves how “the proclamation of the word” works in Acts 2:32-33, 37-47, and how the listeners’ response to that proclamation constitutes worship. And then, what kind of further worship that first worship leads to. That is: what counts as worship in this story? Because we seem to be looking at […]
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Studying Acts 2 32-33, 37-47
We will be thinking about what kind of church we have been, and are, and would like to be, as we are studying Acts 2:32-33, 37-47 for Sunday, September 26. [September 26-October 1 is the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom’s Banned Books Week. We’re celebrating by reading the Bible, which showed up on […]
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Russell Moore on “Integrity and the Future of the Church”
Here. Aside from the fact that I agree with him, what struck me in particular was that it was in Plough. And that it was Russell Moore. There are all kinds of ways to strike a Constantinian bargain. Images: “Antiquariat saint pierre de clages valais,” (book shop), An image by Lysippos, CC by SA 3.0, […]
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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Call to Worship [Based on Psalm 1] Happy are those who listen listen for the counsel of the godly;who share the way, who walk the pathwho seek the way that is right;who gather together,gather and sit together, seeking wisdom.Come to wisdom,Come to joy,Come, let us worship God together! Happy are those who do not follow […]
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Shabbat shalom
There is divine meaning in the life of the world, of man, of human persons, of you and me. Martin Buber, I and Thou, translated by Ronald Gregor Smith, Scribner Classics, 2000 (1958), 83. Image: “Sabbath,” Max Weber, from Wikipedia Loves Art participant “shooting_brooklyn”, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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Reflecting on Mark 10 46-52
Does Blind Bartimaeus model for us how we ourselves ought to respond to Jesus? We could ask ourselves this, as we’re studying the story of his healing in Mark 10:46-52 for Sunday, September 19. [Some notes on the text are here.] Here are a couple more questions we might want to think about or discuss […]