This coming Sunday's lectionary readings speak to us about hope -- the hope that God's saving power reaches into the future as well as into the present. That is the theme of all the Old Testament readings -- the seemingly hopeless nonetheless holding on to the hope of God's saving action. In the 2 Thessalonians reading, Paul -- a Paul whom one assumes is pondering his own mortality as he languishes in prison -- rather poignantly hopes that the Christian community he's nurtured will continue in the truth in his absence. And in our Gospel reading Jesus challenges his challengers to think beyond the cramped parameters of their religious and social traditions and imagine a God much bigger than the letter of their law.
So much to ponder in the lessons this week! Please share your thoughts here.
good morning all! I'm going with Haggai this week with a sermon titled "Renew your church." The words of the prophet can so easily be addressed to a shrinking aging congregation, or to mainline denominations that young adults see as "irrelevant, arrogant and judgmental" according to a seminar I attended last week - and also to the temple that is each of us. This one might actually be fun to write!
ReplyDeleteHappy Tuesday and blessings on all.
It's Haggai for me, as it is stewardship Sunday. Not really sure where I'm taking it, but it was "The silver and gold are mine" that hooked me.
ReplyDeleteWow, tough texts to come back from hiatus to. I am leaning towards Luke and some thoughts on our political system are dancing in my mind. Not sure if that is a match, since it is only Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with Psalm 145 - since that's what the Seasons SS curriculum is using - and I liked the "from generation to generation" we will pass on the stories of what God has done - talking about the importance of telling the story to each other, etc. And using 2 Thessalonians too - the idea of carrying on after those who have gone before us, and knowing God is with us throughout our lives. And, I get to have us sing "I Was There to Hear your Borning Cry" which is one of my absolute favorites. Rev Maria - your comments about young adults' view of the church may work its way into mine too - thanks! I heard similar comments at a panel discussion of Gen Xers recently.
ReplyDeleteThe gospel makes me think of the old movie - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (actually based on the rape of the Sabine women story) only this time it is one bride for seven brothers. How often are we asked questions like this - sincere but so off the mark?
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided yet. But it may be that what I need to do is use the sermon time to process with the parish the events of our Diocesan Convention and the election of our new Bishop. This will be particularly critical if we elect someone "controversial"...so. If we elect the same ole warm and fuzzy "guy" it won't be as critical but may still be interesting...so. I won't invest my energy in writing a sermon that I may really want to preach and instead prepare myself to share the experience.
ReplyDeleteAlso. I am in the midst of answering the second round of questions from a rector search procecss. They gave me the questions on Sat. and would like the response by Thursday. This second round line of questions are more challenging than the first. So I am mostly working on those...
And I will be gone all day friday and Sat for convention...sigh.
blessings on all of you as you ponder, pray, and process...
Wow! Where is everyone this week? I'm going with the Gospel. My title is "Riddle me this, Batman!" I'm taking a class about form sensitive preaching - keeping the sermon in the same mood as the text. This week's gospel is about the Sadducees trying to trap Jesus by asking him ridiculous questions. It reminded me of the Riddler in the old Batman series. Still needs a lot of work, but that's where I'm headed.
ReplyDeletekim, your approach to the text sounds great! I love the imagery of the "Riddler..." can you show a movie clip? I often want to do that but it's to complicated, our technology is not up to par...
ReplyDeleteI'm not "on deck" this Sunday, but I am planning on writing a meditation on the Gospel reading for my Beliefnet webpage. (Their new format includes a journaling section that I've been using to blog on daily lectionary readings.) I think I want to approach the text from the angle of Your God is too small -- which is what Jesus seems to be telling the Sadduccees. And that also ties in with the daily lectionary Gospel lessons of the week, which are all about Jesus' parables of the Kingdom of God and its "bigness" -- images of nets full of fish and treasures hidden in a field.
ReplyDeleteHi all.
ReplyDeletePosting on Wed instead of Tu because I went down to Lansing to the Michigan Supreme Court to hear the case about whether Michigan's same-sex marriage ban also disallows public institutions offering domestic partner benefits.
The Haggai definitely works well for the congregation out of which I am transitioning. If the point of the Luke passage is that the Sadducees view of the future is too small, that might work too.
Hey all - I am going with Luke. I like the ideas here about the riddler and about the Saducces God being too small. I was also thinking about how we think Heaven will be the best things on earth and forget the fact that resurrection is all about transformation. Not sure my congregation is ready to hear that though so well see what I actually give them.
ReplyDeleteOh - and I am also thinking about a focus on "God of the living". This is communion Sunday for us and I see a nice tie in there.
ReplyDelete"Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living, for to him all of them are alive."
ReplyDeleteThis is where I want to focus. Beyond that, I'm not too sure.
Well I'm preaching the Gospel lesson. The Truman show came to mind...in that he thought he had his life all figured out but then he came to the door in his world...and all was so very different than he thought he knew.
ReplyDeleteWe come to doors in our faith life, perhaps through a birth, or death, or a mountain-top experience when everything we thought we knew... is something entirely new.
Do you know what I know...? Shared illusion shared delusion