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Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Tuesday Lectionary Leanings~~Raising the widows' sons edition


  • Healing and compassionate God,
    your hands hold gently all creation,
    your touch brings life in the face of death,
    your love transforms destruction into grace.
    Touch our lives with your Spirit,
    brining new life and hope,
    so that we may live and serve you with joy and praise. Amen.
Welcome to Proper 5, preachers. Two of this week's readings (found here) are resurrection stories, narratives that demonstrate God's compassion as well as God's power and authority in the world, even in the face of death. These tales are rich with possibility: widows as representatives of the poor and oppressed who receive God's favor,  God acting in the world to relieve their suffering, Elijah and Jesus as agents of God's power, Jesus's demonstration of  his own authority.

Our first reading (whether you choose the long version of the short) is the story of Elijah's raising of the widow's son at Zarapheth. If you choose the longer reading, you also get the story of Elijah's sojourn with the widow, and the abundance he brings in the face of famine. Together these acts demonstrate to the widow that Elijah is indeed a "man of God."

Our gospel reading from Luke finds Jesus and his followers entering Nain when they encounter a funeral procession. Jesus is filled with pity for the plight of the widow returns her son to life, causing a great stir among the onlookers.

If resurrection stories aren't speaking to you this week, you might chose the passage from Galatians, in which Paul describes his credentials for preaching and teaching the gospel; the commentary at Working Preacher has some great suggestions for how to approach this text, if you, like me, find preaching Paul challenging.

We're only three weeks into the loooooong season of Pentecost and already I'm seeing comments about "Pentecost fatigue" over on Facebook.  Where are this week's readings leading you? Are you loving Luke or longing for Advent already? Doing something different for summer? Share your ideas, inspirations, questions and frustrations wherever you might be headed, on lectionary or off.






15 comments:

  1. I remember a long time ago reading a novel in which one of the less attractive male characters was, aptly, described as "the only son of his mother, and she a widow." I knew it was a quotation but it was years before I found out from where... It's still a fine stinging label for certain kinds of, well, immaturity, I guess. Does anybody else have this experience, of bits of Scripture applied to quite non-theological situations?

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  2. We are going to have a month of stewardship so I will concentrate on the first part of the reading from Kings I think. Don't know how it will pan out at this stage.

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  3. Rev Dr Mom, many thanks for your hospitality and invitations this week! I was drawn to the gospel reading, and in a post titled "Rise," I'm offering a new blessing called "Blessing for the Raising of the Dead." I'd love for you to stop by The Painted Prayerbook to see it here.

    Blessings to all!

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  4. I've had two weeks off from preaching, and finding it hard to get back into it this week. I've decided to follow the "sequential" track in the lectionary this summer, so I am going to be thinking about Kings and where it is leading. May also tie the two widows together as emblematic of those especially in need of God's favor because of their status in society...but it's early in the week, so who knows where I will end up?!

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  5. I'm finding it challenging to preach in a congregation where there are multiple readings whether or not they are being reflected in the sermon. We've got two raisings from the dead, one psalm (30) about being lifted up, and then there's Paul. What I find compelling is the idea that an encounter with Christ brings Saul to new life as Paul, because in his old life he was dead to truth and love and light. No matter where we are in life, God can bring us into new life, can restore us to live in God's love.
    Or something like that.
    I have to write as much as possible today because I will be on the road to Maine tomorrow for my daughter's graduation and won't be back until after dinner on Saturday. I must admit to feeling the pressure, especially because this is an emotional return to the homeland where I raised my children. The illustration of restoration I will use in the sermon is about my house in Portland, and I know having been there will make it more emotional. Hopefully that will touch others and not unglue me!

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    1. Oh Martha, blessings on your weekend...going "home" again is hard, and high school graduations are already emotional enough!

      We Episcopalians always have three readings + psalm and usually only preach on one of them....the alternative track in the lectionary is thematic rather than sequential if that helps you at all (if you have the choice). I am generally a gospel preacher, but occasionally tie readings together or go with one of the others. At the very least you know that people are at least being exposed to more of scripture.

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    2. I have to talk myself out of talking about all of them. Not easy. I like to tie everything up in a pretty, interwoven package.

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  6. I am going with Psalm 146 and only Psalm 146. And asking the sermonic question Whom Shall We Trust?. AS it happens this weekend is also Anniversary SUnday for the UCCan. And I can't help but think that the sermon question is one we need to ask ourselves not only as individuals but as congregations and as denominations (certainly in our denomination because I suspect there is more trust in things other than God in our discussions and planning....).

    My early thoughts are here and a prayer fro grace to go with Psalm 146 and the question of trust is here

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  7. Congratulations on your daughter's graduation! Safe travels.

    I am looking at 1 Kings as well. It seems like a lot to use all of it. But I like noticing how the woman has this deep sense of discovering God's care, but then has to go through those anguishing thoughts of "Why, God?!" in losing her son. When new troubles arise, I too have to go back and pour out my heart in anguish and remember again the incredible faithfulness of God which has sustained me in the past and will sustain me yet.

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  8. I am really wrestling with the texts this week. I had originally intended to go with Paul and talk about trust (since a lot of what he's saying seems to be, "You can trust me, really!"), but I'm not feeling it now. We'll be reading that and the 1 Kings text. It's hard to have these readings 1 Kings and Luke this week, as just a couple hours after worship on Sunday, I'll be doing the funeral for the 27-year-old daughter of our moderator, who committed suicide. Maybe I'll go more metaphorically with the widow as representative of the "cast-offs" of society? Sigh. No idea.

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  9. I am really wrestling with the texts this week. I had originally intended to go with Paul and talk about trust (since a lot of what he's saying seems to be, "You can trust me, really!"), but I'm not feeling it now. We'll be reading that and the 1 Kings text. It's hard to have these readings 1 Kings and Luke this week, as just a couple hours after worship on Sunday, I'll be doing the funeral for the 27-year-old daughter of our moderator, who committed suicide. Maybe I'll go more metaphorically with the widow as representative of the "cast-offs" of society? Sigh. No idea.

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  10. It's the Sunday when we say farewell to the graduating seniors who have served as acolytes through the years. I'm focusing on the last line from the passage from Galatians: "glorified because of me." Their work as acolytes has helped to glorify God, and I'm hoping to encourage them as they go off to college to continue to be agents for the glorification of God. There are two that I think may have the seeds of vocation in them, and I want to keep nurturing those seeds. I also want to remind the rest of the parishioners that they, too, are agents for the glorification of God, no matter how unlikely they think themselves.

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  11. I am preaching the Gospel this week and am quite captivated by the word "splagchinzomai" - compassion but specifically rooted in the image of turning bowels. No idea what, if anything, I'll do with that, but it has caught my attention. I am also deeply touched by this story as a whole, and the pain in it (and how that pain is interrupted and reversed). Having nearly lost a child in a freak accident, I find this story to stir up a lot of emotion in me. My experience was so strange, because even though my grief was technically interrupted - my son was rescued, unharmed - I found that, having thought he was dead, my emotions actually continued on that track. It was like I had a split inside my heart - the one part of me was only relieved and grateful, the other continued to feel traumatized and grief-stricken for some time afterwards, even though my son was fine. Because I had experienced the initial shock and grief, my body and heart continued to carry that shock and grief, even though rationally I knew my son was okay.

    I don't know if this makes any sense. But it is causing me to consider this widow's feelings a little bit differently than I might've.

    After I finish worship and church school on Sunday, I'll switch gears and preach the funeral of a woman who would've turned 100 yesterday. I really REALLY want to do a good job on her funeral - she was very special to me. Right now, though, I am mostly feeling the stress of preparing and preaching multiple sermons. Trying to get my writing done earlier this week!

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  12. I am preaching the Luke text this week too. What catches my attention in this scripture is not that Jesus brings the widow's son back to life, but rather, that Jesus NOTICES the mother in her grief and has compassion for her. I read this text very differently after having worked as a chaplain in a trauma center, because miracles don't always happen when we want them to. The promise is not that the dead will be brought back to their lives back here on earth, but that Jesus came to earth, fully human and fully divine and knows the depth of human suffering and death and promises to come to us and be present in it. And that death does not have the final word.

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