This week brings us to the 9th Sunday After Pentecost for 2013, also known as Proper 11C. And what way are you leaning for worship prep this fine Tuesday????
But first, we pray: (prayer source)
God, source of all light,
by your Word you give light to the soul.
Pour out upon us
the spirit of wisdom and understanding
that, being taught by you in Holy Scripture,
our hearts and minds may be opened to know the things
that pertain to life and holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The RCL readings for this Sunday can be found here.
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| So Much for the angels "unawares"... |
Or then there is our friend Amos in a decidedly un-cheery passage. But then to be honest much of Amos is decidedly un-cheery.
Or maybe you are brave enough this summer to be preaching on the Epistles--which takes you into week 2 of Colossians.
Then again there is the possibility of the Narrative Lectionary, where one would be reading Proverbs 10:1-12 and Luke 6:37-38, concluding a series of Sundays of exploring Proverbs (which appears to me to be a decidedly NON Narrative book but anyway)
Wherever you think you are headed for worship this week share your angst, insights, queries and sources of wisdom in the comments....
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| I remember the song...well those lines anyways |
I'm preaching in an interim post (short-term)...o next Sunday I plan to offer a method for synchronizing the three readings and the Psalm, four ways of learning the same thing -- in sum, it's that the OT offers us an old story; the Psalm, a sung response; the epistle is Paul giving a very abstract analytical statement of what is being taught; and finally, in the Gospel, improvisational theatre -- learning by remembering, by celebrating, by understanding, and by participating. I've done it before and I've liked the result.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning my sabbatical coverage gig. I began with looking to see if I had anything "sustainable" for Sunday, but all I found were two really "meh" sermons on the gospel. I'm tempted to take on Amos.
ReplyDeleteProphets are fun. ;)
I'm braving Amos using The Great Gatsby as illustration:
ReplyDeleteThe Great Gatsby story conveys some of the same messages as Amos’ prophecy. The movie version does a great job showing wealthy people living it up--making money hand over fist, and throwing it away almost as fast. Gatsby is a man who tries to play their game in order to win the girl. In his heart, he knows that Daisy, his love, would never run off with a man like him and so he creates a new identity for himself as a big spender—getting money in shadowy ways and pretending to be rich to impress Daisy.
And then there is Daisy. Beautiful, glamorous, desirable and yet to me, the most despicable character in a movie full of despicable characters…
What bothers me about Daisy is that she is unaware of her privilege. She is unthinking in how she treats people. She leads Gatsby on, making him a slave to her whims. She tramples on Gatsby’s heart and ruins his hope. She sneaks off into the night leaving her destruction behind.
Whether it’s Amos’ time, Gatsby’s time or our time, deep divisions exist among the rich and the poor. Debt was a problem then and it is now. No or low wages keep people enslaved to jobs and living conditions that were deplorable in Amos’ time and our time. Are we aware of these conditions and moved to speak up like Amos or are we content to be oblivious like Daisy?
What a great idea!
DeleteMy lovely Smart Summer Seminarian will be preaching, as I am away this week at DMin camp. She will also do the following Sunday's sermon. Just don't know what to do with myself without a sermon to preach...guess I'll start working ahead...
ReplyDeleteI'm preaching a VBS related text, but I wish I was preaching Mary/Martha. Cause I think I'd like to say that Martha did exactly the right thing in coming to Jesus and that his saying, "Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things . . ." was the sweetest, best thing he could say. He SAW her. He named where she was. I bet her anxiety level went down about 100 pts. right then and there. I'm pretty sick of people beating up on Martha and reading it as though Jesus was scolding her, too. He helped her name what was going on, and at the same time stood up for Mary, who took the EASIER part of welcoming him. Serving is also part of the Christian life, and we ought to be recognizing those who do it well, not criticizing them for it. Mary and Martha are two sides to the same coin of devotion. I think Jesus got it right. (Surprise, surprise.)
ReplyDeleteI wrote a monologue on the gospel text back in seminary - what did Martha do after her encounter with Jesus, how did it change her? I think she plopped down by Jesus's feet and I think she learned to balance serving with learning/praying. It's posted here.
ReplyDeleteI love the cartoon this morning - but now I can't get the song out of my mind!
Because the Mary and Martha story seems to always fall in the lectionary in proximity to the feasts of Macrina, Mary Magdalen, Harriet Tubmman, Amelia Bloomer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth, I have in the past used the occasion to talk about all of these women "saints." But since I did that here three years ago, I guess I won't go there again (although I always wonder if my congregation would even notice that they had heard it before.)
ReplyDeleteSo I might take on Amos....whatever I do I'm hoping to get done early b/c I'm going to help my daughter paint her new house Friday/Saturday and I'd like not to have the sermon hanging over my head when I get home.
I like the Great Gatsby illustration, but since I have neither read the book nor seen the movie, I'm not sure I can pull it off.
And don’t forget that this weekend is the anniversary of the first walk on the moon. But BEFORE they walked, Buzz Aldrin took communion. I’ll be connecting this space event to the story of Mary and Martha in my children’s sermon. Fran
ReplyDeletehttp://onthechancelsteps.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/moon/