Rev. Meg Jenista Kuykendall lives in Philadelphia, PA and is an ordained minister in the Reformed tradition. She earned her M.Div at Calvin Theological Seminary (2008) and her ThM, also at CTS (2019). She spent 15 years pastoring churches in Kalamazoo, MI, and Washington DC. Currently, Meg is studying for her PhD in public theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, with a particular focus on the intersection of political discipleship and pulpit ministry. She balances out her PhD research by reading Sandra Boynton and Mo Willems books with her young son, cooking with her husband, and exploring their new home of Philadelphia.
Isaiah 43:16-21
Commentary
Lent 5C
But you just said.. This week’s lectionary in Hebrew Scripture is replete with images and metaphors from the history of God’s people. A path through the sea recalls the people’s journey through the Red Sea, away from enslavement into the hope of the Promised Land. The destruction of the chariots and horses recalls that the…
Joshua 5:9-12
Commentary
Lent 4C
Emerging from the Wilderness The book of Joshua begins with a season of transition among God’s people. Their leader, Moses has just died. Joshua has been installed as their new leader. His job will be to direct the people into the promised land. They cross the Jordan and are now ready to enter the land. …
Isaiah 55:1-9
Commentary
Lent 3C
Illustration “It’s not always going to be like this” You know that feeling of early friendship or love? When that other person — the object of your affection — knows you perfectly? Laughs at all your jokes? Finds you endlessly fascinating or attractive? Or maybe it’s the first time you hold that baby — a…
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Commentary
Lent 2C
A Tribal Leader without a Tribe This text invites us to enter into Abram’s story between promise and fulfillment. Genesis 12 lays out God’s plan: to take Abram and make a great nation and a great name by which all people will be blessed. However, a lot of life has been lived between chapter 12…
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Commentary
Lent 1C
Deuteronomy is a beautiful and unique book of the Pentateuch. Whereas the preceding four books can be read as a kind of biography of the people of God, Deuteronomy is fashioned more like the people’s memoir. No biography is complete, of course. Certain elements are left out or glossed over but, by and large, you…
Exodus 34:29-35
Commentary
Transfiguration Sunday C
Commentary: It’s instructive that the season of Epiphany, which begins with a bright star in the East, leading the Magi to worship the Christ-child concludes with Transfiguration Sunday, in which glory and shining, brilliance and light are, again, prominent themes. This imagery would have been at home in the Ancient Near Eastern imagination as, according…
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Commentary
Epiphany 7C
It matters how you tell the story. After chapters and chapters of some narrator telling us Joseph’s story, with very few places where Joseph, himself, gives meaning to the unfolding events. After the most recent three chapters where we experience the brothers living out their story until, two weeks ago, Judah finally spilled the whole…
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Commentary
Epiphany 6C
Tie-In Across Lectionary Texts Sometimes, especially with the Hebrew Scripture text, our best bet is to read it as supplement and complement to the other texts chosen on a given Sunday. This week’s lectionary readings lend themselves that way this week. Across all the lectionary readings this week, with the possible exception of the epistle,…
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Commentary
Epiphany 5C
Illustration: It Doesn’t Get Better Than This As a graduate student, I am currently in a season of studying for my comprehensive exams. A couple months ago, I took my reading lists, a calendar and opened a brand new spreadsheet on my computer. I took the afternoon to create a weekly calendar and scheduled my…
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Commentary
Epiphany 4C
Commentary: Why Does God Prefer the Cotton-Mouthed? The keen reader of Scripture might wonder, when reading this week’s Hebrew Scripture text, “where have I heard that before?” In response to God’s call, Jeremiah protests, “I know not how to speak,.” Both Moses and Isaiah claimed the same malady but neither of them got out of…
About Meg Jenista