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.
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Commentary
Proper 29B
Commentary: How are we meant to read the text of Daniel 7? Is it a history book, a mystery novel, an algebra equation? Or is it poetry? Well, how would Daniel’s original audience have received the vision? Context Daniel wrote for Israelites in Babylonian exile, about 600 years before Christ’s birth. They knew the story…
Daniel 12:1-3
Commentary
Proper 28B
Where and What Is It? Imagine my surprise as I went to my trusty 3-volume commentary on Hebrew Scripture written by Jewish scholar, Robert Alter and couldn’t find the book of Daniel. Obviously, I pulled his volume on the prophets but the book of Daniel was not where it belonged! So I opened his book…
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Commentary
Proper 27B
Commentary on Ruth 3: Sunday School may not have given us exactly the right idea about what is going on in Ruth chapter 3. In our Sunday School imaginings, Ruth may seem to have more in common with a Disney princess than a desperate and resourceful Moabite widow in Israel. Her first day in the…
Ruth 1:1-18
Commentary
Proper 26B
The next two Sundays create a wonderful opportunity for reflection on harvest, on reliance on God in the hard times and gratitude to God who provides — wonderful themes for the Thanksgiving season. Illustration The Bechdel Test is a way of evaluating film content named for its creator, Alison Bechdel. It is an informal way…
Job 38:1-6, 10-17
Commentary
Proper 25B
In one way, this sequence of lectionary readings have been helpful: setting up a premise — unjust suffering that God’s people throughout history and geography will relate to, Job’s honest response, God showing up and putting the present moment in context and, finally, this week, Job’s acceptance of God’s power and wisdom. On the other…
Job 38:1-7, 34-41
Commentary
Proper 24B
Image: To begin as a kind of summary of where Job has been, we might turn to that sage philosopher in black, Johnny Cash. In his song, I Won’t Back Down, Cash sings: I won’t back down. No, I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell But I won’t…
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Commentary
Proper 23B
Image: It’s been over four years since the world learned the technology of online meeting software. And still, not a meeting, class, or conversation goes by without someone saying, “whoops, you’re muted.” And sometimes all it takes is a simple click to unmute. Sometimes the discovery that we can’t hear someone leads to a whole…
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Commentary
Proper 22B
Once Upon a Time… Love it or hate it, Job rarely allows a neutral reading. However, we can, perhaps, safeguard against the worst interpretations by stopping at the outset to clarify the text’s genre. According to Hebrew scholar, Robert Alter, the interpretive key may be found in the very first verse: “A man there was…
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Commentary
Proper 21B
Wisdom Personified Personified In her commentary on Esther for the Africana Bible Commentary, Dorothy Bea Akot identifies the genre of this text as a royal court intrigue or a Sophia/Wisdom tale. For those of us following the Lectionary texts of Hebrew Scripture. I am, on occasion, critical of what the Lectionary has chosen to leave…
Proverbs 31
Commentary
Proper 20B
Content Warning Because the Biblical text overwhelmingly centers male characters in a way that is unsurprising for ancient near-eastern literature, every women’s devotional writer and preacher tasked with a Mother’s Day sermon takes a turn with Proverbs 31. The result is over-used and over-wrought exegesis. Unfortunately, far too many women and girls in our churches…
About Meg Jenista