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Numbers 21:4-9
Lent 4B
The people of Israel have been wandering around in that desert for quite awhile. You know how this goes: slaves in Egypt, they are freed by God’s mighty hand, some plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. They make it to the border of the Promised Land, send in some spies who — with…
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Lent 4B
Psalm 107:2 invites people to tell their stories. Ironically no sooner does that begin to happen in this poem and the Lectionary has us stop reading to jump over a lot of the stories that get told! Truth is, Psalm 107 is semi-repetitive but it is structured that way to make a point about the…
Psalm 19
Lent 3B
A friend of mine is a professional physicist and astronomer and I have always enjoyed talking with her about astronomy as I have long been an amateur astronomy aficionado. If we are blessed enough to experience it, there is nothing quite so breathtaking as being far away from any sources of light pollution so as…
Exodus 20:1-17
Lent 3B
Must Be Important Here we are, less than 6 months since the last time this text came up in the lectionary reading cycle. You can find my previous commentary here [Mary, can you add hyperlink?] At the least what we should consider when a text comes up more than once in a calendar year is…
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Lent 2B
Cutting Out the Covenant Perhaps the compilers of the Lectionary intended a compassionate reprieve for those who might have to explain the meaning of circumcision to their youngest and most inquisitive learners. It is, however, a lamentable omission for two reasons. The first is that it truncates the literary markers of covenant-making, which typically include…
Psalm 22:23-31
Lent 2B
Considering that a portion of Psalm 22 is assigned to the Second Sunday in Lent, it seems odd that the Revised Common Lectionary would select for us not the first two-thirds of the psalm that is a whopping lament but instead the sunny-side-up concluding verses. Psalm 22 almost seems like it’s two separate poems. We…
Genesis 9:8-17
Lent 1B
Covenants For preachers interested in holding a cohesive theme through Lent, this year’s Old Testament lectionary readings provide an opportunity to reflect deeply on the nature of God’s relationship with God’s people through covenant. This Sunday, it is his covenant not to destroy the earth, next Sunday, his choosing and making a great nation through…
Psalm 25:1-10
Lent 1B
If the Lectionary decided for whatever the reason to not recommend all of Psalm 25, they could have at least extended this to verse 11. Since this is the reading for the First Sunday in Lent, you’d think the one verse of this psalm that is a straight up confession of sin would make the…
2 Kings 2:1-12
Epiphany 6B
On grief and staying the course From the outset of this story, the reader knows what is about to transpire. This is a story about, among other things, the valley of the shadow of death. It’s right there in the first clause of the first verse: “When the Lord was about to take Elijah up…
Psalm 50:1-6
Epiphany 6B
It is not difficult to see why the Lectionary has us go to Psalm 50 on Transfiguration Sunday in Year B. There is much here about glory and shining and the splendor—very nearly we could term it the terrible splendor—that surround Israel’s God. We are only being asked to look at the first six verses…
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