The Adventurous Lectionary – The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 19, 2015 2 Samuel 7:1-14a Psalm 89:20-37 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 God’s covenant embraces all of us, promising more than we can ask or imagine. How do we best align ourselves with God’s vision of abundant life for us and those we love? The passage from Samuel explores the nature of God’s covenant with David and his descendants. It affirms that although God travels with us, and is... Read more
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – July 12, 2015 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1;3-14 Mark 6:14-29 Do you dance with God? Does worship inspire passion and ecstasy? What happens when you dance to a different drum than God’s? Do our lives become destructive rather than creative? The reading from Samuel describes David and his companions dancing with all his might in God’s presence. While we might not localize God to a particular religious object, we can affirm... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – July 5, 2015 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 Psalm 48 2 Corinthians 2:2-10 Mark 6:1-13 In today’s lectionary readings, I am focusing on the New Testament readings and their emphasis on the role of faith to transform our lives, and enable us to face creatively even those things that cannot be changed. The words of 2 Corinthians 12 portray the relationship between mysticism, humility, faithfulness, and divine assurance. Paul describes the... Read more
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – June 28, 2015 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43 Today’s texts invite us to consider the need for healing. We need healing of our experiences of loss, of our sense of moral failure, greed, and brokenness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships. The Old Testament reading describes David’s grief over the death of Saul and Jonathan and provides an opportunity to reflect on the universality of loss. “The mighty have... Read more
On my study desk sits a paperweight that announces “solvitur ambulando,” or “it will be solved in the walking.” Jody Gentian Bower’s Jane Eyre’s Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine’s Story could easily be described as “it will be solved in the wandering.” As I read this insightful text, transformative for both women and men, I couldn’t help but remember the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, “all who wander are not lost.” Bower’s text, describing the journey of the heroine,... Read more
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 21, 2015 I Samuel 17: 1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49 Psalm 9:9-20 II Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 Trusting God we can do greater things than we can imagine. Faith opens us to quantum leaps of power, inspiration, and energy. God’s grace is sufficient for us to respond to every crisis. Though we appear weak, we are strong in God’s love. What child doesn’t love the story of David and Goliath, described in I Samuel... Read more
The Third Sunday After Pentecost – June 14, 2015 I Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalm 20 II Corinthians 5:6-10, 16-17 Mark 4:26-34 God looks beyond appearances to see the human heart. God goes beyond the superficial to see beauty hidden in geodes and wonders in a small seed. A child’s lunch can feed a multitude. A persecutor can become the leading voice for a global faith. There is more to be found in every person and situation, and congregation. Amid the concrete... Read more
A dialogue between Piglet and Winnie Pooh points to the fact that adventure can be waiting around every corner. Piglet asks Pooh, “When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” To which Pooh replies, “What’s for breakfast?” He then asks his small companion, “What do you say Piglet?” who responds,” “I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” Pooh thinks a moment and then notes, “It’s the same thing.” Every day can become a... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Second Sunday after Pentecost – June 7, 2015 I Samuel 8:4-20 Psalm 138 II Corinthians 4:13-5:1 Mark 3:20-35 Today’s reading from I Samuel might come with the motto, “the government that governs least governs best.” Dissatisfied with their current political situation, the people demand a king. Both God and Samuel object. Following a more theocratic and libertarian approach, they object to the people’s desire for an intermediary, a human leader, rather than God or a... Read more
The Celts of Scotland and Ireland speak of certain patches of land as “thin places” where heaven and earth, the divine and human, eternity and time, touch one another. Thin places remind us that we are always on holy ground and that God’s Spirit moves temporally and geographically through our lives and the world. Janis Heaphy Durham’s mew book, The Hand on the Mirror: A True Story of Life Beyond Death, witnesses to her experiences of thin places in relationship to... Read more
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