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Showing posts from June, 2010

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - 27 June 2010

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The Readings for The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8) I Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1,13-25 Saint Luke 9:51-62                                                                                                                                       Elijah and Elisha BACKGROUND When does God move into our lives with a call for action?  Where and when does that happen?  In the readings for today we meet several who are called for just such service – prophets, kings, disciples, and others.  The wonder of this is where such a call to service happens.  Although Isaiah is called to service with a vision of God in a temple filled with glory and smoke, Elisha has a prophet’s cloak thrown over his shoulders in the middle of a muddy field, and Jesus sees his on-going call as he travels with his disciples.  Perhaps, as we read through these lessons, and study their import, we can mull over the call that God is giving to us here and now.  Where will you be sent, a

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7) - 20 June 2010

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The Readings for The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7) Isaiah 65:1-9 Psalm 22 Galatians 3:23-29 Saint Luke 8:26-39                                                                                                             … and my servants shall settle there .        BACKGROUND We are so familiar with the divisions of the Bible that we are often not aware of earlier redactions of the text.  Today we read from “Third Isaiah” who’s theology differs from that of Second Isaiah (Chapters 40-55) and First Isaiah (Chapters 1-39).  These differences are a result of the time when written and of the circumstances of the intended audience.  None-the-less, it gives us an opportunity to delve deeper into the experience of the Word if we observe these differences and divisions.  After all, these were real words for real people.  It helps us to know what it is that they heard or read in these words. Isaiah 65:1-9 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be

The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6) - 13 June 2010

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The Readings for The Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6) II Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15 Psalm 32 Galatians 2:15-21 Saint Luke 7:36 – 8:3                                                                                               David is confronted by the Prophet Nathan     BACKGROUND We have a reading this Sunday from II Samuel.   Actually I and II Samuel and I and II Kings, are regarded as being a single collection, later divided into the divisions above by the King James’ translation of the Bible.   In actuality, the books are a collection of many sources, some of who were responsible for the various strands of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and can be detected by their bias on the issues of the time.   In the Hebrew Scriptures we meet Samuel, whose story may have been intermingled with that of Saul, and David – the legendary king of Israel.   Here, the story of the stories may be almost as fascinating as the story itself. II Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15