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Showing posts from August, 2011

The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18 - 4 September 2011

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The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18 - 4 September 2011 Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 149 or Ezekiel 33:7-11 Psalm 119:33-40 Romans 13:8-14 St. Matthew 18:15-20 Blake - Ezekiel                                                                                     Background: Ezekiel There is a moment in Terry Jones’ The Life of Brian, that I think actually portrays an ancient situation.   It is that moment when Brian, below the walls of Jerusalem, encounters prophets.   They are a staggering lot, crazy with make up and accessories, wild-eyed, speaking with out editing what they are saying, pronouncing the impossible.   Most commentators would put Ezekiel right in this lot.   A man of vision and variable emotions, Ezekiel is difficult to examine and hold in focus.   He seems to be the author of something new in Judaism, and in his work we see the whole spectrum of Israelite institutions: priesthood, prophecy, literacy, and theological discovery.   The broad visi

The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17, 28 August 2011

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The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17 - 28 August 2011 Exodus 3:1-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c or Jeremiah 15:15-21 Psalm 26:1-8 Romans 12:9-21 St. Matthew 16:21-28                                                                                     Background: Jesus the prophet. Prophecy, and its understanding in the American Church, seems to have become the main theological perspective of evangelicalism and fundamentalism.   Today’s readings, however, require us to move away from that point of view (prophecy as future telling) to a more classic view taught us in the Hebrew Scriptures.   The call of Jeremiah (1:4-19) gives us an opportunity to see what prophecy was really all about, and how it connects to the mission of Jesus.   When Jeremiah is called, he objects.   He considers himself unworthy, too young, too inexperienced.   God then reminds him that it is God’s words that will become the stuff of Jeremiah’s message.   Prophecy was not a crystal bal