Break Open the Word

The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26 - 4 November 2012 Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Psalm 119:1-8 Hebrews 9:11-14 St. Mark 12:28-34                                                                                     
 Background:  The Decalogue The Law of God, which we know as the “Ten Commandments”, is found in two separate accounts in the Pentateuch, the so-called Books of Moses.  The first account is Exodus 20:1-17, with a secondary account in Deuteronomy 5:6-21.  The influence of Hittite and Mesopotamian law can be found in them, but there is no consensus as to when they were actually written.  The first of the commandments are devoted to the worship of God, while the latter are devoted to the ethics of dail...

All Saints' Day - 1 November 2012 Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 24 Revelation 21:1-6a St. John 11:32-44                                                                                     
 Background: Biblical Manuscripts So many Christians don’t seem to understand the rather complex nature of sacred texts, both their own and the Hebrew texts as well.  The enterprise of biblical translation is a balance of not only setting the text in another language but of determining the text itself.  The two oldest Hebrew manuscripts are the Aleppo Codex (920 C...