Words 10.13.22

 Words Once A Week          10.13.22

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Nineteenth after Pentecost

Jeremiah 31:27-34 

+ “sowing with the seed of humans and of animals” – interesting concept.  We plucked up the weeds and sowed our garden beds with the seed of a cover crop – rye.  We’re not sure if we are going to garden next year or just let it all lie fallow, but sooner or later with will dig in the cover crop and sow with the seed of tomatoes and beans, and potatoes and onions and squash and more.

+ from Texts for Preaching, “the land will again teem with both animal and human life.”  Well, a report on NPR said that according to World Wildlife Fund, animal populations have declined by 69% since 1970.

+ Jeremiah turns the “Day of the Lord” image from destruction (Amos) to blessing.

+ “The parents have eaten...and the children’s teeth…”  Seems to me that our kids and grandkids are still going to suffer from our climate actions, and political actions, and economic actions.

+ this “New Covenant”.  Is it really different from the “Old Covenant”?  How, besides the fact that it will be “written on the heart”?  And what’s that mean when it’s at home?  Has God written anything on your heart?

Psalm 119:97-104  

+ ok, psalm 119, a big long acrostic where most stanzas mention 7 or 8 different terms for the law.

+ the importance of knowing God’s law/vision/rules for having a happy life.  What else is it important to know – cultural practices, social expectations, etc.  What happens with folks to deviate from the practices and expectations, even if they are doing it in harmony with God’s law?

+ How has knowing God’s law made your life different?  Would following God’s law lead to a happy, pleasant, meaningful life?

+ “for the psalmist, happiness means being connected to ther true source of life.”

+ “true knowledge is not achieved through detachment and ‘objectivity’. Rather, the wisdom that ultimately matters begins with passionate involvement with God and commitment to God’s values.”  When we were going to war with Iraq, we were encouraged to “trust the people who knew things.”  But we as people of faith also know things, and maybe even more important things.

Alternate track

Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 121  

Wrestling Jacob – “Come, O thou Traveler unknown….”  Charles Wesley hymn

And “I lift up my eyes to the hills….”

Both really nice.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5  Getting ready to read it tomorrow.

Luke 18:1-8   This judge

+ what do you think – dishonest, corrupt, wicked, malleable?  What word would you use? One writer notes that if the judge “does not respect one person over another”, that kind of sounds like a “just” judge!  What about “gracious”?  What kind of a world would this judge shape?

+ one writer calls this a “delightful and humorous story”, and talks about how the faithful would sometimes see their world in terms of the widow, sometimes in terms of the judge.  Do you see one or the other in your world?

+ a line in Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – “the point of the parable is clear”. Wait – if the point is clear, either it’s not a parable or we haven’t paid enough attention to it. The interesting stories/parables are the ones that aren’t particularly clear!

+ literary context – note that this comes a little ways after 17.20 where the Pharisees ask when the Kingdom of God/the Time of God’s Peace will come.  The faithful have been praying “Thy kingdom come” for a long time.  It’s important to keep praying, Jesus says, even though the Kingdom doesn’t really seem to be getting here!  

+ And that it is followed by the Tax Collector and the Pharisee, and some other stories about people doing not just saying.  One writer says if you want to know who a person is and what they believe, watch their feet not their mouths.

+ ok, we don't get those last two points if we are just reading off the website or the bulletin insert. Important to now and then actually get out the book!

+ “Prayer is the occasion for honesty about oneself and generosity about others.”

+ “The parable is not a commitment that God will gie us what we want, unless what we want is in line with the character of God.”  The widow wanted justice, and that’s what she got.

+ the punctuation is a little unclear.  Swanson translates something like

Jesus said -

  Hear what the unjust judge says -

   “God will never avenge the chosen ones,

    God will surely delay over them.”

  I say to you, 

   “God will avenge them quickly”.

  But when the son of man comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?

+ so after all of the talk about when and how long, the real question is “will the faithful persevere?”

That’s what I got for now……(time to read 2 Timothy!)..