I am traveling this next week and have a busy August and September so I have posted the next several weeks. Here are the links so you can find the posts easily.
Blessings,
Andy Doyle
August 7th: Proper 14 and 19 in Ordinary Time
August 14th: Proper 15 and 20 in Ordinary Time
August 21: Proper 16 and 21 in Ordinary Time
August 28: Proper 17 and 22 in Ordinary Time
September 4: Proper 18 and 23 in Ordinary Time
Friday, August 5, 2011
Proper 18.A and 23 in Ordinary Time
"The Bible invites us to enter into an ongoing conversation of Christians who struggle with what it means to live faithfully in relationship and to look beyond ourselves."
"A Careful Read," Deanna Langle, The Christian Century, 2005. Prayer
God of unity and peace, your Son has taught us that where two or three are gathered in his name he is present in their midst and you will grant their request. Grant us a new heart to presume the goodness of every brother and sister, and a spirit sensitive to the burdens each of them bears, that by loving our neighbor as ourselves we may bear witness to that love which is the fulfilling of the law.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
This passage is a passage of kindness; the fact that so many of us will read and preach on the difficult measure this passage offers as a rule may indicate more our own boundry-less and unaccountable culture.
The sinner is offered repeatedly opportunities to repent. The one who is transgressed against too must forgive the offender. The hardness of Jesus' rule, you see, is that those who follow him must be known as those who forgive - beyond all measure.
It is clear in the passage that the reason for such a boundless grace is the grace of God himself. We are to forgive as we are forgiven by God. We are to love as God has loved us.
Perhaps the problem is that as we have become less accountable for our actions to others, our hostile words, our uncaring for our neighbors, our lack of generosity, our lack of forgiveness, our lack of love for our enemies...we feel like we ourselves really don't need too much forgiving.
When we are righteous all on our own, not by action but by hiding our action and true natures, we really don't need much forgiveness or love from God.
The reality is that Jesus offers us a vision of the kingdom which seeks continuously to re-reincorporate the lost. The mission of God is clear, in forgiveness and in all things, to bring back into the fold those who are lost. Restoration, recreation, and transformation of all people is the ultimate work of the mission of Jesus Christ.
We are challenged as a church to make this our primary work. What would the world be like if every church in the Episcopal Church understood that it existed for those who were not there on Sunday morning and that their work was so to present the love and forgiveness of God that individuals would be drawn into relationship with Jesus and Jesus' church?
For Matthew excommunication, removal from the community, is not a communal action but is the result of self-imposed actions.
Life in community is to be organized by those who are the "meek and merciful" and "who know that they themselves are the unworthy recipients of God's constant mercy and forgiveness." (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 804)
So it is that ultimate removal from the community is a tragic event and that those who bind such actions will be bound themselves. Are we able to lose ourselves into heaven by living lives of forgiveness?
I think the real challenge this week is to preach on this passage. The rules and boundaries of community and the community rule of forgiveness is one not often preached. The idea that we walk by the grace of God and therefore we should rest upon such grace before seeking to hold resentments against others is a message many need to hear.
This 12 step process of Alanon and AA are a process that provides a tremendous sense of God's grace. As a reconciliation tool, the steps work to help the disciple or follower of Jesus to understand that most of the resentments we carry around in our hearts are caused not by others but by our own behaviors. What we loose and bind is always dependant upon us - not someone else.
I am struck by the idea that what Jesus seems so easily to seize upon in this passage is that if a community is completely focused upon the sins of others it will rarely be a community of integrity because it lacks the ability to see the sin rampant within and this will frustrate the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20
15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
"A Careful Read," Deanna Langle, The Christian Century, 2005. Prayer
God of unity and peace, your Son has taught us that where two or three are gathered in his name he is present in their midst and you will grant their request. Grant us a new heart to presume the goodness of every brother and sister, and a spirit sensitive to the burdens each of them bears, that by loving our neighbor as ourselves we may bear witness to that love which is the fulfilling of the law.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
This passage is a passage of kindness; the fact that so many of us will read and preach on the difficult measure this passage offers as a rule may indicate more our own boundry-less and unaccountable culture.
The sinner is offered repeatedly opportunities to repent. The one who is transgressed against too must forgive the offender. The hardness of Jesus' rule, you see, is that those who follow him must be known as those who forgive - beyond all measure.
It is clear in the passage that the reason for such a boundless grace is the grace of God himself. We are to forgive as we are forgiven by God. We are to love as God has loved us.
Perhaps the problem is that as we have become less accountable for our actions to others, our hostile words, our uncaring for our neighbors, our lack of generosity, our lack of forgiveness, our lack of love for our enemies...we feel like we ourselves really don't need too much forgiving.
When we are righteous all on our own, not by action but by hiding our action and true natures, we really don't need much forgiveness or love from God.
The reality is that Jesus offers us a vision of the kingdom which seeks continuously to re-reincorporate the lost. The mission of God is clear, in forgiveness and in all things, to bring back into the fold those who are lost. Restoration, recreation, and transformation of all people is the ultimate work of the mission of Jesus Christ.
We are challenged as a church to make this our primary work. What would the world be like if every church in the Episcopal Church understood that it existed for those who were not there on Sunday morning and that their work was so to present the love and forgiveness of God that individuals would be drawn into relationship with Jesus and Jesus' church?
For Matthew excommunication, removal from the community, is not a communal action but is the result of self-imposed actions.
Life in community is to be organized by those who are the "meek and merciful" and "who know that they themselves are the unworthy recipients of God's constant mercy and forgiveness." (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 804)
So it is that ultimate removal from the community is a tragic event and that those who bind such actions will be bound themselves. Are we able to lose ourselves into heaven by living lives of forgiveness?
I think the real challenge this week is to preach on this passage. The rules and boundaries of community and the community rule of forgiveness is one not often preached. The idea that we walk by the grace of God and therefore we should rest upon such grace before seeking to hold resentments against others is a message many need to hear.
This 12 step process of Alanon and AA are a process that provides a tremendous sense of God's grace. As a reconciliation tool, the steps work to help the disciple or follower of Jesus to understand that most of the resentments we carry around in our hearts are caused not by others but by our own behaviors. What we loose and bind is always dependant upon us - not someone else.
I am struck by the idea that what Jesus seems so easily to seize upon in this passage is that if a community is completely focused upon the sins of others it will rarely be a community of integrity because it lacks the ability to see the sin rampant within and this will frustrate the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20
15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Proper 17.A and 22 in Ordinary Time
"Our hope for the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ is not that Peter or the rest of us who are fishing for people will get better, clearer, louder, quieter, more trusting, or less cowardly but that God will keep revealing himself and his merciful and just rule through his Son to human beings quite apart from their goodness, clarity, trust and courage."
"The Tension of Discipleship," Mary Hinkle, Pilgrim Preaching.
Prayer
Transform us, O God, by the renewal of our minds, that we may not be conformed to this world or seduced by human standards of success. But as true disciples may we discern how good and pleasing it is to you for us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow in the footsteps of Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
As we read through the Gospel of Matthew we might remember that everything is read through the lens of the concluding passion tide. This passage is the first of the passion predictions. It comes to us following the miracle of loaves and fishes, the stilling of the storm, and Peter's Gospel proclamation that Jesus is indeed the Messiah the Son of the Living God.
It is not a surprise to us because we know the rest of the story, and it is not a surprise if we have been reading along in Matthew's Gospel for throughout the narrative we have received images, metaphors, road signs that we are heading towards Jerusalem. Jesus has set his face like a flint to Jerusalem and there we know his message of a continuing revelation of God and the new kingdom will be rejected by the religious establishment. And, that he is to die and rise again.
So the first revelation of this Gospel is one that we as Christians have come to understand and that is that Jesus is willing to do this. Jesus is willing to go to Jerusalem and to die there on behalf of the vision of the kingdom and on behalf of the new restored creation he is proclaiming.
Jesus does this work as a free man, choosing to be faithful to his very nature and faithful to his vocation as prophet. He willingly chooses for himself this destiny as the divine rite of the King of Heaven. It seems important for us to understand that Matthew's Gospel does not offer a God who requires Jesus' death, or a society that demands it, but rather that the death of Jesus is determined by Jesus himself as an offering for the cause of the kingdom of God. Jesus believes, in my opinion, that if he will go to Jerusalem he will intentionally fan the flames of the religious authorities, they will kill him, and he will then usher in the reign of God in this world and the next.
For the author of Matthew, for the apostolic generation and every successive faith generation that has followed, Jesus' will and the divine will are one. His intention therefore is God's intention. A new order, the creation itself, is being re-made.
We cannot miss in this passage the very important and theologically pieces. I refer again to Allison and Davies who I very much depend upon for their scholarship to help us remember and think through the deep meanings intertwined in this passage regarding Peter's witness and Peter's relationship with the Christ:
This passage challenges the preacher and church to look careful at itself and question where do we believe we have it so very correct and how are we possibly frustrating the will and mission of God and Jesus Christ?
And, can we celebrate together as the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion the reality that God's will is done despite our best and our worst efforts! The beauty of the passage is Peter's complete obstruction that is overcome by the grace and single minded vision and actions of Jesus Christ. Can we trust that we are buouyed up by the grace of God and that somehow our efforts work into the greater work of the Godhead.
Are we able to accept grace for ourselves and more importantly can we claim enough grace to withstand the reality that those who disagree with us may also receive the vision of Christ glorified. We must read the whole Gospel and claim its revelation of truth for the whole body of faithful people. We must be the community of life and love where the fallen are invited into the greater celebration of the triumph of Grace. There is in the end the truth that grace allows you and I and all those who agree and disagree with us the opportunity to see the Christ lifted high upon the cross, delevered into the depths of Hades, and rise on the third day transfiguring not only his own body but the whole creation into the kingdom and reign of God!
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28
21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
"The Tension of Discipleship," Mary Hinkle, Pilgrim Preaching.
Prayer
Transform us, O God, by the renewal of our minds, that we may not be conformed to this world or seduced by human standards of success. But as true disciples may we discern how good and pleasing it is to you for us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow in the footsteps of Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
As we read through the Gospel of Matthew we might remember that everything is read through the lens of the concluding passion tide. This passage is the first of the passion predictions. It comes to us following the miracle of loaves and fishes, the stilling of the storm, and Peter's Gospel proclamation that Jesus is indeed the Messiah the Son of the Living God.
It is not a surprise to us because we know the rest of the story, and it is not a surprise if we have been reading along in Matthew's Gospel for throughout the narrative we have received images, metaphors, road signs that we are heading towards Jerusalem. Jesus has set his face like a flint to Jerusalem and there we know his message of a continuing revelation of God and the new kingdom will be rejected by the religious establishment. And, that he is to die and rise again.
So the first revelation of this Gospel is one that we as Christians have come to understand and that is that Jesus is willing to do this. Jesus is willing to go to Jerusalem and to die there on behalf of the vision of the kingdom and on behalf of the new restored creation he is proclaiming.
Jesus does this work as a free man, choosing to be faithful to his very nature and faithful to his vocation as prophet. He willingly chooses for himself this destiny as the divine rite of the King of Heaven. It seems important for us to understand that Matthew's Gospel does not offer a God who requires Jesus' death, or a society that demands it, but rather that the death of Jesus is determined by Jesus himself as an offering for the cause of the kingdom of God. Jesus believes, in my opinion, that if he will go to Jerusalem he will intentionally fan the flames of the religious authorities, they will kill him, and he will then usher in the reign of God in this world and the next.
For the author of Matthew, for the apostolic generation and every successive faith generation that has followed, Jesus' will and the divine will are one. His intention therefore is God's intention. A new order, the creation itself, is being re-made.
We cannot miss in this passage the very important and theologically pieces. I refer again to Allison and Davies who I very much depend upon for their scholarship to help us remember and think through the deep meanings intertwined in this passage regarding Peter's witness and Peter's relationship with the Christ:
To begin with , Peter's pre-eminence makes his misunderstanding in effect universal: if even the favoured Simon, rock of the church and recipient of divine revelation, did not grasp the truth, then, we may assume, that truth was hid from all. God's intentions for Jesus were so dark and mysterious that they simply could not, before the event, be comprehended. This in large part explains why Jesus is such a lonely figure in Matthew and why he is trailed throughout the gospel by misapprehension and even opposition. God's was are inscrutable. At the same time, one no doubt demanding unprecedented responsibilities (cf. Chrysostom as quote on p 664). Another lesson is to be found in this, that Peter's fall from the heights shows him to be anything but an idealized figure. Like David and so many other biblical heroes, the apostle serves as warning that privileges and even divine election will not keep a body from evil mischief. Finally, Peter must also, again like David and so many others, be intended to stand as a symbol of God's ever-ready willingness to bestow forgiveness on the imperfect. For as soon as Peter has been quickly dismissed for words better left unsaid, Jesus selects him, along with two others, to be witnesses of the transfiguration. Thus Peter, so far from being punished for his misguided though, is immediately granted a glimpse of the glorified Christ. Is the reader not expected to see in this a triumph of grace?Heavenly Father help our unbelief! One of the beautiful things that has always intrigued me about the Gospel and about God's willingness to be in relationship with us is God's ability to commitment no matter how often we get it wrong. Certainly we as individual followers and as a Church have not always gotten it right. We don't have to meditate long upon our personal and corporate sinfulness where in we have attempted to create a kingdom and a revelation that supports our power and authority over and against the divine wishes of the Godhead or the clear revelation of scripture to create a new order.
This passage challenges the preacher and church to look careful at itself and question where do we believe we have it so very correct and how are we possibly frustrating the will and mission of God and Jesus Christ?
And, can we celebrate together as the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion the reality that God's will is done despite our best and our worst efforts! The beauty of the passage is Peter's complete obstruction that is overcome by the grace and single minded vision and actions of Jesus Christ. Can we trust that we are buouyed up by the grace of God and that somehow our efforts work into the greater work of the Godhead.
Are we able to accept grace for ourselves and more importantly can we claim enough grace to withstand the reality that those who disagree with us may also receive the vision of Christ glorified. We must read the whole Gospel and claim its revelation of truth for the whole body of faithful people. We must be the community of life and love where the fallen are invited into the greater celebration of the triumph of Grace. There is in the end the truth that grace allows you and I and all those who agree and disagree with us the opportunity to see the Christ lifted high upon the cross, delevered into the depths of Hades, and rise on the third day transfiguring not only his own body but the whole creation into the kingdom and reign of God!
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28
21From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Proper 16.A and 21 in Ordinary Time
"Our Lord declared Peter to be blessed, as the teaching of God made him differ from his unbelieving countrymen."
From Matthew Henry's Commentary
Prayer
God, well-spring of all wisdom and font of every insight, you inspired Simon Peter to confess Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and on the rock of this faith you built your church. Pour out your Spirit in abundance, that all may join in this profession, and so become living stones built up into your church, standing firm upon the one foundation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
The passage for this Sunday's Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Messiah and Son of the Living God. It is Peter's proclamation on the road to Caesarea Philippi. It is an important theological passage for Christianity and is an important passage within the Gospel of Matthew.
We begin the passage with Jesus' question to his disciples. This then reveals that Jesus is a great prophet. It isn't simply that he is compared to the great heroes of the Jewish faith. He is on par with, he is equal to, Jeremiah, Elijah, and John the Baptist. He is not simply a great prophet he is the greatest of prophets. He is the Christ, Son of the Living God. The message of Jesus is the continuation of the ancient faith of Israel. He is the fulfillment of all the hope of Israel. He is the omega of salvation-history. At the same time he is doing something radically new - he is birthing (through word and spirit) the Church.
Jesus in Matthew's Gospel is the one who is laying the foundation of a living Word that will withstand the powers and principalities of both this world and the world to come. He is building up living stones and a kingdom of priests to expand the reign of the kingdom of God - this "eschatalogical temple." (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 642)
There is a great debate among scholars as to Matthew's own Christology. Did he think of Jesus as God in the same way as John and his Gospel? In point of fact no direct statement is made. Yet, in my opinion the author of this Gospel indeed understands Jesus as God. For in my reading of Matthew Jesus not only is the continuum of messianic hope he is the culmination as well. He is here on this road proclaimed as the Son of the Living God. Matthew's Gospel is clear about its revelation - Jesus is one with God and therefore transcends the simple relationship of follower or prophet of the most high God.
Furthermore, this Jesus is the one who has been given the power and authority to call forth the new community of faithful followers into the kingdom. In this section of the narrative of Jesus, in this moment, on the road to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus is seen as Lord of this new kingdom. He is in the miracle of loaves and fishes, in the stilling of the storm, he is bringing together a new people of God. This new people of God is made up of those who unlike many of the religious powers of his day have not rejected him and those who are on the fringes of religious society - to include Gentiles. This is the God made man who in sitting and eating with sinners and tax collectors is binding together a new family of God.
Jesus in his ministry, and from this point on in Matthew's Gospel, is passing along the inheritance of the kingdom of God. Jesus is gathering in and multiplying the numbers of Abraham's descendants. He is through the power of the Holy Spirit taking the spirit that has been under the custodial leadership of the religious authorities of his day and is placing that spirit upon a new people, a growing people, a diverse people - the ecclesia - The People of God.
The image of this new people of God is not the perfected disciple but the disciple Peter, the one whose faith led him to step out of the boat, the one whose faith has revealed the true nature of Jesus, the one who also will struggle with his faith and deny him during the passion tide. This imperfect human is the one upon whom the church, the new ecclesia, is built.
Allison and Davies write this beautiful passage about the revelation of Jesus as Son of the Living God and spiritual architect of the new people of God:
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Matthew in the Margins
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20
13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
From Matthew Henry's Commentary
Prayer
God, well-spring of all wisdom and font of every insight, you inspired Simon Peter to confess Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and on the rock of this faith you built your church. Pour out your Spirit in abundance, that all may join in this profession, and so become living stones built up into your church, standing firm upon the one foundation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
The passage for this Sunday's Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Messiah and Son of the Living God. It is Peter's proclamation on the road to Caesarea Philippi. It is an important theological passage for Christianity and is an important passage within the Gospel of Matthew.
We begin the passage with Jesus' question to his disciples. This then reveals that Jesus is a great prophet. It isn't simply that he is compared to the great heroes of the Jewish faith. He is on par with, he is equal to, Jeremiah, Elijah, and John the Baptist. He is not simply a great prophet he is the greatest of prophets. He is the Christ, Son of the Living God. The message of Jesus is the continuation of the ancient faith of Israel. He is the fulfillment of all the hope of Israel. He is the omega of salvation-history. At the same time he is doing something radically new - he is birthing (through word and spirit) the Church.
Jesus in Matthew's Gospel is the one who is laying the foundation of a living Word that will withstand the powers and principalities of both this world and the world to come. He is building up living stones and a kingdom of priests to expand the reign of the kingdom of God - this "eschatalogical temple." (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 642)
There is a great debate among scholars as to Matthew's own Christology. Did he think of Jesus as God in the same way as John and his Gospel? In point of fact no direct statement is made. Yet, in my opinion the author of this Gospel indeed understands Jesus as God. For in my reading of Matthew Jesus not only is the continuum of messianic hope he is the culmination as well. He is here on this road proclaimed as the Son of the Living God. Matthew's Gospel is clear about its revelation - Jesus is one with God and therefore transcends the simple relationship of follower or prophet of the most high God.
Furthermore, this Jesus is the one who has been given the power and authority to call forth the new community of faithful followers into the kingdom. In this section of the narrative of Jesus, in this moment, on the road to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus is seen as Lord of this new kingdom. He is in the miracle of loaves and fishes, in the stilling of the storm, he is bringing together a new people of God. This new people of God is made up of those who unlike many of the religious powers of his day have not rejected him and those who are on the fringes of religious society - to include Gentiles. This is the God made man who in sitting and eating with sinners and tax collectors is binding together a new family of God.
Jesus in his ministry, and from this point on in Matthew's Gospel, is passing along the inheritance of the kingdom of God. Jesus is gathering in and multiplying the numbers of Abraham's descendants. He is through the power of the Holy Spirit taking the spirit that has been under the custodial leadership of the religious authorities of his day and is placing that spirit upon a new people, a growing people, a diverse people - the ecclesia - The People of God.
The image of this new people of God is not the perfected disciple but the disciple Peter, the one whose faith led him to step out of the boat, the one whose faith has revealed the true nature of Jesus, the one who also will struggle with his faith and deny him during the passion tide. This imperfect human is the one upon whom the church, the new ecclesia, is built.
Allison and Davies write this beautiful passage about the revelation of Jesus as Son of the Living God and spiritual architect of the new people of God:
Jesus is the Son promised in 2 Sam 7.4-16, the king who builds the eschatological temple. This temple is the church. Like the old temple, it is founded on a rock. But unlike the old temple, it has no geographical location. It is not in Jerusalem. The new, eschatological temple is a spiritual temple. It stands under the rule: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (18:20; cf. Jn 4:21). Mathew is thus at one with the rest of the NT in substituting for the Holiness of place the holiness of a person: holy space has been Christified. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 642)Allison and Davies contend, and I think it is a great image, that just as Jesus is himself the New Covenant so Peter is then the New Abraham. They write:
The parallels between 16:13-20 and Genesis 17:1-8 indicate that Peter functions as a new Abraham. He is the first of his kind, and he stands at the head of a new people. Peter is, like Abraham, a rock (cf. Isa 51:1-2), and the change in his name denotes his function. What follows? Peter is not just a representative disciple, as so many Protestant exegetes have been anxious to maintain. Nor is he obviously the first holder of an office others will someday hold, as Roman Catholic tradition has so steadfastly maintained. Rather, he is a man with a unique role in salvation history. The eschatological revelation vouchsafed to him opens a new era. His person marks a change in the times. His significance is the significance of Abraham, which is to say: his faith is the means by which God brings a new people into being. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 642ff)This week's Gospel lesson is as much about Jesus as it is about Peter. We need leaders in each Episcopal congregation (clergy and lay) who are ready to give voice to the proclamation of Jesus as Son of the Living God and Lord of all; and to incarnate their faith in living a living Word that is Gospel. We need leadership who will also see themselves not simply as disciples of a particular kind but in the tradition of Peter and Abraham; ready to take steps out into the world. We need leadership who are ready to be the stones upon which new churches are designed and built. We need leaders who are through their ministry ushering in a new era of Gospel proclamation and mission. We need leaders who by means of their faith God is bringing a new people, a new ecclesia, into being.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Matthew in the Margins
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20
13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Proper 15.A and 20 in Ordinary Time
"Thy faith - Thy reliance on the power and goodness of God."
From Wesley's Notes.
Prayer
God of all the nations, in the outstretched arms of Jesus the Crucified you gather the people of earth, diverse and divided, into a single embrace of salvation and peace. Stir up within us the longing for unity that filled the heart of Jesus your Son, and let our every word and deed serve your design of universal salvation, until all are gathered into your one family to be perfectly one in your covenant of love.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
Wow. Now this Sunday we have an interesting passage! In order to engage this passage we must realize that it comes after a confrontation scene with the religious leaders. Jesus has just been confronted by the authorities who are challenging him that he is not following the tradition of his faith ancestors. They are acting somewhat like inspectors who are pretty sure the disciples have not been washing their hands before they sit down and eat. The passage is a direct engagement with the rules of the day which understand the tradition of the religious authorities to be outside the tradition of scripture; and therefore Jesus in our passage today teaches the crowd around him.
Scholars tend to look upon this text as trying to deal with the difference between the Matthean communal rule of life and that of their forebears.
At the same time we must recognize that while this may be true, we also know that this engagement with the religious authorities was one of the key mitigating factors that led to Jesus' crucifixion.
Jesus is proclaiming a message that connects the new emerging communities with the ancient law of the Israel and their prophets. The new communities that Jesus is speaking to are certainly continuing Jewish communities. But the Gentile mission too was quickly to engage as a full member of the evolving understanding of God's widening kingdom. Jesus is preserving the good news of a God who is in relationship with his people and who makes promises to be with them always even to the end of the ages; a God who promises the abundance of creation. So there is a sense that Jesus is continuing and reforming. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 537)
Jesus' teaching is essential to a global mission. Jesus' teaching is the pre-cursor to the Apostolic Decree from Acts 15.20, 29; 21.45. Wherein the first community of followers of Jesus quickly laid out the boundaries that would enable the Jew and the Gentile to worship God through the particular revelation of Jesus Christ without getting in one an other's way. The rule prohibited four things: eating meat sacrificed to idols, eating blood, eating strangled animals, and intercourse with near kin. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 538) These were the rules.
The real focus I think for this passage has to be the text: What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and that defiles a man (15.18). This is a key component to Matthew's Gospel; indeed the whole of the Gospels. It is mentioned throughout the Gospel narrative. Too often religion gets overly focused upon ritual and in so doing looses sight of the key component of faith - the direction through the heart of one's life and work.
It is one's intention and attitudes that is a chief characteristic of Jesus' words to his followers. It is perhaps the center of Jesus' own moral teachings. Integrity is the result of harmony between thought and act. Integrity is the result of an action based upon the living word of God brought into being through the vessel of one's heart and delivered by mouth and hands.
This is not particularly new teaching that Jesus is offering his followers. In fact most religious reform is not new. It is rather a rereading, reinterpreting, and re vocalizing of the ancient words of psalms, prophets, and rabbis. It is to say that keeping the commandment was good, but that interiorizing the commandment was essential religious work.
Allison and Davies in their work on Matthew write this:
We are challenged by this passage a great deal. As a Church we are working through divisions on the different ways of acting out our faith - liturgy, sacrament, and polity. Yet I think we are being judged by those who do not come to church but seek God. We are being looked upon by those who love Jesus and believe he would have similar criticisms of today's church.
I think we are challenged to hold up today's scripture and ask ourselves as individuals and as preachers and teachers what are the things we are most concerned about? What are the items from the last meeting we went to and did not go our way and so now we are harboring as essential to the life of our church? What are the items we hold most dear and most important: budget, altar guild, ritual, grounds, coffee hour? What are they and how are they connected to the religious heart of our church? How are the things we hold as most important connected to the religious heart of Jesus' Gospel?
This is a good exercise. Perhaps we should do the work corporately and then offer ourselves to God and be reconciled to God, our neighbor and the world. Then perhaps we can take genuine step forward in mission reconnecting our words and actions with our own heart and with the heart of Jesus and his Word.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 15:10-28
10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
From Wesley's Notes.
Prayer
God of all the nations, in the outstretched arms of Jesus the Crucified you gather the people of earth, diverse and divided, into a single embrace of salvation and peace. Stir up within us the longing for unity that filled the heart of Jesus your Son, and let our every word and deed serve your design of universal salvation, until all are gathered into your one family to be perfectly one in your covenant of love.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
Wow. Now this Sunday we have an interesting passage! In order to engage this passage we must realize that it comes after a confrontation scene with the religious leaders. Jesus has just been confronted by the authorities who are challenging him that he is not following the tradition of his faith ancestors. They are acting somewhat like inspectors who are pretty sure the disciples have not been washing their hands before they sit down and eat. The passage is a direct engagement with the rules of the day which understand the tradition of the religious authorities to be outside the tradition of scripture; and therefore Jesus in our passage today teaches the crowd around him.
Scholars tend to look upon this text as trying to deal with the difference between the Matthean communal rule of life and that of their forebears.
At the same time we must recognize that while this may be true, we also know that this engagement with the religious authorities was one of the key mitigating factors that led to Jesus' crucifixion.
Jesus is proclaiming a message that connects the new emerging communities with the ancient law of the Israel and their prophets. The new communities that Jesus is speaking to are certainly continuing Jewish communities. But the Gentile mission too was quickly to engage as a full member of the evolving understanding of God's widening kingdom. Jesus is preserving the good news of a God who is in relationship with his people and who makes promises to be with them always even to the end of the ages; a God who promises the abundance of creation. So there is a sense that Jesus is continuing and reforming. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 537)
Jesus' teaching is essential to a global mission. Jesus' teaching is the pre-cursor to the Apostolic Decree from Acts 15.20, 29; 21.45. Wherein the first community of followers of Jesus quickly laid out the boundaries that would enable the Jew and the Gentile to worship God through the particular revelation of Jesus Christ without getting in one an other's way. The rule prohibited four things: eating meat sacrificed to idols, eating blood, eating strangled animals, and intercourse with near kin. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 538) These were the rules.
The real focus I think for this passage has to be the text: What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and that defiles a man (15.18). This is a key component to Matthew's Gospel; indeed the whole of the Gospels. It is mentioned throughout the Gospel narrative. Too often religion gets overly focused upon ritual and in so doing looses sight of the key component of faith - the direction through the heart of one's life and work.
It is one's intention and attitudes that is a chief characteristic of Jesus' words to his followers. It is perhaps the center of Jesus' own moral teachings. Integrity is the result of harmony between thought and act. Integrity is the result of an action based upon the living word of God brought into being through the vessel of one's heart and delivered by mouth and hands.
This is not particularly new teaching that Jesus is offering his followers. In fact most religious reform is not new. It is rather a rereading, reinterpreting, and re vocalizing of the ancient words of psalms, prophets, and rabbis. It is to say that keeping the commandment was good, but that interiorizing the commandment was essential religious work.
Allison and Davies in their work on Matthew write this:
The Psalms, the prophets, and the rabbis all attest the necessity of cleansing the heart and purifying interior disposition. In the First Gospel, however, there is a regular and emphatic dwelling on the them, so that Matthew remains a constant reminder that Jesus laid an extraordinary emphasis on the real inner religious significance of the commandments.
We are challenged by this passage a great deal. As a Church we are working through divisions on the different ways of acting out our faith - liturgy, sacrament, and polity. Yet I think we are being judged by those who do not come to church but seek God. We are being looked upon by those who love Jesus and believe he would have similar criticisms of today's church.
I think we are challenged to hold up today's scripture and ask ourselves as individuals and as preachers and teachers what are the things we are most concerned about? What are the items from the last meeting we went to and did not go our way and so now we are harboring as essential to the life of our church? What are the items we hold most dear and most important: budget, altar guild, ritual, grounds, coffee hour? What are they and how are they connected to the religious heart of our church? How are the things we hold as most important connected to the religious heart of Jesus' Gospel?
This is a good exercise. Perhaps we should do the work corporately and then offer ourselves to God and be reconciled to God, our neighbor and the world. Then perhaps we can take genuine step forward in mission reconnecting our words and actions with our own heart and with the heart of Jesus and his Word.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Holy Textures
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 15:10-28
10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Proper 14.A and 19 in Ordinary Time
"We must sail even through mighty tempests, and Christ will never forsake us, so that we can go wherever he has commanded us to go."
John Calvin's Geneva Notes.
Prayer
Strong and faithful God, your outstretched arm governs the mighty forces of creation, and your gentle hand cradles event he smallest of creatures. Strengthen our "little faith," and open our eyes to your presence at every moment of history and in every circumstance of life, that we may face with serenity times of testing and turmoil, and walk with Christ through every storm toward safe haven and true peace.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
There is a lot occurring in this passage from Matthew. Not unlike the work of Jesus Christ as co-creator shining through the miracle of the loaves and fishes we now continue on to see God's hand at work as the lord of the seas.
At first glance we see here in this passage the miraculous acts of Jesus holding up Peter's faith walk, walking on the sea himself, and stilling the storm. While miraculous in their own right we must also pay close attention to the notion that these are acts reserved for God; these are literally acts which throughout the narrative of the Old Testament are work reserved for God alone. So, the story is on the one hand a story of miracles but as preachers we must not loose the notion that the story also reveals the holiness, the other-ness, the God-ness of Jesus Christ. These acts reveal Jesus as the divine Christ.
Not unlike the creedal faith soon proclaimed by the church we see in this story that the Godhead shares with the divine Jesus his nature as creator.
Allison and Davies (the Matthean scholars) point out that Matthew is quick to address the theological for evangelism purposes while at the same time delivering a teaching on the nature of following Jesus. The Gospel for this Sunday is as much about who Jesus is as it is about whom we are to become if we choose to follow Jesus.
Christians must have faith in the face of difficulties. As Christians try and follow Jesus and try to enact or make real his commands we know we will have difficulties. Get out and come to me....is not as easy as it may sound. The idea that when we step out in faith we step out upon the deep water itself. The metaphorical teaching of the Gospel lesson is clear: Jesus will not abandon his church (those in the boat) and will come to our aid when we tread the deep water for Jesus sake. Jesus does not promise there will not be storms but does promise to be there in the midst of the storm.
There is still something more here though. We cannot forget that the Gospel voice of Matthew is one born out of a continuing Jewish context of Jesus followers. Here in this passage we move from a general understanding of the kingdom to the specific building upon the shoulders of Peter a new community ( a specific Matthean community) of faithful followers. The insight offered is not one of perfection (after all Peter sinks and will fail again at the passion). The insight rather is one of understanding the difficulty of faithful following itself. The apostolic witness of Peter is one upon whom the community will be built. He represents the continuation and tie with the ancient faith ancestors of Israel, and also the willingness to step out and bring the revelation of God in Jesus Christ into the messianic age of community. A community of continuing Israel's faith in a Messiah who does not leave us but continues to engage the storm of community life and faithful attempts to bear witness to his divine nature and kingdom.
I have to admit that I fail. That is not something we aspire to in the United States. Failure is not an American option. It has led us to hold leaders up to a perfection unattainable. At the same time our aspiration for success has also led us to be unwilling to bend or fail; in turn this has led us to not even try. It is the not trying that is the greater sin. As I reflect upon Peter's walk I think that the reality is that the greater sin is not found in his faith as it falters for there is enough grace for all. The greater sin would have been not to have tried. The greater sin would have to not believed in the grace of Christ such that we would have stayed in the boat.
I believe the issue with the church isn't so much that we don't believe in Jesus Christ, but that our real sin is that of perfection. If it can't be perfect then we should not try. The Episcopal Church (and my guess is all churches) today is being challenged to get out of the boat. We are being challenged to take a faithful step out into the world. We are being invited and challenged to step out upon deep waters and we are being challenged to fail gloriously. When an institution and a culture no longer has the ability to tolerate failure the organization is dead.
I hope you will challenge people to get out of the boat. I hope you will challenge the church to leave the building. Most of all I pray for you and for me the gift of toleration to allow people to fail gloriously for the sake of the kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus. In such grace we can hear Jesus' words to us: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Working Preacher
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
22Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
John Calvin's Geneva Notes.
Prayer
Strong and faithful God, your outstretched arm governs the mighty forces of creation, and your gentle hand cradles event he smallest of creatures. Strengthen our "little faith," and open our eyes to your presence at every moment of history and in every circumstance of life, that we may face with serenity times of testing and turmoil, and walk with Christ through every storm toward safe haven and true peace.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts
There is a lot occurring in this passage from Matthew. Not unlike the work of Jesus Christ as co-creator shining through the miracle of the loaves and fishes we now continue on to see God's hand at work as the lord of the seas.
Not unlike the creedal faith soon proclaimed by the church we see in this story that the Godhead shares with the divine Jesus his nature as creator.
Allison and Davies (the Matthean scholars) point out that Matthew is quick to address the theological for evangelism purposes while at the same time delivering a teaching on the nature of following Jesus. The Gospel for this Sunday is as much about who Jesus is as it is about whom we are to become if we choose to follow Jesus.
Christians must have faith in the face of difficulties. As Christians try and follow Jesus and try to enact or make real his commands we know we will have difficulties. Get out and come to me....is not as easy as it may sound. The idea that when we step out in faith we step out upon the deep water itself. The metaphorical teaching of the Gospel lesson is clear: Jesus will not abandon his church (those in the boat) and will come to our aid when we tread the deep water for Jesus sake. Jesus does not promise there will not be storms but does promise to be there in the midst of the storm.
There is still something more here though. We cannot forget that the Gospel voice of Matthew is one born out of a continuing Jewish context of Jesus followers. Here in this passage we move from a general understanding of the kingdom to the specific building upon the shoulders of Peter a new community ( a specific Matthean community) of faithful followers. The insight offered is not one of perfection (after all Peter sinks and will fail again at the passion). The insight rather is one of understanding the difficulty of faithful following itself. The apostolic witness of Peter is one upon whom the community will be built. He represents the continuation and tie with the ancient faith ancestors of Israel, and also the willingness to step out and bring the revelation of God in Jesus Christ into the messianic age of community. A community of continuing Israel's faith in a Messiah who does not leave us but continues to engage the storm of community life and faithful attempts to bear witness to his divine nature and kingdom.
I have to admit that I fail. That is not something we aspire to in the United States. Failure is not an American option. It has led us to hold leaders up to a perfection unattainable. At the same time our aspiration for success has also led us to be unwilling to bend or fail; in turn this has led us to not even try. It is the not trying that is the greater sin. As I reflect upon Peter's walk I think that the reality is that the greater sin is not found in his faith as it falters for there is enough grace for all. The greater sin would have been not to have tried. The greater sin would have to not believed in the grace of Christ such that we would have stayed in the boat.
I believe the issue with the church isn't so much that we don't believe in Jesus Christ, but that our real sin is that of perfection. If it can't be perfect then we should not try. The Episcopal Church (and my guess is all churches) today is being challenged to get out of the boat. We are being challenged to take a faithful step out into the world. We are being invited and challenged to step out upon deep waters and we are being challenged to fail gloriously. When an institution and a culture no longer has the ability to tolerate failure the organization is dead.
I hope you will challenge people to get out of the boat. I hope you will challenge the church to leave the building. Most of all I pray for you and for me the gift of toleration to allow people to fail gloriously for the sake of the kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus. In such grace we can hear Jesus' words to us: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Working Preacher
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
22Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 28Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Proper 13.A and 18 in Ordinary Time
"The first miracle was the one we usually talk about -- the multiplication of the loaves. The second one was the kind of miraculous trust Jesus inspired in those who came to him, the trust that made everyone there willing to forget about years of "you are what you eat" conditioning to accept bread from Jesus without knowing or asking about where it came from and whether it was safe or kosher."
Dylan's Lectionary Blog, Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer
Prayer Loving God as a mother tenderly gathers her children and as a father joyfully welcomes his own, so in the compassion of Jesus you nurture and nourish us, feed us and heal us. Let the bread Jesus multiplied then in the wilderness be broken and shared among us now. May the communion we experience with each other in this holy meal, compel us to seek communion with everyone in loving service toward all.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts: They need not go away
Not unlike the grace imparted in the Eucharistic meal the feeding of the five thousand connects Jesus' ministry of feeding people with God's continuous outpouring of love.
Certainly, the Gospel author tells his story in such a way that the feeding events in the Matthean narrative are linked. They give shape and image to the final feast. Matthew's vision of Jesus as Christ and as provider shapes the story even in the telling.
This passage comes in the midst of the fourth largest section of the Gospel. It echoes the abundance of the previous passages on the kingdom of God and not unlike a sacrament it puts flesh on the images of parables that Jesus has been offering those who have ears. In a way, the feeding of the five thousand is an incarnation of the kingdom parables. Jesus is showing that the kingdom is all around and that God's grace abounds in the fields and on the hill tops not only in the sanctuaries. He is showing that the mandate to care and love and feed one another is a commandment that will not be confined to the rules of the religiously powerful.
He is also manifesting a very real kingdom community. The signs and stories, the symbols and the miracles, are now embracing an ever expanding vision and reality which is the growing kingdom.
The New Testament scholar Gerhardsson comments:
The Davies and Allison Commentary continues the theme:
The miracle challenges us to see the possibilities of a church at work in the world. It challenges us to move out as missionaries into our culture of scarcity and seek to transform the world by bringing real food to all those who are hungry. Instead of sending them away to other agencies or expecting the government to care we, the Episcopal Church and the Church, must take our rightful place as the hands of God. We must feed the world and make real the kingdom. We must make the Gospel story of our bible, the one of parable and miracle, a reality. Only when we re-engage the world as the incarnational body of Christ at work (meeting the very real needs) will the world listen to the Good News we also offer.
For far too long the Church has squabbled over the idea that it is either evangelism or outreach. This Gospel lesson reminds us that service to the poor, with whom Jesus identified himself, and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God go hand in hand.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Working Preacher
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21
13Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
Dylan's Lectionary Blog, Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer
Prayer Loving God as a mother tenderly gathers her children and as a father joyfully welcomes his own, so in the compassion of Jesus you nurture and nourish us, feed us and heal us. Let the bread Jesus multiplied then in the wilderness be broken and shared among us now. May the communion we experience with each other in this holy meal, compel us to seek communion with everyone in loving service toward all.
From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.
Some Thoughts: They need not go away
Not unlike the grace imparted in the Eucharistic meal the feeding of the five thousand connects Jesus' ministry of feeding people with God's continuous outpouring of love.
Certainly, the Gospel author tells his story in such a way that the feeding events in the Matthean narrative are linked. They give shape and image to the final feast. Matthew's vision of Jesus as Christ and as provider shapes the story even in the telling.
This passage comes in the midst of the fourth largest section of the Gospel. It echoes the abundance of the previous passages on the kingdom of God and not unlike a sacrament it puts flesh on the images of parables that Jesus has been offering those who have ears. In a way, the feeding of the five thousand is an incarnation of the kingdom parables. Jesus is showing that the kingdom is all around and that God's grace abounds in the fields and on the hill tops not only in the sanctuaries. He is showing that the mandate to care and love and feed one another is a commandment that will not be confined to the rules of the religiously powerful.
He is also manifesting a very real kingdom community. The signs and stories, the symbols and the miracles, are now embracing an ever expanding vision and reality which is the growing kingdom.
The New Testament scholar Gerhardsson comments:
In Matthew's time the Eucharist had probably not yet been made fully distinct from the satiating common meals in the early Christian communities. Thus Eucharistic symbolism does not exclude the possibility that the story is concerned with the satisfaction of elementary bodily hunger -- and vice versa."(Allison/Davies, Matthew, p 492)
The Davies and Allison Commentary continues the theme:
In other words, the spiritualizing of 14:13-21 on Matthew's part does not discount the equal emphasis upon Jesus as the one who can meet mundane, physical needs. Our pericope therefore both shows Jesus' concern for such 'non-religous' needs and likewise demonstrates his ability to act in accord with that concern. So the christological assertion that Jesus is Lord of all seems implicit. (Ibid)In the miracle of the multiplication of fish and loaves the Christian Church as a vision of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, through whom all things were made. We have a vision of Jesus modeling a stewardship of abundance that insures that the world is not simply a place of consumption ("This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away"); but rather that all creation is seen as bountiful for a sustainable kingdom of God ("They need not go away.")
The miracle challenges us to see the possibilities of a church at work in the world. It challenges us to move out as missionaries into our culture of scarcity and seek to transform the world by bringing real food to all those who are hungry. Instead of sending them away to other agencies or expecting the government to care we, the Episcopal Church and the Church, must take our rightful place as the hands of God. We must feed the world and make real the kingdom. We must make the Gospel story of our bible, the one of parable and miracle, a reality. Only when we re-engage the world as the incarnational body of Christ at work (meeting the very real needs) will the world listen to the Good News we also offer.
For far too long the Church has squabbled over the idea that it is either evangelism or outreach. This Gospel lesson reminds us that service to the poor, with whom Jesus identified himself, and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God go hand in hand.
A Little Bit for Everyone
Oremus Online NRSV Text
General Resources for Sunday's Lessons
Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel
Some interesting articles on this passage:
Chris Haslam's clippings blog
Working Preacher
William Loader's First Thoughts
The Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21
The Lambeth Bible Study Method
This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.
The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.
Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question
Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.
2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.
3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.
4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.
5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.
6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.
7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"
8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.
9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."
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