Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 or Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 19 or Psalm 80:7-15
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but it is not everything. As we remember the last being first, etc., we may even begin thinking that possession isn't even one-tenth of life. This week we may want to make distinctions between possession as having possession and possession as being possessed. And, even with that distinction, we will be hard pressed to find a meaningful difference between them.
Comments on the texts of the Revised Common Lectionary
from a Progressive Christian perspective.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
September 25, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +19
Exodus 17:1-7 or Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 or Psalm 25:1-9
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
May the "imitation" of Christ be present in the gathered community (plural).
In terms of church: How then would we carry on our intradenominational spats? our interdenominational separation? our interfaith ignorance?
In terms of family: How then would we carry on our sibling rivalries? our unacknowledged co-dependence? our careful teaching of prejudice?
In terms of work, recreation, or any other topic close to your heart: How does this work there?
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 or Psalm 25:1-9
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
May the "imitation" of Christ be present in the gathered community (plural).
In terms of church: How then would we carry on our intradenominational spats? our interdenominational separation? our interfaith ignorance?
In terms of family: How then would we carry on our sibling rivalries? our unacknowledged co-dependence? our careful teaching of prejudice?
In terms of work, recreation, or any other topic close to your heart: How does this work there?
Sunday, September 11, 2005
September 18, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +18
Exodus 16:2-15 or Jonah 3:10 - 4:11
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 or Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Privilege is an on-going question for people. We strive for it and and then get stuck on it. It becomes our "tar baby". Usually we are not as fleet of humility as Brer Rabbit and would pridefully prefer the tar baby to the briar patch. We will hold our own "entitlement" just as long as we can.
This week will challenge our usual ways of doing business and help us challenge business as usual from our prideful leaders lacking in expertise other than propaganda in its negative sense.
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 or Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Privilege is an on-going question for people. We strive for it and and then get stuck on it. It becomes our "tar baby". Usually we are not as fleet of humility as Brer Rabbit and would pridefully prefer the tar baby to the briar patch. We will hold our own "entitlement" just as long as we can.
This week will challenge our usual ways of doing business and help us challenge business as usual from our prideful leaders lacking in expertise other than propaganda in its negative sense.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
September 11, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +17
Exodus 14:19-31 or Genesis 50:15-21
Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 or Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
This day will have much echoing "terror". Just to remind us -- 9/11/2005 is but one of many events and focus on any one unbalances us. On this day we might also remember these other September 11 events:
146 - Septimius Severus born, Gibbon blamed him for start of Rome's decay and fall
813 - Charles the Great crowns Louis I emperor
1226 - The Catholic practice of Perpetual adoration begins
1297 - Scots beats English at Stirling Bridge
1541 - Santiago, Chile destroyed by indigenous tribes
1609 - Henry Hudson lands on Manhattan island
1649 - Massacre of Drogheda-Cromwell kills 3,000 royalists
1773 - Benjamin Franklin writes, "There never was a good war or bad peace"
1777 - British army defeats American forces at the Battle of the Brandywine
1786 - Annapolis Convention convened, lead to the Constitutional Convention
1789 - Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first Secretary of the Treasury
1793 - Philippe Pinel becomes director of the Bicêtre asylum - instituted the first modern humane care of mental patients at the Bicêtre
1821 - Subramanya Bharathy dies, Tamil Indian poet
1847 - "Oh, Susannah" was first sung in a saloon
1883 - James Cutler patents postal mail chute
1885 - D. H. Lawrence born
1914 - T Handy publishes "St Louis Blues"
1917 - Ferdinand Marcos born
1918 - Boston Red Sox beat Chicago Cubs to win 15th World Series
1919 - US marines invade Honduras
1922 - British mandate declared in Palestine
1936 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) in Nevada
1950 - "Beetle Bailey" comic strip debuts
1954 - The Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC
1956 - The Special Group on Information Theory of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers met at MIT - cited as the beginning of the cognitive revolution in psychology
1959 - Congress passes a bill authorizing food stamps for poor Americans
1962 - The Beatles recorded their first single, "Love Me Do"
1971 - Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died at age 77
1973 - Dr. Salvador Allende killed in coup
1985 - Pete Rose collects his 4,192 career hit to pass Ty Cobb
1987 - declared emergency 9-1-1 day
1989 - Drexel formally pleads guilty to security fraud
1997 - In Scotland, voters approved the establishment of a parliament to run their domestic affairs, after 290 years of union with England
2000 - Activists protest World Economic Forum Melbourne
2002 - Johnny Unitas dies, quarterback
When we narrow our perspective down to one event or one interpretation of an event we narrow ourselves and our option. This narrowing also opens us to manipulation by this party or that. Being aware of this will help us deal with better evaluating responses to hurricanes and courts and other stormy places.
Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 or Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
This day will have much echoing "terror". Just to remind us -- 9/11/2005 is but one of many events and focus on any one unbalances us. On this day we might also remember these other September 11 events:
146 - Septimius Severus born, Gibbon blamed him for start of Rome's decay and fall
813 - Charles the Great crowns Louis I emperor
1226 - The Catholic practice of Perpetual adoration begins
1297 - Scots beats English at Stirling Bridge
1541 - Santiago, Chile destroyed by indigenous tribes
1609 - Henry Hudson lands on Manhattan island
1649 - Massacre of Drogheda-Cromwell kills 3,000 royalists
1773 - Benjamin Franklin writes, "There never was a good war or bad peace"
1777 - British army defeats American forces at the Battle of the Brandywine
1786 - Annapolis Convention convened, lead to the Constitutional Convention
1789 - Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first Secretary of the Treasury
1793 - Philippe Pinel becomes director of the Bicêtre asylum - instituted the first modern humane care of mental patients at the Bicêtre
1821 - Subramanya Bharathy dies, Tamil Indian poet
1847 - "Oh, Susannah" was first sung in a saloon
1883 - James Cutler patents postal mail chute
1885 - D. H. Lawrence born
1914 - T Handy publishes "St Louis Blues"
1917 - Ferdinand Marcos born
1918 - Boston Red Sox beat Chicago Cubs to win 15th World Series
1919 - US marines invade Honduras
1922 - British mandate declared in Palestine
1936 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) in Nevada
1950 - "Beetle Bailey" comic strip debuts
1954 - The Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC
1956 - The Special Group on Information Theory of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers met at MIT - cited as the beginning of the cognitive revolution in psychology
1959 - Congress passes a bill authorizing food stamps for poor Americans
1962 - The Beatles recorded their first single, "Love Me Do"
1971 - Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev died at age 77
1973 - Dr. Salvador Allende killed in coup
1985 - Pete Rose collects his 4,192 career hit to pass Ty Cobb
1987 - declared emergency 9-1-1 day
1989 - Drexel formally pleads guilty to security fraud
1997 - In Scotland, voters approved the establishment of a parliament to run their domestic affairs, after 290 years of union with England
2000 - Activists protest World Economic Forum Melbourne
2002 - Johnny Unitas dies, quarterback
When we narrow our perspective down to one event or one interpretation of an event we narrow ourselves and our option. This narrowing also opens us to manipulation by this party or that. Being aware of this will help us deal with better evaluating responses to hurricanes and courts and other stormy places.