Month: October 2015

What do you want me to do for you?

25 October 2015
Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 25B (RCL)
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52

I find the prose conclusion to the Book of Job very unsatisfying. It’s not as if all those new children could make up for the children he lost at the beginning of the book, and the restoration of Job’s fortune’s answers none of the questions about God’s justice raised in the long, painful, poetic discourse that makes up the bulk of the book. But, I think this conclusion provides a hidden clue for understanding the context of the questions raised. The prose conclusion begins with the phrase, “Then the Lord restored the fortunes of Job.” Continue reading “What do you want me to do for you?”

Right or left

18 October 2015
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 24B (RCL)
Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

There are a lot of people who don’t like God’s response to Job from the whirlwind. Robert Frost in A Masque of Reason mocks the God portrayed in the book of Job. Archibald McLeish is no happier with Job’s God in J.B. The list could go on. Personally, I find God’s answer comforting in a weird sort of way. Whenever I think my problems are bad (granted not nearly as calamitous as Job’s), if I look up at the night sky, or stand in the mountains in Colorado, I am reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around me. Thinking that God has singled me out for whatever reason to visit these troubles on me is just pretty arrogant. Always good to be reminded of that now and then. I think all of the lessons for this Sunday in one way or another are about us moving ourselves out of the center of the picture. Continue reading “Right or left”

Possessions or goods?

11 October 2015
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 23B (RCL)
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22:1-15
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31

As I write this blog this morning, I am desperate for news out of South Sudan. We have just learned from a friend on the ground that a war plane has bombed the Amadi Junction, five or so miles from Lui village. People were hiding in the bush near the junction. We have an unconfirmed report that Lui village has been burned, and there are bodies lying in the road. Nyamilepedia several weeks ago reported that the SPLA had attacked Lanyi (in the Lui Diocese along the “good road”) on their way from Juba to Mundri (which would take them through Lui). The reading from Job, and the passage of Psalm 22, certainly fit my mood this morning. Continue reading “Possessions or goods?”

Pet Blessing

4 October 2015
St. Francis’ Day
Pet Blessing and Harvest Home
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 126
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
John 4:31-38

We go off script on this Sunday, using lessons appropriate for pet blessing and the idea of bringing home the fruits of the harvest. So, there is no link to the lessons on line. You’ll just have to dig out a Bible and look them up.

I must confess, I am not a pet person. We have two dogs currently, but I think of them as Shelley’s dogs. Most of the time, I see them as a nuisance. I know I am in the minority here, and do understand the attraction of animals as pets. Continue reading “Pet Blessing”