Living the Lectionary

Matthew 21:23-32   The chief priests and elders of the people are stuck between a rock and a hard place by Jesus’ question but will come...

Philippians 2:1-13 The whole of the scriptures is expressed in Philippians 2:5-11 and if all we had was this ancient hymn it would be eno...

Psalm 25:1-9 David trusts that the rebellious sins of his youth will not be remembered by the Lord and I have no doubt that the same appli...

Ezekiel 18:1-4; 25-32 Apparently the prophet is not familiar with family systems theory. The sins of the parents are always visited upo...

Matthew 20:1-16 The kingdom of heaven is a contradiction of the more common kingdom where fair play is measured by survival of the fittest...

Philippians 1:20-30 To live is Christ. To die is gain. We tend to believe these two statements in reverse. To live is gain. To die is C...

Psalm 145:1-8 “One generation commends your works to another” is the way the faith has been passed down through the ages so that the anci...

Jonah 4:1-11    Debate about the Book of Jonah is often focused on the detail of the “whale” and whether someone could be swallowed up and ...

Romans 14:1-12 I think vegetarians might have a quarrel or two with the apostle Paul over who is the weaker brother or sister, after all...

Psalm 103:1-13 This is a “bless the Lord, O my soul” psalm for all who are weighed down by the debt of their sin and held captive by th...

Genesis 50:15-21 This is the happy ending to a story of sibling rivalry that led to violence and treachery and a father’s broken heart. I...

Matthew 18:15-20 The Matthew 18 step by step process for promoting harmony in the church is often cited but rarely followed, at least not ...

Romans 13:8-14 It is not a debt we care to own up to as loving neighbor as yourself is not as sweet as it sounds. First of all we hardly...

Psalm 119:33-40 The way of the Lord is life in all its fullness but it doesn’t come naturally. Our hearts are more inclined to unjust ga...

Ezekiel 33:7-11 God gives Ezekiel an incentive to warn the wicked, “you will surely die” by tying the prophet’s fate to speaking the diffi...

Matthew 16:21-28 Peter thinks “the rock” upon which the church will be built should have a say so about its foundation and undergoing gr...

Romans 12:9-21 This is Paul’s flesh and blood bullet list for the life of spiritual worship that is a holy and acceptable living sacrif...

Psalm 26:1-6   David may have penned the psalm but Jesus is the one who embodied it. His blameless life was cut short by wicked evil ...

Jeremiah 15:15-21 The merrymakers do not want to hear what Jeremiah has to say and even he is getting tired of being a party pooper. The ...

Matthew 16:13-20 The church has been working diligently to accomplish what Jesus promises will forever frustrate the gates of Hades. It i...