Living the Lectionary

Isaiah 25:6-9 Isaiah imagines all peoples have a reservation at the feast of rich food, fine wine and choicest meats. Of course the Moabit...

Psalm 46 Outside the city made glad by streams from the river the Lord of Hosts was led like a lamb to the slaughter. The "Refuge and...

Jeremiah 31:27-34 Every now and then the prophet Jeremiah was given a good word to speak and that makes the promise of “the days are sur...

Mark 10:35-45 “When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John” presumably because the ten were sorry they  hadn'...

Hebrews 5:1-10 I’m not a high priest but I suppose according to the writer of Hebrews I qualify as one chosen to be “put in charge of th...

Psalm 91:9-16 I’m not sure I want to trample a great lion or tread on a cobra but I suppose it’s better than the alternative. On the othe...

Isaiah 53:4-12 Isaiah’s vision of the suffering servant seems to indicate God does not deal with transgressions the same way we do. We ho...

Mark 10:17-31 The rich young man’s wealth and life-long obedience to the law means he has every reason to believe his eternal life inher...

Hebrews 4:12-16 The first humans hid in the bushes when after eating the forbidden fruit they suddenly realized  they were naked. The wri...

Psalm 90:12-17 The last lesson we seem to learn is to number our days aright since we act as if we have an infinite supply. “Bet your bo...

Amos 5:6-15 There is no mistaking the economic element in the prophet Amos’s description of sin. Those who rule the house of Joseph despis...

Mark 10:2-16 When the disciples ask Jesus about this matter he invokes the “thou shall not…” to what Moses permits so that the hypocrisy...

Hebrews 1:1-4 ;  2:5-12 If “in these last days” Jesus is the reflection of God’s glory and the very imprint of God’s very being” then Go...

Psalm 8 Psalm 8 marvels that the “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name” is mindful of mortals. I suppose it does beg the question...

Genesis 2:18-24 The trouble in paradise comes in chapter three but in the beginning everything was perfect. The “one flesh” couple lived ...

Mark 9:38-50 I’d rather not give up my hand, foot or eye   even if the consequence of keeping what causes me to sin is hellish. That’s th...

James 5:13-20 I am confident Elijah was a human being but I’m not so sure about “quite like us.” On the other hand he was fully dependen...

Psalm 19:7-14 We tend to think of the law as limiting, maybe for good reasons, but restrictive none-the-less. The psalmist sees the law as...

Numbers 11:4-29 The children of Israel, fairly well fed on manna and quail, weep in the wilderness because they long for the days when t...

Mark 9:30-37 On Christmas Eve 1988 I worshiped  at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool, England. I sat somewhere in the middle of ...