Living the Lectionary

                                     Ezekiel 33:7-11 God gives Ezekiel an incentive to warn the wicked, “you will surely die” by tying the p...

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

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

                                                                  Psalm 26:1-6 David may have penned the psalm but Jesus is the one who embo...

                                                                   Jeremiah 15:15-21 The merrymakers do not want to hear what Jeremiah has t...

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

                                               Romans 12:1-8 The pattern of this world is etched into our DNA which is why conformity with i...

                                Psalm 138 The psalmist gives thanks for deliverance in the days of trouble and though it might sound like a ...

                           Isaiah 51:1-6 The ransomed of the Lord returned unto  Zion  with singing (Isaiah 35) but their songs were soon si...

  Matthew 15:10-28 I wonder if the Canaanite woman was present when Jesus called the Pharisees blind guides and then chided the disciples fo...

Romans 11:1-2 ,  29-32 The irrevocable gifts and calling of God is Paul’s conclusion to the “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” for “his ki...

  Psalm 67 “May God be gracious to us” is the prayer of all people who having plotted their own way find their plans are less than prosperou...

  Isaiah 56:1-8 The lectionary cut out the verses of Isaiah 56 that instruct eunuchs not to say “I am just a dry tree” (v.3) but rather rejo...

    Romans 10:5-15 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek…” is as radical a statement as any Paul made. Israel was a nation spec...

Psalm 85:8-13 There is no peace when righteousness is held captive to self and salvation is defined by personal piety devoid of compassion o...

1 Kings 19:9-18 In the previous chapter of 1 Kings, before the “very zealous for the Lord” Elijah crawled into the cave, he called down fire...

Matthew 14:13-21 “When Jesus heard this he withdrew to a lonely place…” What Jesus heard was that his cousin John had been beheaded by Her...

Matthew 13:31-33 ,  44-52 Despite the disciple’s “Yes” what we understand about “all these things” is that we don’t really understand the ...

  Romans 8:26-39 “All things work together for good” is a bold statement in light of the laundry list of laments that follows. Hardship, d...

1 Kings 3:5-12 It is a smart prayer for a boy who doesn’t know how to come or go and one wonders how he thought to pray it. You would expe...