Second Sunday of Advent - Year C

This week's Lectionary readings are:

• Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4
• Luke 1:68-79
• Philippians 1:3-11
• Luke 3:1-6

I find these readings to be much less troubling than last week's. The idea of being forgiven and going forward in righteousness and peace is wonderful. The idea that love should lead us to learn to be (and act) more righteous, again, wonderful. I will say that I am generally of the "God helps them who help themselves school", but I do believe that when it comes to saving us from our enemies, we should let God help us and not take things into our own hands past the point of resistance. One of the biggest things that leads me away from faith is what other people do in the name of faith - wars, genocide, etc.
Image Source:
Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55233 [retrieved December 9, 2012].

First Sunday of Advent - Year C

This week's Lectionary readings are:

• Jeremiah 33:14-16
• Psalm 25:1-10
• 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
• Luke 21:25-36

This week marks the beginning of Advent and the beginning of a new Christian / Lectionary Year. This year's readings focus on the Gospel of Luke.
Advent is styled as a time of waiting, but not waiting for the birth of Jesus, rather waiting for the return of Jesus. Personally, I find most focus on the idea of the Second Coming to be problematic. To me, the really amazing thing about Jesus is how he lived his life, feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, etc; not the fact that at some unknown time in the future ("no one knows the day or the hour" - Matthew 24:36) he will return. Now, admittedly, if we are following his example, we would be ready for that return, but that isn't usually the focus.
This week's reading from Luke, is a perfect example of what I find problematic - a focus on the signs. And I particularly dislike the people who think they can control the Second Coming by making the things mentioned as signs happen - that way leads to nothing but behavior Jesus would disapprove of - war, killing, etc.
Photo Credit: Piper, John, 1903-1992; Reyntiens, Patrick. Tree of Life, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. [retrieved December 9, 2012].

21st Sunday After Penticost - Year B

This week's Lectionary readings are:

• Job 38:1-7, (34-41) and Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c  • 
• Isaiah 53:4-12 and Psalm 91:9-16  • 
• Hebrews 5:1-10  • 
• Mark 10:35-45

In the Job reading, I found it interesting that God brags about feeding the ravens, when today at least, we usually think of ravens as bad or signs of evil or death.

I was also struck by Hebrews 5:2 "[Every high priest] is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness;" and how that varies from so much of the religious based political commentary lately, which assumes that the speaker knows what is right and everyone else better follow them to get on the straight and narrow.


Photo Credit: Crow coming in for a landing (corvus brachyhynchos) by Tony Cyphert