1. Genesis 1 notes for Trinity Sunday

2. First, look at the structure of this piece. Its very order stands against the gods of chaos.

3. Look at its calm precision against the conflict myth of Babylon or canaan, for that matter.

4. The “wind” (ruah) from God swept could also be the spirit of God. KJV has hovered RSV has moved. Robert Alter has a good new translation that tries to spe Hebrew phrasing in English One way to work this for trinity Sunday would take a cue from Colin gunton ad speak of the Triune Creator

5. Notice light is created before the “lights” of the sky. This stands against any attempt to make this accurate science. Instead, it is a symbol of god’s presence in the creation.

6. Create=bara is rarely used. It is picked up by Isaiah in his new creation section. See especially, how God did not create a chaos.

7. All these separation makes on think of kosher divisions

8. The plural in v. 26 could be a plural of majesty (we are not amused) It could reflect the notion of a council of gods, with God as CEO (no gods before me) this plurality could be a wedge into speaking of Trinity

9. Adam, the human, is created male and female together. A brave soul could speak of this as reflecting the image of God itself.

10. That image of God could me we act as representatives of God here.

11. It ends in Sabbath, so the week is sacralized. The rabbis said that what was last in action is first in intention. So the enjoyment of creation, resting in it, (shabat) would be the aim.

12. dominion=rada=rule or taking care of, being a steward. It depends on your views of control, authority and power. Is it power with or power over. More difficult for environmentalists is subdue (kabash) the earth that has the sense of subjugating an enemy, its root is related to being the object of treading; even violating the image of earth as enemy or at least a power that needs to be ta,ed, put under control.

I Peter 4:6 seems to continue the theme of the previous chapter of the good news being preached to the dead. 12-14 continues the theme of suffering, not in general, but suffering for the faith.

2) Fiery ordeal could be apocalyptic imagery; it could be dramatic; it could be accurate. It could be a way of describing suffering, physical and within.

3)Sharing Christ’s suffering is also a Pauline theme Mystics have explore dthis image for centuries.

5:6-11-

1) Americans, especially males, do not like to be told to humble themselves. What is a way of getting at this with a different word? What vice is it trying to avoid?

2) Few passages have such a powerful image for evil, roaring, prowling devouring lion. Think of some similar images for evil in our time that evoke a sense of power, dread, torture

3) How does one stay sober and watchful (RSV), discipline yourselves and stay alert (NRSV)? It has the sense of being on a lookout. Perhaps athletic imagery would be helpful here, especially with the Olympics coming up. Medically necessary diets require this kind of vigilance.

4) Look at this triad of verbs at the end: restore, establish, strengthen. The future impinges on the present with its promise

5) If I read v. 9 correctly, a mark of Christian unity is suffering.

Pentecost Reading Pentecost is a major church day, but it seems that we are nowhere near common notions of how to celebrate it. Mother’s Day is the same day this year.

Numbers 11:24-30 see Ex. 18

1. I’m glad this is included as Numbers gets short attention from the lectionary. One may want to introduce it a bit.

2. 2) Dennis Olson has a great line for the book: death of the old and the birth of the new

3. For Presbyterians concerned about decently and in order, this passage is a bit of a shock, as it authorizes the boundary breaking of the power of the spirit.

4. What would it be like if all were prophets? Remember that prophet means more speaking the truth than it does a vision or prediction of the future.

5. Notice that Moses has a different view of leadership than Joshua here.this could be a fitting place to reflect on leadership styles in the church or in society.

6. Eldad-God has loved is a possible meaning. Medad possibly means one who is loved.

As we go over the last words of Jesus to his friends, I wonder if the words came easily, or if Jesus labored over them. Jesus is speaking to his disciples, but he is also speaking over their heads to us. We’ve just been treated to identity politics, where Sen. Clinton drank boilermakers and Sen. Obama went bowling. Jesus, the true and full human being, did not have to prove his credentials to his disciples, nor to us. In a universal way, Jesus speaks to the deep-seated fear of being left alone. I will not leave you, any of you, desolate/comfortless/orphaned. The emphasis on love as a command does not speak to the lesser angels of human nature. Jesus knows our needs well. Even after 2000 years, his words have a way of reaching their destination: We will not be alone as love will have God make a home with us, in each one of us.

I am torn between words of simple clarity, but I also love elevated speech. Almost exactly 40 years ago, Robert Kennedy learned that Martin Luther King had been killed. He went to a poor section of Indianapolis and spoke extemporaneously to the crowd. On the tape you can hear the shrieks as he gave them the news. When other cities burned, Indianapolis did not, in part, due to that speech. It’s remarkable in its force and clarity, but also how seriously he took his audience. He quoted, from memory, words from the ancient Greek, Aeschylus. “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” The words had given him solace as he struggled with the murder of his brother less than 5 years before. Look at the respect he had for his audience. He did not talk down to them, but he elevated them with his words. Church addresses God and people in the pews, to reach them and to elevate them. Is it right to talk down to people?

Like RFK, Paul was with strangers. Unlike him he did not share citizenship in the same country. Paul tries to find language suitable for these strangers in the marketplace, so can we. I remember being in a children’s hospital with a boy who had back pain. The doctor inquired if he had “undergone a significant trauma of late.” Not surprisingly, the kid stared at him. On the other hand, we like it when a doctor tells us as an adult that we have an illness with a complicated name, as it makes our illness sound so important. Some of our brothers and sisters fear the world. Some embrace parts of it excessively. Like Paul’s audience we are obsessed with the new and the fresh, and we regard the old as stale. Every candidate this year is trying to be the apostle of change, the apostle of the new. My attitude is that we can grab anything from the culture that helps us live better and make our message clearer. The only trick is to try to keep it subordinate to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both testaments consistently raid surrounding cultures if the ideas were good or could be used to praise God more fully. We need to be careful about style and substance.

“In him we live and move and have our being”-Creator and offspring. God infuses the world, envelops it, cradles it. The big word for this is panentheism. Another way to put it is all life can be sacramental life, a sign of the presence of God.. We are made to search, grope for God. Paul’s quote tells us that we live in a God-soaked world. Part of that groping is the struggle to put our thoughts and feelings to expression. Sometimes we hit on it, and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes some listen, and some can’t or won’t. I don’t think we can seriously hold that God speaks in only one fashion and one voice. God’s world echoes and whispers and blasts in a steady chorus of praise and lament.

Acts 17:16-34- This is a treasure chest of topics for sermons, Bible study, and spiritual growth groups. here are just a few.

1)I have alway been impressed with the Presbyterian emphasis on idolatry as a root sin. Here is a good place to talk about it.

2) This is also a good place to talk about religious diversity.

3) This is also a good place to look at the pitfalls and possibilities of trying to tell the gospel in the language/thought forms of the people. For instance what would a Tillich gain or lose in using ideas drawn form philosophy, especially existential thought. what do we gain or lose with praise song "lyrics"?

4) As usual Paul goes to the synagogue, but he also goes to the marketplace, the civic center, the agora. this would be a good entry point to talkinga bout faith. Fairview, Indy is working aon testimony vocabulary.

5)They bring him to the areopagus to speak more.This was an open air site for public debate, but also an arena for trials.

6) Paul has an arguement/dialogue/ discussion/ exchange. For instance debate=symballo, as if we are playing cathc with ideas. . Epicureans are famous for trying to enjoy pleasures, but at root, they were trying to avoid pain and suffering.

Stoics-Paul had a number of veiwpoints that would be consonant, at the very least, with Stocis. they beleived in a structure of the world, that we are all God's cretures, against idolatry,to be content no matter the circumstances

7) By this time, Athens was in steep decline, but still valued learning.

8) Athenians loved "something new" So do we. When is this dangerous. When does it open a window?

9) He calls them quite relgious, but it could have an undercurrent of superstition.

10) To an unknown god.Our god cannot be fully known, but is known through Jesus Christ.

11) He uses creation as a base.

12) V.28 in him we live and move and have our being is thought by many to be quoting a Stoic.

13) He apparentlky quotes again and calls us all God's offsrping, like a Stoic.

14) At the end, Paul shows how god moves beyond polarities and is both abovie us, yet engaged with us, beyond, yet approachable.

15) He attributes idolatry to ignorance.

16) MNote the turn to the future.

April 18-So often spiritual work uses metaphors of ascent in access to God. That makes good sense. i wonder if we would do well to also speak more of the journey within, or metaphors of depth, of tunnels. We are repeatedly told of the Spirit residing in each of us.

Climbing a ladder sounds like effort instead of invitation. Treat people as having the spirit of ?christ residing with them. See yourself as a vessel for the goodness of God.

Sermon I Peter 2:110, John 14 for April 20

I love when the Bible takes two things and puts them together in a new way. It frees up the religious imagination. Stones are the classic example of inanimate objects, but they are useful, though dead, or better, lifeless. When I told Jocelyn that I was working with the image of living stones, she pictures rocks with feet. Let’s try this; the Spirit uses as the building blocks of the church, just as history uses us as the building blocks of a culture.

Remember this is a letter of encouragement to people who feel out of place, who don’t feel at home. Peter is trying to build up a sense of cohesion, of sticking together. They and we are part of a great process of a church being created. We are part of a fulfilled hope. The Exodus promise at the foot of Sinai applies to us: a kingdom of priest, a holy people. Notice Peter’s emphasis on the aspect of togetherness. The stones may as well be the ruins of ancient temples, unless they are joined together to form a spiritual structure. We are not cast out into our lives alone. We do not believe alone; we are part of a people. We build on the foundation of the apostles and those who have gone before us. (Doors at Kingston) Truth is not embedded in stone, but a living, embodied truth in Jesus Christ. We see the truth in Christ. Notice that Peter sees vices that undercut the truth also undercut our ability to live together.

A Protestant watchword ahs been the priesthood of all believers, and it emerges from our passage this morning. We build the bridge together from earth to heaven, as priests-we pray for each other, with priestly prayers; we offer our spiritual offerings to God. We are engaged in the ministry all of us. Our Presbyterian system honors this by making elders and pastors equal operators in our common government in presbytery. This continues the incarnation. Just as Jesus bridged the divine and human, we hold the divine and human together in the work, the offering, of our work. The incarnation breaks down the curtain between the sacred and the secular As Paul Lehmann always insisted that God’s work is done here, to make human life more human. Pastors are held up due to their function of being set apart in the community of faith. We make a mistake when we think of them as especially holy or pious. Here’s a more positive way to make the same point: we all are to live our lives we the virtues we expect of priests. Maybe better, what if we treated each other with the reverence a Roman Catholic priest handles the host and chalice at Mass? What if we treated each other with the care that soldiers have when they fold the flag to present to a grieving family?

We hear the words from John at funerals often. These words are the start of the last words of Jesus to his friends before he will die. Our passages touch both Heaven and the church. In both cases we are chosen. Hear that again. God selects the stones, however imperfect or chipped, to help build the church. God prepares a place for us. If I understand this section properly, Jesus is emphasizing our continuation of his mission and the inauguration of the new age. Greater works may well be numerically rather than in signs and wonders. We say it almost every time we receive Communion: this is a foretaste of heaven. At its best, the church is a foretaste, a hint, an opening to heaven. Some Communion liturgies say holy things for a holy people. We will be with God. In Jesus Christ we are with God in this life as well, deep within each person and throughout the church.

April 17-In working on I Peter 3, I had the word, gentleness, jump out. We see it in "gentlemen." Otherwise, it would seem to be a little-prized virtue anymore. When do you prize gentleness. When does it seem too weak? When do you appreciate gentleness? why do we appreciate it with children but les so with adults?

I Peter 3:13-22 notes- This is my first cut. If I find other things worth thinking about I will post later.

This bears striking parallel structure to the advice to slaves in the previous chapter, to the extent that I wonder if Peter is addressing all as christian slaves. It also seems to me to emphasize suffering for doing good, religious persecution, something we do not face regularly here.

v.14 is a quote from Is.8:12-13. Notice it pushes a distinction from common opinion toward one's faith commitments.

v.15 note that even a defense of one's faith, even in a trial, is done with gentleness. that is not a virtue Americans honor, so it could be a good move for a sermon or as a spiritual practice.

v.16 notice the reversal of who is really honored and really shamed in terms of unjust trails on religious grounds. this could even be an entry into talking about church and state relations.

v. 18. The text note points to suffer,(NRSV) not died for sins, as in NIV. This is a good example of its tendency to fit a translation to a theological framework.

v.19 is one of the texts that lead to the line of the descent into hell, the place of death, in the Apostles' Creed.Some people think he preached to the abode of the dead of Noah's time; some think it is an expression and that he preached to all the dead; some think it is more aligned with the powers, those fallen quasi-divinities who controlled some of what happens here; some think it is related to those mysterious sons of the angels from that fount of craziness Gen. 6:1-4

v.20 could give courage, as it is a faithful remnant argument. God saved only a few who then grew, just as god will be with a presumably small set of Christians in this diaspora in modern Turkey.

v.21 pledge or appeal is eperotema. It could be a plea/request too. Pledge fits our Calvinist notion of sign and seal in baptism.

v.22 includes the powers here, something I've missed before. I am a big fan of how Walter Wink handles the powers in a three volume work, and then in a smaller volume that combines the three.

April 15- Maybe because it is Tax Day, my eyes were averted this morning to a group of vultures feasting on a raccoon. for all our romantic views of nature, death is clearly part of it. i even admire the way that it uses even death to feed the vultures. We dislike the thought of our own bodies being subject to decay, so we line our vaults and buy glorious caskets for preservation. I much prefer seeing heaven as the vault for our lives: imperishable, incorruptible, and alive.

April 14- We played a song, Betty's diner, by Carrie Newcomer. It is a picture of the church as seen in an old diner, where they bring their"wants and wounds." It's a sacramental vision where a "cup of kindness is poured"and eggs and toast come out like bread and wine." What songs on the radio give you insight into the life of the Spirit? What are your favorite hymns?

April 11- I helped witht he library book sale. It hit me that the religion section has a lot of low-grade material, but we have a section of literary classics, plus acres of romance novels. Granted the bible is an endlessly edifying book, but why do we settle for poor religious books? Are we afraid to think deeply about the faith?Mainline church publishers have new books out all of the time, but we settle for the religious equivalent of romance novels. we are called to love God with the mind, as well as the heart.

Sermon on Acts 2:42-7, Ps. 23, I Peter 2:19-25

As Americans, we admire the brave individual, the lone wolf. We don’t like being just part of the crowd, the common herd. So the image of being sheep will not get immediate acceptance from many of us. For aggressive, assertive Americans, the passivity of sheep hold little attraction. We don’t want to hear that our individual health often depends on the health of the flock.

The very thought of suffering makes us sheepish. We all seek protection. We seek the firm protection and guiding hand of the Good Shepherd. When the wolves of the world attack, are we all called to quietly accept our suffering? How about the suffering of others? My great fear is that it is easy to tell someone else how they have to tough it out, but we do not hear such a message very well. We learn to accept and endure that over which we have no control, tragic suffering. As the serenity prayer says we need to have the courage to change what we can and have the wisdom to know the difference. The church is also called to comfort, heal, protect, and resist. Jesus did not tell the suffering to grin and bear it; Jesus healed them. When he saw them as sheep without a shepherd, his felt compassion for them.

We get sheepish about, even being in, Sunday worship. What values should emerge from worship? (See Willimon) Sunday worship creates a sheepfold, secure in the ritual, the familiar pacing and prayers and readings. It feels as comforting and warming as a lambs wool shawl. Sharing worship together is sharing with God and each other. Our needs are brought together before God, so that we will lack nothing. For instance, we have no problem desiring green pastures and still waters. We get sheepish about restoring our soul, our very lives, and our inmost selves.

We feel quite comfortable reading of early Christian worship in Acts, until it end with -Sharing possessions (see LT Johnson)- that sounds to some of us like the valley of the shadow of death. I remember our German church history professor said that the first English word his little girl learned on the playground was “mine.” When it comes to our possessions, we get quite possessive. Are we ever willing to say, enough? To others, it sounds like just the zone of protection and security we would dream of, the urge that made New Harmony in Indiana and communes in the 60s or the kibbutz in Israel. . It seems to be an outgrowth of worship. Just as Jesus continues to share the risen life with us, so we go out and share. When we get our spiritual fill in worship, how can we go into a world with the starving? Last week you heard of the Amish speak of sharing insurance for fires and medical expenses. The same family can’t decorate the walls with mere decoration, but a whole procession of valuable clocks dot the walls throughout the house. When we pray to the God of compassion, how can compassion fail to stir our own souls? Can we, when comfortable, 99 permit places where no pasture and no drinkable water exist?

We get caught up in polarities: social life or individuals, order or liberty. God transcends those polarities. God notices each one of us in the flock, so that one that goes astray is noticed and gathered up. At the same time, God is concerned for the well-being of the flock itself. Julian of Norwich, a spiritual writer of the Middle Ages, wrote that we are “knit and ‘oned’ to God.” Perhaps we can only truly strike out on our own, when we realize our ties to God and each other.

April 9-I'm still thinking about the phrase, restore my soul, from Ps. 23. the word for soul is nephesh in Hebrew. It means more one's self, one's very life or life force, than "soul." I find spring restoring in seeing creation come to life. I find reading magazines restoring. when i read y bible or do bible study and a new insight comes along, I am refreshed. Love itslef is an endless restorative, isn't it? what restores your sense of self, your very soul, your inmost being?

I was discussing column topics with our daughter, and she thought Earth Day was too far away for a piece. Then, I saw Earth Day Campbell's soup in the store, so I'm going with that inclination.

I had to look up information on the first Earth Day, as I remember it vaguely as a hippie tree hugging festival with those awful non-competitive games, like keeping a balloon globe up in the air for hours. Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin senator, had been pushing for a focus on the environment for years. He announced a national teach-in for the spring of 1970, and the response was overwhelming. As he said, "it organized itself." Around the same time, it was proclaimed as a special day in San Francisco. (Yeah, big surprise). An impressive statement was signed by well-regarded people all over the world. Over the years, the schools have been a critical tool in maintaining its focus on the environment and the spring in our part of the world.

As usual, the church was late to the emphasis on creation, even though the creeds speak of God as Maker, or Creator, of heaven and earth. Part of the reason would be that we have turned the bible into a ticket for heaven and ignore its richness. Some of it comes from the obsession with Genesis 1 as an anti-evolution tract. Seminaries emphasized the struggle between Judaism and the "nature" religions in its cultural environment.

Most Christians worship on Sunday, as the day of resurrection. In that way, Easter light shines on every Sunday service. Maybe we can consider making our relationship to God's creation as part of every service as well. For instance, we all know John's prologue of the "in the beginning was the Word." Word equals logos in Greek. It refers to the logic, the structure, the plan of God's creation. when we despoil the creation, are we not violating the structure of that creation? Notice the the Roman Catholic Church has made clear that we should see social sins, such as pollution, as a violation of God's work in creation. even a cursory look at the Psalms show the use of natural images to capture a sense of the divine. We use flowers as decoration in church, but we would be more true to our roots in using them as vehicles for contemplation of the goodness of creation. Apocalyptic visions often use changes in the logos, the course of God's creation, as a sign of divine intervention in the future unfolding of events, as the "shaking of the foundations" a moral earthquake.

The Bible sees natural cycles as part of God's blessing. It even links human life and natural life. Perhaps we could bid blessings on our gardens as we prepare them. Before farmers hit the fields, they could bow in prayer before the god of nature. The garden club making the library grounds beautiful and selling flowers next month are doing the work of deacons for ecology. Youth groups cleaning roadways and streams are doing mission projects for the health of God's work. Already, we are seeing a "green" mindset growing in churches, both for their own physical plant and in the political realm. I have no trouble with churches fearing the growth of , say, gambling, but we are moving toward a sense of our moral responsibility to help safeguard creation for generations to come.

So, work and pray on Earth Day. Praise God for the wonders of creation. Confess our sins toward God's ecological balances. Plead the case of the earth. Put hands and feet behind those prayers for the natural world. In responses, the "trees will clap their hands" (Is 55:12)

April 8- I moderate a group of remarkably dedicated group of folks who prepare for the upcoming Sunday lessons. When we hit Ps. 23, we grew a bit quiet at the line about preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Gone are the soft words about no lack, food, protection, restoration. Of course, most of us feel we lack recognition. This is like going back to your high school reunion acclaimed by the cheerleaders and jocks, and all of the popular kids. This is being cheered at an athletic banquet by your foes. This is your in-laws praising you at your 15th wedding anniversary. Let yourself imagine what it's like to be the guest of honor.

April 7- It is hard for me to fathom that it is now 40 years since the murder of martin Luther King. I was in 8th grade. A song was written then; "the King of Love is dead." of course, we would think of Jesus, but few people follwed The King of love as much as Dr. King. He had a sense that charity covers symptoms, but justice seeks to root out the causes of suffering. It is remarkable how much moral weight his non-violent movement carried. I don't know if we would now even be close to his dreams as we are, if it had not been for this tool of Christian protest. Where would you think non-violence could work to change our society and laws now?

April 6- I was reading a piece by Roseanne Cash on her return to songwriting after a serious illness. She quotes a friend who says we spend our time with a flashlight to the ground ( I would add, when the universe is alight).That's a great image for Easter time. We foucs on our own issues, when God's world is lighting up with new hopes and new options. With so many things flushed wiht light, does the flashlight od much good anyway?

Sermon on Lk. 24:13-35 and I Peter 1:17-25

Jesus meets up with two disciples whose world has collapsed around them. The7y are going back and forth, not arguing as much as struggling to come to grips with what happened. Jesus pays the great compliment of community. He asks them a question. Jesus listens to their story. Peter speaks of the living and abiding word of God. Jesus gives them the events of which they spoke within a frame of scripture’s story. They report that their hearts burned within them as Jesus explicated his life within that story. Jesus gives them a new way to understand the bible, through his life and death, and indeed resurrection. The elements of communion and the elements of liturgy, of Sunday worship, the day of the risen Lord, open their eyes. Even after Easter, Jesus continues to heal spiritual blindness, or at least poor spiritual vision..

I Peter is trying to encourage its readers. They are going through the struggles we all go through in life, but they are also suffering for their faith. They have a new birth of hope, new confidence in God. (The word has faith at its core Latin root). They have a new birth of understanding. That new lease on life allows them to live the life that I Peter commends. The Pennsylvania city draws its name here, philadephia, mutual love of the brethren. They were already granted their vision when they were together. Easter visions do not come when we are alone but also together. Easter opens our hearts out to each other. Jocelyn and I were offered hospitality in an Amish home with the Historical Society Friday evening. After supper, they took questions, and they spoke of their attempts to be a mutual aid society in times of trouble, Philadelphia. In Rush County.

Only one disciple is named in the Emmaus story. The other is left unnamed because we are to read ourselves into the other disciple. Jesus appears sometimes to one, sometimes to a larger group, and here to two people, or a small church. Jesus comes to them in their grief and confusion and helps to begin to make some sense of it. He begins to turn their disappointment into new hope, living hope as Peter calls it. First Jesus asks them about their experience. Then, Jesus interprets it through Scripture. Then, he accepts their hospitality, and shares a meal with them. That meal takes on special significance for us, when we recognize the words of the Last Supper employed at this new supper on the road.

Jesus walks with us for a while. Jesus can be an elusive presence sometimes, even in worship. Still, we re-experience Emmaus in the very structure of worship. Jesus comes when we need that presence on our road the road to Emmaus story is the door to perception to show that we encounter the living, risen Christ in the Sunday liturgy, together. It is a deepening presence, with us in our walk through life, with us more fully in Scripture, with startling clarity in the prayers and action of Communion. The presence of Jesus is not limited to worship, of course. This is a sacramental story about life, not only about the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We do well to be on watch for the Christ in each other. We do well to notice the Christ in the guise of the stranger. Even when they spoke with Jesus, they did not recognize him. Even when Jesus did a Bible Study, they did not recognize him. Only in the sacrament were their eyes opened. We say things: open your eyes; keep your eyes open; eyes wide open; look there. Emmaus is always around the next corner. When we come to the garden of worship, or the everyday, we may come to the garden alone, but he continues to walk with us and talk with us.

April 5- Jocelyn and I went to a small Rembrandt exhibit in Cincinnati yesterday. Then we went tos upper in an Amish home. Rembrandt's representation of the extravagances of a growing middle class gives evidence of what the Amish rejected in their founding. They continue to try to conform to the simple life, even though our host rides to work in a truck and carries a cell phone that kept going off. Where would you like to make your life more simple, even more frugal? When do possessions start to get in the way? When do they make life easier, more abundant?

April 4- I was asked to think about biblical passages on encouragement. Immediately, I thought of Barnabas, whose name means son of encouragement, but few other things came mind. The word means to take heart, to bring courage inside deeply, I suppose. That moves us to psalms, both of lament and assurance. When have you found courage? when have you been encouraged? when have you encouraged others? Where do you look for encouragement, and when do you need it?

April 3- Ps. 23 is coming up for reading next Sunday again. I must admit that the sheep image does not do much for me. Part of it is being American; I don't like being in a herd. Their weakness is a painful reminder of my own weakness, ny willingness to go along with the herd, my fears and docility, and the assorted limitations of age. I resist the thought of needing care; it is much easier to offer it. Of course, all of this is included in the walk through the shadow side of life and psyche. Even those do not deter the presence of God.

Quick notes for Ps. 116

v.1-2 we pray to a listening and responding God. Think about answered prayers. When does god act as a therapist for you? Notice this is one of the rare times a prayer says flat out I love the lord.

v.3-4 this was a desperate prayer; we now find out. How does prayer in distress differ from “regular” prayer? Remember, they7 do not know heaven-dead is dead. Sheol is the underworld at best, the place fo the grave at worst.

v.12 list out some of the bounty of the Lord, as gift and as answered prayer.

v.13 cup of salvation has a eucharistic sense for Christians. It is not the cup of suffering Jesus drank see Num 28, and Paul in I cor 10:16

v.15 this sounds so odd, as if God desires the death of the saints. It would be better to say that the deaths are costly/grievous for god.

v.16 what bonds have been loosed by God in your life-addictions-obsessions-personal hurdles that chained you from being what God intends?

v.18 this is 2X we have read of vows. What do you think about vows kept and broken?

Thanksiving sacrifices were made in the temple, not only guilt offerings.In other words worship is returning to God for bounty. This was read during Passover meal, so it acquires a whole new dimension of bounty.

April 2-Malice is a most unattractive vice. We promote evils to befall others, at our worst. More often, our malice is more passive, where we merely hope for bad things to happen to others, even take pleasure in something befalling them. It may be a species of revenge, but it is more often a symptom of resentment. It springs form our dissatisfaction with our own lot in life, and we project it outward. To help combat it, try at least this. For every malicious thought, balance it with a loving, kind one. Bit by bit, it will improve your own mindset enough, that the malice will start to shrink away.

I Peter 2:19-25 notes.first cut

1) I find this a difficult passage, as it seems easy to make it a basis for quietism in the face of injustice. indeed, it is as a good example that we suffer unjustluy. Worse, the omitted v. 18 is directed to slaves.

2) In v. 19 the phrase commendable or a dredit is charis=usually grace.

aware/conscious of God= it iwould be commendable to spend osme time with this and its effect on ethics.

3) Barlett p.281 NIB sees this next section on suffering for doing good, as vocation. Again, this could be used in extremely dangerous ways, say for those victims of violence. Is endurance of unjust suffering always a virtue?

4) Christ's example is better put as a pattern, a model, to follow.

5) Here is an explicit citation of Is. 53 in v. 22.

6) This sounds like the Sermon on the Mount applied to being abused as a slave. How many Christians with power can show such a power to avoid retaliation?

7) We are not told how our sins were carried by Christ in his body, but we are told that it frees us from sin

8) the wounded healer image is used from Is 53 in v. 24. I can live with this image of responding to suffering by healing.

9) Allusion to Ezek. 34 appear with the shepherd image. Again, this image of guardian/overseer of the soul could be deep water to explore in a spirituality class or in pastoral care situations.

April 1- I never liked the little tricks of April Fool's Day. The book of Proverbs makes its basic distinction between the wise and the fool. On the other hand, Paul reverses the image in I Coinithians 1, where what looks foolish in the world can be wise in the eyes of God. Yet, I John tells us to discern the spirits. I don't think God asks Christians to turn off our minds. I do think that God asks us to re-examine our perceptions in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pick one item in your world view and see how a Christian perspective may differ or cohere with the wisdom or foolishnmess fo the world.

1. Notes on I Peter 2:1-10

2. Ridding oneself of the vices, reminds me of taking off the old self, a baptismal image. If for a study go through the vices one at a time. In sermon pick just one or two or be in danger of going too widely. Make up a story that combines allof these vices.

3. 2) since we are born again, the image of newborns is obvious. They need nourishment, food appropriate to their state, spiritual milk. Spiritual is logikos, however, so appropriate, proper milk would be closer than spiritual. The translation grow into instead fo grow up is possibly closer.

4. 3)Taste alludes, perhaps to Ps. 34”s taste and see. Taste the kindness of the Lord is a lovely phrase that deserves consideration, in sermon, but especially in spiritual growth groups . Could it be also a eucharistic image?

5. 4) Living hope is now living stone. Notice chosen and precious appeared in ch. 1, but now refer to Christ. See Is. 28:16, Ps. 118:22. Nice organic/inorganic image, living stone.

6. Stones create a building image for a temple-what sort of sacrifice would Peter have in mind?

7. Cites a version of Is. 28:16

8. For those interested in honor and shame categories being used by the church, this is a fine example. It now cites Ps. 118:22

9. Is.8:14 is cited. How does one disobey the word? What word? This has a sense that some are destined for disobedience. How do you deal with this?

10. Here is a good example of the change in perspective and fulfillment language for the early church. Allusions are to at least, Ex. 19:6, Is. 43:21, What does holy mean then and now? Darness into marvelous light is an excellent spiritual image.

11. See Hos. 2:23

Notes on Ps. 23

First, We live in a golden age of psalm study. See James Mays, Brueggemann, Patrick Miller, James Limburg, Clinton McCann among others.

Psalm 23 is known by heart, so it is difficult to examine critically. Obviously it is in a pastoral scene with the reading from John, and the ending of the reading from I Peter.

1. By the time of Jesus, shepherds had the reputation of used car salesmen or TV pitchmen. I don’t know at the time of its writing. Shepherd would have a political meaning for kings as shepherds, good or bad. God was the shepherd of Israel. Is the psalmist speaking for Israel or only the writer? Want is better as lack. Notice it has no object.

2. Still waters reads waters of rest- where would you need waters for rest? Is baptism water of rest?

3. Restores my soul=restores my self, my life force/energies, my whole life, nto some immaterial section of it. Is it right paths or paths of righteousness-name’s sake means what? In honor, out of reverence?

4. Valley of deep darkness or valley fo the shadow of death. Either way, we get a sense of foreboding, danger, and threat. Divine presence as an answer Even death/darkness cannot remove the presence of God. Think of the descent into hell in the creed. Rod and staff become instruments fo comfort

5. Now an image of abundance, of celebration, of communion, even in the presence of enemies. Christians do have enemies, personal and cosmic. Is this a bit of a taunt. Why would a thanksgiving sacrifice theme be held in the presence of enemies. Is it victory?

6. Goodness and mercy/kindness/loyalty/lovingkindness=hesed

dwell in the house my whole life long v. forever. This is an example of Christianizing the end with an allusion to heaven v. God with us in only this life.