For All Saints and Nov. 3
This may be a great way to introduce looking at apocalyptic material and emphasize visionary character, its current abuse, misuse, disuse. Think one could actually use some seminary learning on the mythic background of Scripture to help deepen understanding. It seems clear to me that John's revelation picks up elements of this material along with his use of other apocalyptic material in his expansions of visions.
This time, i am staying with Daniel 7 and going with passages that touch on the holy ones. In the visions the saints are under threat at present but that will change.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Sunday October 27 readings
The only comments I have for the moment on the Luke reading is to studiously avoid the anti Jewish tropes we often use in discussing the Pharisee. Since we are in the midst of a section on prayer, this could be a great place to consider Calvin's quote on prayer being the chief exercise of faith.
Joel 2:23-32 appears in a new light when not read on Pentecost. After the plague on nature, the shame, the curse, we switch. In our ecological age, not only does nature mourn a lost good, but now it responds in abundance. God. god is making recompense for the loss, like a tort claim (v. 25). I am open to the cutter being a natural plague or a symbol for invasion by a very human army.
Shame (v.27) could well be something to work with. The church has a focus on guilt, although that is rapidly diminishing. Shame strikes me as a deeper issue. It is more than being mistaken; it is seeing oneself as a mistake, as unworthy, as less. Shame is connected to diminished self-esteem and we know the deleterious effects of that disposition well. a nation, this is a difficult for powerful America, the land of promise, but the president touched a real nerve with maga. The promise of winning so much spoke to that feeling, perhaps.
We know well the Spirit outpouring for Pentecost, but look at what follows. We get a classic apocalyptic reading of the day of the Lord as terrible, not to give Israel power. When history looks bleak, we see a movement to kicking change upward, into the divine realm, as we feel helpless.
The final verse (32) has both particular and universal elements. The Reformed tradition woujld be well served to examine such words with real care.
The only comments I have for the moment on the Luke reading is to studiously avoid the anti Jewish tropes we often use in discussing the Pharisee. Since we are in the midst of a section on prayer, this could be a great place to consider Calvin's quote on prayer being the chief exercise of faith.
Joel 2:23-32 appears in a new light when not read on Pentecost. After the plague on nature, the shame, the curse, we switch. In our ecological age, not only does nature mourn a lost good, but now it responds in abundance. God. god is making recompense for the loss, like a tort claim (v. 25). I am open to the cutter being a natural plague or a symbol for invasion by a very human army.
Shame (v.27) could well be something to work with. The church has a focus on guilt, although that is rapidly diminishing. Shame strikes me as a deeper issue. It is more than being mistaken; it is seeing oneself as a mistake, as unworthy, as less. Shame is connected to diminished self-esteem and we know the deleterious effects of that disposition well. a nation, this is a difficult for powerful America, the land of promise, but the president touched a real nerve with maga. The promise of winning so much spoke to that feeling, perhaps.
We know well the Spirit outpouring for Pentecost, but look at what follows. We get a classic apocalyptic reading of the day of the Lord as terrible, not to give Israel power. When history looks bleak, we see a movement to kicking change upward, into the divine realm, as we feel helpless.
The final verse (32) has both particular and universal elements. The Reformed tradition woujld be well served to examine such words with real care.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
feel rotten with cold, so in a period of self-loathing, I start looking at passages.
Jer. 31:27-34-The first section play off the announcement in 1:10. Here the weight is not balanced but toward a better future. in v. 29, we get a good example of Biblical development, as the great characterization of God's characterization, self-characterization changes. The notion of inter-generational responsibility fades. It is an intertextual link to similar material in Ezekiel 18.
One should be careful in not characterizing Judaism as a faith inscribed on the tablets of the commandments, so Christianity is the faith of inscribed hearts. Again, I catch real wistfulness on a God wishing for good close relationship with this people, all the way to a new covenant. (I do not know if Jesus was referring to our passage at the Last Supper).
Note that it seems to refer to God not remembering community, corporate sins.
Lk. 18 I love that the unjust judge fears for his personal safety from the widow, as she rains not only pleas but maybe blows on him.
Unanswered prayer is a tough tough issue. The parable raises as many issues. If God is clearly better than the unjust magistrate, then why doesn't God deliver quicker justice? The story gets us no closer to why prayer may be answered at times and seemingly ignored at others. Indeed, it heightens the problem, why it the text instruct us to persistence when the story would indicate no real need for persistence given the comment at the end?
Gen.32:22-31- liminal space between waking and sleeping. Even the stream reflects a play on his name.Jacob (grabby, pushy) is heading home and has prayed in humility. Esau is there, so he is afraid. Now after he places many obstacles, or gifts, in front of him, he faces himself, or God's agents, or God's own self in a nocturnal battle. Notice Israel deal with wrestling, with struggle, and the text adds prevailing, though the name means struggling with God, or God struggles, and the name fits him and his people down the road.( more obviously the name means God rules, but see Hos.12:3-4). Does Jacob want a blessing here, as he knows his first blessing came through deceit? I don't have a sense of the hip being thrown out fo joint other than, he limps;he is disabled, as a result of the contest. (See Gerald Janzen's Abraham and all the Families of the Earth). Should not every worship be Peniel-seeing the face of God? Then should it reflect struggle as well?
Ps.121 or 119:97-104-We don't with the psalms nearly enough, especially when a gospel text is on prayer itself. Notice the movement of 121 from question to assurance.To gurard or keep is its refrain (6x). Its closing can apply to all sorts of entrances and exits. I don't know if sun and moon are dangerous due to superstition, other religious beliefs in their deity, or a poetic device for day and night. Shade has a sense if protection elsewhere, as in shadow of wings.
Jer. 31:27-34-The first section play off the announcement in 1:10. Here the weight is not balanced but toward a better future. in v. 29, we get a good example of Biblical development, as the great characterization of God's characterization, self-characterization changes. The notion of inter-generational responsibility fades. It is an intertextual link to similar material in Ezekiel 18.
One should be careful in not characterizing Judaism as a faith inscribed on the tablets of the commandments, so Christianity is the faith of inscribed hearts. Again, I catch real wistfulness on a God wishing for good close relationship with this people, all the way to a new covenant. (I do not know if Jesus was referring to our passage at the Last Supper).
Note that it seems to refer to God not remembering community, corporate sins.
Lk. 18 I love that the unjust judge fears for his personal safety from the widow, as she rains not only pleas but maybe blows on him.
Unanswered prayer is a tough tough issue. The parable raises as many issues. If God is clearly better than the unjust magistrate, then why doesn't God deliver quicker justice? The story gets us no closer to why prayer may be answered at times and seemingly ignored at others. Indeed, it heightens the problem, why it the text instruct us to persistence when the story would indicate no real need for persistence given the comment at the end?
Gen.32:22-31- liminal space between waking and sleeping. Even the stream reflects a play on his name.Jacob (grabby, pushy) is heading home and has prayed in humility. Esau is there, so he is afraid. Now after he places many obstacles, or gifts, in front of him, he faces himself, or God's agents, or God's own self in a nocturnal battle. Notice Israel deal with wrestling, with struggle, and the text adds prevailing, though the name means struggling with God, or God struggles, and the name fits him and his people down the road.( more obviously the name means God rules, but see Hos.12:3-4). Does Jacob want a blessing here, as he knows his first blessing came through deceit? I don't have a sense of the hip being thrown out fo joint other than, he limps;he is disabled, as a result of the contest. (See Gerald Janzen's Abraham and all the Families of the Earth). Should not every worship be Peniel-seeing the face of God? Then should it reflect struggle as well?
Ps.121 or 119:97-104-We don't with the psalms nearly enough, especially when a gospel text is on prayer itself. Notice the movement of 121 from question to assurance.To gurard or keep is its refrain (6x). Its closing can apply to all sorts of entrances and exits. I don't know if sun and moon are dangerous due to superstition, other religious beliefs in their deity, or a poetic device for day and night. Shade has a sense if protection elsewhere, as in shadow of wings.
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