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.