Crazy Theological Thoughts

Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he informed Abraham of his plans. Abraham being a very kind hearted soul, asks God if he will destroy the righteous with the wicked. But how many righteous people would it take to stay God's hand. Abraham starts out with what most consider a reasonable number. But why does he stop at Ten? Ten righteous men compared to the entire population of Sodom and Gomorrah. What do you think the percentage comes to? 10% would give 100 people. 5% would yield a population of 200. 1% would make 1000 people. But since we do not know the percentage, we can only realize that for the sake of the few righteous people, God's hand would have been stayed. But even this low percentage could not be found in Sodom and Gomorrah. But here is the interesting twist. What percentage of righteous people was in the Land of Canaan for God to wait until the Israelites come up out of Egypt? What percentage of righteous people are in your home town? What percentage is in yo...

The Apostle Creed and Nicene Creed both help to present a solid foundation concerning the Trinity and more importantly the Son of God. But in the Augsburg Confession there is one word which may be small and insignificant yet it set my hair on edge. It reads "and he will reign forever." Does this mean Christ is not reigning now? Or does it mean that Christ will continue to reign into eternity? Someone can have difficulty with both of these propositions. Christ ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father in order to rule and reign. Christ said the Kingdom of Heaven was near. So it was established by his rising from the Dead. Christ does reign now as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So thus we pray for his kingdom to come to us here and now. St Paul also tells us when Christ returns he will give all authority back to his Father. This could indicate an end to his reign and the reign of the Father. But this may be splitting hairs or even something finer. Either...

Note: What does it mean to obtain something? Receive? Or take control of something? But the real thing of importance is that one obtains Justification by the ministry of teaching the gospel and administrating the sacraments. This ministry was instituted by God. But is it one minsitry or two ministries? It could be one to teach concerning both the gospel and administration of the sacrments. This would mean the Church is given one ministry to make sure the gospel remains pure and the sacraments are administered properly. This could also be thought of as two separate ministries. One ministry is focused on preaching and teaching the Word of God or Gospel in its purity. The other ministry is to administer the sacraments. This would allow St Paul to say he was called to preach but not Baptize. But the other would follow the words of Jesus instruction to make disciples by both. But the Sacrament ndicated in both cases is Baptism. Just another thought. Thank you.

"For through the Word and the sacraments as through instruments the Holy Spirit is given, who effects faith where and when it pleases God in those who HEAR the gospel, that is to say, in those who HEAR that God ... justifies ..." The word used is not "wash" or "eat and drink" but HEAR. St Paul says "Faith comes by hearing." The confessors of the Augsburg Confession recognize the Importance of the Word of God. The means by which the Holy Spirit works faith in people is the word. Those who hear that Word of God's saving grace are those called. Those who hear Christ crucified proclaimed in body and blood in and under bread and wine are justified by faith. Those who hear water proclaiming Christ's death and resurrection are justified. It is Faith coming to us by Hearing the Word of God or the Good News of Jesus Christ proclaimed to them. Someone once asked if Faith comes by Hearing then why should I read my Bible? Other people should read the...

What is the Church of God? There is only one holy Christian and Apostolic Church. The unity of the Communion of saints is based on the agreement "concerning the teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments." Many church bodies today disagree concerning the Administration of the Sacraments. Things range from open and closed communion to the Real Presence (or even the discription of the Real Presence). The differences concerning the Lord's Supper and Baptism still pale in comparison to the differences concerning the Gospel. Many Christian Church bodies claim some necessity of works (even if only a decision). Other church bodies deny the judgment or threats of God. These while rightly recognizing Christ died once for all deny the Law or Christ's call to repentance. Thus, the problem becomes a tension between no works yet not openly living a life of sin. St Paul walks this line by telling us to put off the deeds of darkness and yet all have fall...

"Concerning Church order they teach that no one should teach publicly in the church or administer the sacraments unless properly called." Many people talk about what it means to be properly called or rite vocatus but I think there is enough discussion about that. The one that concerns me is "teach publicly." This obviously does not mean out in the public square. This does not mean on an Individual basis. Therefore one could almost exclude any Evangelism method, because of the qualification "in the church." To teach in the church would indicate most directly Public preaching. But it could also include Bible Study, Sunday School, VBS, and other Public activities in the Church. Now before you think too pragmatic and start going into obserdity. Just think of the words and the teaching: "no one should teach publicly in the church or administer the sacraments unless properly called." Anytime someone is set to teach in the church they should be c...

The Confessors of the Augsburg Confession recognize another important lesson of which many easily lose sight. "They condemn the Pelagians and others who deny that the original fault is sin and who, in order to diminish the glory of Christ's merits and benefits, argue that human beings can be justified before God by their own powers of reason." Others may say by any use of their mental faculties or even their own decision. When you deny originl fault effects your reason or mental faculties you deny original fault or sin. If human beings claim any power for their own Justification they deny original sin or Fault. But our Human Reason is completely Corrupt. Therefore, St Paul can say mean's wisdom is foolishness to God. Therefore, Anyone who thinks they can make a decision for Christ is wrong. In other words their Reason is faulty. Human Reason leads to wild heretical thoughts whie God reveals the turth. Humans can rightly ask who can say what is right? But God s...

How often do we take the Confessions of the Lutheran Church seriously or literally? The Augsburg Confession Article II reminds us that "original fault is truly sin, which even now damns and brings eternal death to those who are not born again through baptism and the Holy Spirit." Those who are not baptized thus still are damned by original fault. But we talk about cases in which unbaptized persons can be saved. The Theif on the cross is our extrodaniery circumstance. But the Confession clearly states without being born again by the Water and the Spirit one can not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I think Jesus even says this. Thus, the confessors are correct. But are there exceptions to the rule? Original fault damns all human beings. Original fault corrupts all human powers and abilities. You are born with original fault or Sin and you need to be baptized for the removal of this fault and Sin. Thank You.

Many in Lutheran Circles say the chief Article of the Christian Faith is Justification (by grace alone through Faith). But the chief article for the formulators of the Augsburg Confession is the Trinity or Concerning God. Godis one divine being yet three distinct Persons. Is this not the chief article of the Christian Faith? Is this not what separates Christianity from all other Religions? This is what defines someone as being Christian? First you have to believe God is Father Son and Holy Spirit. God is eternal, incorporeal, indivisible, of immeasurable power, wisdom, and goodness, the creator and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. Before I can even talk about Justification doesn't there have to be a God. And who is that God? The Father Son and Holy Spirit is the One true and only God. This is the Chief Article of the Christian Faith. Now you can ask other Questions. Thank you.

There are many different numbers that are in the bible. But this will just cover a few of them. You have 1 which is the most basic number, but also reminds us that the Lord God is One. Then 3 is easily recognized as the number of God because he is three persons in one God. Some may say three is the number of the Holy Trinity, but what is the differnce. These people will say the number 7 is the number of God. But really the number 7 might be better seen as God in or with Creation. God acts in Creation by number 7. 7 Days of Creation. 70 years of Exile. 7 years for Jubilee. 3+4=7 God plus creation equals God with Creation. Oh, wait I have to tell you the number 4 represents Creation. 4 winds or 4 corners of creation. There are 4 rivers in the Garden of Eden. 4 ends to a standard compass (without the extra divisions of N, S, E and W). 3*4=12 God multiplied creation equals God's people. This should be simple to see 12 as the number for God's people. There are 12 Apost...

I was reading a book the other day and if that was not interesting enough. I came across this three tree idea. There are three key trees in the Bible. Now one of them is not really a tree persay but the bible still calls it a tree. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil reminds us of our desire to be like God and therefore sin. The Tree of Golgatha or the Cross of Christ reminds us of God becoming like us and being accursed for us. Then there is the Tree of Life which reminds us both of Life in the garden of Eden without sin and Life eternal with God without sin. I found this interesting because it brings us full circle. You go from the Tree of Life back to the Tree of Life. It reminds us the tree of Life is there and this is the plan of God for all of use to live with God. It is more that these other two trees become the path from one tree of Life to the other Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is therefore an example of living our life with God and as God has designed us. T...

How often in a day do you have people say "I am Sorry"? How many times in a week do you say "I am Sorry"? How many times do you say "I was wrong"? When people tell you they are sorry, do you just shrug it off or do you forgive them. There are a lot of times when old people will tell their Children I am sorry for being such a horrible parent. Children in turn say that they were not so bad. But it is forgiveness they are asking for. When you say your sorry, do you expect people to give you forgiveness. Why do you say your sorry? I think most of us desire some kind of comfort for our wrong doing. People need to forgiveness. I would hope that at least once a week you would stand up and say, "I was wrong." Maybe not in those exact words. But most of us need to be reminded that we have done things wrong. When we are reminded we repent of those things by saying, "I am Sorry". Jesus Christ died for the forgiveness of all your sins....

This may have to deal with sports more than theology or God talk. But I was at a Volleyball game last night and started to think about whether people cheer for Victory or Defeat. I am a pretty big sports fan and I like to cheer for others. I was told once at a Tennis match that you are not supposed to cheer, when the other player hits a horrible shot or it tips of his racket. This gets me to the Volleyball game. It was amazing to see how everyone cheers when someone hits a horrible spike, a serve goes into the net, a player falls down missing the ball completely, and so on. The teams would cheer when they got an Ace which makes sense that was a good shot. But then the one team would do a little cheer when they made a mistake. Do you ever cheer when you make a mistake? Do other people cheer for you or against you when you make a mistake? Most of the time we feel like others cheer over our mistakes. But how often to we actually cheer for other people's victories? When...

In the explanation to the Third Article it states, "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith." This would mean the main work of the Holy Spirit is to Call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify the Christian Church or communion of Saints. Why do Lutherans get pegged with not emphasizing the Holy Spirit enough? Many people in the world want to see the Holy Spirit work as he did in Acts. They want to see people getting healed, speaking in tongues, and other wonders. But at the same time they want to take all the credit for their own Faith. You have to make a decision for Jesus. But isn't this taking the greatest works of the Holy Spirit away from him. We would never take Creation away from God. We would never take the sacrifice for our sins away from Christ (well some would). But why sh...

Today, I have set up another blog to reveal my Four Year Lectionary. If you have read the resent posts you will note the reasons for a new lectionary. But in case you have not read them. There are many reasons for developing a New Lectionary that will better serve the Church. People need a great correlation between the entire body of Scripture and the Lectionary. Preachers need to learn to preach on more than just the Four Gospels. They need to understand the importance of Great Old Testament figures. The New Lectionary even provides for additional seasons. Therefore, the Lectionary has a Season of the Old Testament and a Season of the New Testament which breaks up the Ordinary Season. This Lectionary still has a strong foundation in the history of Biblical Reading. Moses instructed the people to read the Torah. St Paul instructed the people to Read the Old Testament. St Peter encouraged people to read the letters of St Paul and the Old Testament. Justin Martyr told the emperor t...

Do Christians believe in a Benevolent God? Do Christians believe in a Just God? Is there a difference? Benevolent: Characterized by or suggestive of doing good. Just: Honorable and fair in one's dealings and actions. Does God do good for everyone? And if so who determines what is Good? More importantly does God treat everyone fair in accordance with what they have done. A Benevolent God would not allow bad things to happen. A Benevolent God would not cause destruction and devastation upon the Earth. A Benevolent God would not flood the entire Earth. A Benevolent God would not require people to commit Genocide. A Benevolent God would not pour out wrath upon the earth. Do Christians believe in a Benevolent God? On the other hand, A Just God would judge people for their wickedness. A Just God would repay all sins with balanced and appropriate punishment. A Just God would follow an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. A Just God would slaughter those who reject the Law and dis...

Most of the Church starts the history of the Church with Christ. Sure during the season of Advent we may talk about John the Baptist. But for the most part History seems to start with Jesus. The only time we use the Old Testament prophets is to relate them to St Paul or Jesus. They just help to prove our point. But shouldn't we talk about the History. You look at those bookshelf pictures of the bible, and how much is History. Most of us think of Acts, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, and maybe some more. You have Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Ezra, and Nehemiah. But what about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are they Historical? Are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Historical? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel have some History in them as well, don't they? Jonah is all Narrative with the possible exception of Jonah's Psalm. Job also has a Historical account of the life of Job or at least a great deal of it. The Epistles have some history i...

How many times do you hear the lection and wonder about the. context? Most people know that context is key. Where is Jesus at? When is this in his ministry? What just happened? When the disciples forget to bring bread and Jesus tells them about the Yeast of the pharisees, do you remember where this is contextually. Luckily Jesus reminds us that he has already fed the 5000 and the 4000. But without it being in the lection would you remember. This is even further complicated when you jump from Mark to John and back to Mark. But what if the lectionary actually made a greater focus on sticking to one Gospel or Book. The Lectionary even could follow things contextually. This same problem can occur in the Epistle lections. St Paul often has a great retorical style, which flows from one thought into the next. What if we did not leave contextual gaps? what if we even took some of the shorter Epistles and just read the entire letter. Context is key to understanding bib...

Amazingly the Apostles of Jesus quote the Hebrew Bible more than anything else. The apostles used the hebrew bible to support their teachings concerning christ. Philip starts with Isaiah's writing to teach the Etheopian Eunuch. Jesus starts from Isaiah when it is read in the Synagog. For centuries the Church did not read the Old Testament. It was used to teach theology, but not read in services. Note: there were certain occasions in which some Old Testament lections were read. But over all there was a very limited number of passages from the Hebrew Bible read. Recently or in the last 70 years the church has started to read the Old Testament again. Recent Lectionaries have moved to a three lesson system which includes a reading from the Hebrew Bible. Note: A reading from the Old Testament is not always used. The so called Historical Lectionary only used .2% of the Hebrew Bible. The LSB version increases to 6% of the Hebrew Bible. The RCL makes a great jump to 10% ...

Most people think the season of advent lasts four weeks. But did you know that it started off at six weeks. Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas. Now most people think it is the season of Christmas. Advent was created in the fifth century. It was started to prepare people for the celebration of epiphany. When it was moved to connect with Christmas it was to be a forty day season paralleling Lent. People knew how well lent helped prepare people for Easter. Advent would the celebrate forty days before Easter. We now connect Joy, Hope, Peace, and Love with Advent. I don't know what the weeks were then. There was not a stable lectionary at that time to set these themes. In the sixth century it was shortened to the four weeks we have today. I bring this up only to think about what if advent would be moved back to six weeks? Or what would happen if we added another season before advent? Just food for thought. Thank you. Published with Blogger-droid v1.7...

Why does the Lectionary chop texts. Many people over the years have questioned the places texts are chopped. Others complain that texts are chopped at all. I complain that texts are chopped and others are eliminated all together. One can be corrected by the preacher on Sunday morning. He simply reads the entire text instead of the chopped portions. But there is another way. You can look to for another lectionary. Another Lectionary that does not cut texts but simply ends them. Every text or lection must eventually come to an end. Sometimes you add things to the end in order to get them in. Other times you notice things are left out, for an undetermined reason. God tells us not to add or subtract from scripture, but it is all scripture. Why does the reading need to be under 20 verses or more than 5? Length can be a good thing, but it can also go beyond the point of the text itself. This means the preacher needs to know the text and context in order to teach his sheep. The Lecti...

Mark 16 "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." Simply connected with John 11 "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" And connected with Matthew 10, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear the him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." We are all snake handlers and poison drinkers. People do this everyday, but Christians have nothing to fear. Christians will not die, Jesus said so. Even if we die yet shall we live. Jesus promises we will not die. Fear not the snake or poison but fear that which kills the body and the soul (God). We ha...

I asked myself a long time ago why does the Church Start Sunday School in September while the Church Year starts the end of November. Many people forget when the Church Year actually starts. The first day of the New Church Year is the Sunday closest to St Andrews Day or the First Sunday in Advent. The Church Year does not start on January 1 nor the first week after Labor Day (or even a couple weeks before Labor Day like some schools). There are some suggestions to changes this problem. You can have school and sunday school all year round. This is a great idea because we all need to keep learning. Learning does not take a vacation. Some Schools in the United States have moved to a Year round school Year. They take extended breaks during Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. These help to supplement being out of school for three months. But most of the Country still struggles with giving up their summers. They still cling to summer being a time for family, Vacati...

In the christian church there are a lot of faithful people. They read devotions on a daily basis. They go to church and hear lectionary readings. They do their best to get their head wrapped around the bible. But how much do they really hear? How much do they really know? The lectionary on Sunday is lucky to give 20% of the bible. Most devotional pay great attention to the New Testament. Daily reading plans do their best to cover the entire bible. But most people either read too much to comprehend or go through it too fast. But how do others accomplish this task. Muslims know their koran. Buddhists know maybe not everything the buddha said, but know a lot. Jews know the Tanak especially Isaiah and the Torah but more importantly the psalms. How does this compare to Christianity? Christians do not know enough. They need a better lectionary on Sunday mornings. They need a related reading plan. Something that while may only cover 46% of scripture helps people to dig...

This term is generally used to speak about people who have reduced the christian message to the gospel. But I would think antinomian would be a better term, which indicates those who have abandoned the law. But here I mean those who have reduced the proclamation of the church to the Gospels. Most of those who follow the lectionary only preach on the gospel lesson. Some do this because the lectionary commitees maintained the Gospel lesson as the controlling text. Others do this because one can always find something new and fresh in the same text to preach. The problem is we have reduced the proclamation of the church to three maybe four books of the Bible. Is this the whole of scripture? Is this what Jesus meant by everything I commanded them? No, St Paul instructs us to search all of the scriptures to find truth. Therefore, preach on the Old Testament lesson. But maybe we should even set aside a time during the year when the Old Testament Lesson is the controlling text. ...

Arland Hultgren writes, "He has written that while there is a 'formal' canon-the complete, officially recognized canon-there is in practice for each Christian confession or theological camp an 'effective' canon, which is selective and based on the self-understanding of each confession or theological persuasion, and he calls for all Christians to come to terms again with the whole 'formal' canon and thereby achieve unity of faith and church." This again goes to the two distinct canons within the Church. There is the formal canon which is Holy Scripture. Then there is an "effective" canon. Here he does not mean the canon which is heard in the Lectionary. But a confessional canon is those texts that support theology and practice of the church. The "effective" canon is made up of selected parts of the "formal" canon. Thus, if you are going to put a lectionary together you would only use texts from the "effective...

When the ILCW developed the Three Year Lectionary in the 70s, the committee asked itself a number of questions. Four of these questions are as follows: 1. Can this passage be expounded meaningfully today, can one preach relevantly on it? 2. Do the readings as a whole reflect the whole counsel of God? 3. Is the reading exegetically defensible? Are there textual problems in the Hebrew or Greek which render the meaning of a passage uncertain? 4. Is the reading ecumenical? How widely is it used to express past usage and current practice? Are there passages in Scripture that are not relevant to the world today? Some might think of the many genealogies in scripture. Some might even think of the Oracles against the Nations in the Old Testament. Some might even talk about the Sexist comments by St Paul. But why were these things written if not for pastors, teachers, evangelists, and prophets to build up people in the truth. This question is better faced to our Preachers and Teachers. Are You a...

Letter From Dr. Allen Unruh, This one of the most important appeal letters you will have received in a long time regarding the ultimate issue – Human Life. I want to explain why! Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the state of South Dakota this last week. They are claiming the new South Dakota House Bill 1217 law is the greatest threat to abortion in the country and will set the stage for the beginning of the end of abortion as we know it. They are ignoring the language of the legistlation signed by our governor and spinning different meaning to the language of the legislation to deceive the American public. Their intent is to demonize and destroy the Alpha Center in South Dakota in any way possible while ignoring the testimony of women who were victims of their deception and what really goes on in their abortuaries. I watched the documentary, "Gettysburg," this past Memorial Day weekend. Gettysburg was the battleground that turned the tide of the Civil War and e...

HT Allen wrote, "If all scripture is equally scripture there would seem to be no problem. But 'all scripture' cannot be read at Sunday eucharistic celebration, if only because of time constraints, ... The question then becomes one of selectivity. And then the 'canon within the canon' looms." All Scripture may be equal, but people do not treat all scripture equally. People are very selective in the parts of scripture which they read and accept. Some people disregard geneologies or comments on the construction of Temple or Tabernacle. Others disregard complete sections of the Bible as being old or no longer valid. All Scripture may be equal, but people do not hear it equally. What people hear on Sunday mornings is a limited canon based on Texts. But it is also a limited canon based on Preaching. What do most preachers preach on? What is the text for the Sermon on Sunday mornings? Generally speaking it comes from the Gospel lesson. Both these situation...

Uitti suggested a Seven Year Lectionary. Some say a One Year Lectionary. Most people follow a Three Year Lectionary. Why Three Years? Which makes the most sense, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, or Seven? Well lets think about it. A Three Year Lectionary makes sense because of the Holy Trinity. There are three persons in one God. The First Year you would focus on the Father and his work in Creation, Sending his Son, Raising his Son, and Answering Prayer. The Second Year you focus on the Son's action of Redemption and Holy Life. The Third Year is focused on the Holy Spirit both in Old Testament Prophecy and the New Testament Church. But this is not how our Three Year lectionary is set up. A One Year Lectionary makes sense because we are One people of God or God is one. Therefore, you celebrate the Father Son and Holy Spirit throughout the year. This could also focus on how the Church is united throughout time and space. All Christians are united together. One Year is ...

I really enjoyed reading an article by R. Uitti titled "A New Lectionary for a New Church." He describes that with the advancement in our liturgical life we can include all of scripture. This idea would basically have you start at the beginning and walk through the Bible in Seven Years. Basically, you would be able to spend quality time in every book of the bible. Most Lectionaries do not include even a small portion of the Minor Prophets. They include even less of the later historical books like Ezra and Nehemiah. But this would have you go through these books in detail. It would be a great opportunity for a Seminary or Christian University to use this type of lectionary. When you have daily services and are helping future church workers become engaged in these parts of Scripture. I do not think Uitti's suggestion is really something for every church. But it does make a good suggestion for those who chose to part from the Lectionary from time to time. I really do enjoy h...

I came across an article recently, the author talked about certain texts being for eucharistic services and other texts are for non-eucharistic services. This author was commenting on the lectionary of the catholic church coming out of vatican II. Now I found it interesting attending a church that only has communion once a month. Are there texts that should not be read on communion sundays and others that should be only read on communion sundays? I do not know how to determine these textual differences. Maybe like some have said unless you can use a sacramental hermanuetic on the text it should not be used. Therefore, if the feeding of the five thousand is not sacramental it should not be read on communion sundays. But what about churches that have communion every Sunday, when would they hear the other lessons? Some might say, when they come to bible study or a midweek service. This brings up another thought: are some texts only meant for bible study and not a service beca...

During Vatican II the Catholic Church set out to develop a three year Lectionary or lessons for Mass. Since, this change took place others have took it upon themselves to react to this. Protestants, Reformed, Anglicans, Lutherans, and many others have come up with a variety of ideas about the Lectionary. Prior to Vatican II, most churches did not have a lectionary. They just read from the Bible. There was no unified Lectionary. Once the Catholics chose to change there lectionary structure, others saw this as an opportunity to unite all churches throughout the world and across denominations. The result was a Common Lectionary in 1981. The Lutheran Churches developed a commission to help develop for themselves a three year lectionary which was found in LBW or LW. This again shows the reaction to others changing the Lectionary. Since then even the Common Lectionary has been revised. The LCMS then adopted changes to the RCL to develop there own three year lectionary for their new Hymnal LS...

I was doing pretty good with this bloging thing. You can look at the posting history. But there was another project that has been consuming my spare time. I have been working on a new lectionary. Many people at first asked me why. But some of those same people have expressed similar concerns I have with the current lectionary. I plan on in the next couple of weeks using this blog to post various reasons for a new lectionary. But I am still finishing work on this new lectionary. The plan now is to begin unveiling it here in september. Hopefully I will have everything in order by then. I just would hope that if you have any problems or even things you find admirable about the various lectionaries we do have, please share them. Thank you. Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.1

Last night someone brought up matthew 25 in our discussion about life issues. We were thinking about our brothers and sisters in christ yet in the womb and those with tubes coming out of them in the nursing home or hospital. But this got me thinking about the phrase the least of these my brothers. Many people take the least of these to mean all people in need. Therefore, we need to set up soup kitchens and homeless shelters and other social services. But others have indicated that it is a reference to a specific group of people. Some reference professional church workers others specific christians. But this made me think of the persecuted last night. Jesus comes to Saul and tells him that he is persecuting him. Saul is persecuting Jesus when he persecutes the believers. Those who are in need are under persecution. Those who are the least are still brothers. Brothers and sisters in Christ are all part of the body of Christ. Therefore, the least of these my brothers wo...

This epiphany season the three year lectionary has followed the sermon on the mount. how is God made manifest inthe sermon on the mount? Is God shown to be our Father in heaven? Is God revealed as creator and redeemer or even sanctifier? God is made manifest through his Son. Jesus instructs is disciples on the mount. Some may point the Sermon on the mount to Moses receiving the Law on Sinai. But I think it is simpler than that, God is made manifest when you hear him speak. What is the one thing everyone seems to desire? Is it only through signs God is made manifest? No, jews desire signs but gentiles desire reason or instruction. Jesus gives both in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus reveals the blessings of God and the visual of light. But then he uses reason to show the law of God and how God treats his creation. He also shows the power of prayer and seeking the kingdom of heaven. But in the part of the Sermon left until the begining of the propers or after pente...

In the world we live in how closely do we hold to tradition and History. A better question is how well do we teach Tradition and History? More importantly Tradition and History seem to change over the years. If you are a true traditionalist don't you have to ask when the tradition became a tradition. I love the old story of mother who cut off the end of the ham. Her daughter asked her mother "why do you cut off the end of the ham mother?" The Mother answers "so that the juices help marinate it, I think. But my Mother always did it this way." So the daughter asks her grandmother, "why do you cut off the end of the ham?" The grandmother answers, "because that way it fit into the pan." Sometimes the reasons we give for tradition are not the reason it started. It is easy for me to tell you why this is a good tradition or a bad tradition, but often times it has nothing to do with why it started that way. History is funny like that. The church has ...

I watched the movie Eat Pray Love only after hearing about in one too many places. I thought it would be an interesting movie and it was. I really enjoyed the first Two Acts. The Movie can be broken down into Three Acts (Eat, Pray, and Love). The first Act then includes the introduction. Intro: She is a woman struggling with her marriage because she does not love her husband and never really thinks she did love him. I really wish the movie would have taught us more about this part. What is love? Love of something is beyond what pleasure it gives us or our desire to possess something or someone. Her husband shows her his love by never wanting to let go. Eat: She goes to Italy to learn to live life. I really liked this. It really should have opened Americans' eyes to how we work ourselves to death. We never really relax, even when we go on vacation people talk about all the things they did but it always sounds like work. People are off work on the weekends so they can work on home p...

Matthew does not reference his book as a gospel. Luke refers to other books written or witnesses and will compile an orderly account. John tells us these things are written. But the Gospel according to St Mark starts by stating: "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God." By this simple thought you could recognize that Matthew sees his writing as a witness to the truth. He is not writing anything special. A book about someone who is very special but only an account or accurate teaching. Luke has seen other writings about the Life of Christ. He has heard stories and his scientific background leads him to go out and put things in order. He wants to make sure the record is straight and clear from multiple eye witnesses. John is proclaiming the message about Jesus. He is not caught up in Technical terms but images. He wants to not only tell the story but paint the picture. Mark wants to give people a Gospel. This means he understands what a "Gospel"...