Archive for May, 2008

The Safety Dance

May 29, 2008 at 12:50 pm · Filed under Bible, church

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. – John 10:10 (nrsv)

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; … in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. – 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 (nrsv)

When we read Paul’s litany of troubles in 2 Corinthians, it reminds us how easily we misread Jesus’ words in John 10. Jesus came to give us new life, and have it in abundance. It will be a good life. But it will not necessarily be an easy life.
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Fallout from the Early Easter

May 21, 2008 at 12:56 pm · Filed under church, lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary apparently didn’t realize how early Easter could fall. This week is the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time. I keep finding resources that assume the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time must have fallen in February and the first Sunday in May after Pentecost is the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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A Spiritual gift i don’t think about much

May 1, 2008 at 5:34 pm · Filed under Bible

I saw something new in Judges 14:5-6:

The spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid.

I realized I have tended to think of the Spirit of the Lord as conferring gifts and abilities that are, well, “spiritual.” I haven’t usually thought of the Spirit as conferring gifts of strength. This is dumb of me for two reasons. First, when I say “spiritual,” most of the time I’m really thinking “cerebral.” That much even I know is wrong. But the second way I’m wrong is I ask God to give me strength many times a day — sometimes in so many words, sometimes with more flowers. So who do I think is going to give it to me?

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