You Are the Man!
Lectionary Date: August 1, 2021 [10th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
The David and Bathsheba story is complex. And it’s challenging to know what to make of the way the story plays out when David is confronted with his sin. Fortunately, we have a leading Samuel scholar to help walk through the text with us! Dr. Sara Kipfer teaches Old Testament at Heidelberg University, Germany. She has written extensively on emotions in the ancient near east, in the Bible, and in the artistic reception of the Bible. She has also engaged deeply with the book of Samuel in her book, David Under Threat (German), which is extremely relevant to our discussion here (you can find an English summary here).
Eat and Have Leftovers
Lectionary Date: July 25, 2021 [9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Tim has some thoughts about the miraculous feeding of the… one-hundred?
What does a “Good Shepherd” actually do?
Lectionary Date: July 18, 2021 [8th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Rachel reflects on the way leaders are meant to care for the most vulnerable.
Don’t Skip Uzzah!
Lectionary Date: July 11, 2021 [7th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Tim highlights the way that Uzzah changes everything in this passage.
David Took Jerusalem
Lectionary Date: July 4, 2021 [6th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Rachel takes a critical look at the origins of Judahite Jerusalem.
Processing a Communal Trauma
Lectionary Date: June 27, 2021 [5th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
The lectionary cherry picks the one quasi-hopeful moment from the book of Lamentations as the first reading this week. But when we read it in the context of the sadness and trauma of the book as a whole, it reveals an even more powerful and relevant meaning. Our guest this week is Dr. Kathleen O’Connor. Kathleen is the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emerita of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. She is widely known for her work studying trauma and disaster in the Bible, as well as present-day intercultural and ecumenical issues for biblical studies. We highly recommend her Lamentations and Jeremiah commentaries, which have become go-to resources for many, many scholars and pastors.
Are we David, or are we Goliath?
Lectionary Date: June 20, 2021 [4th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Tim has a new historical take on a classic text.
Eagles and Twigs and Metaphors, Oh My!
Lectionary Date: June 13, 2021 [3rd Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Rachel works with a prophetic image… metaphor… allegory… thing.
Give us a King!
Lectionary Date: June 6, 2021 [2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year B]
Tim investigates two sides of the monarchic coin at this turning point in Israel’s remembered history.
In the year King Uzziah died…
Lectionary Date: May 30, 2021 [Trinity Sunday, Year B]
Rachel makes a case for reading this famous call story in its historical context.
