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Each Wednesday morning a group of us gather online to explore the readings to be used in worship the following Sunday. Our handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost (August 20, 2023) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
This past Wednesday, August 16, 2023, we explored the readings from Genesis 45:1-15 and Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 for the voice of the Spirit. Our handout included commentaries on the other appointed texts from the Psalms (Psalm 133 ) and the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28).
From the commentary on Genesis 45:1-15
Matt Skinner has a new book out on Acts, subtitled Catching Up with the Spirit. In it he makes a helpful remark regarding what he thinks is often an assumption at play, “that God’s ‘activity’ in the world is like a puppeteer pulling strings.” It’s different for him, it seems. “It’s easier for me,” he notes, “to look back on situations, after the fact, and wonder. With the help of hindsight, I might perceive ways in which I was open or closed to God’s presence.”
This is the power of Joseph’s final confession: that though none of what has happened to him over the course of his life is what he’d have chosen it to be, he can yet now see that God has set him up to preserve life.
“Joseph’s whole story” by Liz Goodman in The Christian Century, February 18, 2022.
You are invited to view or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.
View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, August 20, 2023 on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.
View or download the Handout for Proper 15, Year A.
I Am Your Brother Joseph from the Ad Imaginem Dei blog curated by Margaret M. Duffy. This post explores the story of Joseph revealing his true identity to his brothers. See Genesis 45.
Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.
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Hear what the Spirit is saying 