Category: Supplemental Resources

Reference material, prayers in the Christian tradition, sermons, links to additional online resources for study, follow up to questions raised in the Sunday Morning Forum. and so on. Resources to invite further study and aid further study of the weekly texts in order to hear what the Spirit is saying.

In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Wind in the Chimes: Despite losing everything, Job moves forward with questions and integrity.

What are we to understand about suffering?

Here is one answer from the Introduction to the Book of Job in the Jewish Study Bible:

THE BOOK OF JOB AS WE HAVE IT makes three main points, which are interrelated. The first, most obvious point is that human suffering is not necessarily deserved; that is, though in some cases we may bring our own suffering about by, for instance, neglecting our health or engaging in risky behavior—or, from a religious perspective, by our sin or immorality—the real problem with suffering comes with the many cases in which someone’s pain, sorrow, or distress are clearly unrelated to anything they have done or failed to do. This point is the one that Job argues most forcibly against his friends. Those friends, who are concerned to safeguard the goodness of the LORD (seen as the cause of all things, good or bad), argue the contrary view: that if a person suffers, the suffering must somehow be deserved. This leads to the second point. The claim that all suffering is deserved will inevitably persuade those who hold that view to falsify either the character of the sufferer or the character of the LORD. Thus, Job’s friends argue that Job is a sinner, deserving of his punishment, while Job claims that the LORD has acted unfairly and is indifferent to human suffering. The third point, however, is the most theologically difficult and gives the book its sense of profundity and at the same time its inconclusive conclusion: There is no way of understanding the meaning of suffering. That is, in the LORD’s argument, the reasons for suffering—if there are any—are simply beyond human comprehension.

Mayer Gruber, “Job: Introduction and Annotations ( בויא ),” in The Jewish Study Bible, ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 1499–1500.

More

Book of Job Summary: A Complete Animated Overview produced and curated by BibleProject

BibleProject YouTube Channel

About Wind in the Chimes

Wind in the Chimes (renaming and reintroduction of Wind Chimes, 7/21/20)

Wind Chimes: September 25 2012 (an introduction)

Image: Job Rebuketh His Wife (Job 2:9-10) in Hans Holbein, Holbein’s Bible Woodcuts. Sylvan Press; New York, NY, 1947; 2009.

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10B

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… Ephesians 1:3

Welcome!

The readings on Sunday, July 14, 2024 (Proper 10B) continue the story of David as he moves the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David (Jerusalem). Psalm 24 gives praise to God and celebrates the King. In worship we start to read the Letter to the Ephesians as the Apostle sets out his vision of life in Christ. The Gospel of Mark tells the story of the death of John the Baptist.

We* had a long discussion on Psalm 24. The essay we read posed two questions we pass along to you:

How often do we approach worship, not with God in mind, but the week we have had?

How many times do we leave worship worried, not if we have worshiped God, but if we have been spiritually fed?

View or download the handout we used in our Wednesday morning forum:

Click the image to view or download
our study guide
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*Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. This week’s handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (July 14, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Please: View or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings (NRSV translation) appointed for The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, July 14, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Please return to this site throughout the week to keep learning.

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More …

Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8B

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! Psalm 130:1-2

Welcome!

The readings on Sunday, June 30, 2024 (Proper 8B) continue the story of David after the death of King Saul. Psalm 130 is a cry for attention and help and a confident expression that the Lord hears and will answer. There is a patient and hope-filled waiting.

Read Psalm 130 from the Tanakh. Listen carefully. In this translation, which words speak most clearly to your heart? What difference do these words make to you? To those you love?

Psalm 130:1–8 (Tanakh)

1A song of ascents. Out of the depths I call You, O Lord. 

2O Lord, listen to my cry; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy. 

3If You keep account of sins, O Lord, Lord, who will survive? 

4Yours is the power to forgive so that You may be held in awe. 

5I look to the Lord; I look to Him; I await His word. 

6I am more eager for the Lord than watchmen for the morning, watchmen for the morning. 

7O Israel, wait for the Lord; for with the Lord is steadfast love and great power to redeem. 

8It is He who will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

View or download the handout we used in our Wednesday morning forum:

Click the image to view or download
our study guide

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*Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. This week’s handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (June 30, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Please: View or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings (NRSV translation) appointed for The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, June 30, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Please return to this site throughout the week to keep learning.

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More …

Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7B

“O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness…. ” Collect of the Day

Welcome!

The readings from Sunday, June 23, 2024 (Proper 7B) featured the story of David and Goliath. The verses from Psalm 9 came from a heart and a community that, through experience, trusted God in even the most difficult moments of life. Our* discussion focused on the Psalm. You are invited to join the Psalmist in lifting your heart to God.

Click image to view or download our study guide
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*Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. This week’s handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (June 23, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Please: View or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings (NRSV translation) appointed for The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Please return to this site throughout the week to keep learning.

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Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

The goal of prayer: intimacy with God

Wind in the Chimes: A brief meditation about prayer changing the one who prays

I pray because …

In a scene from Shadowlands, a film based on the life of C.S. Lewis, Lewis has returned to Oxford from London, where he has just been married to Joy Gresham, an American woman, in a private Episcopal ceremony performed at her hospital bedside. She is dying from cancer, and, through the struggle with her illness, she and Lewis have been discovering the depth of their love for each other. 

As Lewis arrives at the college where he teaches, he is met by Harry Harrington, an Episcopal priest, who asks what news there is. Lewis, hesitates; then, deciding to speak of the marriage and not the cancer, he says, “Ah, good news, I think, Harry. Yes, good news.” 

Harrington, not aware of the marriage and thinking that Lewis is referring to Joy’s medical situation, replies, “I know how hard you’ve been praying…Now, God is answering your prayer.” 

“That’s not why I pray, Harry,” Lewis responds. “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God—it changes me.” 

It doesn’t change God; it changes me. Prayer is not a message scribbled on a note, jammed into a bottle and tossed into the sea in hopes that it will wash up someday on God’s shoreline. Prayer is communion with God. We speak to God, but God touches, embraces, shapes and changes us. Whether we pray for rain or pray for sunshine, our prayer is answered, because in the act of praying we receive the gift we really seek—intimacy with God. 

Source: Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics: Sermons for Lent and Easter, Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Co., 1995 quoted in Pulpit Resource, January, February, March, 1998 p. 30

More

Prayer is responding to God, by thought and by deeds, with or without words.

1979 (Episcopal) Book of Common Prayer, 856

About Wind in the Chimes

Wind in the Chimes (renaming and reintroduction of Wind Chimes, 7/21/20)

Wind Chimes: September 25, 2012 (an introduction)

A Prayer in the midst of trouble

Wind in the Chimes: To whom do you turn in the midst of trouble?

Prayer and Peace in a single verse

Trouble, danger, chaos, upset, frustration: whatever you call it, it can happen in just a moment or last years. From moment to moment in a day, day by day in a week, week by week in a month, month by month in a year, we may experience “trouble.”

In the midst of trouble, the Psalmist is our guide: that is the point to turn with heartfelt trust (like the Psalmist) and declare, “you [my God, my Lord] preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.” You are not alone in the midst of trouble.

Trust these words. Let your God walk with you, love you, and deliver you. God’s Peace is yours, always, in the midst of trouble.

About Wind in the Chimes

Wind in the Chimes (renaming and reintroduction of Wind Chimes, 7/21/20)

Wind Chimes: September 25 2012 (an introduction)

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise… Psalm 138:1 (NRSV)

Welcome!

Psalm 138 (NRSVue) gives thanks and speaks powerfully to the majesty and humility of the God who loves us. Sometimes it helps to hear more than one translation of the ancient text to discover new dimensions of our relationship with God.

Here is Psalm 138 from the New Jerusalem Bible:

1I thank you, Yahweh, with all my heart, for you have listened to the cry I uttered. In the presence of angels I sing to you, 

2I bow down before your holy Temple. I praise your name for your faithful love and your constancy; your promises surpass even your fame. 

3You heard me on the day when I called, and you gave new strength to my heart. 

4All the kings of the earth give thanks to you, Yahweh, when they hear the promises you make; 

5they sing of Yahweh’s ways, ‘Great is the glory of Yahweh!’ 

6Sublime as he is, Yahweh looks on the humble, the proud he picks out from afar. 

7Though I live surrounded by trouble you give me life—to my enemies’ fury! You stretch out your right hand and save me, 

8Yahweh will do all things for me. Yahweh, your faithful love endures for ever, do not abandon what you have made.

Here is Psalm 138 from the Tanakh:

1Of David. I praise You with all my heart, sing a hymn to You before the divine beings; 

2I bow toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your steadfast love and faithfulness, because You have exalted Your name, Your word, above all. 

3When I called, You answered me, You inspired me with courage. 

4All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, for they have heard the words You spoke. 

5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, “Great is the majesty of the Lord!” 

6High though the Lord is, He sees the lowly; lofty, He perceives from afar. 

7Though I walk among enemies, You preserve me in the face of my foes; You extend Your hand; with Your right hand You deliver me. 

8The Lord will settle accounts for me. O Lord, Your steadfast love is eternal; do not forsake the work of Your hands.

On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, we* read through the scriptures appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5, Year B. We spent most of our time reading and learning from Psalm 138 (NRSV)

As always, our sacred text (in its various English translations) questions us even as we speak, listen to, and hear the words:

  • Throughout the day, how often do you pause and give thanks? How often is thanksgiving done with all your heart? How might you experience or describe a half-hearted thanksgiving? A whole-hearted thanksgiving? (v. 1)
  • In verse 1 the Psalmist sings before “gods” (NRSV), “angels” (NJB), or “divine beings” (Tanakh). Which translation speaks to your heart? Why is that? Close your eyes, picture and feel and hear yourself singing your thanksgiving in such hallowed company. Well?
  • In the NRSVue verse 3 reads: “On the day I called, you answered me; “you increased my strength of soul.” The NJB translates God’s answer as “you gave new strength to my heart.” The Tanakh translates God’s answer as “You inspired me with courage.” Again, which translation speaks to your heart and why is that?

With these few examples from verses 1 and 3, I encourage you to allow the text (in various translations) to question you. Become quiet. Hear what the Spirit is saying to you. Hear how the Spirit—in the sacred text—both questions and encourages you.

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*Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. This week’s handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (June 9, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Please: View or download the handout we used to guide our discussion and tune our hearts to the Spirit.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings (NRSV translation) appointed for The Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 9, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Please return to this site throughout the week to keep learning.

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More thoughts on Sunday’s (June 9, 2024) readings

Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Trinity Sunday, Year B

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 2 Cor 13:13 NRSVue

Welcome!

Along the way I read—and remember now—Marcus Borg’s observation that credo, “I believe,” is probably better rendered, “I give my heart to.”

Everything we say in the Nicene Creed is about giving our heart to God who we experience as one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Enter into our Nicene Creed as an expression of trust born of love:

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO THE ONE WHO, For us and for our salvation, came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. WHO, For our sake was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO THE ONE WHO, On the third day rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; WHO ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. WHO will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and WHOSE kingdom will have no end.

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO THE one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2024, we* read through the scriptures appointed for Trinity Sunday, Year B. We spent the most time on the reading and learning from the letter to the Romans (Chapter 8, verses 12-17)

To whom do you give your heart?

A further thought on the Mystery of the Trinity

Gregory Nazianzen wrote:

“There was the true light, which enlightens everyone who comes into the world” (John 1:9)—the Father.

“There was the true light, which enlightens everyone who comes into the world”—the Son.

“There was the true light, which enlightens everyone who comes into the world”—the other Paraclete (John 14:16, 26).

“Was” and “was” and “was,” but one thing was; “light” and “light” and “light,” but one light and one God. This is what David too imagined long ago when he said, “In your light we shall see light” (Psalm 36:10 [36:9]).

And now we have both seen and proclaimed the concise and simple theology of the Trinity: out of light (the Father) we comprehend light (the Son) in light (the Spirit).

Source: Christopher A. Beeley, Leading God’s People: Wisdom from the Early Church for Today (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 99–100.

Christopher Beeley is the Walter H. Gray Associate Professor of Anglican Studies and Patristics [Yale Macmillan Center]. He teaches early Christian theology and history and modern Anglican tradition. He is an Episcopal priest.

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*Most Wednesday mornings a group of us gather online to explore the readings that will be used in worship the following Sunday. This week’s handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for Trinity Sunday (May 26, 2024) in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Please: 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 Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024, on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Please return to this site throughout the week to keep learning.

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More thoughts on Trinity Sunday

Be well. Do good. Pay attention. Keep learning.

A Memorial Day Prayer

Wind in the Chimes: We remember those whose graves are marked and those whose passing is commemorated in our hearts

Sacrifices remembered with grateful hearts

Jesus, Prince of Peace, we remember before you with grateful hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy and especially we remember with gratitude those men and women who have laid down their lives in the service of our country.

Grant—to those whose graves are marked in hallowed grounds and to those whose passing is commemorated in our hearts—your mercy and the light of your presence.

And give, O Lord, to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will. As you know us and love us, hear our prayer.

Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer: Thanksgiving for Heroic Service (839); Collect for the Nation (258)

More

About Wind in the Chimes

Wind in the Chimes (renaming and reintroduction of Wind Chimes, 7/21/20)

Wind Chimes: September 25 2012 (an introduction)

The Holy Trinity

There are times when neither words nor pictures are adequate to express the depths of mystery.

Commentary by Hovak Najarian

Trinity with Three Faces via Wikimedia Commons

 Trinity with Three Faces, Fresco, c.1400, Antonio da Atri, c.1350-1433

 The much-quoted statement, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” is true in some instances but not all. A picture cannot represent adequately images such as those that come to mind in the words of the Twenty-third Psalm or the Sermon on the Mount. Art may at times clarify ideas that cannot be expressed by other means but there are times when neither words nor pictures are adequate. A challenge facing early Christian artists was how to create visual images that could communicate concepts found in their faith. A concept such as the Trinity was difficult to explain through art or with words.

In the early Church, there were questions about how (or if) a depiction of God should (or could) be made and if so, what would the image be? God was depicted ultimately as a bearded father figure (possibly derived from the description, “ancient of days” mentioned in the Book of Daniel). A lamb represented Jesus and a dove represented the Holy Spirit. As long as members of the Godhead were depicted as separate entities, artists did not have to deal with the problem of creating an image that represented all three.


The three figures that appeared before Abraham in the Book of Genesis were portrayed as the Trinity but they were shown as separate individuals.  By placing them adjacent to each other they were seen as a visual unit.  Official use of this form of Trinity was ended by the Pope in the eighteenth century but it continued in places such as the American Southwest.

Retablo of the Trinity
Retablo of the Trinity from an altarpiece of a mission church, New Mexico, USA

 Another attempt to depict the Trinity is found in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Atri, Italy.  Antonio da Atri’s fresco, “Trinity with Three Faces,” shows Christ standing and facing the viewer.  His right arm is raised in a blessing and his left hand is holding a book.  To depict Christ as part of the Trinity, Antonio has given the figure one body but three faces.  Right and left profiles have been added to Jesus’ head with radiating lines emanating from the halos.  As a setting for this composition, Antonio framed his Trinity image in a Late Gothic arch and decorative elements.

Multi-headed divinities existed in other religions and although a three-faced Trinity such as Antonio’s fresco was accepted by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, it was ridiculed by Protestants.  It was called the “Catholic Cerberus.”  [In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades.]  As a consequence, in the sixteenth century, the Pope ended the use of the three-faced Trinity but the image remained in remote regions.  Pope Innocent XII went further in the seventeenth century and ordered them all to be destroyed.  The three-faced Trinity at the Basilica of Atri survived because it was not in sight.  It, and other frescos at the Basilica, had been covered with plaster for fear their surfaces might in some way contribute to the spread of the bubonic plague.

Hovak Najarian © 2013

Note: links to the artwork were updated on May 25, 2024; the content was lightly edited. Find additional images of the Trinity with Three Faces using Google Search.

Image: Antonio da Atri, Wikimedia Commons; upload of Retablo of the Trinity, ca. 1936, Watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on Paper [This is a copy from an altarpiece], E. Elizabeth Boyd, 1903-1974.