Year B Readings – Page 7 – Hear what the Spirit is saying

Come into the wilderness a place of promise and hope

FROM THE ARCHIVES…

Note: From 1999-2003 Stan Hirsch facilitated the Sunday Morning Forum. He collected a wealth of information. To my delight he archived the material. In the weeks to come we’ll mine this archived material for Supplemental information on our work in the Year B Lectionary. Since space is not restricted, I may add to the original material from time to time. I encourage you to follow the links when given. Come back often, go exploring, keep learning. ~dan

Mark 1:9-13

Lent is a season of great hope, a season of movement into the loving embrace of our Father.

Lent is a time when we are put in mind that we live today in the Kingdom of God, as we shed the distractions in order to see the reality of God’s presence with us. But Lent also is the season that is most usually symbolized by the word “wilderness.” Wilderness always comes across as an unpleasant place, but it is a very frequent setting in Scripture…

The good news about Lent and the wilderness is that it is a time for formation and reformation. It is a time when we can be formed as a people of God and it is a time when we can be renewed in our commitment to Christ…

We are reminded too in the Gospel today that Jesus was not driven into the wilderness by Satan, he was driven there by the Holy Spirit. And at the end we are told that angels ministered to him. The wilderness is not a bad place. It is a place of great promise and hope. It is a place for stripping away of all the old dependencies that tear us down and coming to grips with total reliance on God—a God who loves us and wants for us freedom and prosperity, a God of plenty, a God of love. The route through the wilderness leads us from an unsatisfying life to a life of abundance. But if you are like me, you would just as soon avoid the wilderness because leaving the familiar, leaving the known, leaving the predictable, for unpleasant thoughts, wrestling with what we fear is an altogether inadequate faith to guide us through. We want to avoid the wilderness because it means we have to struggle with hard choices. Choices of temptation. It would be so much easier if we were simply animals of instinct and did not have to make choices. But if we were, we would never be able to embrace each other in love. Nor would we be able to embrace our God with love.

…The wilderness is a place of movement to good. When we go there in the Lenten season, we face the demons of insecurity and time pressures. We face our own demons of hypertension and self-doubt. We also know that we are moving towards Easter, the resurrection and the presence with God. [1]

[1] February 21, 1999, Lent — A Season of Hope, The Rev. Dr. Robert G. Certain

 Image: From the internet–http://travelerstrails.com

B Lent 1, Art for Readings for February 26, 2012

BRAMER, Leonaert
(b. 1596, Delft, d. 1674, Delft)
Click to open Web Gallery of Art Artist Biography and to explore other works by this artist.

The Temptation of Christ
1645-55
Brush and gray ink, 94 x 109 mm
Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
Click to open Web Gallery of Art display page. Click on their image to enlarge/fit page etc.

Teaching with humor

FROM THE ARCHIVES…

Jonah is unique among the prophetic books. No kidding.

Jonah is unique among the prophetic books. Jonah himself is never called a prophet in the text. The book contains no collections of oracles in verse against Israel and foreign nations but presents a prose narrative about the prophet himself. Instead of portraying a prophet who is an obedient servant of the LORD, calling people to repentance, it features a recalcitrant prophet who tries to flee from God and his mission and sulks when his hearers repent.

The principal figure of this deceptively simple story is presumably based on an obscure Galilean prophet from Gath‐hepher who counseled Jeroboam II (788–747 BCE) in a successful conflict with the Syrians (2 Kings 14.25 ). The author of the book of Jonah apparently drew upon legends that had collected about this prophet and put them to new use in a brief story that contains elements of folktale, fable, satire, and allegory. The two parts of the story, chs 1–2 and 3–4 , are united by their central character (Jonah), a similar plot (the ironical conversion of foreigners to faith in the LORD), and an identical theme (the breadth of God’s saving love). The influence of Jeremiah and Second Isaiah in the text suggests that the author probably lived in the postexilic period. Although the linguistic evidence is indecisive, a date in the fifth or fourth century BCE is plausible.

The book of Jonah is also uncharacteristic, when compared to other writings in the prophetic tradition, in its use of humor to make its points. Humorous qualities, such as exaggerated behavior (running away from God, 1.3 ); inappropriate actions (sleeping through a violent storm, 1.5 ); outlandish situations (offering a prayer of thanksgiving from inside a fish’s belly, 2.1 ); ludicrous commands (animals must fast and wear sackcloth, 3.7–8 ); and emotions either contrary to expectation (anger at mercy, 4.1–2 ) or out of proportion (being angry enough to die because a plant has withered, 4.9 ) appear throughout the story. But all of these qualities serve to underline the book’s themes. (Pointer added by dan)

Repentance and deliverance are the dominant themes in the story of Jonah, reflected in its use in the New Testament (Mt 12.38–41; Lk 11.29–32 ) and as the afternoon Prophetic Bible reading on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). With skill and finesse this little book calls Israel to repentance and reminds it of God’s extravagant mercy and forgiveness (Ex 34.6; Joel 2.13 ). In spirit, therefore, the book justifies its place in the Book of the Twelve Prophets.

Coogan, Michael D. . “Jonah.” In The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford Biblical Studies Online, accessed (anew) 23 Jan 2012

 Image: From the internet–http://travelerstrails.com

What can happen when the prophet is heard…

From Sunday’s (1/22/12) Forum handout:

Jonah is a prophet, but he is unlike any other for whom a book is named in the Old Testament. Some (e.g. Jeremiah) heard the word reluctantly but then fully embraced the ministry to which God called them, but Jonah tries his best (and his worst!) to avoid doing God’s will: he is a caricature of a prophet. The book opens with God’s call to Jonah: “Go at once to Nineveh … and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” Jonah’s reaction is to try to escape God’s presence. When called a second time, he does travel to the capital of Assyria, and its residents repent of their waywardness. A message of this book is that God does care about other peoples, even those who are Israel’s enemies.

Obviously this is a story, but it is one that teaches; it is a parable. It illuminates an issue of its time, the waywardness of Israel. God is central and powerful. He can favour whomever he chooses, even hated enemies of the past.

Chris Haslam, Revised Common Lectionary Commentary
http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/bpr03m.shtml

Note: a link to this Commentary is provided on our Blog (click on “Commentaries” in the right sidebar). Both Stan and I have made and continue to make use of this resource in our Bible studies; thank you Chris Haslam.

It makes a difference

In yesterday’s (1/22/12) Forum our group wondered aloud about God changing his mind: ” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.” Jonah 3:10 NRSV

It was a lively discussion among Episcopalians and there was a spectrum of faith statements and realizations. When one of our members observed that the answer to the question about God’s ability to change God’s mind really makes a difference in how we pray there were many affirmations and nods of agreement. It does make a difference.

The questions we were responding to in the light of the reading from Jonah:

Does God change his mind?
Does he ever change it in response to our prayers?
How do Bible statements that God ordains the future and that he alters his plans relate to each other?
Does God know your next move—whether it’s a life-changing decision or a routine choice at the grocery store?
And if he really knows it all, are you truly free?
Does God know the future?
Does he know it precisely or just with a high degree of probability?
Was God taking a risk in making the human race?
If God doesn’t know the future, how do we make sense of Bible prophecy?
And if God doesn’t know the future, what are we to make of the Bible’s teaching that “those whom God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”?

Questions posed in Christianity Today, May 21, 2001 in an article on Open Theism http://bit.ly/x1LGln

We also looked at how various translators have presented this one verse (Jonah 3:10), commenting on the thoughts and feelings evoked by these translations:

And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. KJV

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. NIV

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out. NABRE

God saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. And God renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon them, and did not carry it out. NJPS

When God saw what they did and how they gave up their wicked ways, he relented and did not inflict on them the punishment he had threatened. REB

God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it. CEB

Please join the conversation. Leave a comment. Does God change his mind? Does it make a difference?

Beloved! Can you believe it?

This past Sunday we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism. The story has an ending filled with good news: “…a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” Mark 1:11

In the Forum discussion we shared our own stories of baptism and the faith within us. In the sharing we wondered about the mystery of being “in Christ” and if we are in Christ then we, too, are “beloved.” It is almost too good to be true. It certainly is a grace, unmerited, but greatly needed. Several in the group remembered that “being the beloved” was at the center of the writing and teaching of Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932-1996).

To further the Sunday conversation here is Nouwen in his own words:

Note: the YouTube video (you will discover) has 8 parts. You will be able to find and select Parts 2-7 in the right hand panel of the YouTube screen when viewing Part 1. Alternatively you can search YouTube using “Nouwen” as your search term.
Visit the website Henri Nouwen Society for a wealth of resources
Beloved: Henri Nouwen in Conversation was a book read and recommended by some of our members

3 nuggets to enrich your reading of Mark’s Gospel. Are they golden?

FROM THE ARCHIVES…

Nugget 1. Rend, rent, rending … consider this:

“…‘O that you would rend the heavens and come down!’ These words of Isaiah 64:1 may have influenced Mark’s choice of language here: Jesus ‘saw the heavens rent open’ (1:10). This a very graphic way of doing christology. In Jesus there is a meeting of the God sphere and the human sphere…”

“First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages in the Lectionary: The Baptism of Jesus,” by William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia, 1999. http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MkBaptism.htm (Checked 7 Jan 2012)

Nugget 2. A literary device used by the author of Mark?
“The Heavenly Veil Torn: Mark’s Cosmic ‘Inclusio’ ”

…Mark did indeed imagine a link between the tearing of the heavens and the tearing of the temple veil– since we can now see that in fact in both cases the heavens were torn–and that he intentionally inserted the motif of the “tearing of the heavenly veil” at both the precise beginning and at the precise end of the earthly career of Jesus, in order to create a powerful and intriguing symbolic inclusio…”

by David Ulansey. [Originally published in Journal of Biblical Literature 110:1 (Spring 1991) pp. 123-25] http://www.well.com/user/davidu/veil.html (Updated 7 Jan 2012)

Nugget 3. One answer (disputed, we’re Episcopalians after all) to the question of the authorship of the Gospel according to Mark (the Gospel account of Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary)

Note: Eusebius wrote c. 320-330 CE. Scholars writing today have to take into account this work from our church history. Agreeing or disagreeing, they must account for this testimony of Eusebius (who is quoting the Presbyter John and Papias and more on that in a later post).

Papias gives also in his own work other accounts of the words of the Lord on the authority of Aristion who was mentioned above, and traditions as handed down by the presbyter John; to which we refer those who are fond of learning. …

“This also the presbyter said: Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor followed him, but afterward, as I said, he followed Peter, who adapted his teaching to the needs of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord’s discourses, so that Mark committed no error while he thus wrote some things as he remembered them. For he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things which he had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.” These things are related by Papias concerning Mark.

The Church History of Eusebius. Fourth Century Book III Chapter XXXIX nn 14-15. The Writings of Papias. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.xxxix.html (Updated 7 Jan 2012)

 Image: From the internet–http://travelerstrails.com

Come into an unforgettable Epiphany sermon

Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources is “a gift to the wider Church from the South Yarra Community Baptist Church in Melbourne, Australia.” It is one of my favorite places on the net. As the sun rises on this Feast of the Epiphany I invite you to come into the sermon shared by Pastor Nathan Nettleton on 6 January 2005—just 11 days after the worst tsunami in history ended more than 230,000 lives and displaced almost 2 million people in 15 countries. The South Asia Tsunami of December 26, 2004 | Images from the tsunami.

Invitation to the sermon: An Epiphany Tsunami. Here’s how it begins:

Epiphany
An appearance
A revelation
Deep truth suddenly becomes visible
The lights go on

Tsunami
A massive wave
A wave of destruction
An all-powerful surge of chaos and death
But perhaps too, an event where truth suddenly becomes visible
Perhaps too, this can bring light to bear

Epiphany
An appearance
A revelation
A star rises in the West
Who’d even notice
A million stars come out every night
throwing their light in all directions
But they notice these things, those magi
those mystics from the East
from Iraq
To them it’s a sign
A revelation
The lights go on
Deep truth beckons them from the western sky
The plan of mystery hidden for ages in God is emerging
The chosen one is born
The one for whom all the world has been longing
The one before whom the rulers of the earth will bow
The light beckons from the western sky
A journey begins

Tsunami
A wave of power and death
Totally unexpected
Spreading out
East and West, North and South
Awesome, unstoppable, all-conquering
One before whom all bow
or flee
or fall
And after whom all are changed
all are weeping
all are grieving

Finish reading this sermon. YES, it is well worth reading on this Feast of the Epiphany.

Though these words of blessing were composed by Nathan I pray them for you, asking God to bless you, dear reader:

Go now, seek out the Christ wherever he may be found,
and share the good news with all who bear him no ill will.
Bring light to those in thick darkness,
a voice to those no one speaks for,
and hope to those no one cares for.

And may God make you a sharer in the promised light.
May Christ Jesus fill you with his sense of what is right.
And may the Holy Spirit be to you like rain
that gives life to the fertile earth.

A blessing for the Feast of the Epiphany on Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources