Tag: Margaret m duffy

Christ the King Sunday, Year A

We ask Jesus, “when did we see you”? His response is unequivocal.

Welcome!

“Homeless Jesus” outside St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village, OH

“You did it to me” commentary on Mark 25:31-46

So many of us, in our devotional and ecclesiastical lives, long to “see Jesus.”  And rightly so.  We pray for an experience of Jesus’s presence.  We yearn to feel him close.  We sing hymns, recite creeds, hear sermons, and attend Bible studies — all in the hope of seeing and knowing Jesus in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with these practices — unless they keep us at comfortable arm’s length from where Jesus actually is.  Unless they lead us to believe that the work of justice and compassion is somehow secondary to the “real” business of Christianity.  The real business of Christianity is bending the knee to Jesus.  And where is Jesus?  Jesus is in the least and the lost and the broken and the wounded.  Jesus is in the un-pretty places.  In the bodies we don’t discuss in polite company.  In the faces we don’t smile at.  In the parts of town we speed by.

It’s not that we earn our way to majestic King Jesus by caring for the vulnerable.  It is that majestic King Jesus, by his own choice and volition, has stooped and surrendered in such a way that he IS the vulnerable.  There’s no other way to get to him.  Period.

Debbie Thomas Lectionary Essay “You Did It To Me” on Journey with Jesus webzine; posted November 15, 2020

Please make the time to read the entire essay by Debie Thomas as you consider the meaning of Christ the King this week.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, November 26, 2023 on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

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

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: CNN

Pentecost +12, Proper 15A

Joseph’s story is a reminder to take the long view of events.

Welcome!

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.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Pentecost +11, Proper 14A

Seeking God: a lifelong invitation.

Welcome!

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 Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost (August 13, 2023) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, we carefully explored the readings from Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b and Matthew 14:22-33 for the voice of the Spirit. Our handout included commentaries on the texts from Genesis (Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 ) and Romans (Romans 10:5-15).

From the commentary on Psalm 105

Not that we will ever be able to nail down God so that all will be sunny tomorrow. Psalm 105:3–4 uses the verb “seek” three times, as if to underline that God is to be “sought.” The psalm does not say “find” the Lord, but “seek” the Lord. In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt. 5:6)—not, “Blessed are those who are righteous.” We seek God; God is not to be possessed. We never quite grasp. We long for God, we reach out for God. If we get a question answered, we discover new questions. The pleasure is in the not quite having tied God down, as this God is as elusive as the events of history. We seek.

We seek this God, and not some other divinity, because of the past; we seek this God, instead of relying only on our own initiative and energy, because of the past. This is hope: to stand in the river of time and to be swept forward on the waters that have been flowing toward us for quite some time.

By James C. Howell in Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Additional Essays, vol. 8, Feasting on the Word (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)

Please view or download the handout we used to guide our exploration.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, August 13, 2023 on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 14, Year A.

Down the Well But Not Out For the Count from the Ad Imaginem Dei blog curated by Margaret M. Duffy. This post explores the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers as presented in Christian art through the centuries. See Genesis 37.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Pentecost +2, Proper 5A

No distrust made Abraham waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.

Welcome!

Each Wednesday morning a group of us gather to explore the readings to be used in worship on the following Sunday. Our handout features readings, commentaries, and notes for the Second Sunday After Pentecost (June 11, 2023) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.

In our Forum on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, we carefully explored the readings from Genesis 12:1-9 and Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 for the voice of the Spirit. Both the appointed Psalm (Psalm 33:1-12) and the portion of the Letter to the Romans (Romans 4:13-25) added depth to our discussion.

Please view or download the handout we used to guide our exploration.

View the Revised Common Lectionary readings appointed for Sunday, June 11, 2023 on the Revised Common Lectionary site curated by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.

Track 1 and Track 2?

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?

During the … season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.

The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands. 

The first track of Old Testament readings (“Track 1”) follows major stories and themes, read mostly continuously from week to week. In Year A we begin with Genesis, in Year B we hear some of the great monarchy narratives, and in Year C we read from the later prophets.

A second track of readings (“Track 2”) follows the Roman Catholic tradition of thematically pairing the Old Testament reading with the Gospel reading, often typologically—a sort of foretelling of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry, if you will. ….

Within each track there may be additional readings, complementary to the standard reading; these may be used with the standard reading, or in place of it.

(credit to The Rev Dr. J. Barrington Bates)

Via The Lectionary Page (scroll down to view)

Pay attention. Keep learning.

View or download the Handout for Proper 5, Year A.

Saint Matthew – Tax Man, Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr from the Ad Imaginem Dei blog curated by Margaret M. Duffy. This post explores Saint Matthew presented in Christian art through the centuries.

Please come back to this site throughout the week in order to keep learning.

Image: ChurchArt Pro

Remembering Saint Matthew

Updated June 9, 2023

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.

Matthew 9:9

Note: This was originally posted on September 13, 2013. It is updated and reposted here. The call of Matthew is part of the Gospel reading for Proper 5A (June 11, 2023).

The Church remembers Saint Matthew every year on September 21. This year a new layer was added to this remembrance. In an interview with Pope Francis posted and printed on September 19th, the Pope talked about his own calling:

Pope Francis continues his reflection and says, jumping to another topic: “I do not know Rome well. I know a few things. These include the Basilica of St. Mary Major; I always used to go there. I know St. Mary Major, St. Peter’s…but when I had to come to Rome, I always stayed in [the neighborhood of] Via della Scrofa. From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of ‘The Calling of St. Matthew,’ by Caravaggio. “That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That’s me. I feel like him. Like Matthew.”

The Calling of Matthew by Caravaggio

Here the pope becomes determined, as if he had finally found the image he was looking for: “It is the gesture of Matthew that strikes me: he holds on to his money as if to say, ‘No, not me! No, this money is mine.’ Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze. And this is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pontiff.” Then the pope whispers in Latin: “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”

Read A Big Heart Open to God, the interview with Pope Francis posted online by America Magazine.

Saint Matthew – Tax Man, Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr on the Blog Ad Imaginem Dei curated by Margaret M Duffy. This post from 2016 uses centuries of art to explore the life of Saint Matthew.

From the Web Gallery of Art:
Caravaggio: The Calling of Saint Matthew 1599-1600
Oil on canvas, 322 x 340 cm
Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome