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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 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.
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Hear what the Spirit is saying 