Scriptures for July 2

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please go to sundayscriptures@blogspot.com, find these readings, and click the "comments" button at the bottom.


July 2, 2006
4 Pentecost, (Proper 8) Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Psalm 30
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43


Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
God did not make death, and he does not delight in the
death of the living. For he created all things so that they might
exist; the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and
there is no destructive poison in them, and the dominion of Hades
is not on earth. For righteousness is immortal.
For God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image
of his own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the
world, and those who belong to his company experience it.
___________

What do you make of this passage?
(note: the book of Wisdom is from the Apocrypha)
___________________________________________________

Psalm 30
1 I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up *
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried out to you, *
and you restored me to health.
3 You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; *
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.
4 Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; *
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, *
his favor for a lifetime.
6 Weeping may spend the night, *
but joy comes in the morning.
7 While I felt secure, I said, "I shall never be disturbed. *
You, Lord, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains."
8 Then you hid your face, *
and I was filled with fear.
9 I cried to you, O Lord; *
I pleaded with the Lord, saying,
10 "What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? *
will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
11 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; *
O Lord, be my helper."
12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; *
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.
13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; *
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.
________________

Have you ever experienced desperation like the psalmist in verses 8-11?
Have you ever experienced deliverance as it verses 1-7, 12-13?
How was your response like that of the psalmist?
How was your response different from the psalmist?
________________

2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Now as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in
knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you --
so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.
I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the
genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others.
For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this
matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who
began last year not only to do something but even to desire
to do something-- now finish doing it, so that your eagerness
may be matched by completing it according to your means.
For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according
to what one has--not according to what one does not have.
I do not mean that there should be relief for others and
pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between
your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance
may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.
As it is written,
"The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little."
___________

The subject of this passage is fund raising. Paul is raising a collection for the poor and beleaguered church in Judea. Read the passage again with that in mind.
What do you think of appeals like this?
How does this connect with your own stewardship?
Your pledge to St. Paul's? Your other charity?
Your own views of our financial interdependency?
________________________________________________

Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a
great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one
of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he
saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little
daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on
her, so that she may be made well, and live." So he went with
him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now
there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for
twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had
spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew
worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the
crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his
clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage
stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her
disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him,
Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my
clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd
pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" He looked
all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what
had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before
him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter,
your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your
disease."
While he was still speaking, some people came from the
leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the
teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said
to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He
allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the
brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of
the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing
loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a
commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they
laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the
child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went
in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her,
"Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And
immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was
twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.
He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told
them to give her something to eat.
___________

What strikes you first about this story?

According to 1st century Jewish law, a woman who has a hemorrhage is ritually unclean. Anyone who touches her is unclean also. Presumably she would also be infertile. A girl of twelve is at the onset of womanhood, and thus able to become a mother. How do those cultural understandings affect your reading and interpretation of this story?

Monday afternoon & evening; Day 1 - 6/12

Monday, June 12; 12:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Tried to go to the 12:30 hearing about funding priorities held by Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F). The room was too full. There is a lot of energy around the Millennium Development Goals.

The whole Convention gathered this afternoon at 2:00 to hear the opening addresses of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and House of Deputies President George Werner.

Bishop Griswold said that it will be our inner grounding and attitude which will shape the decisions of the Convention. If our inner landscape is anxious and fearful, it will produce disorder; if we are at peace within, our work will be ordered. He said that he has great trust in the Holy Spirit, the people and the process of General Convention.

Much of his talk centered around the topic of reconciliation, grounded in the costly reconciliation of Jesus. The truth we seek is larger than any one particular view. And though Christ's truth is unfathomable, the Holy Spirit reveals to us more and more of the divine purpose. Seeking the truth is a communal exercise. He mentioned that God's ways, according to scripture, are both straight and crooked. We risk idolatry if we worship an image of the church which becomes an end in itself.

He spoke of the dual claims of the church's character as a call for holiness and a call to be an agent for justice. That is not an either/or dilemma. Both holiness and justice are aspects of God. Our origins ground us both in the zeal of the Reformation and the continuity of Catholicism. We know the Lord both through the Book and the Sacrament. Christ calls us to "Come and Grow." (that is the theme of the Convention)

The Body can't be whole without distinctions. The Body ceases to be whole when one part says to another, "I have no need of you." Archbishop Rowan Williams has said that in "baptism we are caught up in solidarities not of our own choosing." We are called to live in the mystery of communion for the sake of love. It is all about love, said the Presiding Bishop.

Bishop Griswold included in his talk one of his favorite quotes from Thomas Merton: "If I allow Christ to use my heart in order to love my brothers and sisters with it, I will soon find that Christ, loving in me and through me, has brought to light Christ in my brothers and sisters. And, I will find that the love of Christ in my brothers and sisters, loving me in return, has drawn forth the image and the reality of Christ in my own soul." This is the vision that affirms that we our brothers and sisters. We have no other option.
______

President George Werner started with a story about Robert Louis Stevenson. When Stevenson was a little child, he was up in his room looking out over the night. His mother called, "Robert, are you okay? What are you doing?" Just then the lamplighter was coming down the street doing his evening work. "I am watching someone punch holes in the darkness," replied the child.

St. John's prologue says that Jesus is the true light which explodes into the world, that the darkness cannot understand. Too often we fear the darkness to much and try to protect the light instead of taking the light out into the darkness.

Werner said that we do not ask another to walk with me until you understand that I am right, but rather we walk together.
______

The House of Deputies then had a directed session of deputy conversation. We began with two quotes:
The first quote was from a sermon the Sunday after 9-11: "The challenge of this life is not to stay alive, rather the challenge of this life is to stay in love." Chris Rankin-Williams, 9/16/01
"What I see is not what I am looking at, but what I am looking with. And so my first and principal duty... is to find my eyes of love."

We did a meditation focusing on the pulse of our hearts. What makes our heart pulse? That which is in you gives you life unconditionally.

We sat at tables of ten persons and responded to three questions. (I didn't copy these, so this is a paraphrase. It was a past, present and future exercise.)
1. From your background and origins, what do you love most about the Episcopal Church? How have you experienced God's love in the church?
2. Where is your passion for the church?
3. What would you see as success for this General Convention? What could you tell people years from now we accomplished with God's help in this Convention?

My own answer had to do with the experience of the unqualified love of God as a child growing up in a church that was a safe place of belonging for me. And I spoke of the leadership of the rector of my church during the civil rights days. That planted a passion for the church's mission to bring goodness to the world. And my hope is for us to be a Convention that manifests God's unqualified love with such passion that we can be a broad container for people from all of the margins.
______

After a two hour break, we had committee meetings tonight. Friendly encouragement from our open hearings on some of the work we'll be sending up.

It's been a full day. Hard to squeeze in food. I grabbed a muffin and fruit before the early committee meetings. I missed a lunch invitation and grabbed Greek fast food. Tonight I had to leave before the food came to the table, so a colleague boxed up my sandwich and left it in front of my door. Got to pay more attention to food.

Lowell

Scriptures for June 18

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please click the "comments" button below.


June 18, 2006
2 Pentecost, (Proper 6) Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4,12-15
2 Corinthians 5:6-10,(11-13),14-17
Mark 4:26-34

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty
top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a
high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will
plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and
become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in
the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every
kind. All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I
bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the
green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have
spoken; I will accomplish it.
______________________

What kind of social order does this passage praise?
__________________________________________________

Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, *
and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;

2 To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning *
and of your faithfulness in the night season;

3 On the psaltery, and on the lyre, *
and to the melody of the harp.

4 For you have made me glad by your acts, O Lord; *
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands

11 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, *
and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.

12 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord *
shall flourish in the courts of our God;

13 They shall still bear fruit in old age; *
they shall be green and succulent;

14 That they may show how upright the Lord is, *
my Rock, in whom there is no fault.
______________________

For what in your life can you give praise and thanks to God?
___________________________________________________


2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are
at home in the body we are away from the Lord-- for we walk by
faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would
rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So
whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the
body, whether good or evil.

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that
one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for
all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves,
but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on,
therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even
though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know
him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a
new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has
become new!
____________________

Look in the mirror. Behold! A new creation!
Look at your neighbor. Behold! A new creation!
____________________________________________________


Mark 4:26-34
Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter
seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and
the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth
produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full
grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in
with his sickle, because the harvest has come." He also said,
"With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable
will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all
shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the
air can make nests in its shade." With many such parables he
spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not
speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in
private to his disciples.
_____________________

What in your life can you see was something that quietly grew, taking its time to mature or to be manifest?
Who do you care for in such a way that someone else can "make nests in your shade"?

__________________________________________________________________


Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Scriptures for Trinity Sunday

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.


June 11, 2006
Trinity Sunday, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Isaiah 6:1-8
Canticle 2 (Rite 1); Canticle 13 (Rite 2)
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a
throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the
temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings:
with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered
their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and
said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who
called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me!
I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people
of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had
been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched
my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips,
your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out. "Then I heard
the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go
for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
__________________

Recall a time when you felt a holy sense of awe.
What was that like?
How have you known yourself to be touched by God?
_____________________________________________________
NOTE: We have two versions of the Canticle that will follow the first readings.
One version is for the Rite 1 services, the other version is for the Rite 2 service.
The questions are at the bottom of the second version of the canticle.

For 7:30 & 11:00 Rite 1 services:
Canticle 2 Benedictus es, Domine

Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed art thou for the Name of thy Majesty; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holiness; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.

Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths,
and dwellest between the Cherubim; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed art thou on the glorious throne of thy kingdom; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.
Blessed art thou, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; *
praised and exalted above all for ever.

For 8:45 Rite 2 Service
Canticle 13 Benedictus es, Domine

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; *
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; *
on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
Glory to you, beholding the depths; *
in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; *
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________

If you were to write a few verses of praise to God, what would they be?
_______________________________________________

Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the
flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a
spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a
spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very
Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also
be glorified with him.
________________________

You are God's child! Think about that for a while.
What does that mean for you?
__________________________________________________

John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that
you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these
signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered
him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can
anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second
time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very
truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without
being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is
flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be
astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The
wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but
you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is
with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him,
"How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher
of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? "Very
truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what
we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have
told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you
believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended
into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of
Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him
may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into
the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might
be saved through him.
_____________________

What does it mean to be born from above? To be born of the Spirit?
__________________________________________________________________



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Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas