Friday's Lectionary Reflection

On Thursdays at the divinity school, a small group of students and professors gather together to read the lectionary text for the week and share lunches carried in humble brown sacks. So, in good faith, I hope to bring a pilgrim's perspective on the lectionary texts weekly, or maybe bi-weekly, or maybe just monthly - we'll see how it goes. Do not expect my reflections to be profound, or long, or even coherent. I will, at the very least, post the texts for each week; and as much as I can, I will also post a couple of words or reflection in response to my readings and meditations. I will also begin each week with a prayer from the Psalms. So, enough with these introductory words, let's begin our inaugural post.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. ~ Psalm 19:14

Proper 21B/ Ordinary 26B/ Pentecost 17
Old Testament Reading
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29

Psalm
Psalm 124
Psalm 19:7-14

New Testament Reading
James 5:13-20

Gospel Reading
Mark 9:38-50

Esther - a woman of courage.
Moses - a prophet in need of prophets.
David - a fellow servant and pilgrim.
James - a prayer.
Jesus - the Rabbi, the Christ, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

Reading List

If I am completely honest, you would need to know that a review of Take This Bread by Sara Miles (as promised in the previous post) will probably be pretty far down the road. And, if I am completely honest, I would have to admit that I am pretty ADD when it comes to reading. At any given moment, I may be reading 5-10 books. Right now I am still working through Take This Bread, but I am also reading the book of James, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, and Saint Augustine's On Christian Belief. So, needless to say, I am pretty booked (no pun intended) for the summer. I hope to post my reflections on James as I read through it and write my weekly Bible studies for my youth. I'm sure my other readings will make their way into the reflections, so you will get your review of Take This Bread in due time. Until then, be well.

Bad Blogger

I feel like all that I do on my blogs is apologize for being a bad blogger, so here goes, again. i am sorry for being a bad blogger. In the next few weeks, I will be posting about a book that I am currently reading which I am finding quite formative to my faith. If you would like to be reading it so that we may have a fruitful conversation when I do finally post, it is Take This Bread by Sara Miles.

The story of an unexpected and terribly inconvenient Christian conversion, told by a very unlikely convert, TAKE THIS BREAD is not only a spiritual memoir but a call to action.

Raised as an atheist, Sara Miles lived an enthusiastically secular life as a restaurant cook and writer. Then early one morning, for no earthly reason, she wandered into a church. "I was certainly not interested in becoming a Christian," she writes. "Or, as I thought of it rather less politely, a religious nut."

But she ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine, and found herself radically transformed....

Until my next post, be well.