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Textweek ATLAS - Proper 20 Ordinary 25 Pentecost 17, September 23, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:

http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb20.htm

Proper 20B / Ordinary 25B / Pentecost 17
September 23, 2012

 Mitchell, Glenn, "Living by the Word: Mark 9:30-37," The Christian Century, 2009.

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 “Scooping up a child requires letting go of whatever we’re holding.”

 Lundblad, Barbara K., "A Few More Hopeful Fanatics," The Christian Century, 1991.

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 “Who is being put in our midst today? Our graphs, surveys and workshops do not give the complete picture. Perhaps congregational and denominational strength will enable us to welcome and cherish those who will never help us be self-sustaining in the usual sense, but our longing for strength, success and solvency may also tempt us to turn our eyes away from the little ones, the disruptive, those who have no status. We have few rubrics for dealing with those who seem strange.”

 Koyama, Kosuke, "A Holy Mystery: Welcoming a Little Child," The Living Pulpit, 2003.
 
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 “When we welcome a little child, we are engaged in thanksgiving for all the gifts that make life precious. The welcoming of the child is the holy act that will bring "wholesomeness" (shalom) to humanity upon this earth. It is the ecumenical holy mystery to which the whole of humanity is invited.”

 O'Connor, Kathleen M., "Lamenting Back to Life," Interpretation, 2008.

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 “The confessions of Jeremiah are prayers for people mired in loss and play a major role in the theological and spiritual process of healing. They keep communication with God alive in the midst of destruction and despair.”

 Culpepper, R. Alan, "The Power of Words and the Tests of Two Wisdoms," Review and Expositor, 1986.

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 “Verse 16 pushes the argument one step further: if counterfeit wisdom is exposed by jealousy and selfish ambition, these in turn give rise to disorder and every kind of evil. Integrity, humility, and truthfulness are essential to harmony in the Christian community. Where these are destroyed by jealousy and ambition, the church will suffer the consequences in dissension and disunity.”

Textweek ATLAS - Proper 19 / Ordinary 24 / Pentecost 16, September 16, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This  Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb19.htm

Proper 19B / Ordinary 24B / Pentecost +16
September 16, 2012 

Mays, James L., "Mark 8:27 - 9:1," Interpretation, 1976.

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 “Self-denial does not mean denying one's self of something; a program of asceticism allows the self to win its own victory. It does not mean self-rejection, some subjective nihilism that is at root an evasion of the freedom to decide about life. Taking up one's cross is not a pious interpretation of the usual woes of mortality as ‘the cross we have to bear.’ All these notions can be thought and enacted apart from Jesus.” 

Mitchell, Glenn, "Living by the Word: Mark 8:27-38, James 3:1-2," The Christian Century, 2009.

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  “Coming to terms with suffering and death is key to human freedom.”

 Skinner, Matthew L., "Denying Self, Bearing a Cross, and Following Jesus: Unpacking the Imperatives of Mark 8:34," Word & World, 2003.

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 “As we journey soon into the new beginnings of post-Labor Day autumn, what will it mean to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus? More, certainly, than giving up a few things; more than suffering as part of the human condition; more than moving forward on new paths—peering into autumns transitions, we belong to another.”

 Mack, Burton L., "Wisdom Myth and Mytho-logy: An Essay in Understanding a Theological Tradition," Interpretation, 1970.

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“The burning question of theodicy, raised by the cruel realities of the exile and its aftermath, drove the wisdom schools to creative theological work. By using the graphic language of wisdom mythology, the affirmation of Yahweh's lordship over the entire order of creation is made in such a way that the exile can now be seen to demand faith rather than resignation.”

 Peterson, Eugene, "Land of the Living," Ex Auditu, 2002.

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 “Spiritual formation cannot be done in a hurry; it cannot be forced into a schedule.”

Textweek ATLAS - Proper 18B - Ordinary 23 - Pentecost 15, September 9, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This  Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb18.htm

Proper 18B / Ordinary 23B / Pentecost 15
September 9, 2012

 Husted, Heidi, "When the Gospel Goes to the Dogs," The Christian Century, 2000.

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 “The day the gospel went to the dogs was the day it came to us. We are some of the ‘dogs’ who have received the good news of the gospel! When Jesus opened himself up to mission to the whole world, he opened his church to the world. Now we are to open ourselves to the whole world in mission.”

 Skinner, Matthew L., "'She Departed to Her House': Another Dimension of the Syrophoenician Mother's Faith in Mark 7:24-30," Word & World, 2006.

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 “The Syrophoenician mother stands as an exemplar of faith not because she has so much of it, but because she enacts it so consistently and deeply. Hers is an insistent, perceptive, and trusting faith that provides insight into the faith we exhibit as well.”

 Reynolds, Carol Bechtel, "Between Text & Sermon: Psalm 125," Interpretation, 1994.

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 “It is that same Prince of Peace that makes possible the peace that radiates from the final verses of the hymn by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In them is evident the same sense of trust and benediction that we saw in Psalm 125…”

 Hughes, David M., "The Best Seat in the House: James 2:1-10, 14-17," Review and Expositor, 2000.

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 “In Christ's church, everybody, regardless of where he sleeps or how she dresses, is somebody. And from that fact flows another corollary: in Christ's church, nobody is better than anybody else. For that reason, favoritism in the church is forbidden. Partiality is prohibited.”

Textweek ATLAS Proper 17 - Ordinary 22 - Pentecost 14, September 2, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This  Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb17.htm

Proper 17B / Ordinary 22B / Pentecost +14
September 2, 2012 

Wink, Walter, "The Education of the Apostles: Mark's View of Human Transformation," Religious Education, 1988.

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 “When I study the Bible, alone or with others, my ultimate aim is not information, but transformation. I see no reason to trouble myself or others with Scripture unless in doing so we intend to approach as closely as we dare to the numinous majesty of the living God. Why open this explosive and shattering book unless we are willing, not just to be added to, but subtracted from?”

 Lamkin, James E., "'Of Sails and Sudders': Song of Songs 2:8-13; James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23," Review and Expositor, 2008. (Sermon)

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 “When does love throw prudence to the wind and love lavishly? And when does love wear the tough-love boots of reason with boundaries?

 "Homiletical Helps," Concordia Journal, 2009. (Section on this text begins on page 302)

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 “Our own hands are still defiled by our hypocrisies. And we're still hungry. The rest of the Gospel story then is the preacher's to tell: Jesus treats us—his twenty-first century disciples—in the same way he treated his first-century twelve. He still lets us eat and drink, defiled hands and all. But he does not let us (or even himself) off the hook.” 

Talbert, Charles H., "James: Teaching Outlines and Selected Sermon Seeds," Review and Expositor, 2000.

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 “James 1:19-27 is a Travelers' Advisory, advice from an early Christian teacher to travelers on their Christian walk. In it are three assumptions and three pieces of advice.”

Textweek ATLAS Proper 16 - Ordinary 21 - Pentecost 13, August 26, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This  Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb16.htm

Proper 16B / Ordinary 21B / Pentecost 13
August 26, 2012

Husted, Heidi, "Decisions," The Christian Century, 2000.

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 “What does a life reordered by God’s demands look like today?”

 Brueggemann, Walter, "At the Mercy of Babylon: A Subversive Rereading of the Empire," Journal of Biblical Literature, 1991.

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 “It is clear in the prayer that it is God and only God who gives mercy. God is the only subject of the verb ntn. God must grant mercy if any is to be given.” 

Brueggemann, Walter, "The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity," The Christian Century, 2008.

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 “Consumerism has become a demonic spiritual force. Does the gospel have the power to help us withstand it?”

 Fitzgerald, Matt, "Living by the Word: Ephesians 6:10-20," The Christian Century, 2009.

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  “If we cannot be protected from an enemy as obvious as ourselves, can we ever hope to find protection strong enough to thwart the ‘cosmic powers’ that cause us to turn on one another in the first place?”

Textweek ATLAS - Proper 15 Ordinary 20 Pentecost 12, August 19, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This  Week's page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb15.htm

Proper 15B/ Ordinary 20 B / Pentecost +12
August 19, 2012

Vasholz, Robert I., "The Wisdom of Bathsheba in 1 Kings 2:13-25," Presbyterion, 2007.

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“Bathsheba's request, then, on Adonijah's behalf, exposed
him as still being a serious threat to Solomon and one that needed to be dealt
with. Here was a very wise woman (and mother) whose acumen not only helped her
son to secure his reign, but who also demonstrates wisdom as a virtue of God's
kingdom.”

 

"Homiletical Helps," Concordia Journal, 2009. (Section on
this text begins on page 298)

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 “Since the text is an excerpt, it will be necessary to set
out its context, even if the sermons on the three connected pericopes are
similarly connected as a series. How much discussion of this context is needed
will depend in part on the previous and subsequent sermons. In any case, it
will be important for this text to speak about Jesus' claims to be the bread of
life from heaven.”

 

Fitzgerald, Matt, "Living by the Word: John 6:51-58," The Christian Century, 2009.

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 “Jesus is not content to live only inside our minds.”

 

Gosnell, Peter W., "Ephesians 5:18-20 and Mealtime Propriety," Tyndale Bulletin, 1993.

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Summary: “Ephesians 5:18 startlingly contrasts drunkenness
with fulness with the Spirit. Previous attempts to relate this contrast to
excessive behaviour within Christian gatherings have not convinced many.
Instead of suggesting alternative improprieties, the present study expolores
behavioural patterns followed at various Graeco-Roman convivial gatherings.
These patterns indicate that some people who regularly met for special meals commonly
chose abstention from drunkenness in favour of stimulating, even religious,
discussion. Accordingly, the present study suggests that the statements of
5:18-20, and ultimately others made throughout the moral teaching in Ephesians,
simply reflect the writer's assumption that his readers regularly gathered in a
mealtime context.”

Textweek ATLAS Proper 14 Ordinary 19 Pentecost 11, August 12, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check ATLAS access options. You can find full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's page for this week's texts:

http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb14.htm

Proper 14B / Ordinary 19B
/ Pentecost +11

August 12, 2012

 

Calian, Carnegie Samuel, "Theologizing in a Win/Lose
Culture," The Christian Century, 1979.

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Abstract: “Ours is a win/lose culture: the ethos of our
society invites, motivates and encourages us - especially if we are
middle-class - to be winners in life. The prevailing attitude of our culture
raises some questions: 1) Is winning really everything? 2) Is there a positive
or redemptive side to failure? 3) What does the cross offer to a win/lose
culture? only as we acknowledge and confess our sense of incompleteness are we
able to be free from the entrapments of a win/lose culture. God accepts us
despite our failings. Accepted and forgiven, we are liberated to celebrate
life. We are released to care for others. These affirmations point to the
redemptive side of failure, to the god who accepts losers.”

 

Herrmann, Erik H., "Homiletical Helps on LW Series B," Concordia
Journal, 2006. (Section on this text begins on p. 319)

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“…our love can never replace but only reflect God's love for
us. As C. S. Lewis concludes, we must never mistake ‘Like for Same.’”

 

Rusch, Frederick A., "The Signs and the Discourse - The Rich Theology of John
6," Currents in Theology and Mission, 1978.

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“In this discourse several fascinating sub-themes emerge:
none should be lost; faith is not based on seeing with one's eyes but it is a
product of the spirit; coming to Jesus is due only to the Father, a contrast is
drawn between flesh and spirit, there are suggestive overtones of a sacramental
meal involving the person of Jesus. These ingredients all function to alter the
traditional feeding and walking accounts.”

 

Ramshaw, Gail, "Living by the Word: 1 Kings 19:4-8, John
6:35, 41-51," The Christian Century, 2009.

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“Living deeply into the metaphors of the faith is not for
the fainthearted.”

Textweek ATLAS recommendations Proper 13B Ordinary 18B Pentecost 10 August 5, 2012

Studying lectionary texts? Here are some starting places for study at
ATLA this week. If you are the graduate of an accredited U.S. theological
school, you may have free access to these articles through your school. Check
ATLAS access options. You can find
full lists of ATLAS recommended articles for this week at The Text This Week's
page for this week's texts: http://www.textweek.com/yearb/properb13.htm

Proper 13B / Ordinary 18B
/ Pentecost 10

August 5, 2012

 

Coats, George W., "Expository Article: II Samuel
12:1-7a," Interpretation, 1986.

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“The absence of life in the face of death corresponds to the
absence of healing for the stricken child despite David's intercession. The new
creation, the prospect for new life from the compassion of God comes for this
world. New creation here is not creation of a new world. New creation is a
discovery of new hope for this world.”

 

"Homiletical Helps," Concordia Journal, 2010. (Section on
this text begins on page 171)

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“In our text, King David stands out as a type. He typifies
the human predicament Christians know as sin with all its predictable
dimensions and consequences.”

 

Smith, Carol, "Biblical Perspectives on Power," Journal
for the Study of the Old Testament, 2001.

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Abstract: ‘Images of power and powerlessness pervade the Old
Testament. While the predominant picture is of men who are more powerful than
women, kings who are more powerful than their subjects, and Yahweh who is more
powerful than other gods, a more ambivalent picture of power emerges in many
passages. This article discusses a number of such cases, with particular
attention given to Genesis 19 and 38, 2 Samuel 11,1 Kings 1, and 2 Kings 3. In
each case the depicted power relationships mutate and develop, with the result
that the Bible can be seen to be frequently undermining its own assumptions of
where power should and does lie. There are enough 'temporary challenges' to the
standard viewpoint to be significant, and scholars who seek to discover 'the
biblical view of power' may well be unsuccessful.”

 

Ballenger, Isam E., "Between Text and Sermon: Ephesians
4:1-16," Interpretation, 1997.

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“The called have not reached perfection. The church does not
represent itself as an ideal community. It is a community in process. The
called should be those who are growing up into the one Lord, who is the Head.
Participating in the body is not static and not passive; it is not a
once-for-all experience. It is neither habit nor mere tradition. It has to do
with life and growth, being the body of Christ in place and in time, in
changing places and in changing times.”

 

Fowl, Stephen, "John 6:25-35, Between Text and Sermon," Interpretation,
2007.

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“The words of Jesus are also signs. The ways in which we and
others engage these words often reflect our own engagements with Jesus.”