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11/07/2017

Textweek ATLAS links Christ the King Reign of Christ, Nov 26, 2017

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/yeara/christa.htm

Reign of Christ / Christ the King
November 26, 2017

“This Psalm is one of the best-known and best-loved in the entire repertoire of the Psalter. It breathes a faith of simple trust, glad surrender, and faithful responsiveness. It is not sung by newcomers who are only now embracing the faith but by those who are seasoned and at home in this faith and piety. Nor is it sung by the alienated who have any cause either against God or neighbor.”

Byars, Ronald P., "Between Text & Sermon, Psalm 95," Interpretation, 2002.
  EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
  EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials

“It may be that the crisis for faith in our time is linked to the habit of shrinking God to a manageable size. There is among us a widespread agnosticism, on the one hand, and a surfeit of easy God-talk on the other.”

“The writer wants the Gentile recipients to apprehend and be apprehended by "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (v. 3) that have been experienced already by the Jewish community. Ultimately, he prays for and, indeed, declares that those two communities have been constituted by the one God to live into the fullness of Christ's work and to experience it together as one body.”

“One of the ways Moltmann expresses this thought is by the use of the term ‘anticipation.’ For him, the Christ event is not only the subject of Christian proclamation, but it also affects the process of proclamation and the way it takes place. As the Christ event anticipates the future of God, so Christian proclamation functions to do the same.”

"The church of Jesus Christ cannot be merely a spectator in history. It must actively engage its historical and social circumstances. It must be active in daily life to be a part of history. Unfortunately, our celebrations and religious rituals are frequently very distant from the realities around us."

11/07/2017 at 11:43 AM | | Comments (0)

Textweek/ATLAS - Proper28 Ordinary33 Pentecost23 Nov 19, 2017

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/yeara/propera28.htm

Proper 28A / Ordinary 33A / Pentecost +23
November 19, 2017

“Our story is revealed as a variation on one central theme—the identity of the savior—which also testifies to its integrity. Is it now possible to separate an original story from a later redaction responsible for openings and closings? The suitability of the beginning and end to the other components of the story suggests other possibilities. For instance, perhaps the redactor who arranged the openings and finales also designed the body of the stories? Perhaps the original version was so worked over that it lost its pristine tenor and cannot be extricated from the present text. In my opinion, that is what actually happened.”

“Notions of building and planting have profound significance in the discourse of biblical literature. One important indication of this is the inner-biblical discourse of a wartime curse, which threatens Israel in the following words, "You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not harvest its fruit" (Deut 28:30). A survey of biblical literature reveals that this particular curse held an especially prominent place in the discourse of ancient Israel and early Judaism…”

The section on this text begins on page 199. “…Those rescued from wrath should remember that the death of Christ offers life with Christ both here and hereafter (5:10). This theological reality should impact their ethical activity until he comes; who they are should affect what they do. The indicative and imperative meet in Paul once again.”

“Matthew’s community remembers Jesus Christ and awaits Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew serves as guide for this twofold endeavor. By its teachings the community knows what to remember and therefore how to wait. Tucked in the middle of chapter 25 of this manual is Matthew's parable of the Talents (w. 14-30). The parable tells the community a story about what three servants did in their master's absence. Two knew how to wait. One did not.”

“Every Thanksgiving my family gathers at my parents ' home in Oklahoma. During our Thanksgiving meal, each of us names that for which we have been thankful in the past year. I usually have something nice to say. I even had something nice to say last year when we gathered only a week after Micah died. But a year later, I did not. All I could be thankful for this year was that in the community of faith there are others who can give thanks to God for me when I cannot. They can "choose faith" for me. They can hold me in prayer and hope while I'm tossed about by grief and doubt. I can be thankful for that. And perhaps one day, I will again feel in my heart the blessing that is God's abundant love outlasting the pain and sorrow, the doubt and anger, and even the fear.”

11/07/2017 at 11:38 AM | | Comments (0)