In today’s gospel reading we find Jesus attending worship at his home congregation in Nazareth for the first time since he left. One can almost imagine the scene as the familiar – and yet now somehow unfamiliar – Jesus takes his old place in the synagogue. The sweet elders of the congregation surround him, excited to hear how the boy they saw grow up has faired in the world. The men Jesus grew up with fish for stories of life outside of little Nazareth; tales of danger and adventure. For others, it is as if time hasn’t passed; Jesus is – frustratingly – still treated as the carpenter’s boy. As anyone who has left home for a time and then returned can attest, the scene Jesus finds himself in is already setup to be a charged situation. Jesus, however, has done a lot more than study a semester at Judah State or take a month abroad in Rome.
Read more...This week’s reading focused first on the liturgical theology of Alexander Schmemann – chapter three of Anamnesis – moving on in chapter four to an engagement of Metz, Schmemann, and other theologians in a conversation about memory within the rituals of the Christian tradition. In chapter five’s conclusion, Professor Morrill ties the work of the many theologians engaged in the reading together and gives some practical suggestions on how to better reform liturgy to move worshipers to remembrance and action. I will summarize this week’s reading following the order of Anamnesis and then share two questions that came to my mind for our discussion.
Read more...This chapter starts with a newly baptized Jesus being lead by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days. After being tempted by the devil and successfully overcoming him, Jesus returns to his ministry in Galilee teaching and healing as he goes. After an undisclosed amount of time, Jesus finds himself in his home village of Nazareth where he takes his customary place in the synagogue on the sabbath to read from Hebrew scripture. Jesus recites passages from Isaiah 61 and 58 pointing towards the purpose of his incarnation. Verses 21 to 30 all takes place within the synagogue and document the congregation’s reaction to Jesus’ proclamation of fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah and his interpretation of what their reactions will be to the reality of who he is contrasted to the reputation and expectations that have preceded him.
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Like many in Nashville I went to bed on Thursday night expecting to awake to a lot of ice with a little dusting of snow. I knew MNPS would be closed for the day, but I completely expected to drive into work at my normal time.
When I awoke on Friday, I was excited to see inches of snow. Like any good Southerner I ran outside and took as many photos I could. I completely expected the snow to be melted by that afternoon. But, it didn’t. The snow just kept coming and coming. All morning and all afternoon it kept accumulating. By the time I went to bed on Friday, we were sitting at six to seven inches.
Read more...The Christian faith stands at an intersection of ritual, belief, history, and reality. In this tension theologians like Metz ask the uncomfortable questions those outside the faith readily ask and those within the faith would rather avoid. In an age of instrumental reason does the mysticism of Christian ritual and prayer have a place? Is the Christian faith more than assent to a list of dogmas? What is the Christian response to the history of human suffering and the present suffering peoples of the world?
Read more...The Revised Common Lectionary1 was published by the Consultation on Common Texts2 in 1992 after six years of testing and feedback from their original lectionary introduced in 1983. The purpose of the RCL was to revive a pattern for eschatological reflection in the church by focusing Christians each Sunday on where they exist in time, what has come before, and what will come at the end. By leading Christians through Christ’s “birth, baptism, ministry, death, and resurrection,”3 the RCL ultimately sought “to lead God’s people to a deeper knowledge of Christ and faith in him.”4
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