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Psalm 72:10 – Tarshish Again
Last week I wrote a learner centered blog post on the significance of Jonah fleeing to Tarshish. And, Tarshish shows up again in today’s responsive reading. To understand the symbolism of gifts coming from there, try out the “activity” from the first part of the previous post using the maps. Then, consider the text. Psalm…
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Psalm 96:5 – Word Play
Today’s responsorial Psalm is Psalm 96. In verse 5, there is a word play between the words translated “gods of the peoples” and the word translated “idols” (or “worthless idols” or “worthless” dependent on which translation you are reading). I wanted to see if you can hear it. Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of…
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Psalm 124 – Video Illustration for Verses 4-5
Psalm 124.2-5 2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, 3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; 4 then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; 5 then over…
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James McGrath on Matthew's Use of Hosea 11 & Jeremiah 31
Today’s New Testament Gospel reading comes from from Matthew 2.13-18. In this passage, Matthew cites two Old Testament texts, namely Hosea 11.1 (only part of the verse) and Jeremiah 31.15. Here are Hosea 11.1 and Jeremiah 31.15, as they are quoted in Matthew: Hosea 11.1 Out of Egypt I called my son. Jeremiah 31.15 A…
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Re-struck by How Little Christmas Material is in the Bible
Today’s New Testament lectionary reading should look familiar. That’s because it is made up of the lectionary readings from 12/17 and 12/18. As I noticed that, it made me think of just how little Christmas material there is to choose from when developing the lectionary for this season. There’s none in Mark or John. And,…
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1 Samuel 1 – Some Background
In the rare occurrence that the reading I do throughout the day has some bearing the lectionary reading, I like to share that. Today’s lectionary reading was verses 24-28 of 1 Samuel 1 (the responsive reading was from chapter 2). In the reading, Hannah has dedicated her son, Samuel, to the Lord and she hands…
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Betting Most Churches Go with Zephaniah
Interesting … today there is a choice of Old Testament lectionary readings between Song of Songs 2.8-14 or Zephaniah 3.14-18. If most parishes are in any way like mine, I’m guessing they will probably go with Zephaniah. I think the priests in my parish know enough about Biblical Studies to recognize we do not so…
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Micah 5.1-4 – Thomas Paine on Prophecy
Today’s Old Testament lectionary reading is from Micah 5.1-4a. This text reminded me of a discussion I had in one of my classes when I was teaching prophets to seminarians. We dealt a bit with the New Testament treatment of the Old Testament and the problems of thinking of prophecy as prediction. One of the…
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New Testament Reading from Matthew 1.18-25
Today’s New Testament lectionary reading is from Matthew 1.18-25. Two of the resources that I linked to yesterday not only deal with verses 1-17, but also with verse 19-25 of chapter 1. So, if you missed those resources yesterday and are interested be sure to check them out.
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Resources on Matthew's Geneaology (Mat. 1)
Today’s New Testament reading is the geneaology of Jesus in Matthew. Thankfully, I do not need to write much about this as I fear the New Testament scholars might have a field day with me. (In seminary, I learned something about possible gematria in the passage, something about the theories of why these women are…