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May 3, 2006
Bible Study: BCP Lectionary Readings for May 15

I received a suggestion that we shift our bible study passages to the lectionary readings. Since we have a week 'lag time', I'm going to blog on the passages for May 15th. This isn't necessarily the abandonment of Acts; we will get some formal and/or informal assessment after about two or three weeks. So, give me feedback -- email me at jwright@ptloma.edu.

The 15th will be the fifth week of Easter. The readings from the lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer are: Deut. 4:32-40; 1 John 3:18-24; and Gospel of John 14:15-21. As you will see, reading from the lectionary itself demands reading, not merely by the letter, but to find the Spirit in the letter. It is a different process that opens up many different types of readings of the text as one listens for what the Spirit has to say to the church today. What I'd like to do is to take you through the process of listening that I try in preparation for sermons.

First, I read the all the passages, listening for verbal connections, thematic connections, or if one passage speaks louder than others and in a profound way that I and the congregation needs to hear. So start by reading these passages and looking for links, or possibly, one passage that can guide the way into the Word of God, Jesus Christ, by the Spirit's presence. Listen:

Deuteronomy 4:32-40
Ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. So acknowledge today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

1 John 3:(14-17)18-24
[We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?]

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 14:15-21
Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."


What do you hear? Any repeated phrases, words? Themes? Who would the group order the passages? What connections do you hear?

Let's come back to this at the end, now, after some connections to the three passages:

Deut. passage: This takes place in a speech of Moses at the edge of the land, before Israel is to go forth into the land (though Moses will be left behind). Can you find the references to earlier passages that the text refers? Why refer to these texts? What is the text trying to say to the people before they enter the land? What is the relationship between the God of Israel as the only God and God's commandment? What is the relationship between God's call at other times and God's future call? What is the relationship between the future and God's command?

1 John passage: What is the relationship between the command to believe in Jesus Christ, love of each other, and the sharing of goods with other believers? How is this related to the gift of the Spirit? What is this mutual indwelling of the Father, Christ, and the believer?

John: What is the relationship between loving and obeying Christ's commands? Can one command to love? If not, how then is this commanded? What is the relationship between the Spirit, again? How does this passage relate to the 1 John passage?

How do these passages describe a life for the believer amidst a congregation, a concrete people of God? What is most basic? What is more tangential, but related? What sort of life/congregation do the passages bring forth?

I hope this helps you discussion! Give me guidance.

Posted by johnwright at May 3, 2006 4:09 PM


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