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Lectionary Commentary

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December 2014

December 10, 2014

New Lectionary Trilogy for Progressive Christians

The season of Advent is upon us again, marking the start of a new lectionary year in...

September 2012

September 04, 2012

Is The Book of James Proto-Marxist?

If someone is naked, starving, and wrongly imprisoned, your faith and beliefs are barely relevant,...

September 04, 2012

Jesus Getting Caught with His Compassion Down

Jesus is usually so mind-blowingly impressive that we can forget he did not emerge from...

May 2012

May 18, 2012

“Your Daughters Shall Prophecy”: Fulfilling the Promise of Pentecost, Abolishing the Laity, and Ordaining Women

A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012 Many pastors think of...

March 2012

March 23, 2012

Jesus’ Subversive Donkey Ride (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Palm Sunday)

In Mark’s fast-paced style, we see three different days of Holy Week in chapter 11...

March 08, 2012

“John 3:16 — The Rest of the Story” (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Sunday, March 18, 2012)

Note: I previously posted this lectionary commentary in 2011, when this same passage was the...

March 02, 2012

#OccupyChurch: Jesus Threw out the Moneylenders for a Reason (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary on John 2 for March 11)

Andy Lester was one of the most important professors I had in seminary. I took...

February 2012

February 27, 2012

Is Jesus the “Human One”? A Lectionary Commentary on Mark 8

Jesus does not echo Peter’s title “Messiah,” but instead refers to himself as “the Son...

February 27, 2012

Reading the Bible with Jews: A Lectionary Commentary on Romans 4

Many Christians have become accustomed to the realization that Jesus lived and died as a...

February 18, 2012

What Happens to Those God Loves? (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Feb 26)

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John...

February 18, 2012

Paul: Misogynist or Mystic?

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the...

January 2012

January 23, 2012

A Progressive Christian Explores Healing Prayer: A Spiritual Practice for Preaching Mark 1:40-45 (Lectionary Commentary for February 12)

Although I do not know anyone personally with leprosy, much less anyone who has been...

January 14, 2012

What Is the Gospel According to You? Three Meanings of “Good News” in Mark 1 (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for January 22)

Note: If you want to skip to the section specifically on Mark 1:14-20, scroll down...

January 05, 2012

Discernment: A Spiritual Practice for Preaching 1 Samuel 3 (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for January 15, 2012)

In this passage, God speaks to Samuel four times. The first three times, Samuel does...

December 2011

December 23, 2011

November 2011

November 22, 2011

Progressive Christian Reflections on Advent

How should progressive Christians approach Advent in light of twenty-first century knowledge? The following are four meditations...

November 21, 2011

#OccupyAdvent: “Let the Reader Understand” (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary on Mark 13)

Backing up a few verses to look at the preceding context for this week's Gospel...

November 11, 2011

Four Spiritual Practices for Preaching on Matthew 25 (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Nov 20, 2011)

Spiritual Practice I: Visio Divina To begin to reflect on this scripture, I invite you...

November 05, 2011

From “A Thief in the Night” to Harold Camping (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Nov 13, 2011)

Before there was a New Testament, before the Gospels were written, before any of Paul’s...

October 2011

October 21, 2011

Response to Tony Jones’ Blog on “Picking and Choosing Your Bible Verses (or, Why To Abandon the Lectionary)”

(Note: At the end of last week, I posted a lectionary commentary for Sunday, October...

October 14, 2011

“Why Not Choose Love? Picking and Choosing Scripture as a Twenty-first Century Christian” (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary for Oct 23, 2011)

Prop 8: The Musical Progressive Christians are sometimes accused of “picking and choosing” Bible verses...

August 2011

August 24, 2011

“Costly Truth, Costly Forgiveness” (A Progressive Christian Lectionary Commentary on Matt 18 for Sept 4, 2011)

I. Anne Taylor’s Saint Maybe, part one Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas has made the important...

May 2011

May 27, 2011

Lectionary Commentary: “Progressive Christianity on Ascension Sunday”

The book of Acts reports that Jesus ascended to heaven forty days after the Resurrection. ...

February 2011

February 25, 2011

Lectionary Commentary: “Practicing Transfiguration”

What can we do beyond merely admiring Jesus’ Transfiguration? Said differently, what could it mean...