Irreverently Reverend

  Ordinary Time “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness     and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut     and to the quarry from which you were hewn; 2  look to Abraham, your father,     and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man,     and I blessed him and made him many. 3  The Lord will surely comfort Zion     and will look with compassion on all her ruins ; he will make her deserts like Eden,     her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her,     thanksgiving and the sound of singing . 4  “Listen to me, my people;     hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me;     my justice will become a light to ...

  Ordinary Time Let me sing for my beloved     my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard     on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,     and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it,     and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes,     but it yielded wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem     and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard,     that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes,     why did it yield wild grapes? 5 And now I will tell you     what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge,     and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall,     and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will make it a wa...

  Seventh Sunday of Easter 9  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.  10  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.  11  And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  12  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.   (ESV)               I’ll admit, this has not been my favorite passage to work on unpacking.   It’s short, it’s repetitive, and it shades a bit too closely to...

  First Sunday in Lent 8  God said to Noah and to his sons with him,  9  “I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants,  10  and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you.  11  I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12  God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation.  13  I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth.  14  When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,  15  I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy a...