Same Old Song

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the eighth and last Sunday in Epiphany: Exodus 24:12-18, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9. Show Notes: All these themes—appearance of the glory, divine condescension, building of a tabernacle—return in the tale of the transfiguration, a set of parallels not lost on the fathers of the church. Indeed, the Greek Fathers were fond of drawing parallels between this epiphany of the incarnate Son and its important forerunner in the Old Testament. What Brevard Childs, in his Exodus, wrote in summary of chapter 24 could just as easily be transferred to the moment of the transfiguration: “But in light of God’s complete otherness [which occasioned all the concern for purity of body and character—GAA], the all-encompassing focus of the chapter falls on God’s mercy and gracious condescension. It is this theme which lies at the heart of the witness of the Sinai Covenant.” -Gary A. Anderson It is clear, in any case, that in these verses 2 Peter is addre

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the seventh Sunday in Epiphany: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 and Matthew 5:38-48. Show Notes: It is all finally one big story and as Paul knows and tells the Corinthians, it is all finally also a story of Grace, Grace, Grace. If we are properly gob smacked by the revelation that each of us now houses something of the divine, we are further bowled over to see that even when we do this imperfectly, we get saved anyway. The Lectionary asks us to skip verses 12-15. Granted, Paul’s imagery here is a little odd and this passage could easily be twisted into some works-righteousness scheme of salvation if one were not careful. But in context it is still all about grace. God does expect us to build on the solid foundation that just is Christ and his Gospel. Whether we build mightily and sturdily or poorly and weakly, however, we will still emerge saved because Temples of God’s Holy Spirit are just going to endure with

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the sixth Sunday in Epiphany: Deuteronomy 30:15-20, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and Matthew 5:21-37. Show Notes: According to Gowan (1998), the prophets to ancient Israel did not preach a legalistic message of moral reformation but an evangelistic message of faith in the God who raises the dead. From the first days of the human race in Eden, the curse threatened against sin is "dying you shall die," and the same curse hangs over Israel after Yahweh cut covenant with it at Sinai. The message of the prophets is not, "Israel has sinned: therefore, Israel needs to get its act together or it will die." The message is, "Israel has sinned; therefor Israel must die, and its only hope is to entrust itself to a God who will give it new life on the far side of death." Or even, "Israel has sinned; Israel is already dead. Cling to the God who raises the dead." This is precisely the prophetic message of 1-2 Kings, which

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the fifth Sunday in Epiphany: Isaiah 58:1-12, 1 Corinthian 2:1-16 and Matthew 5:13-20. Show Notes: Peace in the universe through peace with God, the union of above and below—that is how we can describe the essential intention of worship in all the world’s religions. But this basic definition of the attributes of worship is marked concretely by an awareness of man’s fall and estrangement. Of necessity it takes place as a struggle for atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation. The awareness of guilt weighs down on mankind. Worship is the attempt to be found at every stage of world history to bring back the world and one’s own life into right order.And yet an immense feeling of futility pervades everything. This is the tragic face of human history. How can man again connect the world with God? How is he supposed to make valid atonement? The only real gift man should give to God is himself. As his religious awareness becomes more highly develope

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the third Sunday in Epiphany: Micah 6:1-8; 1st Corinthians 1:18-31; and Matthew 5:1-12.

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the third Sunday in Epiphany: Isaiah 9:1-4; 1st Corinthians 1:10-18 and Matthew 4:12-23. Show Notes: Is Christ divided? or, literally, ‘Has Christ been parcelled out?’ (13). Paul is asking the Corinthians, with all their division, ‘Do you suppose that there are fragments of Christ that can be distributed among different groups? If you have Christ, you have all of him. Jesus cannot be divided.’ We cannot have half a person, as though we said: ‘Please come in, but leave your legs outside.’ This, incidentally, throws light on such common phrases as ‘wanting more of Christ’. It cannot be: we should rather be allowing Christ to have more of us. We are the disintegrated ones whom Christ is gradually making whole, so that we become more like him—integrated and entire. The same argument applies to wanting more of the Holy Spirit. If he is personal, a Person, than we either have him living within us or we do not; again, our desire and prayer shoul

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the Baptism of the Lord: Isaiah 49:1-7, 1st Corinthians 1:1-9 and John 1:29-42. Show Notes: The paradox of an Israel sent to Israel is part of the powerful thrust the OT towards the NT, since not even the remnant of true Israelites can fulfill the boundless expectations of vs.1-13. We are driven to seek a more perfect embodiment of God's light, salvation (6), and covenant (8) in Christ at the head of his church, 'the Israel of God.' -NIV Commentary “It is an item in faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of experience in us against it. The faith that surmounts this evidence and is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness.” -Richard Lovelace The Church is not exempt from this low an- thropology. It is sadly humorous to ponti cate about the virtues of the early church. e early church was a mess, lled with

This week we reflect on the readings for this week in year A, which is the Baptism of the Lord: Isaiah 42:1-9, Acts 10:34-43 and Matthew 3:13-17. Show Notes: If, therefore, we treat Christianity under the common name of ‘redemption religion’ we must add that in it a conception of salvation of quite a distinctive sort emerges.  In all other doctrines of salvation, the belief in liberation is founded on the conviction of the ineradicable nobility of mankind, or on a metaphysical likeness of the soul with God.  The god-like in man must come into its own.  Jesus, however instead of this, sees a deep gulf between God and man.  According to Him salvation consists rather in this, That God of His free grace comes down to meet man.  It is the highest degree misleading that the infinite worth of the human soul is stressed as a fundamental doctrine of Christianity.  For this immediately obscures the distinctive significance of Jesus preaching.  With Jesus stress is laid rather on the fact that man has forfeited his wor

In this week's episode we discuss the texts for the first Sunday after Christmas: Numbers 6:22-27, Philippians 2:5-11 and Luke 2:15-21. Show Notes: As a strictly intellectual matter, I am very confident that God exists. In dark times, though — and this has been a dark year in many ways — I wonder if the Absolute relates to us in the way that my church teaches, if he will really wipe away every tear and make all things that we love new...This is the wager that Christmas offers us, year in and year out. It isn’t Pascal’s famous bet on God’s very existence; rather, it’s a bet on God’s love for us, a wager that all the varieties of religious experience, wonderful and terrifying and inscrutable, should be interpreted in the light of one specific history-altering experience: a divine incarnation, a baby crying beneath a pulsing star...The odds on that wager feel different year to year. They change with joy and suffering, tranquillity and crisis, sickness and health...But I haven’t found better ones. Merry Chr

We give our take on the readings for Christmas day, year A. We're talking Isaiah 52:7-10, Hebrews 1:1-6, and John 1:1-14. Despite the New Testament’s assertion that the coming of Jesus was the fulfillment of ancient Israel’s religious hopes for the future, religious Jews find the Christian celebration of Christmas based on a belief that stands in direct opposition to the most fundamental of Jewish tenets: the oneness of God (see Deut. 6:4). Still, the church continues to find in the Old Testament words of spirit and life. Today’s lesson from Isaiah reaffirms the church’s belief that judgment is not God’s final word. The good news is that God’s movement into our lives is to accomplish salvation (v. 7). The experience of ancient Israel exemplifies that “good news.” The judgment that Israel experienced as a consequence of its infidelity was not God’s final word, for God comes to comfort Judah and redeem Jerusalem (v. 9). The coming of Jesus, then, needs to be understood against the backdrop of ancient Israel

In our fifth episode we deal with the Lectionary texts for Christmas Eve, Year A: Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20. Show Notes: The first thing to learn in this prophecy of Isaiah is that a child is born to you and is your child…. We must accentuate the word “us” and write it large. That is, when you hear, “A child has been born to us, make the two letters US as large as heaven and earth and say, “The child is born, it is true; but for whom is he born: Unto US, for US he is born, says the prophet.” Luther continues, “God allowed this child to be born for the sake of condemned and lost sinners. Therefore, hold out your hand, lay hold of it, and say, “True, I am godless and wicked, there is nothing good in me, nothing but sin, vice, depravity, death, devil, and hellfire; against all this, however, I set this child whom the Virgin Mary has in her lap and at her breast. For since he is born for me, that he might be my treasure, I accept this child and set him over against everything I do not have.” Luthe

In our fourth episode we deal with the Lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7 and Matthew 1:18-25. They're texts that in different ways talk about the significance of signs. King Ahaz of Judah is in a panic. Israel and Aram have allied to resist Assyria's expansion, and they are pressuring Ahaz to join the alliance. If he refuses, they will overthrow Judah and replace him with another king. The result may be the end of the Davidic line. Isaiah assures Ahaz that he doesn't have to worry about Israel and Aram (Isaiah 7). The Lord will take care of them, and, besides, Assyria poses a greater danger. But that’s not the heart of the prophet's message. Like Ahaz, Isaiah knows that the house of David is threatened. He knows that the land of Judah is afflicted. But the threat doesn’t come from Aram and Israel, and it doesn’t fundamentally come from Assyria either. The main threat to the house of David is the king who sits on David’s throne. The one who

In our third episode we deal with the Lectionary texts for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13 and Matthew 3:1-12. We consider what it means to look to these texts for real words of grace and hope, and what the nature of true joy really is. Show Notes: With the words, “This text shouldn’t be here,” my colleague Barbara Lundblad begins a thoughtful presentation on Isaiah 35. After all, as she points out, it’s not just that this text doesn’t address anyone by name. It’s also that it almost immediately follows a poem that’s full of images of creational disaster: “Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur, her land will become blazing pitch … Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds” (Isaiah 34:9, 13). Into that promise of environmental devastation, Isaiah says, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and s

In our second episode we deal with the Lectionary texts for the Second Sunday of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13 and Matthew 3:1-12. We consider what it means to look to these texts for real words of grace and hope.

In this debut episode of "Same Old Song" we deal with the texts for the beginning of a New Year for the Christian Church. It's Advent, year A, so Jacob Smith and Scott Jones attempt to bring their A game with brevity (with a capital "B") as they unpack the readings preachers all across the world will be dealing with this coming Sunday.