Words on the Word
Worship Leading Wednesdays
Read Your Bible: But How? (Lectio Divina)
“Read your Bible.” But how? I’ve benefitted from reading large portions of Scripture–whole narratives, books, and multiple chapters–in one sitting. I’ve also benefitted immensely from slowing down and meditatively just reading a few verses at a time. Lectio Divina is a way of reading Scripture that encourages that. It’s reading, as many have said, for transformation and … Continue reading
Who is the New Pope? Bergoglio (now Francis I) of Argentina
The cardinals today selected a new pope. From the New York Times: With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday — choosing the cardinal from Argentina, … Continue reading
There is a New Pope
From the New York Times: With a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday. The name of the new pope, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic … Continue reading
Derrida, Caputo, and David Walk Into a Psalm
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2 The heading of Psalm 51 gives its setting: “When the prophet Nathan came to [David] after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” The Hebrew text is more explicit in its description of David’s adulterous act in the Psalm heading. David had had … Continue reading
Weekly Greekly Lectionary Confectionery
If your church uses a fixed Sunday lectionary, I found a great blog for you this week. Looking at the Greek (and English translation) of the Gospel reading each week, Left Behind and Loving It is a help to preachers (and parishioners) who want to explore the text in depth. The Greek is there, but knowledge … Continue reading
A prayer for the first day of school
This semester is the first day of classes at Gordon. This morning in chapel I led us in a responsive prayer, offering thanksgiving and petition to God at the start of a new semester. I offered the prayer in italics, then we all as one congregation read the bold responses. For the start of a … Continue reading
How shall we sing hymns?
John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican minister and theologian. His ministry (and that of his brother Charles Wesley) led to the creation of the Methodist Church, as well as other traditions that have their roots in Wesley: the Wesleyan holiness movement, Pentecostalism, and the Charismatic movement. Wesley issued seven “Rules for Singing” in 1761. Here … Continue reading
New Archbishop of Canterbury
The Telegraph reports that the new Archbishop of Canterbury has been named: Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham. Sources have confirmed that the Eton-educated bishop will be announced as successor to Dr Rowan Williams as early as Friday, after the Crown Nominations Commission put his name forward to Downing Street. It marks a meteoric rise for … Continue reading
Memorizing a Bible verse in a congregational setting
We’ve done some Scripture memory in chapel two times in the last two weeks. It’s been fun to learn the Bible together, which helps to reinforce our common language as worshipers. This week we had our congregation of worshipers learn Proverbs 8:17. I had us say it out loud five or six times, each time … Continue reading
“So we made a rule: no overdubs”
A new Gungor book and album released yesterday. Michael Gungor writes: I was actually writing about all of these ideas about art and how it should be more human, soulish and vulnerable while we were on tour, recording the album that was released yesterday. And I was faced with a decision. As I listened to … Continue reading
