When we read in the biblical narratives about sweating, dancing Kings, wives who “despise” their husbands, sociopaths who grant sick wishes to their daughters at birthday parties, we are not reading some “spiritual” narrative, we are reading a flesh and blood narrative which is their “spirit.” Deeply flawed people do horrible tings, sometimes, but do glorious things after an encounter with the jarring grace of the living God. (David’s whole story, which we are following this summer in the first alternative reading in the lectionary, is as full and complete example as there is.) We see ourselves in these narratives, warts and all. We see ourselves, too, in the occasional act of generosity that advances God’s justice in the world...
(Resources listed here reference more than one reading and are normally shorter than the resources listed under the individual texts above. If you are looking to link the readings, check these resources.)
(Resources listed here reference more than one reading and are normally shorter than the resources listed under the individual texts above. If you are looking to link the readings, check these resources.)
(Resources listed here reference more than one reading and are normally shorter than the resources listed under the individual texts above. If you are looking to link the readings, check these resources.)
(Resources listed here reference more than one reading and are normally shorter than the resources listed under the individual texts above. If you are looking to link the readings, check these resources.)