Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:1-14
By Carmen Retzlaff
The hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel, who was in exile from his homeland. “The prophet very rarely speaks of God’s face: he feels his hand,” says Abraham Heschel in The Prophets (Harper, 1962). In his vision, Ezekiel feels the hand of the Lord upon him, bringing him out and setting him in the middle of a dry valley, filled with bones. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Dry earth, Dry bones”
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Psalm 23:1-3
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2God makes me lie down in green pastures; God leads me beside still waters;
3God restores my soul.
By Ric Hudgens
I live in a household with a seven-year old who has no trouble connecting with her animal identity. I often awaken in the morning to hear her downstairs growling, barking, howling, or singing. She may be imitating a dog, a monkey, a bear, a lion, or a bird. Like all young children she will eventually learn to separate her human identity from her animal identity. Mornings will grow quiet and my world will in one sense be a sadder place. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: We Are Animals”
Third Sunday in Lent
John 4:5-42
By Rev. Carmen Retzlaff
In Central Texas, we think a lot about water. The Texas climate is famously described by meteorologists as, historically, “drought with periods of flooding.” And so it seems. After seven years of droughts in which water wells dried up in our area, the nearby Blanco River flooded the small town of Wimberley and towns downstream in 2015. With this view of water in mind, I read the story of Jesus’s conversation with the woman at the well as a story about water. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: There is No New Water. Living Water is Life-Giving Water.”
The Third Sunday in Lent
John 4
By Sue Ferguson Johnson and Wes Howard-Brook
John 4 is like a kaleidoscope. From one angle, it is a story about Jesus’ gender-inclusive invitation to dis-cipleship. Turn it slightly and you can see Jesus seeking to heal a hostile history between Samaritans and Judeans. From yet another angle, it speaks to the question of authentic worship. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Love Flows Like a River”
Notes for Lent 2, By Laurel Dykstra
Genesis 12
In these four verses two words, rough synonyms, eretz and adamah, are used for land
Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, Mountain and Cloud”
(During Lent, we are journeying daily with King’s Beyond Vietnam. However, we will also continue to post the Wild Lectionary series on Thursdays)
First Sunday in Lent
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. -Matthew 4:1-2
By Victoria Loorz
You don’t need to read the surveys to know that most people experience a sense of connection with the earth when they spend time in wilderness, but data does confirm it. A recent(ish) survey by Pew showed that six-in-ten adults in the general public (58%) say they often feel a “deep connection with nature and the earth,” with unaffiliated persons about as likely as Christians to agree (58% and 59%, respectively). Pew Research Center survey, June 28-July 9 2012. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: When the Spirit Sends You Into the Wilderness”
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
(many churches observe the Transfiguration this Sunday)
Isaiah 49:8-16
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6: 24-34
By Reverend Dr. Victoria Marie
Today I’m just going to touch on a few points in the Gospel reading in the hopes that they stimulate more thoughts and questions for all of us. To set the stage, look at the unrestrained resource extraction, our addiction to fossil fuels, and the consumerism that threatens to consume us and the earth. Yet, we all have to earn a living and unfortunately, some people have no other choice but to work for industries and systems that are killing us. We have been drafted into a system where we are trying to serve God but are enslaved by wealth; quite a dilemma! Upton Sinclair wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: A Way Without Fear”
by Talitha Fraser with Kaumatua Gregg Morris
Allow me to invite you to join in for a game of kilikiti, to sing and dance with us, to walkabout… sit here at the campfire and I will tell you story…
Coranderrk was one of several Aboriginal missions set up in Victoria . Wurundjeri leaders William Barak and Simon Wonga advocated for Aboriginal people to live in their own place, their own way. Many times to petition the Victorian Government Barak and Wonga would gather a delegation together, speak to motivate and inspire them, then they would walk together the 60 miles (12 hours) to deliver the message: “Please leave us alone, give us our land back, don’t take it away again”. Leaders of one people to another, approaching as equal and in person. Continue reading ““I am, We are, He/She/It is”: Learnings from the South Pacific”
Seventh Sunday After the Epiphany
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am YHWH, your God.” (Lev 19.9-10)
By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson
More than any other biblical text, the book of Leviticus claims to express the direct voice of YHWH. Of the 160 uses of the phrase, “I am YHWH” in the Hebrew Bible, 49 uses are in Leviticus. And yet, the book may be among the least respected or understood scriptural texts. It is to this very chapter in Leviticus that Jesus turns when asked about the greatest commandments. Just a few verses down from the quote above we find: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev 19.18; cf. Mk 12.31). Indeed, not only Jesus, but also Paul and James—made into opponents of each other in the post-Reformation culture wars—cite Lev 19.9 as central to discipleship (Rom 13.9; Gal 5.14; James 2.8). Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: The Very Edges of Your Field”
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 58:1-12
By Valerie Luna Serrels
We enter this week’s story through a blind spot. The people who historically have awakened to and connected to God, find themselves unable to see, disconnected from God, one another, and the land. This blind spot invites us to reflect on the ways in which we too are unaware and disconnected. Unaware of which world’s code of conduct we abide. What religion we practice. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: An Unordinary Time”
Radical Discipleship 