7 July, Proper 9, AWL (A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church)   1 Samuel 8:1, 4–18; Psalm 72:1–4, 12–14, 18–19; 1 Timothy 2:1–6; John 6:14–20 Streamed 9:30 HST May the preached word draw us into the written word wherein all might encounter the living Word. Amen. How are these sacred ancestral texts to help us...... Read More

The transitions of power in these readings are particularly well-timed, with elections in the United States and, an impending coronation in the United Kingdom, not to mention a shuffle of UK prime ministers. Yet an ever present danger in biblical interpretation is the temptation to map the ancient sacred stories onto the contemporary world and...... Read More

Let us pray: In the name of the One who waded in the waters of Miryam’s womb, walked the way of suffering as one of the woman-born, and woke from the grasp of death in the deep darkness of the morning. Amen. It’s good to be king. Power, wealth, control, fear, obedience, and wine, women...... Read More

Public confession: I don’t get the sense that I have a congregation of folk waiting on these reflections which permits me to be irregular with them unlike if I were preaching every Sunday. If you are looking forward to them, let me know and I’ll do better. I’ll try to do better anyway but it’ll...... Read More

The story behind this week’s first lesson is that God seems to have allowed herself to have reluctantly permitted Israel a king in spite of her own good judgment and, the objections of her prophet Samuel. It is one of the ironies of scripture and its interpretation that Samuel, person and the books that bear...... Read More

These readings offer thinly veiled critiques of monarchy, particularly suitable in an era where women are treated like chattel subjects dependent upon the whims of a despotic theocratic ruling class. Samuel is, surprisingly to many readers, anti-monarchy. He lists all that a king will take from the people and how they will find themselves enslaved...... Read More

  [Errata: Originally I confused Samuel’s sons with Eli’s. The manuscript is corrected below.] (Preached at the Schooler Institute on Preaching at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio) Let us pray: ברוכה את יה אלהינו לב העלם אשר שמה לב עלינו ושומעת קול לבינו רחמי עלינו וישמע קול דממה דקה Blessed are You, Yah our...... Read More

It’s not you it’s me. That’s the stereotypical and clichéd way to break up with someone. But what happens in the book of Samuel (and it’s a single book in Hebrew) is even tackier: The one partner (Israel) won’t talk to the other partner (God) and tells a third party (Samuel) that it’s time to...... Read More