Getting MORE Serious About Writing

Posted on 08/01/2013 by bruceinlouisville

I've been pretty regular in doing my weekly Lection Reflection pieces, and they have gotten good attention, due primarily to being linked from TextWeek. (A great resource, by the way — visit it, use it, and throw some support to Jenee, the person doing it.) It's been good to have a deadline, as it has forced me to meet the first requirement of being a writer: putting your butt in the chair and actually writing.

Now, though, I am embarking on a serious challenge, that will push me to get even MORE serious about writing. I hope I'm up for it. Continue reading →

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Are You Wealthy Toward God?

Posted on 07/28/2013 by bruceinlouisville

(a Lection Reflection on Luke 12: 13-21)

There’s an old joke about sermon writing that references “three points and a poem.” If you’re working on a sermon, I don’t have a poem for you — although there are some on the site — but I do have the three points:

  • What does it mean to be wealthy?
  • Are you wealthy?
  • Are you wealthy toward God?

Let’s think about these. Continue reading →

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Amos 8, the Headlines, the System, and Us

Posted on 07/14/2013 by bruceinlouisville

 (A Lection Reflection on Amos 8, Psalm 15, and Psalm 52)

Have you read this week’s lections yet? No? OK, then — here is the link to the online lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Be sure to read Amos and the two Psalms. I’ll wait right here while you go refresh your memory of them.

::

OK, good, now we’re all starting from the same place. Here’s my opening questions:

As you read those passages, whom did you see? What situations came to your mind? What leaders or other people?

Next questions, a little harder:

Did you see any of your country’s leaders? How about the leaders of your state, or your city? Any leaders of business, or other institutions? College presidents, school principals? Judges? Law enforcement?

Tougher still:

Did you visualize any of your church members? Any of your church leaders? Yourself?

And finally:

If Amos were to visit your church this Sunday, who would be on his list?

Continue reading →

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Are You That Guy?

Posted on 07/07/2013 by bruceinlouisville

I love reading spy thrillers. I like following all the plots and characters, I like the suspense, I like the twists and turns of the story. And, I like a good hero. Why? Because I imagine myself as the hero. As Bruce Willis said in Die Hard 4, I like to think I could be that guy.

Don’t laugh — you do it too. Even when you read the Bible, you put yourself into the action, right? You imagine yourself as either being somewhere in the scene, or actually being one of the characters. And it’s usually one of the Good Guys or Gals, I bet.

So here’s this week’s set of Biblical movie clips, and a question for you — which of these people are you, really? Which do you act like the most?

Continue reading →

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Is Your Pride Godly?

Posted on 06/30/2013 by bruceinlouisville

(A Lection Reflection on Luke 10 and Galatians 6)

If you were to plan a sermon on pride in most churches, the thought bubbles above the listeners would look like this:

“Pride. Root of the seven deadly sins. God hates it.
Bad stuff. Got it.” <brain off>

I am not so prideful (see what I did there?) as to believe that I have much to add to the standard fare on pride — at least, not in a short Lection Reflection like this.

But here’s a question that might get those brains turned back on:

Are you proud of God? And is that a good or bad thing?

Continue reading →

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Asking God to Leave … and to Stay

Posted on 06/17/2013 by bruceinlouisville

Let me ask you an obvious question: do you pray in your church services? OK, too easy. Here’s a tougher one: do you expect anything to happen? And here’s the toughest one: what if something happened, and it seemed to be tied to a certain one of your visitors? How would your church react then? Even more importantly — would some react one way, and some another? And why?

Continue reading →

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“A Little Lower than God” — Really?

Posted on 05/20/2013 by bruceinlouisville

There is a Bible study group that meets in a coffee shop I frequent. They sit at a long table near an easy chair where I like to relax, drink my coffee, and read the morning paper or write.

From the first time I saw them, I suspected we might be on different pages, theologically. As I listened to their leader, I realized we were not only on different pages, but in different books, possibly even different libraries.

Through no fault of their own, they irritated me. Perhaps it was their understanding of God and God's ways. Perhaps it was their leader's style. Perhaps it was coming face-to-face with a type of Bible study that I associated with my own flawed past. In any event, it bugged me that they were there, interrupting my quiet space with a Bible discussion I'd rather not listen to.

I commented on this to my wife, sharing my irritation and frustration, and adding my disdain for both their theology and for their approach to the Bible. In her calm wisdom, my dear wife said one sentence that changed my attitude:

Continue reading →

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Pentecost — Who Was There, and Why Do You Care?

Posted on 05/12/2013 by bruceinlouisville

Let’s play a game. I’m going to write a phrase, and you take a snapshot of the picture that pops up in your mind when you see it. Ready? OK — just highlight the space after the parens with your mouse:

(highlight with mouse –>) Gathered believers at Pentecost

Got the snapshot locked in? Good. Now answer me this —

Who’s in the picture?

If you are like most of us, it’s probably some sort of Sunday School picture with a bunch of guys in Bible garb and beards. Perhaps they are in a room, and maybe you’ve got the tongues of fire above their heads.

But here’s the important part. Look again at your snapshot in your mind. Have you noticed something? It’s all guys.

Continue reading →

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Tough Verses in John 17

Posted on 05/07/2013 by bruceinlouisville

(A Lection Reflection on John 17: 20-22)

OK, let’s get something on the table right up front: if you want to go beyond just the devotional, then some passages are hard. They raise issues of Christology and the nature of humankind that are both complex and challenging.

So it is with some trepidation that I write a Lection Reflection on John 17: 20-26. I have heard many sermons on the “being one” passages, but not so many on the rest of it. After studying this passage myself, and researching other commentators, I see why.

Nevertheless, there are gems of learning to be had here, if we have eyes to see and minds to grasp. Let’s name the dilemmas, and see what we can figure out together. And if you think I’m full of it (with the it being something other than understanding <g>), then feel free to say so in the comment section.

Continue reading →

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Waiting To Be Healed — a Lection Reflection on John 5

Posted on 04/29/2013 by bruceinlouisville

(A Lection Reflection on John 5: 1-9)

There are events in the Bible that are so overlaid with symbolism and meaning that trying to unpack them feels like opening one of those Russian nesting doll sets: you take out the next doll, marvel at its beauty, then see that there is yet another doll to unpack. The healing of the paralytic in John 5 is one of those events. The act of healing itself, the loaded question do you want to be made well?, the presence of water and all the symbolism of that, the act of healing on the Sabbath — each facet of the story worthy of its own reflection, each rich for exploration and contemplation.

But I have found another piece, a doll off to the side, that is also worthy of examination, and perhaps meaningful for today. Let’s look, and you decide.

Continue reading →

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