Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 22, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12–20 (omitted verses included in italics) And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 21, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 17:1–7 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 20, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 16:2–15 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 19, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 14:19–31 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 18, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 12:1–14 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 17, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 3:1–15 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 16, Year A (track one)
First Reading Exodus 1:8–2:10 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies […]
Judgment Day!
This short story grew out of my meditations on Jesus’ command to “Enter by the narrow gate.” It was Judgment Day! It seemed that Drael had been waiting his whole life for today to come. At the tender age of 6 revs, he had been looking forward to this day for most of it. It […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 13, Year A (track one)
First Reading Genesis 32:22–31 (vs. 32 added in italics just because it completes the paragraph.) The same night he (Jacob) arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 14, Year A (track one)
To those of my readers who called my attention to my mistake in posting Proper 15 when I should have been posting Proper 14, THANK YOU! First Reading Genesis 37:1–4, 12-28 (omitted verses included in italics) Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 15, Year A (track one)
First Reading Genesis 45:1–15 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard […]
Divergence on the Lectionary, Feast of the Transfiguration
First Reading Exodus 34:29–35 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 12, Year A (track one)
First Reading Genesis 29:15–28 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 11, Year A (track one)
First Reading Genesis 28:10–19a Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, […]
The Rock
Once upon a time, there was a rock. The Rock had stood alone and proud at the top of the mountain for as long as anyone could remember. It was bleak, and cold and windy at the top of the mountain but the Rock liked it that way. Alone. Up here, the Rock was king. […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 10, Year A (track one)
First Reading Genesis 25:19–34 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was […]