Censored Lectionary – Psalm 79
I wrote a post today for my wife’s devotional list that refers to the boundary line between the [tag]lectionary[/tag] reading, Psalm 79:1-9 and the rest of the Psalm.
I wrote a post today for my wife’s devotional list that refers to the boundary line between the [tag]lectionary[/tag] reading, Psalm 79:1-9 and the rest of the Psalm.
I’m probably going to talk about common themes later, but I noticed something interesting that might not be the first thing one would notice in these passages, and that’s a combined sense of inadequacy without God’s Spirit, and the adequacy given by the presence of God’s Spirit. In Isaiah 49, the servant is taken as…
Brooke Borel of FiveThirtyEight.com published an article recently titled Fact-Checking Won’t Save Us from Fake News. Headline readers will not be led too far astray by that headline, though they will miss some interesting reasoning on the topic. I agree with Borel that fact-checking won’t save us. It’s useful, but it’s just one element. A…
I have already been asked for my reaction a couple of times, and this conference was a great experience, so I definitely think it is worthwhile to reflect on it here a bit. For pictures, see posts by Dave Black and Thomas Hudgins. First why did I attend the conference? This was recreation for me….
In one of the sermons I heard this morning (I attended services at two different churches), the scripture reading was from Ephesians 4:1-12. When Ephesians 4:11 was read, I remembered a discussion I had some time back about whether pastors and teachers here was intended to refer to one group of people. The individual with…
Just how does one go about determining how to read these chapters? I’ve talked in previous posts about literary types and historicity, but this is more about approach. I have both heard and read places where people state that these chapters are obviously narrative history because they “sound like it.” But how should one’s ears,…
… even to this Air Force vet’s ears.
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This kind of censorship is not new. I remember years ago that the Church of England Morning Prayer service included Psalm 95, the Venite – but in the copies of the service we used the part from the middle of verse 7 to the end (ironically the part quoted in Hebrews) was bracketed as “optional”, and this part was never sung in my church. I guess the vicar didn’t believe in God testing his people, nor perhaps his people hearing his voice, so we stuck to the comforting parts like “we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand”.
I’ve noticed this before as well. It also happens with Psalm 137. I’m not always opposed, though I find it interesting that there are parts of the Bible that we don’t feel comfortable reading in church. Of course, I could nominate a few passages myself!