Reflections for

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nov 08, 2015

Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Psalm 127; (1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146;) Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44

Century Blogs

The widow's mistaken offering?

Dec 12, 2012 by David Heim

The passage (Mark 12:41–44) about the poor widow who put “everything she had” in the temple treasury was among the lectionary readings a few weeks ago, and it’s a frequent text for stewardship sermons. The example of the widow’s generosity seems clear enough, and it’s part of the church’s standard repertoire about sacrificial giving. 

But Fergus Kerr suggests that the story is about not generosity but exploitation. 

Blogging Toward Sunday

Marginal stories

1 Kings 17:8-16

Nov 05, 2012 by Heidi Neumark

The story of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah is bracketed by two other stories that are excluded from the lectionary and are therefore never heard by many people in our congregations. Both of them concern the deviant monarchy under which the widow and her child live.

Living by the Word

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Mark 12:38–44

Oct 30, 2012 by Heidi Neumark

Some years ago I visited a Roman Catholic parish in one of the poorest areas of Mexico City. Mass was being held outdoors, and I arrived as people were setting up plastic chairs and wooden benches in a circle around the brightly dressed altar. The Virgin of Guadalupe smiled her approval from a mural on the side of the church as a few stray dogs settled down to nap in the warm dust.

Living by the Word

Good religion

Mark 12:38-40

Nov 03, 2009 by Otis Moss III

Have you got good religion? Enslaved Africans in the antebellum South asked this question when they created a spiritual that offers a poignant and penetrating perspective on the state of Western Christianity. The famous line from “Have You Got Good Religion?” is a critique of Americanized Christianity.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Two widows, true to type

1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44

Nov 02, 2009 by A. Katherine Grieb

For most of canonical history, Mark's Gospel has been considered an ugly duckling and its author a clumsy yokel. It can hardly be a coincidence that this Gospel was recognized as a swan and its author newly discovered as a literary genius after the development of sophisticated cinematic technique prepared us to read it better.

Tags:

 

Revised Common Lectionary © 1992 the Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission.