Monday, February 26th
- Exodus 20: 1-17
- In the last commandment…the Deuteronomy passage adds some things not in Exodus text, In Exodus 20:17 the order is your neighbor’s house, wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything belongs to your neighbor. According to Deuteronomy 5:21 you should not covet your neighbor’s wife, house, field, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. In Exodus the neighbor’s wife is part of what is in his house, but in Deuteronomy she is listed first before the house and therefore is not part of the household possessions.
John Kaltner
- In the last commandment…the Deuteronomy passage adds some things not in Exodus text, In Exodus 20:17 the order is your neighbor’s house, wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything belongs to your neighbor. According to Deuteronomy 5:21 you should not covet your neighbor’s wife, house, field, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. In Exodus the neighbor’s wife is part of what is in his house, but in Deuteronomy she is listed first before the house and therefore is not part of the household possessions.
Tuesday, February 27th
- Psalm 19
- God gives the law not because the people are bad, but because God is good. The “perfect” or “all-encompassing” law of God is not an expression of God’s frustration, but of God’s care. The Lord of the cosmos, whose glory is declared in the heavens, cares enough about human beings to give them guidance as to how to live faithfully together as they navigate their freedom from slavery in Egypt and anticipate the new land that God has promised. As the psalmist notes, such a gift is more desirable than decadent food or great wealth.
Kimberly R. Wagner
- God gives the law not because the people are bad, but because God is good. The “perfect” or “all-encompassing” law of God is not an expression of God’s frustration, but of God’s care. The Lord of the cosmos, whose glory is declared in the heavens, cares enough about human beings to give them guidance as to how to live faithfully together as they navigate their freedom from slavery in Egypt and anticipate the new land that God has promised. As the psalmist notes, such a gift is more desirable than decadent food or great wealth.
Wednesday, February 28th
- 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
- Paul gives a list of experts on the way things should be: the wise, scholars, and those adept in demonstrating what others should think and do. They are all confounded when they see the cross. They cannot see how dying on a cross can be a demonstration of God’s power. As they see things, wisdom and contact with a god bring strength and a powerful personality; they bring financial gain and personal independence. If this is what Gentiles expect, Paul says that Jews expect a mighty sign that shows the power of God in action. No. Everyone gets a crucifixion.
Jerry L. Sumney
- Paul gives a list of experts on the way things should be: the wise, scholars, and those adept in demonstrating what others should think and do. They are all confounded when they see the cross. They cannot see how dying on a cross can be a demonstration of God’s power. As they see things, wisdom and contact with a god bring strength and a powerful personality; they bring financial gain and personal independence. If this is what Gentiles expect, Paul says that Jews expect a mighty sign that shows the power of God in action. No. Everyone gets a crucifixion.
Thursday, February 29th
- John 2: 13-22
- Why the fuss over a building when people are dying for lack of resources? Our relationship to bricks and mortar, as our passage reminds us, is endlessly complicated.
Is there a place for gifts shops and collection plates in maintaining what we think of as beautiful and holy? One would hope so, but, same as it ever was, Jesus gives us the gift of a question mark to place next to whatever it is we are thinking of as a big, loving deal.David Dark
- Why the fuss over a building when people are dying for lack of resources? Our relationship to bricks and mortar, as our passage reminds us, is endlessly complicated.
Friday, March 1st
- Somewhere along the way I adopted a slogan, “Don’t get mad, get smart.”
The tension between my urge toward kamikaze defiance of Jim Crow and the more demanding discipline of plodding research – which often seemed to lead nowhere – kept me striving continually to achieve some kind of balance. In the process I discovered that joining others in the effort to overturn an entrenched system of injustice is often like running a relay. There were times when I didn’t even know the outcomes of the race, other times when it was my privilege to break the ribbon at the finish line, and still others when I shared an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and exhilaration even though my contribution had been made early in the contest, not at its culmination.
Pauli Murray, Song in a Weary Throat
