New! Feasting on the Word (22 volumes)

[R. Mansfield]

Now available for the Accordance Library: Feasting on the Word Lectionary Commentary Series in 22 volumes.

 

Introductory Pricing is available for a limited time. '

 

See today's blog post for more information.

[Timothy Jenney]

This is a great commentary series, everyone. I hope a lot of you will take advantage of this sale.

 

Many of the authors are well-known, evangelical scholars. The series itself pays more attention to personal, practical application than most, bridging the gap between the ancient world and our own experience.

 

Note: Oops. I was thinking of the Understanding the Bible series, which goes off sale today. Sorry, everyone! [i am getting too old to multitask reliably. :-(]

Edited June 27, 2016 by Timothy Jenney

[Daniel Francis]

Can you confirm that this is complete edition of FOW and not simply the equivalent of the print edition. My edition of FOW  (the official publisher release ) that I own in in WordSearch for example has the four readings for each of the following:

 

Proper 9

(14th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Sunday between July 3 and July 9 inclusive

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Isaiah 66:10-14

Psalm 66:1-9

 

While the print edition has only:

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

 

-Dan

 

PS: Is there any discount at all for owners of the Westminster CDROM edition of FOW?

[Daniel Francis]

Here is a complete sample of the treatment for Psalm 66:1-9:

 

Psalm 66:1-9

1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; 2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.

3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

4 All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name."

Selah

5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him, 7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations—let the rebellious not exalt themselves.

Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, 9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

Theological Perspective

In these verses we find no teddy-bear God or warm, fuzzy Jesus. Here we stand in awe of the God of terrible deeds. We have almost forgotten such a God ever existed.

The really puzzling thing in our text is not that God is "terrible in [his] deeds" (RSV; "awesome," NRSV, NIV), but that we are to make a joyful noise to such a God and to give our glorious praise. Something inexplicably jarring is going on here. How can saying, "God, your deeds are terrible," be a way of praising God? How can that be "glorious praise"?

"Your deeds are terrible" are words we reserve for mass murderers and terrorists, for those who commit crimes against humanity. An atheist will say: "I have seen the terrors your God allows, and I will have none of it." If a believer ever entertains such thoughts, are they not quickly suppressed in favor of the God of sunny days and happy outcomes?

God is nothing if not good, we tell ourselves. And "good" quickly becomes "nice." Our defanged and domesticated God is a happy cheerleader, urging us on to sunnier landscapes and brighter moods.

Against that, we have the thunderstorm of this text. Even here, we try to safeguard God's reputation—and, to be truthful, to protect ourselves from having to stand face to face before the God of "terrible deeds." How? We point out how the text says it is God's enemies who "cringe before you" (v. 3). What a relief, we say. No cringing needed—at least not for us. Only bad people need fear the terrible deeds of God. Of course, we would prefer it if God would never do anything terrible, but at least we are comforted to think God is terrible only to our enemies and not to us. God lets us pass across the sea on dry land and then drowns the Egyptians in order to let us escape. Exodus and salvation are nice, so what are a few Egyptians?

We know this does not quite work. How can we worship a God who saves by destroying?

One solution is offered by Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335-ca. 395), the youngest and perhaps the most subtle of the three great Cappadocian theologians. In his mystical Life of Moses, Gregory suggests the destruction of the Egyptian army is meant not so much as a literal history but as a figurative portrayal of a God who destroys everything inside us that enslaves us. So God kills only allegorical Egyptians.

Gregory is especially distressed at the thought that the God of the Passover would free Israel by killing the firstborn of the Egyptians. God kills innocent babies for the sins of their parents? "How would a concept worthy of God be preserved in the description of what happened if one looked only to the history? The Egyptian acts unjustly, and in his place is punished his newborn child… If such a one now pays the penalty of his father's wickedness, where is justice? Where is piety? Where is holiness?" In other words, is the God of terrible deeds really holy and just?

The solution Gregory offers is that we must look for the "true spiritual meaning." Look beyond the history, he suggests—almost setting it aside as impossible at a literal level—and focus instead on the true teaching. For Gregory, it is this: "When through virtue one comes to grips with any evil, he must completely destroy the first beginnings of evil." In other words, if you are serious about a life of Christian virtue, you must allow God to destroy in you the newborn stirrings of sin. According to Gregory, the Christian who hangs on to just a little sin is the one who should be cringing.

This may be true enough, but Gregory's allegorical interpretation, so widely used in the early church, is hardly an acceptable exegetical strategy for us today. If we cannot soften the text by through allegorical exegesis, what can we do?

We have two options. We can protect our theology by dodging all the "terrible deeds" texts, or we can struggle with this text and confront its uncomfortable message with theological courage and integrity. It is entirely possible that our ideas about God need a good shaking now and then. A text like this is an uncomfortable reminder we are dealing, not with our finest notions of happy and nice, but with a living, terrifying, and utterly holy God, whose ways are beyond knowing and whose deeds may exceed all our standards of propriety. As Gregory himself reminds us, the God of Christian faith, the very one who meets us in Jesus Christ, is nonetheless an inexhaustible mystery, far beyond any human concepts or categories, even categories of good and evil.

Give God "glorious praise! Say to God, 'How terrible are thy deeds!'" (vv. 1-2 RSV). The rhetorical shock contained in that simple string of words is enough to deconstruct many a sermon, not to mention most recent theology. More than that, it points us to yet another level on which we encounter God, not just in the blessings of life, when there is healing or new birth, but in the moments of destruction and terror, when cities are attacked and dreams destroyed.

Of course, we will never bring ourselves to say that God does these things, nor should we. What this text should prompt us to do, however, is to see that our God is met on that plane, where history turns and twists and where worlds change. The terror of our time is not God's doing; on that, we simply are not authorized to say what this psalm says. However, with courage and hope we can say the terror of our time and of every time is swept up into the awesome majesty of God, whose ways are beyond comprehension but whose mercies are everlasting.

Ronald Cole-Turner

Pastoral Perspective

God is worthy of praise. According to the psalmist, the whole earth stands back in awe, marveling at God's amazing work. Those who are against God cringe in fear at the power and might of their enemy. God is the one who moved the waters so the Israelites could walk, not just through the sea into safety, but into the land that was promised. God is the beneficent ruler, ever vigilant, keeping "watch on the nations" (v. 7). We are not to keep silent in the face of these wonders, but to sing them aloud with a joyful sound.

This is quite a contrasting image of God from the other Old Testament passage designated for this Sunday. In Isaiah 66:10-14, God was so close to humanity as to deliver the children of the city to their mother as an obstetrician or midwife, an immanent God, who comforts the crying infant. By contrast, in this psalm, God is the lofty ruler who performs wonders beyond anything capable of humans. God is so far above us that all humanity, even all of creation, must raise their voices to be heard in praise.

When thinking about these two passages in tandem musically, it is like contrasting a lullaby sung by a mother to her infant child to the combined choruses of all nations singing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," at full volume. This contrast may unearth some of the controversies in worship music styles between praise choruses and gospel standards that tend to emphasize the nearness and compassion of God, and traditional or contemporary hymnody, which tends to focus on the greatness and power of God. Perhaps these musical wars are not so much about the style or instrumentation of the music, but about who God is.

Perhaps the collection of songs we have in Scripture, particularly the Psalms, can show that both images of God are part of our musical heritage in the church. For every song like Psalm 66 that offers praise to the great and powerful God, there is a Psalm 23, with a God who takes care of us as a shepherd tends the flock. For every Psalm 74, which wonders why God is so far away, there is a Psalm 46, which begins, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Our songs in the book of Psalms are both corporate and personal. They are full of joy and lament. God honors all of these, so why do we think that God is pleased with only one type of music?

When Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a twentieth-century German theologian and martyr, was growing up, his family gathered each evening to sing hymns and spiritual songs around the piano. The family was very musical, so they would often add harmony and additional instruments to accompany their singing. Dietrich's twin sister, Sabine, remembers that the young Bonhoeffer developed a secret code for the family's hymn repertoire. Hymns that spoke of a personal relationship with God, often through Jesus Christ, were classified as "red" hymns. Those whose lyrics evoked a more distant relationship with God were classified as "black" hymns. The children were often encouraged to choose their favorites to sing, and young Dietrich much preferred the red ones. Whether red or black, our worship-music tradition presents varying images of who God is and our relationship to the one who is worthy of our praise.

Youth and young adults today are very eclectic in their musical tastes. If you want to find out what they believe, ask them for a sample playlist from their MP3 player or cell phone. The barriers between rock and country, classical and jazz, traditional anthems and praise choruses just do not seem to be there for this generation. It could be an interesting exercise to ask a group of youth or young adults to write down what "making a joyful noise" to God might sound like. What would the lyrics be? Who would accompany our "noise"? Then repeat this same exercise with an older group. Would there be any commonalities in the way we want to praise God, or would our "joyful noise" be more like the cacophony of each individual singing in his or her own style simultaneously, with moments of harmony and dissonance?

Regardless of our varying musical tastes, the emphasis in worship and in this psalm is rightly placed on God, not ourselves. So often we think about worship as something designed to nurture us. We may become discouraged on any given Sunday if we feel like we have not been fed. Worship is about pleasing God, not ourselves, so we have to be told, "Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds!'" (v. 3). We forget that God is the recipient of our worship, the audience of our command performance.

Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish existential theologian, used this same metaphor when speaking about a theater of worship, where the congregation are the actors, stagehands, musicians, and artists, all performing for an audience of One, or in this case Three-in-One. This turns upside down our usual categories of clergy and laity, of professional musicians and pew singers, as we all work together to please and glorify God, our sole patron. Imagine the joyful noise that we could create with this as our goal. We would testify together and separately to God's working in our lives, knowing that God continues to show up, even when our performance is not the best that it could be.

God has kept us among the living for this purpose. God has not let us "fall down" in the chancel area of worship to embarrass ourselves or to offend the divine ear. We are here so that we can praise and enjoy God forever. Is that not worth singing about?

Kathy L. Dawson

Exegetical Perspective

With an exuberant spirit, the psalmist calls all the earth to praise God, to burst into song in celebration of God's awesome deeds. Creator God is a God of extraordinary power, who makes even Israel's enemies cringe (v. 3). This God keeps watch on the nations, which serves as a warning to the rebellious ones not to act haughtily by exalting themselves (v. 7). The nine verses of the psalm are part of a community hymn (vv. 1-12), with the latter part of the psalm being an individual thanksgiving (vv. 13-20). The first part of the psalm is a festal liturgy that extols the majesty of God's glory made manifest in his everlasting reign (vv. 1-7). The second part of the psalm is hymn of blessing that praises God for God's miraculous saving deeds (vv. 8-12; see also v. 3).

Verses 1-9 can be subdivided into three units: verses 1-4, verses 5-7, and verses 8-9. Each of these units is a specific invitation. In verses 1-4, the psalmist invites the entire earth to make a joyful noise (v. 1), to sing the glory of God's name (v. 2), and to declare aloud the awesomeness of God's deeds (v. 3). Verse 4 responds to the invitation voiced in verses 1-3. Indeed, the whole earth does worship God and does sing praise to God and to God's holy name. To sing the glory of God's name is, for Israel, to proclaim God's creativity expressed through creation (see, e.g., Pss. 103 and 104).

Singing God's glory also means celebrating God's redemptive deeds that began with Abraham and Sarah and continued through postexilic times (see, e.g., Pss. 107, 136). Thus, for Israel, praise is both confessional and theological. Praise describes God's nature, attributes, and activity in the created world. Praise acknowledges God as the source and giver of all good gifts. The appropriate place for offering such praise was not only in the temple but also at cultic festivals and feast. The image of all the earth making a joyful noise to God and praising God's name is a typical one found throughout the psalms (see, e.g., Pss. 19:1-4; 98; 100; 148).

The psalmist extends a second invitation in verses 5-7. This time the invitation is to "come and see" God's tremendous deeds. These deeds are cause for praise (vv. 1-4). Verse 6 is an allusion not only to the exodus event (Exod. 14:21; 15:19), but also to the Israelites' crossing the Jordan River, recounted in Joshua 3. These two events implied in verse 6 form the backbone of Israel's self-understanding as God's chosen people in relation to salvation history. In verse 7 the psalmist makes clear that might characterizes God's dominion and justice.

For the Israelite community, the exercise of God's might has been prominent throughout history. At the time of the exodus, the might of God's arm caused terror and dread to fall upon the Egyptians (Exod. 15:16). Before the exile, the people were called to acknowledge God's might by recalling the divine deeds that have come to pass (Isa. 33:13).

During the time of the exile, the community looked to the God who is to come with might, with an arm that would rule (Isa. 40:10). In postexilic times, God came from Edom, splendidly robed, marching in great might and announcing vindication (Isa. 63:1). This God of might is the one who passed judgment on Assyria, who came from far away with burning indignation "to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction" (Isa. 30:27-28). All the nations were as nothing before Israel's God, who toppled them from their positions of power (see Jer. 46-51; cf. Isa. 13-23; 34). Such divine might also ruled against Israel, because of its apostasy, idolatry, and injustices (Isa. 22:1-14; Amos 2:4-16). In verse 7, however, Israel is called to praise God for God's mighty works against the nations that have exalted themselves and exerted their power unjustly, as in the case of Assyria and Babylon.

Lastly, verse 7 celebrates the sovereignty of Israel's God, "whose eyes keep watch on the nations" (cf. Jer. 16:17). The nations have been forewarned; their power has been put in check. The verse also functions as a reminder that the God being celebrated is not only the God of Israel but also the God of the nations.

In verses 8-9 the psalmist issues a third invitation. The people are called to bless God. The phrase "our God" conveys a tone of intimacy and communicates the sense of relationship. Because God has done awesome deeds on behalf of the Israelites (vv. 5-7), the people now claim God, once again, as their own. The appropriate response to such divine care and goodness is blessing. To bless someone is to make a positive statement about the relationship that exists between the two parties (see, e.g., Gen. 12:1-3; Deut. 7:14-16). Israel's blessing God is an affirmation of the mutual relationship that Israel enjoys with God, and God with Israel (cf. Exod. 6:7; 19:5). The call to bless God is also a call for Israel to pay homage to God for God's provision of blessings, namely, the awesome deeds that God has done on Israel's behalf. To bless and to praise God, then, are interrelated activities. Israel's God is worthy of such blessing and praise because God has sustained and supported the Israelites throughout their many perils. The image of God not letting the feet of the people slip recalls Psalms 17:5 and 18:36 (cf. Ps. 18:33; see also Hab. 3:19).

In sum, Psalm 66:1-7 is a threefold invitation to the Israelite community to praise and bless their God, who, although shrouded in mystery, has been made known and manifest through wondrous works. Finally, the psalm serves as an instruction: Israel's God is Lord of creation and Lord of history.

Carol J. Dempsey

Homiletical Perspective

We have a number of phrases in common American English for being caught in an impossible situation: "I'm boxed in"; "I'm trapped"; "I see no way out of it"; "I have tried every possible avenue, and they are all dead ends." If you have been in such a situation, only to have things open up in a way you never expected, then you probably clearly remember your feelings of relief and gratitude. If it was a person or a group of people who came to your rescue, your heart overflows with thanksgiving for what they did, every time you remember them. If it was a chain of unforeseen events that reconfigured your predicament so that you were no longer trapped, it may be that every time you replay what happened, you find yourself spontaneously thanking God. You do not figure out a doctrine of providence or posit some set of presuppositions that will account for your theological interpretation of what happened. Instead, sheer, boundless gratitude takes over your entire being: "Thank you, thank you, thank you, God."

The psalmist is filled with just such a memory. It is not a personal, individual memory, but the corporate, formative memory of the Hebrew slaves escaping through the parted waters of the Red Sea and entering the promised land through the parted waters of the Jordan River. For the psalmist, these scenes of rescue and arrival are not simply events in the past but liberating realities in the present moment, as if the assembly were once again at the Red Sea and the Jordan River: "Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot" (vv. 5-6). These memories are so vivid that they drive the psalmist to exuberant praise: "Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise" (vv. 1-2). Rhapsodic excitement comes upon the psalmist at the very thought of what God has done: "How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you" (v. 3). The psalmist then shifts from exhorting all the earth to sing, to the claim that they already are doing so: "All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name" (v. 4). Unlike verse 1, this verse is not a command but a description.

Robert Alter's translation of verse 4 makes clear just how extravagant the psalmist's description of the worshiping world is: "All the earth bows down to You, and they hymn to You, hymn Your name." All the earth bows down and sings hymns to God! That is certainly not what we see in ancient Israel's violent and precarious history. The earth does not bow down to God. The empires of the earth rise up against God and against God's people. The imperial rulers are not impressed with the exodus and the entry into the promised land. They do not "cringe" before God (v. 3), and they do not sing praises to God's name.

When we read or sing this psalm, we are not reading history. We are reading a countervision, a vision of the world that through the act of worship becomes real for the congregation and empowers them to bring the actuality of their brutal world closer to the yearnings of their hearts. Reading the psalm, we glimpse a soul lost in wonder, love, and praise; we taste the gratitude of a people who realize that God "has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip" (v. 9); we feel the extravagance of a heart so overflowing with song and thanksgiving that it sees the divine intention for creation as if it were already fulfilled.

We most faithfully enter the spirit of the psalm through the door of worship, through the door of our own desires to give ourselves unabashedly to the praise of God. I can imagine a sermon that would begin with an exposition of a profoundly beloved hymn of the congregation. Let it be some hymn that, like the psalm, holds up an extravagant vision of the whole creation praising God. Analyze the hymn text at the beginning of the sermon, and then bring in the headlines of the week's news: for example, the contrast of "Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee" (line 3 of "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee") and "Suicide Bomb Kills Twenty-seven."

Next consider the following question: How does singing this hymn help us to live in God's broken, bleeding world? There might be some skeptics who would claim that it does not help at all. If anything, singing the hymn adds to the problem, because it leads us to substitute a feeling of piety for shouldering our responsibility as citizens of creation who need to get to work. There are others, though, many others, who can attest that singing the hymn keeps hope alive, revitalizes their visionary capacities, reminds them of a world worth striving for, and thereby empowers them to live their faith day by day. Indeed, hymns and spiritual songs have often fueled and sustained social movements for justice and equality, just as they have also been a source of comfort in times of crisis and grief.

The sermon would then return to the psalm and use the insights gained from examining the hymn as a way of gaining a more deeply appreciative reading of the psalm. The sermon would affirm the centrality of congregational song to worship and to the empowerment of ministry in the world. It would help people to sense anew how, when they sing in church, they are carrying on a tradition that stretches all the way back to the people who first gave voice to the psalm. They are in spirit and in truth joining their voices with the whole company of heaven in the praise of God.

Thomas H. Troeger

David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, ed., Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season After Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16), (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Psalm 66:1-9".

[Rick Bennett]

I used 'Feasting on the Gospels' this past weekend, and was very happy with its treatment and explanation of the text. Highly recommended.

[Daniel Francis]

I have yet to use FOG but for many years have enjoyed immensely using FOW... I am just hoping this is complete version...

 

-Dan 

[Rick Bennett]

I have yet to use FOG but for many years have enjoyed immensely using FOW... I am just hoping this is complete version...

 

-Dan 

 

We developed the files as received from the publisher. There was no indication that they are incomplete.

[Abram K-J]

 

Can you confirm that this is complete edition of FOW and not simply the equivalent of the print edition. My edition of FOW  (the official publisher release ) that I own in in WordSearch for example has the four readings for each of the following:

 

Proper 9

(14th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Sunday between July 3 and July 9 inclusive

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Isaiah 66:10-14

Psalm 66:1-9

 

While the print edition has only:

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

 

-Dan

 

PS: Is there any discount at all for owners of the Westminster CDROM edition of FOW?

 

 

Based on the screenshot on the Year C product page, it looks like the latter--unless the additional passages are in an Appendix to the module or something.

[Rick Bennett]

WJK lists the WS CD-ROM on their site, but that shouldn't imply that it is any more official than what we released (they likely just have a reseller agreement with them, which we do not do since all of our products are downloadable only). The Additional Essays are separate titles. They were not provided to us for this release, but we can request them.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[Daniel Francis]

Please do even if I have to pay extra for them, FOW print covers only typological in years A and C and semicontinuous in year B. So no one is covered fully in the print release.

 

-Dan

[Daniel Francis]

FYI the sample I gave was from the non-included readings... So while I highly recommend this release you will not located that reading just now.

 

-Dan

Edited June 27, 2016 by Dan Francis

[Daniel Francis]

Here is a sample from the same sunday:

 

 

 

Psalm 30

 

1I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up,

and did not let my foes rejoice over me.

2O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,

and you have healed me.

3O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol,

restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

 

4Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

5For his anger is but for a moment;

his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may linger for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

 

6As for me, I said in my prosperity,

“I shall never be moved.”

7By your favor, O LORD,

you had established me as a strong mountain;

you hid your face;

I was dismayed.

 

8To you, O LORD, I cried,

and to the LORD I made supplication:

9“What profit is there in my death,

if I go down to the Pit?

Will the dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

10Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me!

O LORD, be my helper!”

 

11You have turned my mourning into dancing;

you have taken off my sackcloth

and clothed me with joy,

12so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

 

 

Theological Perspective

 

During the Pentecost season of fiery anointing and inspiration, Psalm 30 resonates with phenomenal encouragement, illuminating difficult realities, ambiguities, and uncertainties of our lives. Set as prayer (vv. 1–3), this praise psalm notes that God does not let our enemies overcome us. When we cry out for healing, God succors us; God offers relief and help for us during bad times and good, for the God of Sarah, Hagar, Rachel, and Leah promised never, ever to forsake them or us. God provided the psalmist deliverance from terrors of horrific disease. This same God brings us from destitution or depression, sickness or misery; heals and restores us; cures us and makes us whole again. While we have heard God’s love for us preached, what do we do with all the suffering in our midst?

Suffering that occurs amid natural disasters, illness, and human-directed violence does not indicate God’s absence. God is good news, regardless of what happens. Being human, we need reminders about God’s faithfulness, given destructive tsunamis, hurricanes, droughts, and floods. We need to know that the millions suffering debilitating diseases, from Alzheimer’s to HIV/AIDS to cancers, and the thousands of people who experience organ failure, waiting for transplant operations that may never come, are not being punished by a wrathful divinity for their sins or their parents’ sins. Even when we accept the fact that natural disaster and illness occur, it is difficult to think of the millions of unnecessary deaths and the destruction that occur annually because of human choice: homicides, suicides, deaths due to drunk driving, hate crimes, rapes and sexual abuse, domestic violence, civil and global wars.

Theologically, questions about why suffering occurs come under the heading of theodicy (Gk. theos [God] and dike [justice]). If God is all-good and all-powerful, why does evil continue to exist? Two Christian thinkers who treat this question are Augustine, who presents the free-will argument (God gives humanity free will; hence bad things happen because fallible human beings make wrong choices), and Irenaeus, who presents the soul–making argument (the spiritual and moral development of immature creatures occurs, amid divinely appointed good and evil, toward God’s perfection and good purpose). Such philosophy often seems to fall short when we are hurting. Given the amount of global illness and disease, anxiety from global economic devastation, and the need for divine bailouts, some question God’s grace and capacity to heal.

Healing does not necessarily mean cure from illness. Healing can occur when a person comes to accept her or his impending death or incurable malady, aware that God remains steadfast. Further, suffering is not an eternal reality. New life unfolds as experiential joy comes in the morning. Morning can indicate the next day, or next moment: instances of realized joy. That we suffer does not mean God forsakes or abandons us. We can experience joy following the “mourning in the morning,” signaling our God-given lives are gifts (vv. 4–5).1

One historic minister of the gospel whose compelling faith reckoned with the profound nature of this psalm was Peter Marshall (1902–49), pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., and chaplain of the U.S. Senate. Marshall loved God and God’s people mightily. He moved his congregation’s music ministry from a staid, proper vocal quartet to a flourishing choir. He gave newlyweds privacy in the church when the husband was about to be shipped off to war. When there was no room inside, people would stand outside in the rain to hear Marshall preach. He understood the need to have an intimate relationship with God, one of daily worship and praise. Marshall lived the spirit of Psalm 30, believing we must praise the God of this psalm with deep gratitude, in covenant faith.

While the dead sleep and cannot praise, our living purpose is to praise God: the only focus of our confessional adoration. Confession indicates commitment, an unapologetic willingness for ultimate intimacy with God. For Marshall, this God (in twenty-first–century vernacular) is not a wimp, a wuss, or a flake. This God gets angry that people suffer, are overwhelmed, and experience disorientation.

After this joyous orientation is established and becomes an old frame of existence, where joy and shouting God’s praises is normative, disorientation occurs again when God seems absent. God hides God’s face: the presence, the intimacy is blocked, hidden, secretive.2 When we feel God is missing in action, we lament and pray, often bewildered. We want to know where God is. Steeped in a faith, we plead for divine help and grace to help us. We experience the cycle of life, related to God, from well-being to death to new life.

The prayer of the psalmist concludes with celebration and a reiteration that God does turn our sadness into dancing, our pain to joy, as we no longer wear the garments of penitence. The joy is so unspeakable that we cannot be quiet. We must give thanks to God forever. When we stop to express daily our adoration, gratitude, and appreciation to God, neither nagging vicissitudes nor catastrophic events can keep us from the joy of the Lord.

CHERYL A. KIRK-DUGGAN

 

Footnotes

1. Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, Augsburg Old Testament Studies; A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 126–27; J. Clinton McCann Jr., “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 797.

 

2. In her recently published letters, Mother Teresa notes that she was not aware of God in the last fifty years of her life. See Mother Teresa to the Rev. Michael Van Der Peet, September 1979 in Time, Aug. 23, 2007, David Van Biema. See Mother Teresa and Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (New York: Doubleday, 2007).

 

 

Pastoral Perspective

 

Has there ever lived a soul so hardened, a heart so cold, or a mind so thoughtless as never to have felt the urge to say, “Thanks”? Such a one may not have addressed the God most of us know, may only have addressed some “unknown god,” another person, or simply “luck.” Nevertheless, is there a human being so utterly void of the primordial instinct toward gratitude that he or she has never felt the urge to say, “Thanks”?

Years ago, while I was serving a small new church struggling to establish itself in the community, the congregation did their generous best, and still the salary was meager. Our small family was by no means poor, but money was tight. With a new baby on the way and our first house to furnish, finances were a struggle. Consequently, it came as a welcome surprise to us when one day there arrived in the mail a dirty, rumpled five-dollar bill. It arrived in a plain envelope, hand addressed, with no return address and no note, but there it was: an old five-dollar bill.

A month later the same thing happened. Again, there was no return address, no note—just a single dirty five-dollar bill. The pattern continued for more than a year, and with each monthly mystery gift my wife and I searched our brains for some clue to the identity of our benefactor. At Christmas, we meticulously compared the handwriting on the anonymous envelopes to the handwriting on our Christmas cards, without any success. Until this day, I do not know who sent those five-dollar bills. While we were deeply grateful, it became exasperating not to know whom to thank.

The writer of Psalm 30 has no such problem. The psalmist knows his benefactor and names God with confidence (“I extol you, LORD”). Moreover, he identifies the reason for his gratitude: he has been healed from what appears to have been a deathly illness. Thus with uninhibited exuberance and thanksgiving he credits God for turning his mourning into dancing.

Many may recognize the same feeling upon hearing the words “cancer free,” “the child is going to be all right,” or “the fever is gone.” Some people, however, do not connect the dots to God and prefer more secular sayings, such as “we beat the odds” or “thank our lucky stars.” The psalmist, on the other hand, is confident that his deliverance is due to God’s loving grace and connects his praise directly to his prayers for deliverance. The writer knows from experience the feeling of having been abandoned by God. He knows the agony of what he calls God’s “anger.” Nonetheless, his faith prompts him to cry out, “O Lord, help me.”

It is risky theology to connect healing directly to answered prayer. There is too much evidence of times when conscientious prayer “did not work.” There are too many hucksters offering healing for a mail-in contribution. Nevertheless, the psalm does offer a style of prayer and praise that reflects life’s reality.

In his commentary on this psalm, James Mays writes, “The Psalm shows how prayer and praise can together become a rubric for holding the experiences of life in relation to God.”1 The psalmist admits to times when he felt God was hidden (“you hid your face,” v. 7), suggesting previous experiences when his prayers may have gone unanswered. Nevertheless, even in his darkest moments of doubt and despair, he keeps a residual sense of God’s prevailing providence that prompts him to plead, “Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!” (v. 10). With healing comes the writer’s renewed trust in God’s providence, through good times and bad, the result being that “Now he sees his life as a vocation of thanksgiving to the Lord.”2

Novelist Ray Bradbury paints a contemporary literary portrait of this psalm in his short story “Getting Through Sunday Somehow.” The scene takes place in an Irish pub on a bleak Sunday afternoon. A disheveled old man, with too many emptied glasses in front of him, stares into the mirror over the bar and mourns for anyone who might hear, “What have I done for a single mortal soul this day? Nothing. … The older I get the less I do for people. … It’s an awesome responsibility when the world runs to hand you things. For instance; sunsets. … That’s a gift, ain’t it?”

A fellow inebriate a few stools away agrees obligingly, “It is.” Encouraged, the old man now more loudly says, “Well who do you thank for sunsets?” The newfound friend answers reluctantly, “Not me,” which only encourages the old man to further oration.

“Then ain’t you horribly guilty yourself? Don’t the burden make you hunchback, all the lovely things you got from life and no penny down?” The other says, “I never thought,” to which the old man is quick to respond, “Think man! … Act, man, before you’re the walking dead.”3

Theologian Karl Barth is reported to have declared that there is only one sin, suggesting that the single sin from which every lesser sin emanates is the sin of ingratitude—the failure to comprehend the theological truth that human life in all its beauty, abundance, and possibility is a gift. No one has recognized the undergirding truth beneath Barth’s statement better than the psalmist: “O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.”

P. C. ENNISS

 

Footnotes

1. James L. Mays, Psalms, Interpretation series (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), 142.

 

2. Ibid.

 

3. Ray Bradbury, “Getting Through Sunday Somehow,” in I Sing The Body Electric! (New York: Harper & Row, 1946), 298–99.

 

 

Exegetical Perspective

 

Psalm 30’s variegated poetics develop through subtle word links between four strophes extolling and thanking YHWH for life–saving rescue. The psalmist, after suffering deathlike separation from God and unashamedly contending with heaven, celebrates a marvelous recovery and then summons others to praise also, confident that YHWH will hear and help again.

While unreliable for dating, the superscription (“A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David,” not printed above) suggests a 187 BCE reapplication. The mention of “a mizmor—a song of the hanukkah of the house belonging to David” has ambiguities that determine how we read the psalm. What exactly belongs to David? By the Maccabean restoration, neither temple nor any psalms could rightly be “David’s,” except in retrospective metaphors of faith. Consequently, the psalmic voice closely identifies with this latter–day turbulent history and reconsecrated temple, mixing verses drawn from Israel’s store of personal and national thanksgiving songs, such as Hezekiah’s political, philosophical, and private amalgam of lament and thanksgiving, Isaiah 38:9–20, as well as Psalm 90’s quotable expressions of faith.

 

Strophe 1 (vv. 1–4). Verses 1–3 invoke YHWH three times, the first instance preceded by the organizing purpose of the psalm (“I will uplift you[r name]”), which corresponds with the last words of the final strophe (“I will praise you”). Midway through the psalm an inverse scenario counters, “Will dust praise you?” (v. 9). Another negated inversion, verse 1, keys on a second motif, “joy”; God does/did not allow enemies to “joy (rejoice) over me,” which shares root smkh in verse 11: “clothed with joy.” While thematic-ally akin, “joy [of] the morning,” verse 5, is rooted in rnh—an exclamatory shout of glee. Memorable poetics build on such synonyms and their placement.

Strophe 1 propounds weighty existential reasons for gladness: “you have drawn me up [like water from a well],” “you healed me” after “I cried–for–saving.” Analogous to being “drawn up” comes “you brought up . . . my soul” from Sheol and “restored-me–to–life,” either “from among those who are gone down” or (the Hebrew is ambiguous) “from my going down” to the Pit, again neatly paralleling being healed in the prior verse as well as echoing the first half of verse 3. But, can individual resurrection be so factually literal for the psalmist, or is it metaphorically national for Israel? Indeed, it sings the very fate of the former temple once destroyed and brought to dust, yet now rebuilt. This mizmor-song “belongs to” the rededicated house.

Verse 4 stands apart. A priestly voice summons worshipers to sing to YHWH in an even trimeter couplet that breaks with the dominant 4 + 2 and 4 + 3 metrical rhythms of accented words in the paired Hebrew phrases of strophe 1. This liturgical interlude prepares for strophe 2’s initial change of address about God and underscores the primary intent of the psalm—worshipfully to give thanks—binding the first and last strophes. As duplicated exactly in Psalm 97:11, the “holy name” (zeker), verse 4, means much more than the rubric YHWH. Psalm 6:5, reminiscent of Psalm 30:9’s lament, signifies zeker as “your remembrance” and suggests a memorial, pillar, or monument, appropriate to a summons to sing sacred commemorations within a sanctuary.

 

Strophe 2 (vv. 5–7). Verse 5’s leading “For,” like verse 12’s “So,” persuades the congregation to offer thanks. The uneven 3 + 2 and 5 + 4 accent patterns return with verses 5–7. Statements with quick ripostes declare profound theological issues and summary converse consequences. Echoing Isaiah 54:7, God’s anger is but “for a–brief–moment” in a tightly turned antithetical phrase of assurance about a lifetime of favor. Its parallel imagery of “lodging for the evening” personifies weeping as a pilgrim petitioner spending the night in temple courtyards. The terse contrast lacks a verb, usually supplied (NRSV) as “comes.” Literally, “a shout–of–joy belongs to the morning.” Joy connotes crying aloud in praise or proclamation at daybreak, counterpointing any nocturnal anguish. Typical of laments, the psalm clouds over until “joy” returns in the final strophe.

Verses 6–7 recollect the cause for weeping that sets up strophe 3’s bitter argument with YHWH, momentarily diminishing the salvific successes of strophe 2. First–person–singular pronouns and possessives redound, verse 6, to emphasize “my prosperity”—not necessarily a careless indolence but the very “security” Psalm 122:7 prays for Jerusalem. To be “unmoved” suggests a mountain not tottering (Isa. 54:10; Pss. 46:2; 125:1) or a kingdom (Ps. 46:7). So verse 7 depicts the favored situation (of a lifetime, v. 5) that literally “caused my mountain to stand as a strength.” Again, Jerusalem’s temple mount must be metaphorically considered, especially in light of God’s once “hiding-face”—contrasting the Levitical benediction, Numbers 6:24–26, and mirroring Ezekiel 39:26’s exact term for exile—requiring, then, a restoration of the temple on “a very high mountain” (Ezek. 40:2). “I was dismayed” understates the crisis; “terrified” better fits the context, as with Job 23:16 and Exodus 15:15.

 

Strophe 3 (vv. 8–10). These verses implore YHWH for help. “What profit is my death [literally, “in my blood”] or my going down to the Pit [shakhat],” countering strophe 1’s “brought up from Sheol” after going down into a pit (bor). “Will dust praise you?”—as much the ruined nation, the dust of its toppled temple and abandoned blood sacrifices, as any individual’s slaughter and grave.

 

Strophe 4 (vv. 11–12). These verses return to the joy and thanksgiving of verse 5, with a similar pattern of delight displacing distress. Mourning becomes dancing, sackcloth metaphorically transmutes into joy, neatly summarizing Jeremiah’s vision of Zion restored (Jer. 31) and confirming verse 1: YHWH did not allow Israel’s enemies to “joy” over its demise. “Praise” is not sung by “my soul” exactly but by a “glory” (see v. 12 NRSV note) that “will not be silent.” Despite the parallel with the first person in the second clause of verse 12, “I will thank you,” this “glory” speaks more to YHWH’s holy presence seen by Ezekiel returning to the temple and filling it, along with God’s people summoned there to intone thanks.

The on–again, off–again hope in these poetics may still preach patience for a congregation, under deadening personal and societal circumstances, to pray boldly for revitalization.

RICHARD D. BLAKE

 

 

Homiletical Perspective

 

Thanksgiving. This is self-evidently a song of thanksgiving in which, as Walter Brueggemann has observed, “the speaker is now on the other side of a lament or complaint.” And so the psalm concerns “a rescue, intervention, or inversion of a quite concrete situation of distress which is still fresh in the mind of the speaker.”1 The psalmist does not bother to give us the details of his plight but begins by praising YHWH for an act of deliverance variously described in the past tense as “you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me” (v. 1), “you have healed me” (v. 2b), “you brought up my soul from Sheol” and “restored me to life” (v. 3). Not content to praise God by himself, the psalmist enlists other “faithful ones” in singing thanks to the “holy name” of God his deliverer (v. 4).

Thanksgiving, as G. K. Chesterton has memorably suggested in his little book on Francis of Assisi, is a matter of celebrating one’s dependence upon God. “Dependence” literally means “a hanging from.” For Chesterton, Francis following his conversion came to see the world, as it were, upside down. It is as if, in one of his strange dreams, Francis saw the city of Assisi, with its massive foundations and walls and high towers, inverted so that they seemed to be hanging precariously from the sky. Chesterton imagines of Francis:

 

He might see and love every tile on the steep roofs or every bird on the battlements; but he would see them all in a new and divine light of eternal danger and dependence. Instead of being merely proud of his strong city because it could not be moved, he would be thankful to God for not dropping the whole cosmos like a vast crystal to be shattered into falling stars.2

 

An attitude of gratitude, thanksgiving for the invisible but durable thread of God’s dependable grace, comes to mark the faithful community’s response to God.

Verse 5 begins with honest acknowledgment that God’s wrath can also be experienced by the faithful, but insists that, put in perspective, it seems but a moment of anger compared to a lifetime of divine favor. In one of the most memorable lines in all of the Psalms, its couplet echoes in purest poetry, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (v. 5b). In retrospect, whatever negativity our psalmist suffered now seems fleeting. Then, catching himself, he immediately goes on to accuse himself of an overweening self-satisfaction, a full–of–himselfness, that reminds one of the boast of the rich farmer of Jesus’ parable (Luke 12:16–21). The soaring sense of individual self-sufficiency and independence “in my prosperity” that the psalmist confesses leads him to the presumptuous thought: “I shall never be moved” (v. 6). God, he claims, led him to this point of delusionary self-assurance, but he accuses God of leaving the scene of the crime—resulting in something more, I suspect, than the mere “dismay” the NRSV weakly translates as his reaction to God’s disappearance (v. 7).

Next comes a classic example of the faithful follower walking the very thin line of taunting God with the sarcastic jibe that in effect is a baiting of God: “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?” (v. 9). Not long ago a learned retired professor friend asked me one of those showstoppingly simple–sounding questions that is still bothering me: “Why does God need our praise, anyway?” In his query I heard him implying that it seemed somewhat primitive and anthropomorphic of the God of the Bible to be so preoccupied with being praised and thanked, like someone lacking in self-esteem.

My provisional answer was that Israel’s prophets (particularly Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah) were always careful to point to the need for “right worship” that emphasized doing justice rather than cultic sacrifice. This is the kind of praise sought by YHWH—a praise that reflected Israel’s covenant loyalty not in slavish obeisance but in righteous behavior. The question nags, however, and I suspect a more satisfying answer to the question of why God needs the dust’s praise goes back to YHWH’s desire for relationship, suggested in the creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2 and the creation of humankind in the divine image.

The bottom line is sheer doxology. As Brueggemann rightly points out, the purpose of the psalm is to keep alive the memory of the prerescue situation, so that the occasion of God’s transforming deliverance remains a power for living and a passion for praise. The language is again beautifully active, evocative emotionally, and therefore truly memorable: “You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy” (v. 11). God turns out to be not only the object of the faithful one’s praise, but also the subject who makes such thanksgiving possible.

Consider singing in response to this psalm the lively contemporary hymn set to an English folk tune, “Come, Join the Dance of Trinity.” Picking up on the Greek word perichōrēsis, meaning literally “to dance around,” a term used by early theologians to convey the idea of the Trinity’s mutual interrelationship, the hymn invitingly bids us to join our bodies in praise of the triune God who has “made room within their dance” for the likes of us. The hymn concludes:

 

Let voices rise and interweave, by love and hope set free,

To shape in song this joy, this life: the dance of Trinity.3

 

JOHN ROLLEFSON

 

Footnotes

1. Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984), 125–26.

 

2. G. K. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1928), 74–75.

 

3. Richard Leach, “Come, Join the Dance of Trinity,” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), #412.

 

 

Feasting on the Word, Year C, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, vol. 3 of Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), paragraph 14299.

[Daniel Francis]

Please do even if I have to pay extra for them, FOW print covers only typological in years A and C and semicontinuous in year B. So no one is covered fully in the print release.

 

-Dan

 

The print volumes of Feasting on the Word follow the typological track for Year A, are split between the typological and semi-continuous track for Year B, and cover the semicontinuous stream for Year C. Essays on the lections that are not covered in the Feasting on the Word print volumes are available for purchase as a pdf.

 

-Dan

Edited June 27, 2016 by Dan Francis

[Michael Hunt]

Really pleased to see this available in Accordance :-)

 

Sad that I just spent my whole commentary budget on purchasing Understanding the Bible & the Bible Speaks Today whilst they were on sale :-(

 

Looks like this is going to the wishlist for the time being

 

Excerpt from the blog post about Feasting on the Word

 

 

 

Also included in this release for Accordance is The Daily Feast, a daily devotional with excerpts from the regular FotW series as well as new material. As a daily devotional, it allows clergy to reflect on the four readings throughout the week leading up to the coming Sunday. We have also “spun-off” a separate Accordance module of our own that lists the daily readings of the RCL—hyperlinked, of course—for each Sunday allowing quick access to the passages themselves. Both The Daily Feast and Feasting on the Word Readings can be used in Accordance’s Daily Reading mode or independently.

 

Questions

 

1. Could we get some more info on this "spun-off" module? If possible maybe a screenshot? How does this compare to the RCL module in the exchange?

2. What module does this "spun-off" module come with? Would one get it if they only purchased the Daily Feast?

3. As an RCL user (both of the proposed daily and Sunday readings) I am a bit confused by the following:-

 

We have also “spun-off” a separate Accordance module of our own that lists the daily readings of the RCL—hyperlinked, of course—for each Sunday allowing quick access to the passages themselves. Both The Daily Feast and Feasting on the Word Readings can be used in Accordance’s Daily Reading mode or independently.

 

Is this more like the Ancient Christian Devotional (i.e. one weeks worth of readings/links to the Sundays texts) or the full daily readings as like what is found here:

 

http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/daily.php?year=C

[Daniel Francis]

Here is todays reading:

 

 

 

 

     MONDAY      

P9

 

2 Kings 5:1–14

 

REFLECTION

On another front, a slave girl—the ancient world’s consummate nonperson—delivers the good news to Naaman that there is relief for his suffering (vv. 2–3). This is yet another biblical instance of those to whom society attributes little intrinsic value serving as effective heralds of the power and presence of God.

TREVOR EPPEHIMER

 

In this story, healing happens because of three main factors. First, the slave girl is strong enough to embrace and make use of the traditions of her nation while enslaved in a foreign land in which she is a cultural and religious outsider. Second, Naaman demonstrates similar courage in his willingness to seek help from a theology and a culture that are both strange to him, a willingness that is concretely expressed by his voluntary immersion in the waters of the Jordan (v. 14), the site of important events in the history of God’s dealings with Israel (e.g., Josh. 3:1–17).

TREVOR EPPEHIMER

 

RESPONSE

What positive and negative attributes do you see in Naaman? What would you consider to be his strongest characteristic?

 

PRAYER

God, you use both our positive and negative characteristics to bring about your glory. Amen.

 

 

 

Daily Feast, Year C, ed. Kathleen Long Bostrom, Elizabeth F. Caldwell, and Jana K. Riess, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), 362-363.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Dan Francis

[Michael Hunt]

Thanks Dan. That looks like the upcoming semi-continuous reading for this coming Sunday (Proper 9).

 

I like the content given in the Reflection section though the quote seems to cut off before the third main factor of healing is given (just another reason to get the full resource).

 

Reading further down the original blog post I did note the following under the individual FotW Commentary: 

 

Note: Each "Year" module contains a separate bonus module (Feasting-Readings) created by Accordance to use as a companion for this commentary. It provides a comprehensive listing of all readings from the entire 12-volume set plus hyperlinks to quickly jump to that section and reading from the commentary (if owned). This exclusive Feasting-Readings module requires Accordance 11.2 or above in order to take advantage of the new Liturgical Daily Reading support.

 

From my reading Feasting-Readings seems the closest thing to an official RCL module (but does it include the proposed RCL daily readings?????).

 

Any chance of a screenshot/posting of the Feasting-Readings module in action? I think it would be nice to be able to purchase this separately but not sure if this would be even doable given possible licensing arrangements.

[Daniel Francis]

It does not have the daily readings as found at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/daily.php?year=C nor does it contain the full RCL but the RCL as given in FOW which in Ordinary time readings is only have there for the OT/PS. Hence this coming sundays gives us:

 

 

 

Proper 9  (Sunday Between July 3 and July 9 Inclusive) CP9 

2 Kings 5:1–14

Psalm 30

Galatians 6:(1–6) 7–16

Luke 10:1–11, 16–20

 

Feasting on the Word, Year C, ed. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 

 

Where as 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Psalm 30  •  Isaiah 66:10-14 and Psalm 66:1-9  •  Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16  •  Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 is the full range of readings for that day providing both streams, as you can confirm at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=269...

 

The Daily Feast is available for separate purchase --  The Daily Feast,   It basically takes snips of the forthcoming readings and then on sunday offers more snips from all four readings... as stated above one stream only of the  first readings for the time after pentecost aka Ordinary Time...

 

-Dan

Edited June 28, 2016 by Dan Francis

[ukfraser]

The print volumes of Feasting on the Word follow the [/size]typological track for Year A, are split between the [/size]typological and semi-continuous track for Year B, and cover the semicontinuous stream for Year C. Essays on the lections that are not covered in the Feasting on the Word print volumes are available for purchase as a pdf.[/size]

 

-Dan

Hi Dan, its interesting the print only has it for year B and the lectionary has themed and continuous readings for all three years

 

Forgot i cant add screen shots to official forum topics and these should be in columns;o(

 

Proper8Sunday between 26 June and 2 July inclusiveYear AYear BYear CPrincipalContinuousContinuousContinuousServiceGenesis 22.1-142 Samuel 1.1,17-272 Kings 2.1-2,6-14Psalm 13Psalm 130Psalm 77.1-2,11-20*Romans 6.12-232 Corinthians 8.7-15Galatians 5.1,13-25 Matthew 10.40-42Mark 5.21-43Luke 9.51-62(or)

 

RelatedRelatedRelatedJeremiah 28.5-9Wisdom of Solomon1 Kings 19.5-16,19-21Psalm 89.1-4,15-18*1.13-15;2.23,24Psalm 16Romans 6.12-23Canticle:LamentationsGalatians 5.1,13-25Matthew 10.40-423.23-33 orPsalm 30Luke 9.51-622 Corinthians 8.7-15Mark 5.21-43Lamentations 3.23-33 may be read as the first reading in place ofWisdom 1.13-15;2.23,24

Edited June 28, 2016 by ukfraser

[Daniel Francis]

Yes well I am guessing they did not wish to make the volumes too bulky and could not decide which way to go do they decided to do half and half making the print incomplete for both streams... but like I said they are done, they just need to be added in. I hope Accordance is allowed to add them too. I know they are there in the WS edition... Which is the publishers edition (in that they specifically commissioned WS to do it and it is distributed on CDROM under it's own unique WJKP 

ISBN:  9780664239497

 

)...  

 

-Dan

[Helen Brown]

We have the OK from the publishers, and are planning to add them to the print material but it requires some work. Thank you for your feedback and your patience.

[Daniel Francis]

Great news thanks.

 

Dan

[TheMinibishop]

This will be going in my wish list for now, but I'm excited to see this module!

[Daniel Francis]

I absolutely love FOW it is one of my favourite resources and while I only have just received FOG it is truly a treasure... I am delighted to own this collection in Accordance... and cannot wait till it is available for my iPad.

 

-Dan

[Alistair]

So if this product is organised by calendar date/church year, is it straightforward to have it in parallel with a biblical text as we usually do with commentaries?

[Rick Bennett]

So if this product is organised by calendar date/church year, is it straightforward to have it in parallel with a biblical text as we usually do with commentaries?

 

That's a good question. We designed this as a Reference Tool in Accordance so that it will sync to the scripture reference(s) under discussion by default, when opened in parallel with a biblical text. We felt that this was a better move than simply designing it as a General Tool that would sync by date since it would have a wider appeal than for those who specifically follow the RCL. That is also why we created a Readings module from it. This gives you the ability, via Daily Reading, to sync to a particular week's passages, then click the heading to be taken to the relevant portion of the commentary.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Rick Bennett