Joining the Feast. September 4 November 20, 2011

It is a Sunday to consider and celebrate ways in which God s reign is taking shape in the world. These are appropriate for the ways in which we live as the body of Christ. It is an expression of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us to do. It is also a time to reflect on how we can live out the Gospel in our lives.

1 September 4 November 20, 2011 Joining the Feast We join the Feasting on the Word curriculum as pastors, educators, and participants. We study God s word in Scripture in church schools, study groups, and in preparation for teaching and preaching. We have an amazing feast set before us as we seek further understanding in our faith of who God is and what God has done! We hope pastors, educators, and worship leaders will use this Joining the Feast resource to discuss how to incorporate the scriptural and seasonal emphases across various aspects of the church s life. Perhaps this resource can be shared with education and worship committees. It can be discussed with church school teachers. It can be helpful as pastors plan preaching. However it is used, our joyful invitation is to Join the Feast! An important goal for pastors and educators in the church is to connect or join the church s educational experience with the church s worship experience. People of all ages who participate in church school study can find their Christian faith enhanced when the Scriptures read and proclaimed in worship reinforce and expand what they have been considering in their educational time. Education and worship can be mutually supportive in helping God s word in Scripture come alive in the Sunday morning experience. Consideration of the same lectionary reading in preaching can deepen the insights gained in church school. Pastors who want to build on what has been done in education welcome this Feasting on the Word curriculum as a way to prepare congregational members for directions into which the sermon can lead. Those who participate in the education time will find the insights gained there enhanced by preaching which considers the same passage and brings God s word to bear in fresh and nourishing ways. So as we join the Feast, joining the church s educational and worship dimensions can bring to life the richness of God s word in Scripture. Joining the Feast 1

2 Feasting on the Word Curriculum and Feasting on the Word Commentary The Feasting on the Word commentary series is designed specifically for pastors. It is a unique resource which provides four different approaches to each of the biblical passages for each of the lectionary readings in the Revised Common Lectionary. These four streams are ones pastors normally consider in preparation for sermons. They are the Exegetical, Theological, Pastoral, and Homiletical. The Feasting on the Word Curriculum is designed for classroom use in the church among different age groups. Its uniqueness is in adapting the Feasting on the Word commentary approaches to study of one of the lectionary passages in ways suitable for all participants. The Curriculum and the Commentary streams are related this way. What? (Exegetical). Basic information about backgrounds and meanings of biblical passages are essential to understanding. This stream asks What? are the important things to know about the contexts, language, and settings of the biblical passage. Where? (Theological). To understand the meanings of passages, we also need to ask Where? where is God in this passage? Where are God s will and activities being expressed? Theological questions about where God s word comes to us in the passage are significant. So What? (Pastoral). The implications of the passage for our Christian lives makes the biblical passage come alive. We ask, So what? What does this passage mean to me? What does it mean for my relationship with God and other people? Now What? (Homiletical). Biblical passage shape our understandings and lives in the church. They connect us with needs in God s world. So we ask, Now What? This prompts us to reflect on how our life and the church s life can live out what the passage is saying. Donald K. McKim 2

3 The Church Year Calendar In this final quarter of the year, during year A of the lectionary cycle, we are living in Ordinary Time. In some traditions this is called the Season after Pentecost. During this period of the church year, we do not celebrate major feasts or festive dates or occasions. The period now, from September to the end of November, marks the usual beginning of the church s program year, after the summer period. We move through the fall seasonal calendar, the time when busy activities begin in the church and in the lives of many parishioners, especially those with children in school. So this is a period rich in opportunities for study and learning. The quarter ends with Reign of Christ Sunday, the last Sunday in the church year. This Sunday celebrates the ultimate reign of Jesus Christ over all things. As such, it has many dimensions. It is a Sunday to consider and celebrate ways in which God s reign in Christ is taking shape in the world and in our lives today, as well as to anticipate the final victory of Christ over sin and the powers of evil. The church s challenge, and our individual challenge, is to live in the present aware of Christ s presence and power even as we anticipate the full establishment of Christ s reign. As the Sundays of ordinary time after Pentecost continue through these months, we seek God s word in the ordinary events of life. Yet these seemingly normal events are all expressions of God s We seek God s word continuing presence and in the ordinary guidance for us in the events of life. church. We recognize the extraordinary in the ordinary! So though these weeks are not marked by special celebrations in the church year, they are the context in which we live out our experience of God s love and grace day by day. They are times to focus on corporate and individual responses to God s call as we explore what it means to live as the body of Christ. These are important times to carry out responsibilities of teaching and for concentrating on core elements of our faith to broaden and deepen our Christian understandings. The Shape of the Season The lectionary passages for study during this quarter focus most directly on the Gospel of Matthew. These are appropriate for the church s life since they center on ways we live as disciples of Jesus Christ and who this Jesus is. These two dimensions go together. Theologically, as Christians our discipleship as followers of Jesus Christ is based on who Jesus is, as the one to whom we give our love and entrust our lives. Jesus parables in Matthew point to his authority as the one who comes from God. He drawsus into living as God s people and serving God s purposes in this world. The passages from Matthew are brimming with clear and direct expressions of how followers of Jesus are to express their discipleship in this world. We see in Matthew s stories that Jesus encounters opposition from those who do not recognize his authority and who seek their own purposes. As followers of Jesus, we find these same opposing forces today. Our proclamation of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord can meet with the same rejection Jesus himself experienced. As we live in ordinary time, we can expect the church s message of Christ to face resistance and antagonism. Jesus parable of the wicked tenants (Matt. 21:33 46) and his denunciation of those who seek to exalt themselves (Matt. 23:1 12) are expressions of the impulses Jesus faced from those who questioned his authority (Matt. 21:23 32). Jesus came to show us how God wants us to live. The passages from Matthew are brimming with clear and direct expressions of how followers of Jesus are to express their discipleship in this world. These prescriptions for Christian living begin by directing us on how to deal with those who sin in the midst of the Christian community (Matt. 18:15 20). Problems are to be faced head-on; and personally. We then encounter the amazing commandment on forgiveness. We must forgive seventy-seven times 3

4 and The illustration of this in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:21 35). This command of Christ stretches beyond where we often want to go. If forgiveness itself is tough, forgiving others time and time again without measure! is extremely difficult! We find in the parable of the talents our command from God to use what we have been given in service to our Master, no matter much, or how little (Matt. 25:14 30). This is our constant impetus in the Christian life. We are to be engaged in obedience to God s will and be involved in God s purposes for us. We give all we are. The Scripture readings include the greatest commandment of all: that we love God with all that is in us and love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:34 46). This summary of the law by Jesus stands before us as the center of theology and ethics: love of God and love of neighbor. What we hear Jesus and vigorous faith (Matt. 25:1 13). This parable, to be studied on All Saints Day, reminds us too that we as individual believers are also part of the whole household of God, the communion of saints who live now in anticipation of God s future in the coming kingdom. The single passage in the quarter which does not follow the Gospel of Matthew is from the beginning of Paul s first letter to the Thessalonians where he commends the faith and example of the Thessalonian church members (1 Thess. 1:1 10). Despite their persecutions, they live in joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Living by faith and as an example of Christian living to others is an appropriate expression of what the stories from the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew point us toward as well. The final Sunday of this quarter, the Reign of Christ, focuses on the judgment of the nations. In the only parable in which Jesus say in the Gospels and see him refers to himself as a king, the The Reign of Christ will do in carrying out his ministries nations and all individuals are is an expression of these main ultimately come, bringing in judged. The criteria are what we tenets. So preaching during this the reign of God to which have done to the least of these quarter should keep this vital Jesus life and parables point. who are members of my family commandment in mind. We (Matt. 25:40). For as we have done understand all we do in the church and in our Christian lives as ways of living out these two essential prescriptions: Love God and love others. Three parables during these weeks mark ways our lives as Christians should be lived. These are kingdom parables, told by Jesus to express the new way of living which life in God s reign brings. The Laborers in the Vineyard (Matt. 20:1 16) directs us to look to God s generosity and realize God s graciousness extends beyond our strict notions of who deserves what! The Parable of the Wedding Banquet reminds us that we come to the wedding feast by God s gracious call. Yet not everyone responds to God s invitation. Our participation in the feast is by God s grace (Matt. 22:1 14). In the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, we find the need for preparedness and vigilance in our Christian lives. We are always to be ready, in the kingdom of heaven, for the coming of the bridegroom Jesus Christ. We are to live in hope unto them, we have done unto Jesus himself. In this judgment, relating to eternal destinies, both the unrighteous and the righteous are surprised by the king s verdict. There are those who thought they were in and were surprised to find they were not. There are those who are surprised to find they are in since they evidently lived their faith without seeking or contemplating that their actions were anything other than what their devotion to Jesus Christ would lead them to do. This parable stands as a warning and a comfort. It turns us away from seeing our faith as only a matter of thinking or speaking without acting. It turns us toward expressions of love for others, lived out in action. These are actions Jesus himself set down in giving us the greatest commandment of all: Love God and love others (Matt. 22:37 39). The Reign of Christ will ultimately come, bringing in the reign of God to which Jesus life and parables point. 4

5 Special Days Two additional lessons provide resources for studying Special Days during this period. These offer an opportunity to focus on Reformation Sunday and All Saints Day. Both are special expressions of the nature of the church. The Protestant Reformation is our heritage and turns us again to the key themes that mark our understanding of the church s belief: grace, faith, Christ, Scripture. These continue to be vital ways of living in faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Attention to these perspectives can give our church members significant theological strengths by which to live. All Saints Day celebrates the comprehensiveness of the church. We are all believers in one bloodstream the stream of faith that reaches back to the very beginnings of the biblical story and extends through history to the present day and beyond. On this day we are aware of the great cloud of witnesses who have preserved and passed on our faith; and who have lived out the Christian faith in meaningful ways, sometimes through dramatic stands for peace or justice, at other times in small acts of care, and nurture, and love. For love is the mark of the children of God (1 John 3:1-3). We rejoice in the inheritance we have received and the faith through which we live! 5