Sandpiper's Thoughts
Friday, April 04, 2025
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Book Review: Leading Through Resisitance
Labels: Bolsinger Resistance
Monday, March 31, 2025
Ignatian Reading
Earlier, I posted a reflection of my devotional reading of the Luke passage for my class using Lectio Divina. Another type of devotional reading we were asked to do was to read the post Ignatian Style. I actually found that one to be more fruitful for me.
Labels: Gospel, Reading NT
Friday, March 28, 2025
Perspectives: Old and New
Notice on this light pole that one of the fixtures is an old style of lighting and the one on the left is a newer LED. Old and new, living together.
I think there is a message there.
Labels: Perspectives
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Resources
In the class I was taking, I was asked to contribute 10 resources to a list of class accumulated resources. Not all of these are my favorite, but I tried to keep to items on my bookshelves or the internet.
- The Concise Concordance to the New Revised Standard Version (John R Kohlenberger, III, editor). This is a concordance providing a list of words in the scripture and where to find them (as any concordance would). It provides references to both the Old and New Testament and is helpful when doing a word study.
- A Harmony of the Gospels: Revised Standard Version (Ralph D. Heim). This book (another old one, published in 1947) lists in the Gospels in chronological order and attempts to align the four gospels in parallel columns. It includes all four Gospels. It can be helpful to see side by side how one story in the bible is the same and is different in the Gospels.
- Atlas of Bible History (Harper Collins). This book provides history from early in the Old Testament through the the Early Church (and a little beyond) with images and maps. I find having a map helps me to place the scripture geographically. How far apart are Nazareth and Jerusalem, and what did it mean to walk from one to the other? A map is helpful.
- The New Interpreter's Study Bible (NRSV). This is a study bible. I find the introductions to the Biblical books and the extensive study notes to be very helpful. Footnotes share when a translation is uncertain or can be seen a different way in a different language.
- The New Greek English Interlinear New Testament. This book provides the New Testament in Greek with an interlinear English translation as well an an English translation in the margin. It can be helpful to see how the translations are made and what difficulties there were in translation.
- Discipleship Resources (https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning). This online resource from the UMC provides help for each Sunday, using the Revised Common Lectionary, including Preaching Notes and notes to help plan worship.
- Text Week (textweek.com). This online resources provides links to numerous resources concerning lectionary scriptures. It can be a rabbit hole to countless different sources.
- The New Interpreter's Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. The volumes provide an introduction to each Biblical book, a exegesis of the biblical texts, commentary, reflections, and illustrations.
- Feasting on the Word, David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors. This is a series of books, available in both physical books and PDFs, that are helpful when preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary. Each volume includes part of one of the three years of the RCL. Each week examines the scriptures of that week's RCL, providing four perspectives: theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical.
- The New Daily Study Bible by William Barclay. This is a series of books, each one focused on a book of the Bible (usually - Biblical books' commentaries are combined into one of the volumes). Barclay (for the New Testament, other authors for the Old Testament) provide commentary on short passages of scripture within the Biblical book. One caveat - the series was originally published in 1956; the reader should take that into consideration.
Labels: Reading NT
Monday, March 24, 2025
Birthday
Today is my birthday.
Labels: Life
Friday, March 21, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Book Review: Tempered Resilience
Information about the book
- Leadership therefore is always about the transformation and growth of a people - starting with the leader - to develop the resilience and adaptive capacity to wisely cut through resistance and accomplish the mission of the group. (pg 4).
- People do not resist change, per se. People resist loss. You appear dangerous to people when you question their values, beliefs, or habits of a lifetime. (pg 22)
- While the nomenclature varies, the characteristics of transformational spiritual leaders and organizational change leaders make up a list of attributes for a tempered resilient leader: one that is grounded, teachable, attuned, adaptable, and tenacious.
Labels: Bolsinger Tempered, Book Review, Leadership
Monday, March 17, 2025
Prayer Beads
I mentioned that I was (last month) involved in a class called "Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes." While working my way through that class, I came to realize that my prayer life has not been as intentional as it was during previous times of my life. So I decided to work to change that.
Labels: Prayer
Friday, March 14, 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
The Historical Jesus
Why is it important to understand the historical nature of Jesus's life?
- As humans, we are all shaped by our stories. What happens to us in our life – good or bad – shapes who we are. I’m not sure how much this applies to Jesus, but I imagine being the son of a carpenter shaped him. Certainly, being a Jew was important in his life and how he lived it.
- Knowing the history of Jesus helps us to understand the outside forces of the time that impacted his life. We’ve already talked about Herod the Great’s impact on Jesus’s early life. The Roman Empire created a framework for his life and it shaped people’s expectations of him.
- Knowing Jesus’s history – his birth, life as a child (as much as we can), his ministry, death, and resurrection shapes our faith. What happened to him, and what he allowed to happen to him are some of the building blocks of why we follow him.
Labels: Reading NT
Monday, March 10, 2025
Book Review: Reading the New Testament as Christian Scripture
Information about the book
Labels: Book Review, Campbell NT, New Testament, Reading NT
Friday, March 07, 2025
Perspectives: Staples
How many messages have been stapled to this telephone poll? Do you ever feel like communication is like this?
Labels: communication, Perspectives
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Devotional Reading Notes
For a class I just completed called Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes, I was asked to pick a New Testament passage for exegesis and sermon or Bible study preparation. One of the steps in the process was to read the passage devotionally using Lectio Divina.
My passage was Luke 18:18-27, sometimes called the Rich Young Ruler. Here are my journaling notes after the devotional reading:
When
I read the passage this evening, I noticed something I had not seen
before. The phrase that stood out to me was in verse 27 (which is beyond
the passage I mentioned in the work a few days ago - I had planned to stop at
verse 25, but 26-27 seem to go with it). I saw the phrase "What is
impossible for mortals is possible for God."
I went back and looked at the passage again. In the beginning of it, Jesus and the man are talking about what the man could do. Then Jesus tells him that it is impossible for him. The man leaves (Special note - in Luke, the man doesn't leave. This story is in the three synoptic Gospels. He leaves in the other two, but not this one.). Jesus says "What is impossible for mortals in possible God.
Do we give up too soon? Do we try to do it all on our own, even when Jesus is telling us we cannot, and then we give up and walk away? Do we fail to rely on God - to put our trust and all we have in God's hands? In God's hands, all is possible. In our hands alone, it is not.
What
is it we could do if we gave up control?
There are those things that are impossible for us. And giving up control of them, and giving control to God, may not accomplish that which we want to have happen. We still live in this world of natural laws. Even so, when we move through something impossible with God - God can make moving through it possible.
Was it impossible for the man to sell all he had? Was it impossible for him to release it because he wanted his money more that he wanted God? Did he need to rely on God before he could let go? Why didn't he? Did he? Would we? Will we?
The Message translation said, "No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”
Labels: Gospel, New Testament, Reading NT