UNIFORM LESSON FOR December 30, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Matthew 25:31-46 The birth of Jesus begins a revolution that will turn everything in our hearts and lives upside-down. This week, we hear of another coming of this Son of man, this time in glory, accompanied by all the angels to sit on the throne in judgment (25:31). Once more, this is a story of surprises, in which thoughts previously hidden are revealed in actions or inactions, and our response toward those who have been brought low becomes the test of whether peoples rise or fall. This story can be read in at least three different ways. Matthew 25:31-36 — A story about kindness Most of the time I hear this passage quoted, it is in connection with individual acts of kindness and compassion. “Why,” somebody asks, “do you spend so much of your time visiting the sick, working in the clothes closet, and taking food to the shut-ins?” The person replies, “Because Jesus said, ‘Whenever we do this for the … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR December 23, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Luke 1:26-31; 2:22,25-35 As is customary, the Uniform Lesson Series “pauses” the Sunday before Christmas, and moves to a passage more appropriate for the season. While we might hear this passage as continuing the theme of “God commands our love, respect and obedience,” it does so only through the figure of Mary, with a “before” and “after” portrait of her “annunciation.” If any figure in the Bible, other than Jesus, embodies the command to love God with all our heart and soul and strength (and womb!), it must be Mary. However, from the beginning, Mary’s chosen-ness is a decidedly “mixed blessing.” Luke 1:26-31 — Favored one In the “before” scene, Mary is minding her own business when she is confronted by the angel Gabriel with this strange greeting: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” While Mary may have recently heard of a similar “favor” bestowed by Gabriel on her kinswoman, Elizabeth (see … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR December 2, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 This week we begin a series that will take us throughout the Bible. God’s people are poised on the east bank of the Jordan. Moses is delivering a hortatory sermon before we cross into the Promised Land. This part of the sermon serves as the “white hot center” for Jewish faith — and thanks to Jesus’ teaching, for Christians as well (Mark 12:29-30). Much is at stake — not only for us, but for our children and our children’s children. Let us hear and obey. Deuteronomy 6:1-3 — Hear, observe, love Even in English, it’s clear that the primary mode of address in this passage is the imperative. These are not suggestions or possibilities; they are commands, beginning with the most fundamental command “to hear” (from which comes the name of this passage in Hebrew, The Shema). As God spoke a new world into being in Genesis 1, so Moses, as God’s servant, is speaking a new nation into being in … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR November 25, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Genesis 30:22-32, 43 Maybe, if I were choosing the lessons, we would end with Genesis 33, and the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau on the banks of the Jabbok. It seems to bring the story full circle and fulfills God’s promise to bring Jacob back to the land from which he has fled (Genesis 28:15). But even this scene ends with the two brothers going their separate ways (Genesis 33:12ff), as does our story about Jacob and Laban — including that perhaps misplaced Sunday school blessing known as the Mizpah benediction: “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from the other” (Genesis 31:49). Maybe it is best that this series on God’s Creation ends with “unfinished business.” As the title for this final unit puts it: “God blesses and re-creates regardless.” Genesis 30:22-28 — A strange federation If we don’t have some fun with this passage, we’re not paying attention. A rascal on … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR November 18, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Genesis 28:10-22 Jacob is “on the run.” And for good reasons! He has duped his father, stolen from his brother and the latter now wants him dead. His co-conspirator, his mother (what a happy family!), urges him to flee to her brother Laban’s house until things cool down or, less likely, are forgotten (27:45). And so, this story becomes a tale of a refugee, the saga of a person/nation “on the lam.” It is a story that continues to speak to the descendants of this particular refugee — as Jews and Christians, down through history, have quite often found themselves “on the run.” Genesis 28:10-15 — God’s initiative People often cite the example of the rich, young ruler, whom Jesus allows to walk sorrowfully away (Mark 10:22), to make the point that God will not coerce or compel us to be part of God’s story. Certainly, if we decide to leave God and opt out of our role in God’s story, God will not come after us in … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR November 11, 2018 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Genesis 27:5-10, 18-19, 21-29 I’ve never fully understood those who call the Bible their “rulebook.” Genesis does not seem to be the best place to begin a study on ethics – for Jews or Christians. It looks to me like Jacob (with his mother’s help!) breaks at least four of the Ten Commandments: honor your father; thou shalt not steal, bear false witness, or covet. Indeed, given the centrality of “blessing” in the lives of families and God’s covenant people, and the tangible way such blessing can be passed on once and once only, one wonders whether we should add “thou shalt not kill” to Jacob’s list of transgressions. Genesis 27:5-10 — God works with what God has Repeatedly we have returned to the theme of God creating order out of chaos. We might tweak that theme here as God keeps the promise going using the most fallible of characters and motives. Surely our hearts must break as we see a mother and son … [Read more...]