Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Blessings and Woes

I'm not on deck at church this coming Sunday -- I'll just be sitting in my civvies in the pew -- but I've been reading various commentaries on the Gospel lesson, Luke's version of the beatitudes and their attendant woes. An increasingly favorite "makes you think" website for such stuff is Pastor Dan Bollerud's Grace Notes -- check it out.

I also appreciated a comment by Mary Hinkle Shore, in Pilgrim Preaching , where she notes that addressing this text strictly from a socioeconomic point of view, and in a way that "guilts" the majority of relatively affluent listeners while unintentionally marginalizing (yet again) the poorer members of our congregations -- We Americans are the rich and privileged; woe unto us -- isn't particularly helpful; that it creates a kind of non-Gospel dead end. She suggests framing the text in a way that emphasizes the underlying message that, when God's Reign breaks through, everything changes -- how we relate to God and the world and one another -- the status quo is blown away.

2 comments:

Dan said...

Thank you for the mention, I have had several hits coming from your site this morning. Also thank you for your mention of and link to the quotation site by Molly Ivins. Enjoyed reading your blog, Blessings upon you and may you grow from any woes that happen to come your way.

Pastor Dan

Anonymous said...

"I need to clean up the profanity, the taking of the Lord's name in vain, that regularly spews from my potty mouth."
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Exodus 20:7
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:29
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:37 God Bless