Narrative Lectionary

A Listening Heart

This Sunday is All Saints Day, the day when we remember those who have gone before us, and now exist, as the Book of Hebrews calls it, “A great cloud of witnesses”. We will also be moving right along in the Narrative Lectionary with a very peculiar and difficult story involving two (once again un-named) women, a baby, and David’s son and heir to his throne, Solomon. -Pastor Paul Baudhuin

Calling All Bathshebas

This Sunday we take a big jump in the Biblical Narrative, leapfrogging about 350 years to King David. The bulk of both 1&2 Samuel is devoted to David, his reign, and his family. He’s a huge Biblical figure, and while he is much celebrated, this week we get the story of him and Bathsheba. This is a tough story, and just as a way of warning, it involves sexual harassment/assault. I won’t be dwelling there, as I addressed this a…

We Remember

This Sunday, the narrative leaps ahead in the story to the story of the Israelites fleeing the oppressive hand of Pharaoh across the Red Sea. It’s an action-packed story. I look forward to unpacking it. -Pastor Paul Baudhuin

The Hard Good Work

We’ll be getting our annual “Abraham” story this week. He, of course, is ‘Father Abraham”, the patriarch of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, so he figures massively into the story. This week we’ll look at his original call. Why does God choose Abram (later Abraham)? How do we think his wife Sarai (later “Sarah) felt about it initially? Why does Abram say yes? What is the nature of this call, and what does it have to say for us…

The Full Spectrum

“Rally Sunday is upon us! I hope you can join us this Sunday as we kick off a new season at PPUMC. We will begin with worship as usual and a new season navigating the Narrative Lectionary.” -Pastor Paul Baudhuin

It’s All One

As this Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, we will be moving backwards in the narrative to Acts 2, which begins “When the day of Pentecost had come…” That is my continual reminder that what we know as Pentecost is not what the disciples in the story knew as Pentecost. It was an already existing holiday celebrating the first fruit of the harvest and the receiving of the Torah, called Shavuot, and “Pentecost” is merely the Greek form of the Hebrew “Shavuot”.…

The Power to Empower

We are almost at the end of this season in the Narrative Lectionary. Just two Sundays left! This Sunday we will look into Philippians 2 and the Apostle Paul’s famous “Christ Hymn”. It’s a beautiful peace of poetry, and has massive implications on the world we live in today to the degree that I will also be “assigning” some homework! What!?!? Then next week is Pentecost Sunday and we can call this season a wrap. After Pentecost, I’m excited to…

We Are a Resurrection People

This week in worship we are in the first of two weeks in what one scholar describes as The Apostle Paul’s “happiest letter”, his letter to the Philippians. As some of you know, I’m not a huge fan of Paul’s letters, due to my own spiritual baggage. So while I resist him, it’s good that the lectionary makes me deal with him, if only for two weeks! Also, the discussions in our weekly Bible Study (Wednesdays at 4:30 in my…

The Unknown God

This Sunday in worship, we hit one of my all time favorite passages. There’s a lot about the Apostle Paul with which I struggle, but I really like Paul in this story. I’m looking forward to diving into his philosophical conversation with folks in the little town of Athens. -Pastor Paul