Jeff Fox-Kline's Weekly Blog

Today the lectionary gives us a strange little gift  from the book of Ecclesiastes. I love the book of Ecclesiastes. This is not to say that I fully understand the book of Ecclesiastes, but it's such a strange little book. Right after the Proverbs, it's another book of wisdom. But the wisdom of Ecclesiastes' wisdom is not quite the same vibe as the Proverbs. A Proverb that I chose more or less at random:  Don’t love sleep or you will be poor;  stay alert and you will have plenty to eat. You see - this is wisdom. A little saying that helps us understand how to live better. Don't love sleep too much! Ok! I'm going to ignore the advice, but at least I understand it. But here is the second verse of Ecclesiastes: Perfectly pointless, says the Teacher, perfectly pointless.   Everything is pointless.  Now this? Not exactly helping me much. Instead of giving us one large chunk of Ecclesiastes, the lectionary gives us a sampling of verses from the first couple chapters. Let&

I'm not necessarily much of a bargain hunter. It's not that I don't like saving money, but I don't have that killer instinct to find the perfect coupon or notice when the price label says "$0.53/Oz" instead of "$0.62/Oz".  Sometimes stock photos are weird... What I have not tried my hand at is bartering. I wonder how I would do at it. I'll say I would not do nearly as well as Abraham in this passage from Genesis  that was supplied to me by this week's lectionary (and yes, it is still lectionary month!). Basically, God's got it in for Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham was not ok with it.  "Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty?   What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it?   It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of al

It's still lectionary month! That's right people, a whole month of me being told what scripture to write about! And today's scripture does not disappoint.  The gospel reading for the day is the story of Mary and Martha, which is worthy of a deep dive. But when I opened the website I use for the lectionary  I immediately realized that I needed to write about the Amos passage. Not because I knew it well, or even at all.  But! Look at how insane these first three verses are: This is what the Lord  God  showed me—a basket of summer fruit.  He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’  Then the  Lord  said to me, ‘The end  has come upon my people Israel;    I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple  shall become wailings on that day,’ says the Lord  God ; ‘the dead bodies shall be many,    cast out in every place. Be silent!’ This is why the prophets are so fun to read. I don't know what the basket of fruit is about. I feel like le

 It's time for the first ever theme month on my blog! That's right! THEME MONTH! And what's the theme, you ask? I can hear your excitement, it's palpable. The theme of the month is... The lectionary! (holds for applause) I can't find a stock photo image for "the lectionary", so you'll have to settle for a Bible. The lectionary text for this coming Sunday is pretty well known. Luke 10:25-37 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus replied,  “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?” He responded, “ You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself .” Jesus said to him,  “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied,  “A man went down from Jerusalem