Lectionary Musings from the Church Anew Blog: June 14 and 21
Each week, we’ll offer a curated selection of blog posts that speak to the upcoming lectionary texts to help spark your imagination and serve as a thought partner for you. We hope these musings meet you right where you are with a fresh, bold, and faithful witness.
June 14, 2026 – Proper 6
For those congregations using the Semicontinuous Old Testament readings this summer, it may be wise for preachers to refer to Rev. Dr. Dorothy Wells’ two-part series on Abraham and family trauma.
Old Testament (Semicontinuous): Genesis 18:1-15
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, “Is Anything Impossible for God?”
Before they departed the “three/one” visitor posed a question to the aged couple: “Is anything impossible for God?” The question is left unanswered in the narrative. It is, moreover, left unanswered so that people of faith should be durably haunted by the question.
(Editor’s note: While Rev. Dr. Brueggemann’s piece was originally published in June 2020 and thus references the COVID-19 pandemic, his larger point that Scripture invites us to engage in “impossible” imaginings for the proclamation of the good news still stands.)
Old Testament (Paired): Exodus 19:2-8a
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, “From ‘Rag-Tag’ to ‘Holy’”
This identity is the inverse of Hosea 1:8: This “no people” has become “my people.” This staggering invite, however, is conditional: “if.” The condition is specified as the emancipatory God enunciates the Ten Commandments as the norm for the new identity of this community now formed and chosen (Exodus 20:1-17). These ten conditions bear no marking of class, nations, ethnicity, or cult. They are the most elemental requirements of historical wellbeing, grounded in a holiness that precludes every absolutism.
Psalm (Paired): Psalm 100
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, “The Condition From Which the Poems Arose”
Indeed, this word pair from v. 5 [steadfast love and faithfulness] is the most elemental claim of Israel’s faith. … These two marks of fidelity distinguish YHWH from all other gods; Israel can never finish singing this. Israel can never stop poetry-making around this singular affirmation.
June 21, 2026 – Proper 7
For those congregations using the Semicontinuous Old Testament readings this summer, it may be wise for preachers to refer to Rev. Dr. Dorothy Wells’ two-part series on Abraham and family trauma.
Psalm (Semicontinuous): Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, “The Condition From Which the Poems Arose”
Indeed, this word pair from v. 5 is the most elemental claim of Israel’s faith. Israel returns to that word pair again and again: Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 89:14 and 33. These two marks of fidelity distinguish YHWH from all other gods; Israel can never finish singing this. Israel can never stop poetry-making around this singular affirmation.
Epistle: Romans 6:1b-11
Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto, “The Death of Death”
But notice that the death of Death comes at a high cost. It’s not some easy and magical exchange. That “in Christ” at the end of v. 11 carries a great deal of weight. That “in Christ” is the sacrificial love of Christ. It is Jesus’ death that makes Death die. It is Jesus’ death at the hands of the empire that crumbles the throne room of Caesar. Jesus dies as we roar approvingly at the foot of the cross that empire is keeping us safe by terrorizing someone else. It is Jesus’ death that liberates us from the false promise of prosperity on the backs of those who suffer. The death of Jesus clarifies who we are but also whom God has made us to be.
