Lectionary Musings from the Church Anew Blog: September 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.
September 14, 2025
Paired: Exodus 32:7-14
Walter Brueggemann, “The Golden Calf and 2020”
Moses interrupts what scholars call the “lawsuit” of indictment and sentence. Moses dares to question the appropriateness and wisdom of God's anger. This daring interruption by Moses is so deeply Jewish! It would not happen among conventional Christians, because conventional Christians are excessively pious and deferential. But Moses is resolutely Jewish in this moment of covenantal engagement. He knows that he can (and must!) address God and call God to account. He puts two questions to God: Why be angry with this people that you have made and saved? Why give ammunition to the Egyptians? … The two questions of Moses remain unanswered as though YHWH needs time to ponder. Without waiting, Moses promptly issues three imperatives to God. Yes, imperatives! Turn … from your anger; Change … your mind; Remember … the book of Genesis.
Narrative Lectionary: Genesis 21:1-3, 22:1-14
Rev. Dr. Dorothy Wells, “The Story of Abraham and Family Trauma Part 1”
The last encounter between Abraham and Isaac recorded in Genesis takes place when Abraham bound Isaac on the altar, preparing to sacrifice him to God. For all of the arguments that Abraham had previously given God for sparing the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah when God is preparing to destroy them, Abraham met God’s request to sacrifice Isaac with no resistance.
September 21, 2025
Paired: Amos 8:4-7
Rev. Angela Denker, “A Digital Space for Spiritual Formation”
How can I lift up the needs of those who are trampled upon? How can I tell their stories?
What do I pray when I am trampled?
When do I confess to being the one who is trampling upon the needy?
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, “The Unending Work of Contradiction”
Twice in the gospel narrative Jesus declares the ultimate either/or of his life and teaching: You cannot serve God and wealth. … This either/or of Jesus is not inflected or qualified. It cuts to the heart of the choice required by the gospel. … This declaration of Jesus is the subject of the shrewd discerning discussion of Eugene McCarraher in his book, The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism became the Religion of Modernity (2019). The subtitle indicates his subject, one that is surely obvious and correct, that capitalism is “the religion of modernity” concerning the aggressive state, the ultimacy of the market, and the unfettered predatory freedom of unencumbered individuals.
Past commentary from our newest contributor, Miguel Escobar, author of The Unjust Steward: Wealth, Poverty, and the Church Today:
What I discovered in my careful reading of the Gospels was a world of agricultural images and miraculous stories that was a great deal more like the world described around my immigrant grandparents’ kitchen table than the bleached blonde Christianity that gathered around the flagpole for prayer.
- “Dreams of Reversal,” Open Plaza
Many of the Gospel stories about stewards actually present the steward as a foil to Jesus. The steward at the beginning of the parable of the unjust steward is engaged in exploitation. He and the landowner are extracting wealth from the workers who are in debt bondage. At the wedding in Cana, the steward is the one who says, “You should really serve the good wine first, not last.” In each case, Jesus is presented as the foil, or the way the kingdom of God is presented is the opposite. The unjust steward finds his salvation, his safety, by actually releasing wealth, by taking his master’s wealth and releasing it.
- “The church has a complicated relationship with money,” Faith and Leadership
Watch Miguel present on early Christian approaches to economic justice at The Forum at St Bart’s
