THOUGHTS FROM THE CENTER AISLE

Comments and Meditations from the Rev. Robert Bergner, Priest-in-Charge

Welcome to Thoughts from the Center Aisle.

What follows are mainly my reflections on lectionary scripture, but also other theological and spiritual musings. Sometimes there will be a full sermon, sometimes just notes and sketches.

Please feel free to comment in a constructive, civil way. I will be happy to learn what you have to say.

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Thoughts from the Center Aisle: Welcome

Here are three things to keep in mind when reading, thinking about and discussing scripture:

The Bible is a multivocal compilation of documents written over the course of more than a thousand years. Its authors (with several authors sometimes team writing—willingly or not—the same document) say different things in different places—even within their own writings. And that's okay!
As with any text (or anything), each reader reads and interprets biblical text from the perspective of her or his own personal experience, education and preferences (which inevitably change over time). Like snowflakes, no two readers are alike and no two interpretations are the same.
The Bible was written in three ancient languages—Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. None of these languages have been used in their ancient form for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Those ancient languages are then translated in myriad variations into hundreds of languages that are spoken today. Given the impressive linguistic complexities of translating defunct languages and the transformation of life and culture that has taken place over several thousand years, it is nearly impossible that the sense we take from, say, a modern English translation of a biblical text is precisely what its original author or authors intended. Translation is interpretation.

Cheers,

Bob

Thoughts from the Center Aisle: Text

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Reflections for Sunday, December 15

Year A, Third Sunday in Advent THE SONG OF MARY (Luke 1:46-55) The Song of Mary—also commonly known as the Magnificat for the first word of its Latin translation—that we sing today in place of a psalm, is one of three hymn-like passages that Luke includes at the beginning of his Gospel. The other two are Zechariah’s words at the birth of his son John the Baptist, and Simeon’s statement at Jesus’ presentation in the Temple. All of these songs are wrought in the style of a numb

Guest Preacher: Anne Rowthorn, December 8, 2019

On December 8, the second Sunday of Advent, we had the pleasure and honor of welcoming Anne Rowthorn and her husband, Bishop Jeffery Rowthorn, to Grace & St Peter’s. Anne preached at the 10:00 am service and helped to lead our “Caring for Creation” Advent discussion group. Anne’s sermon is posted below. The “Caring for Creation” conversation after the service continued in a meaningful and lively way as fifteen or more attendees shared their personal thoughts and concerns ab

Reflections for Sunday, December 8

Year A, Second Sunday in Advent Psalm 72 Psalm 72 concludes the second of what many consider to be five shorter collections of psalms contained in the larger corpus of 150 psalms. To emphasize that conclusion, the psalm ends with a doxology: “... Blessed be his glorious name forever and may all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen.” Following up on our theme of Kingship as Kinship from the past couple of weeks, it is worth noting that the righteous and just king of

Reflections for Sunday, December 1

Year A, First Sunday of Advent Psalm 122 Psalm 122 is one of a series of fifteen psalms that include the title Shir Hama’alot—song of ascents. It is generally presumed that these are songs of pilgrimage, evoking the ascent of pilgrims to the hilltop city of Jerusalem. Three obligatory annual pilgrim festivals are included in the Torah, the Mosaic law, although the destination of those pilgrimages is not identified. Following the biblical narrative, Jerusalem would not have be

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THOUGHTS FROM THE CENTER AISLE

Here are three things to keep in mind when reading, thinking about and discussing scripture:

The Bible is a multivocal compilation of documents written over the course of more than a thousand years. Its authors (with several authors sometimes team writing—willingly or not—the same document) say different things in different places—even within their own writings. And that's okay!

As with any text (or anything), each reader reads and interprets biblical text from the perspective of her or his own personal experience, education and preferences (which inevitably change over time). Like snowflakes, no two readers are alike and no two interpretations are the same.

Cheers,

Bob