BibleWorm

Episode 501 Created for Relationship (Genesis 2:4b-25)

This week we begin the new season of the Narrative Lectionary with a look at the story of creation as told in Genesis 2:4b–25. We marvel at the description of an artisan God forming creation from the clay of the earth in an act of artistic improvisation. We reflect on the fundamentally relational nature of the created world in which humans are meant to be in deep relationship not only with God and each other but also with plants, animals, and the earth. And we wrestle with the concept of human partnership as a helper corresponding to us, one who stands in front of us as an equal and challenges us in healthy and productive ways.

Episode 457 ECONOMIC JUSTICE The Poor Will Always Be with You (John 12:1-8) REPLAY

This week we conclude our summer series on The Bible and Economic Justice with a text from John 12:1-8 – not such an obvious text for economic justice, but a really important and challenging one.  How do we hold together Mary’s extravagance toward Jesus with  our moral and practical obligation to use our resources to care for the poor? This text invites us to explore the human need to express a sense of awe and transcendence, and to ask – if we humans could stop amassing resources to ourselves, could we create this beautiful reality of abundance instead of scarcity, where we could give to God and give to each other?

Episode 456 ECONOMIC JUSTICE The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15) REPLAY

This week BibleWorm continues our series on the Bible and Economic Justice with Matthew 6:7-15, a text known in the Christian tradition as the Lord’s prayer. As we read the prayer through the lens of economic justice, we begin to realize that that Jesus is calling his followers toward a life of simple trust in God. We ask enough food for today, we promise to forgive the debts of our neighbors, we ask to kept away from the temptation of plenty. In this way, Jesus says, God’s name is made holy. In this way God’s kingdom will come to earth—here and now, among us. We don’t need to ask for more, Jesus says, because God already knows this is all we need.

Episode 455 ECONOMIC JUSTICE The Eye of the Needle (Luke 4:16-21 and 18:18-30) REPLAY

This week BibleWorm continues our series on Economic Justice in the Bible with Luke 4:16-21 and 18:18-30. Why does Jesus tell this man that he needs to sell everything he owns? That’s an awfully high bar. And why is that even harder to do when you are wealthy? We consider the sense of safety and independence that money and material resources offer us, and the ways in which that can block us from ever really, truly needing to trust God or each other. We see the Kingdom of God envisioned here as a life of complete interdependence and mutual responsibility. But boy, do we live in the tension of what this text calls us to do and what we are ready and able to do today.

Episode 454 ECONOMIC JUSTICE What Does the Lord Require of You? (Micah 6:6-15 and 7:1-7) REPLAY

This week BibleWorm continues our series on the Bible and Economic Justice with Micah 6:6-15 and 7:1-7. Here God brings a lawsuit against the people for treating each other unjustly. They cheat each other with false measures. They bribe judges and officials to render false judgments. They pervert justice to favor the wealthy and the powerful. So what can they do to set things right? Nothing but this: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. It sounded so simple when we sang it in youth group, but in fact Micah calls us to radical obedience to the Torah, creating a just world for the widow, the orphan and the stranger—for the most vulnerable among us. That is what the Lord require of us.

Episode 453 ECONOMIC JUSTICE Economics and Holiness (Leviticus 19:9-18 and 33-37) REPLAY

This week we continue our summer series on economic justice in the Bible with Leviticus 19:9-18 and 33:37– a text that asks us to reflect and embody and channel God’s holiness through the economy we create in the everyday world. What if our means of production – our land, our time – isn’t absolutely “ours” in the way we owners imagine? We all know the commandment thou shalt not steal, but what is fairly ours to begin with, and what constitutes stealing? And furthermore, what if this command is not just incumbent upon each individual – How do we create communities where theft doesn’t happen, thereby enacting God’s vision of a holy people? Spoiler alert - it’s not an alarm system.

Episode 452 ECONOMIC JUSTICE Biblical Faith and Debt Forgiveness (Deuteronomy 15:1-11 and 24:10-15) REPLAY

This week BibleWorm begins our summer series on biblical views of economic justice with Deuteronomy 15:1-11 and 24:10-15.  We begin with the radical command of Deuteronomy 15:1 to forgive the debts of the entire community every seventh year, resetting the debt economy and ensuring that no one either falls into generational poverty or accrues generational wealth at the expense of others. We highlight the tension between a worldly economics of scarcity, which views others as competitors for limited resources, and Deuteronomy’s theology of God’s blessing, which insists that there is enough for everyone, if only we would learn to distribute it properly, looking out for the community’s well-being before our own. And we talk about just economic practices that respect the dignity of the poor and insist that poverty should never confine a person to a life of shame or suffering.

Episode 451 SUMMER SERIES Bathsheba (1Kings 1:1--40) REPLAY

BibleWorm concludes our summer series on women of the Hebrew Bible with the story of Bathsheba as told in 1 Kings 1:1-40. We met Bathsheba first in 2 Samuel 11, but she was more acted upon than an actor herself in that story. This week we meet her again in I Kings 1, when David has gone from a model of virility, power, and traditional (sometimes toxic) masculinity to a fairly pitiable state in his old age. At this awkward moment when David is still King but is losing control of both the kingdom and his own facilities, it is Bathsheba alone who knows how to take the wheel. Trust, intimacy, loyalty and power all look a little different in this story. Can you find them? 

Episode 450 SUMMER SERIES Rahab (Joshua 2:1-24 and 6:2-4) REPLAY

 

BibleWorm continues our summer series on women in the Hebrew Bible with the story of Rahav in Joshua 2 -- she is a harlot living in the walls of the city of Jericho who is at the very core of Israel's success as they move into the promised land. How are we to understand this character who has so little power in any official sense, but who seems to know more than anyone else among the people of Jericho or the people of Israel? How do we understand the faith, the moral compass, and the courage of this lifelong sex worker? Does she change over the course of this story - is this a paradigmatic conversion story, as most ancient interpreters read it? It will surprise you not at all to know that we think it's far more complicated than that.

Episode 449 SUMMER SERIES The Daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1-11 and 36:1-12)

This week BibleWorm continues our special summer series on the Women of the Hebrew Bible with the story of the daughters of Zelophehad as told in Numbers 27:1-11 and 36:1-12. We marvel at these five young women who stand before Moses and the whole people of Israel to advocate for their right to inherit property after their father died without any sons. When Moses takes their claim to God, God responds simply by saying, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right” and then modifying the Torah for all time so that women can inherit property if they have no brothers. We talk about the courage of these women to work within the system to advocate for themselves and for all women within the patriarchal society of ancient Israel. We discuss God’s unquestioning acceptance of their perspective and full acknowledgment of their interpretation of the Torah, even as they point out that God had overlooked some issues in the original giving of the Law. We also recognize that this text does not go as far as we might wish, as the system of inheritance in ancient Israel remains fully patriarchal, with this one minor modification in favor of women. But then, change is slow and never happens as quickly as we might like. In that sense, the daughters of Zelophehad give us encouragement to continue in the struggle for women’s equality even still today.