RevGals Friday Five Meme: Fave Verses edition

Songbird. over at RevGals, wonders what five Bible verses are our favorite:

My first response is  - any verse I am preaching on. After spending days and hours pondering the readings for any given Sunday and working the text like I'm kneading breading, until it has shape and form and is pliable, I end up loving that text. In the process the text has likewise given shape and form to my life and faith. This is particularly true for those texts that I really struggle with, or those  challenging occassions when preaching seems an impossible task and yet words come....

That said there are some favorite:

the woman (Mary) in John 12 who annointed Jesus' feet with nard and wiped them her hair

the woman at the well with Jesus in John 4

Matthew 22 - when the pharisee asks Jesus to list the one commandment that is the greatest:
"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel in Genesis 32

the three strangers arriving at Abraham and Sarah's tent, and they are hosted like family in Genesis 18

Comments

Yes, I have found after preaching weekly...the texts dwell within.

Jacob wrestling...another favorite.
Pastor Joelle said…
I love the story of Jacob too. If I had gone with stories rather than just verses, it be a whole 'nother play!
Jan said…
I liked your response that your favorite is any verse you are preaching on. I often feel that way with whatever verses are pondered in our weekly Lectio Divina group! There is richness even in something I initially don't like.
Unknown said…
I love that there are different Anointing Woman stories, and that we each may be drawn to one for a particular reason.
Robin said…
Wonderful choices. I couldn't find a way to squeeze the woman at the well in today, which must mean something.
altar ego said…
Your paragraph describing the process of sermon preparing is wonderful. I don't necessarily love a text after living with it, but I do, usually, appreciate it. Other times I really do love it as well. What you write is a great summary of the journey that is preaching.

And for the record, my word verification is "cross"
Wendy said…
These are such great passages.
Sally said…
I love the Woman at the well too :-)
amazing what meditation and reflection does to our perspective on a verse or passage...
thx for your thoughtful post ")
Another fan of the Woman at the Well...could have posted that as one of my fives.

I have told more than one..um...fundamentalist type...that a woman was the first evangelist.

Heh heh! Thanks for playing!
Terri said…
SingingOwl - I have had seminary profs suggest that Jesus' mother, at the wedding of Cana, was the first evangelist - and then the woman at the well is another example of a woman evangelist while the disciples were still filled with doubt...
angela said…
You are right about the study and that is one reason I really enjoy the lectionary approach. I love that you did not go into such great detail as the rest of us. And I love each of those stories too--and that seems a different category than a worded verse. Stories to me are as important in the Bible as versing.

When I wonder why I don't memorize verses well, I remember frequently that numbering verses came along when Calvin's followers had trouble following his sermons...
I love the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel...Charles Wesley wrote a hymn about it called "Come O, Thou Traveler Unknown." One of my favorites!

Popular posts from this blog

The Bleeding-heart: a poem by Mary Oliver

A Funeral Sermon: Healed by Love

Luke: A Mary Oliver Poem