September 2019 Lectionary Preview: God’s Pursuit, In Pursuit of God
July 29, 2019 by Rev. Dr. Neal Presa
In simple terms, stewardship is caring for what has been entrusted to you or what belongs to you. Hopefully, such custodianship is done wisely, towards the intended end for which it was given, all to the glory of God. When the Scriptures speak of God’s relationship with Israel, and by extension, God’s relationship with all of humanity, it is done in covenantal terms. God’s covenantal promise is often expressed in a variant of the following statement: “I am the Lord your God, and you are my people.” What is expressed in that claim is a stewardship of belonging: we and the Lord belong one to another. This means all that we have (time, talent, treasure) and all that we are, indeed, the whole of our life belongs to the Lord. With this claim of belongingness comes the sure and certain premise that we will stray from the relationship, as there will also be joy in being found and redirected back to the heart of the Lord. The lections from the book of Jeremiah and the Gospel according to Luke will be the focus for this preview of the September 2019 lectionary texts.
Please click on the image below to read the lectionary for that Sunday.
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| September 1: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Luke 14:1, 7-14 | September 8: Jeremiah 18:1-11; Luke 14:25-33 | |
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| September 15: Jeremiah 4:11-22, 22-28; Luke 15:1-10 | September 22: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Luke 16:1-13 | |
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| September 29: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Luke 16:19-31 |
The Rev. Dr. Neal D. Presa is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Foundation. He is the Associate Pastor for Family, Connecting, and Communications Ministries and Coordinator of the Faith & Work Initiative at the Village Community Presbyterian Church in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. He holds concurrent appointments as Visiting Professor and Scholar for the Union Theological Seminary in Desmariñas, Cavite, Philippines; and Fellow for The Center for Pastor Theologians in Oak Park, IL. In 2012-14, Dr. Presa was the Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He is the author and editor of six books and numerous essays and book reviews, most recently Ascension Theology and Habakkuk: A Reformed Ecclesiology in Filipino American Perspective (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), and working on a seventh book on joy and the Christian life as a liturgical spirituality. He holds the PhD and MPhil in liturgical and ecumenical theology from Drew University, the ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary, the MDiv from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the BA from the University of California, Davis. He is working on the MBA in Project Management with Missouri State University. Dr. Presa, his wife Grace, their two sons, Daniel and Andrew, and their puppy Calvin live in Carlsbad, CA. Connect with him on LinkedIn (/nealpresa), or Facebook and Twitter (@NealPresa).
