Pulpit Fiction Podcast

By Robb McCoy and Eric FistlerReligion & Spirituality Christianity Education

Favorites
42
Followers
Typical duration
54 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Pulpit Fiction Podcast episodes

January 19, 2014Ep. 47: Christianity...Voltron Edition or Third Sunday after Epiphany A
Episode 47: Christianity...Voltron Edition

Matthew 4:12-23 - Calling the first Disciples.

1 Corinthians 1:10-18 - Has Christ Been Divided?

Contact us/ Leave comments:
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes, [email protected]
SHOW NOTES
44 min
January 12, 2014Ep. 46: Who invited John? or Second Sunday After Epiphany A
Episode 46: Who invited John?

John 1:29-42 - John’s Witness

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 - Greetings and Thanksgiving

Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes, [email protected]
SHOW NOTES
40 min
January 05, 2014Ep. 45: Baptismarrific or Baptism of Christ A/ First Sunday After Epiphany A
For Sunday, January 12, 2014

Matthew 3:13-17 - The Baptism of Jesus

Acts 10:34-43 - Witnessing to Jesus as Christ

Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes, [email protected].
SHOW NOTES
41 min
December 29, 2013Ep. 44: Happy EpiphaNewYears! or Christmastide 2A & Epiphany
Episode 44: Happy EpiphaNewYears! or Christmastide 2A
John 1:1-18 - Prologue to John
Matthew 2:1-12 - El Día de los Reyes
Contact us/ Leave comments:
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes,
[email protected].
SHOW NOTES
48 min
December 22, 2013Ep. 43: The Charlie Browniest Podcast or Christmastide 1A
SHOW NOTES - 12/29/2013
Matthew 2:13-23- The Flight to Egypt
Isaiah 63:7-9 - Remembering God’s mercy
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes, [email protected].
42 min
December 15, 2013Ep. 42: Like a Young Woman or Advent 4A
For Sunday, December 22

Episode 42

Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, where two local pastors discuss the lectionary reading for the week. We are well aware that “What” is not a country, and we’ll try not to say it again. This is episode 42 for Sunday December 22, Advent 4A. We will be discussing:
Matthew 1:18-25- An Angel visits Joseph
Isaiah 7:10-16 - Immanuel

Check-in
We feel like poop
Time Person of the Year - Pope Francis
Advent stuff!
Advent resources
Advent run to Bethlehem - On to Egypt! 333 miles!

Primary Scripture - Matthew 1:18-25- An Angel visits Joseph
Birth narrative in Matthew is barely a narrative. It never really happens. There’s no manger or shepherds or angels or trip to Bethlehem.
1:1-17 is genealogy
18-24 is about Joseph
Jesus is born in a period in the middle of verse 25
“But he didn't have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus.”
Traditional “Nativity Scenes” or the “Creche” do not really depict a Biblical scene if they include the Magi.
Magi don’t come until “After he was born.”
Joseph disregards the Deuteronomic Law, and yet he is considered a “Righteous man” because of this kindness.
He is stuck between following the Law, and following his heart. His choice is to follow his heart.
Standing in tension that Jesus grows up to teach about time and again: “You have heard it said..., but I say to you…”
Joseph does not investigate whether Mary conceived in a field or not. And he chooses not to search for the man either.
Deuteronomy 22:22-27:
“If a man is found having sex with a woman who is married to someone else, both of them must die—the man who was having sex with the woman and the woman herself. Remove such evil from Israel! If a young woman who is a virgin is engaged to one man and another man meets up with her in a town and has sex with her, you must bring both of them to the city gates there and stone them until they die—the young woman because she didn’t call for help in the city, and the man because of the fact that he humiliated his neighbor’s wife. Remove such evil from your community!

But if the man met up with the engaged woman in a field, grabbing her and having sex with her there, only the man will die. Don’t do anything whatsoever to the young woman. She hasn’t committed any capital crime—rather, this situation is exactly like the one where someone attacks his neighbor and kills him. Since the man met up with her in a field, the engaged woman may well have called out for help, but there was no one to rescue her.

If a man meets up with a young woman who is a virgin and not engaged, grabs her and has sex with her, and they are caught in the act, the man who had sex with her must give fifty silver shekels to the young woman’s father. She will also become his wife because he has humiliated her. He is never allowed to divorce her.”
Also note that the adultery law only applies if the woman is married. It says nothing about a married man having sex with a woman that is unmarried.
Marriage was a property exchange, and a way to determine the handing down of goods from Father to Son.
Sex with a married woman throws into question the validity of the husband’s property line.
Also, marriage is required if a man rapes an unengaged woman, and the reparations are paid to the father.
Ultimately, this is about God’s action in the child that is coming.
This birth is “of God.”
The child will fall into the line of David.
Neither Mary nor Joseph have any words in this narrative. The only words are from the angel. The only “action” is obedience.
Two names of the child tells us about the nature of God:
Jesus, meaning “God saves”
Matthew makes it clear that Joseph named Jesus. This is the ultimate act of him claiming the boy as his own, thus adopting him into the line of David. (Eugene Boring, The New Interpreters Bible v. viii Matthew, p. 136)
“Many Christians are uncomfortable with the expression ‘Jesus son of Joseph,’ because it sounds to them like a denial of the virgin birth. For Matthew, it was essential that Jesus be recognized as truly the son of Joseph, because only so was he an authentic descendant of David” (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew p. 11)
“God saves” through the birth of a child.
Emmanuel, meaning “God is with us”
The meaning of the “virgin birth” is not to make great theological interpretations about things like original sin, or biological theories about DNA. It is about simply “God is with us.”
The great mystery of Immanuel is that God is with us, and that is enough.
Secondary scripture - Isaiah 7:10-16 - Immanuel
Virgin vs. young woman- does it matter?
most likely the young woman was already pregnant
“The child will be born to a "young woman" (Heb. 'almah) who is already pregnant and will give birth in the near future, as suggested by the Hebrew construction harah weyoledet ("is with child and shall give birth," v. 14).” - J. Blake Couey - Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
Is this miracle more important than bringing peace to the earth, sight to the blind, good news to the poor, letting the oppressed go free, etc.?
Matthew, Luke and other early Christians ascribe the name “Immanuel” to Jesus, this does not mean Isaiah was thinking of Jesus what he says this. Early Christians gave Jesus this name because he was a symbol of the hope embodied in this prophecy, just as “Son of Man” was a symbol of the faithfulness seen in King David (also known as the “Son of Man”)
In opposition to the Greek and Roman Gods coming down to rape or have sex with women and cause general pain, brokenness and discord the divine coming to Earth is for healing, hope, and peace - not lust, oppression, coercion and war. For more on this see Born Divine
Message of reassurance at the brink of doom
Assyrians and Ephraimites are coming in to make Judah a puppet state or destroy them
All is hopeless
Or is it?
Ahaz must ask for a sign - but won’t
afraid he won’t receive an answer
unwilling to trust in God
Ahaz was unfaithful - worshiped pagan God, set up a pagan altar in the temple
YET- God still will give anything to make the King trust in him
Parallel images of a growing child and a growing world- the Eschatological growth of the world= the biological and psychological growth of a child
Questions that Preach:
What is the true miracle of Christmas? That a virgin conceived and bore a son OR that a child was born and showed us the saving WAY of non-violence, love and grace?
Are we willing to ask God for a sign in the midst of despair? Are we still willing to turn to God over economic, political, or militaristic solutions?
What are the signs God is giving us today at this moments that “God is with us”?

Closing -
TY: listeners
Opening Music: O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Bad Religion
Transition Music: “Purple Rain” covered by Dred Scott
read more about Dred Scott and his music here!
Theme Music: Dick Dale and the Deltones “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music, Paul and Storm, “Oh No”

Contact us/ Leave comments:
Shout outs: Aaron Peterson said: “Love the site. Thanks. And really enjoyed the podcast.”
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes, [email protected].
39 min
December 09, 2013Ep. 41: We know Kung Fu! or Advent 3A
SHOW NOTES - 12/15/2013

Opening Music: 12 Days by Straight No Chaser
Matthew 11:2-11 - Are you the One?
Isaiah 35:1-10 - The Highway in the Wilderness
For Sunday, December 15
Episode 41
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast. This is the podcast for those that looked up Ezekiel 25:17, and were sorely disappointed. This is episode 41 for Sunday December 15, Advent 3A. We will be discussing:
Matthew 11:2-11 - Are you the One?
Isaiah 35:1-10 - The Highway in the Wilderness

Check-in
Accapelicious Day of Joy!
How to address this on the year anniversary of Newtown
Resources for remembering Newtown (special TY to Karen Ziel)
“I cry to you from the depths” by Robb McCoy
Prayer for Children from CT Conference of UCC
Forma Resources from the Episcopal Church - dealing with tragedy
Mary’s Place, a center for grieving children and families
Vibrant Faith resources on dealing with children and death
The Cove Center for grieving children
Textweek
Advent stuff!
Advent resources
Advent run to Bethlehem - On to Egypt!
Primary Scripture - Matthew 11:2-11 - Are you the One?
Confusion between Jesus and John the Baptist
Matthew 16:13-20
No Newspapers or media
Proclamation of repentance and new life to all people
Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, Essenes, poor carpenters.
Who is the One we are to follow?
Powerful - nope
Strong - nope
big words- no
isolating - no
actions that speak for themselves- yes
compassionate - yes
healing - yes
reconciling - yes
liberating - yes
Jesus proclaims himself as the one to be waited for
John is not needed to proclaim anymore- just to follow the One
Clear allusion to Isaiah 61 (the passage also quoted in Luke 4)
The blind see, the deaf hear, the poor have good news...but children are still being massacred in their schools- we aren’t there yet
John the Baptist might be happy for the lepers, lame, deaf and blind, but he is still in prison- where is his good news?
“Pastors, think about these people as Advent comes. You may not be able to bring them tidings of joy, but find ways to bring them tidings of comfort. It is great for the youth group to carol the lonely and then head back to church for hot cider and donuts. How about asking members of the youth group, one by one, to adopt a shut-in, or a person in hospital, or someone in a nursing home? How about inviting the youth to sit and talk for awhile—and even better, to sit and listen for awhile?” - David Bartlett - Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
What comfort it may be to remind people that even John the Baptist-the greatest of all those who were born of women- doubted, questioned, worried.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in prison asking “Who am I?”
Jesus’ answer is to look around us - what he has done
What evidence is there that Jesus is real?
What have you seen or experienced to show Jesus is real?
What would I be without Christ?
thank to Mark Yurs for the above thoughts from Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
Even the greatest on Earth are less than the Least of Heaven
Powerful message to celebrity preachers
Secondary scripture - Isaiah 35:1-10 - The Highway in the Wilderness
“Bridge between First and Second Isaiah” (Frank Yamada in Working Preacher).
Possibly same author as Second Isaiah, but not easy to figure out. Christopher Seitz’s commentary in Interpretation: Isaiah deals almost exclusively with these issues.
Comes after a string of dire warnings of the nations falling (like Edom in ch 34. Edom lies southeast of Judah and the Dead Sea.)
Points to the vision in 40:3 “Make level a highway in the wilderness for our God…”
Two Parts
vv 1-7: “Coming of the God” includes chiasm.
Creation - Humanity - God - Humanity - Creation
a (vv 1-2) Transforming the desert and wilderness
b (v 3) Transforming weak bodies
c (v 4) God comes.
b’ (vv 5-6a) Transforming weak bodies
c’ (vv 6b-7) Transforming the desert and wilderness (Brueggemann detailed this chiasm, but most interpreters see it as a focal point of this passage. Texts for Preaching, Year A)
At the center of the chiasm is “God who saves”
“With a vengeance and divine retribution”
Allow it to be God’s vengeance and Divine retribution, not ours. In other words, we don’t know what that looks like. In our limited, sinful mind, we almost automatically go to violence, but it is not left up to us to decide what this means. What we do know is that the weak and vulnerable are saved.
“this text helps us understand what it means to "be saved" in the Bible-not at all something that pertains only to individual souls, but rather a transformation of humanity and creation that enables all to sing together in present and eternal joy.” (Fred Gaiser in Working Preacher)
vv 8-10 “Return of the People”
There is no salvation apart from the community
Individual salvation is not a concept that Isaiah understands.
Path is safe
Even for fools
No predators
“The Holy Way”
Early Christians called followers of the Way.
Will we walk the Holy Way?
Will we notice the great things that are happening in our midst?
Can we see?
Can we hear?
Can we leap?
Can we sing?
Closing -
TY: listeners
Opening Music: 12 Days by Straight No Chaser
Transition Music: “Purple Rain” covered by Dekoor Close Harmony
Theme Music: Dick Dale and the Deltones “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music, Paul and Storm, “Oh No”

Contact us/ Leave comments:
Shout outs: Leanne Finamore, Jenee Woodard, Andrew Karrmonn @andrewkarrmonn
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes,
[email protected].
39 min
December 01, 2013Ep. 40: Why Can’t I find a Kingdom like that? or Advent 2A
SHOW NOTES - 12/8/2013
Why Can’t I find a Kingdom like that?
Matthew 3:1-12 - John the Baptizer
Isaiah 11:1-10 - Root of Jesse
Opening Music: Jesse’s Girl by Rick Springfield

For Sunday, December 8

Episode 40
Matthew 3:1-12 - John the Baptizer
Isaiah 11:1-10 - Root of Jesse

Check-in
A Long week
Advent TNS delay
Email was down
ilkwstern2000 for sending us our first e-mail
Winner of Evolving in Monkeytown
Vera van Haarlem @veravanHaarlem of Nederland (Netherlands)
Advent is Here!
Advent resources
Advent run to Bethlehem
Primary Scripture - Matthew 3:1-12 - John the Baptizer=
Not all Gospels have Jesus being born. All four have John the Baptist. All four
John the Baptist presents two problems:
1. Why was Jesus baptized if he was sinless?
2. Since John baptized Jesus, does that mean John is the leader?
Differences in gospel accounts point to passage of time and emphasis of the writer.
Mark’s version is very clear. John baptized Jesus.
John says “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals…” (Mark 1:7, CEB)
In Luke, the words of John are nearly identical “One stronger than me is coming…”
It is never said clearly that John baptizes Jesus. It just says, “When everyone was being baptized, Jesus also was baptized” (Luke 3:21, CEB)
Other parts are nearly identical to that in Matthew, but he says them to “the crowds.” The people ask, “What shall we do?” and he replies with similar lesson from Sermon on the Mount “whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”
Among the crowd are tax collectors and soldiers, both are given special instructions about not cheating anyone.
In Matthew, John protests directly to Jesus. “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?”
Jesus’ response is “This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”
This answers the first question which the other gospels ignore. Why was Jesus baptized?
Sort of mysterious statement, but it is consistent with the rest of Matthew that is interested in “fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.”
John does not mention sin directly in regards to baptism. He is baptizing “Those who have changed your hearts and lives.” More interested in true repentance, or aligning oneself and one’s actions to God’s will.
Christian baptism is not only about washing sin. It is about submitting to death, and rising again. Jesus aligns himself with sinners, so that they too may experience death and resurrection.
Argument for infant baptism - it is not about sin. It is about aligning yourself to God for all eternity. Why not do this as an infant?
John is preaching to the Sadducees and Pharisees. This sets up ongoing struggle - not between Jesus and the people, but between Jesus and religious hierarchy.
In the fourth gospel, John points at two different times to Jesus as “The Lamb of God,” but is never said that John baptized Jesus.
The differences may reveal the way the early church struggled with these issues. In era before mass communication, it is easy to imagine how Jesus and John could have been confused. The Gospel writers wanted to make sure the distinctions were made. As time went on, the distinctions became sharper, as reflected in the four Gospel accounts.
The Person of John
Not much known from the Gospel of Matthew. Nothing about familial relationship between Jesus and John.
Parallels to Elijah are intentional.
Wilderness = Preparation, reflection, and an element of danger. Separated from society
Classical Art of John the Baptist
Would Jesus Shop on Black Friday? by David Lose
The Message of John
Repentance and Judgment
This strange man in the wilderness puts an end to our romanticized, emotional look to the coming of an infant.
“We must not speak of God’s love coming down at Christmas without remembering that the divine love is fierce in its judgment upon those who resist love’s demand” (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew).
John warns against “resting on your laurels.” It is not enough to just claim Abraham as your Father. A changed heart has to follow.
“The Christian equivalent of ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ Is ‘We have Christ as our savior.’ While trust in Christ’s salvation is a first requirement, it is not the last” (Douglas Hare, Interpretation: Matthew).
Radical message that being a descendant of Abraham was not enough. One had to have faith and action like Abraham as well.
“Bearing fruit” is the key to John’s message. The only way to know if there has been repentance, is with fruit.
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand
“Heaven” used instead of “God,” probably because of Jewish reluctance to use the word “God.”
While there are elements of Matthew that tend to “spiritualize” the good news, this is more about respect to culture than a shift in premise. The Kingdom of Heaven is not about where you go after death. It reflects the power and ‘Kingship’ of God in the here and now.
Eschatological message of John is unavoidable. Symbolism of wilderness, clothes, diet, and chopping the tree, all signify that John is operating outside of the current era. He is speaking to an end, and a new beginning.
“John sees the judgment as already on the horizon and the basis for his urgent call for repentance. An appeal to belong to the elect group… will not save one in the fiery judgment” (Eugene Boring, New Interpreter's Bible: Matthew).
Secondary scripture - Isaiah 11:1-10 - Root of Jesse
Lion and Lamb- misquoted, actually is wolf and lamb
A word on interpreting OT prophecy as predicting Jesus
Upon encountering Jesus, Christians were reminded of the prophets words
this does NOT mean that the prophets were “predicting” Jesus
The Prophets were predicting the Kingdom of God - Isaiah is talking about Hezekiah, not Jesus - this message can remind us of Jesus, but doesn’t change that it was about Hezekiah
Christian interpret Jesus to be the catalyst for the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom
Does not supersede the prophets or the Old Testament
Begins with a stump
The useless remainder of something good
The Giving Tree
“This is how hope gets its start—it emerges as a tiny tendril in an unexpected place. Listeners might be asked to examine where the stumps are in their own lives;
where do they feel cut off?
Can they imagine or believe that even now God might be nurturing the growth of something new and good from their old, dead dreams?
They might consider what areas of their lives most need the promise of new life, and how they might become open to such newness.
Isaiah's promise is not just a future one; even now there are tiny signs of hope and life in places that look dead and discarded.” - Stacy Simpson Duke, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
Message of hope
Hezekiah will take something crappy and make something great
Obama and the Peace Prize
Holistic view of K of G
Includes all of creation: animals, the seas, the mountains
Creation will not be destroyed but transformed
What are the scary predators of today?
Human and institutional predators
Not about the Oppressed being vanquished but is an image of reconciliation
Paul Simpson Duke, notes the transformation of
Edward Hicks- Peaceable Kingdom- not the Native Americans and Quakers
Closing -
TY: listeners
Opening Music: Jesse’s Girl by Rick Springfield
Transition Music: “Purple Rain” covered by Martin Sexton
Theme Music: Dick Dale and the Deltones “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music, Paul and Storm, “Oh No”

Contact us/ Leave comments:
Shout outs: Jonathan Tomkins - quoting us in his November 24th sermon- listen to it here!
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes,
[email protected].
43 min
November 24, 2013Ep. 39: A1 Jesus Sauce or Advent 1A
Opening Music: One Light by 3 Doors Down
Matthew 24:36-44 - Be ready!
Isaiah 2:1-5 - The Lord’s Mountain
For Sunday, December 1
Episode 39
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, where two local pastors discuss the lectionary reading for the week. Rooted in scholarship and grounded in progressive theology, we hope to keep the discussion lively, challenging, insightful, and from time to time a little humorous. This is episode 39 for Sunday December 1, Advent A1. We will be discussing:

Matthew 24:36-44 - Be ready!
Isaiah 2:1-5 - The Lord’s Mountain

Check-in
Happy Thanksgiving in the US
Advent is Here!
Advent resources
Advent run
Primary Scripture - Matthew 24:36-44 - Be ready!
See Mark 13:28-37 and Luke 12:32-48
Parousia (coming)
Rapture text
Read The Rapture Exposed by Barbara Rossing
Left Below
Looking toward a new creation - the Kingdom of God
Christians live “between the times” of Creation and Re-creation
Second Exodus- people saved from sin, oppression and death
God is incarnate in history- not simply waiting to destroy the work
Noah
following parables - condemn those who did not care for creation
Stopped working (Mt 24:45-51)
Let the oil run out (Mt 25:1-13)
Wasted the talents (Mt 25:14-31)
Did not care for the least of these (Mt 25:32-46)
Literally? Why not? (Mark Yurs, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.)
You do not know when the end will come
Be faithful until it comes
keep milling
keep tending the fields
Life vs Death
Those who are faithful will live (like in Noah’s time)
Those who are not faithful will die (like in Noah’s time)
What does it mean to be faithful?
Timeline: http://www.countdown.org/ “Be born again” - Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey
You cannot predict
Not individual - communal
Individual - own personal Jesus, standing before the pearly gates to be judged
not individual - communal
Immediate - “The point is not to speculate about a day of judgment sometime in the future, whether at the end of all humanity or at the death of each individual, but rather to confront us with God's radical claims on us here and now. Each day is a day of judgment, so I should always be asking myself, Am I living in the way of Christ? Am I trusting in him alone? Have I allowed myself to be distracted by selfish cares?” - Jim Burgess, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.
not about the future- about today!
Secondary scripture - Isaiah 2:1-5 - The Lord’s Mountain
Exegetical Notes
Ch 2 is one considered an add-on by a later redactor. It contains the second of three introductions to the work.
“Chapters 2-4 are a collection of sayings from the prophet’s first period, but were probably put in this position by a later redactor.”Alberto Soggin Introduction to the Old Testament
This passage has close parallel to Micah 4:1-4. Not known which was first. Micah’s promise of salvation is to Israel. Isaiah’s is more universal in nature.
Pre-exilic Jerusalem - In a precarious political situation, wedged between the world powers of Assyria and Egypt.
Blame for Jerusalem’s position is placed on the people, who are sinful
Failure of the people in Isaiah “For Isaiah, too, human sin consists in a refusal to recognize divine sovereignty in the whole of life. Dishonesty, corruption, immorality, the thirst for riches and luxury, irresponsibility or downright oppression in the social sphere, syncretistic worship are all aspects of a basic attitude of human rebellion against the divine will.” Alberto Soggin Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 312.
Acts as introduction to Isaiah’s theme of promise in the midst of despair.
Immediately precedes oracle of great devastation and despair.
Isaiah is the most quoted book of Old Testament in the New Testament. Connection between promise as found in Isaiah and Kingdom of God in the gospels is easy to see.
Reinhold Niebuhr makes the connection:
“The prophet Isaiah dreamed of the day when the lion and lamb would lie down together, when , in other words, the law of nature which prompts the strong to devour the weak would be abrogated… Sometimes the contrast between the real and the ideal is drawn so sharply that the religious man despairs of the achievement of the ideal in mundane history. He transfers his hope to another world… It is the peculiar genius of Jewish religious thought, that it conceived the millenium in this-worldly terms. The gospel conception of the kingdom of God represents a highly spiritualised version of this Jewish millennial hope… Wherever religion concerns itself with the problems of society, it always gives birth to some kind of millennial hope, from the perspective of which present social realities are convicted of inadequacy, and courage is maintained to continue in the effort to redeem society of injustice.” Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society, p. 61.
Walter Brueggeman makes the connection in Texts for Preaching: A lectionary commentary based on the NRSV - Year A
The vision of Isaiah is “an act of imagination that looks beyond present dismay through the eyes of God, to see what will be that is not yet. That is the function of promise (and therefore of Advent) in the life of faith. Under promise, in Advent, faith sees what will be that is not yet.”
“Sharp contrast between what is and what will be.”
Centrality of Torah
Justice and peace come from “The Instruction… from Zion; the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.”
When the nations learn the Torah, then war is no longer needed as the arbiter. Instead, God’s will can be the judge.
The hope for peace lies in the Torah

Closing -
TY: listeners
Opening Music:One Light by 3 Doors Down
Transition Music: “Purple Rain” covered by Leroy Justice
Theme Music: Dick Dale and the Deltones “Misirlou”
TY: Closing music, Paul and Storm, “Oh No”

Contact us/ Leave comments:
Pulpitfiction.us, @pulpitfpodcast, facebook.com/pulpitfiction, iTunes,
[email protected].
42 min
November 23, 2013 Thurs. Night Special 5: Advent!
Thursday Night Special: Theological Ramblings, where Robb and Eric discuss ramdon theological thoughts and or "Churchy" stuff
This week we discuss Advent: where it comes from, How it has changes, Blue vs Purple, whether Christmas Songs should be sung before Dec 24 and we wish everyone a Happy Holidays!

Looking for Advent Resources? Click here!
34 min

About Pulpit Fiction Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Pulpit Fiction is a podcast hosted by Rev. Eric Fistler and Rev. Robb McCoy. It is a conversation guided by the Revised Common Lectionary, and includes thoughts about pop culture and current events.…