Luke 19:1-10 Ezekiel 34:11-16

The gospel story is precisely this: it is a story. It is not a collection of esoteric philosophical musings, nor is it a reflection upon a series of mystical experiences or contemplative insights. The gospel story is a narrative, or rather a series of narratives; it issues from the testimony of those who saw and heard and touched; it is witness to that which became visible and tangible in our human history. - John Colwell, The Rhythm of Doctrine

Ezekiel 43:1–5 and 47:1–12; Rev 22:1–5

"We need a way of approaching Scripture that will move us very concretely from our overreliance on information gathering to an experience of Scripture as a place of intimate encounter." - Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms

Ezekiel 37:1–14; John 20:19–23

Whenever we pick up the Bible, read it, put it down, and say, "That's just what I thought," we are probably in trouble. The technical term for that kind of reading is "proof-texting." Using the text to confirm our presuppositions is sinful; it is an act of resistance against God's fresh speaking to us, an effective denial that the Bible is the word of the living God. The only alternative to proof-texting is reading with a view to what the New Testament calls metanoia, "repentance" - literally, "change of mind." - Ellen Davis, "Teaching the Bible Confessionally in the Church"

2 Samuel 6:1-11; Luke 8:40-48

We do not invite the text into a transformation of its original meaning, into a new application geared toward our thought forms; rather, the text invites us into a transformation of allegiances and commitments, which will manifest itself in behaviors appropriate to our social worlds. - Joel Green, "Practicing the Gospel in a Post-Critical World"

Daniel 5 Luke 20:5-19

Our understanding does not seamlessly conform to God's reality, and instruction that suggests otherwise inevitably distorts the truth. The explanatory power such instruction generates is a mark of propaganda, not faithful Christian witness. Good teachers do not make Christianity easier for students by providing them with counterfeit clarity. If anything, they "jack up the price" by leading students more deeply into the subject matter, which in turn generates even more profound questions. - Adam Neder, Theology as a Way of Life

Genesis 18:16–33; Matthew 11:20–24

Interpretations of Scripture are not just right and wrong, although at times such categories are useful and necessary. But perhaps ultimately a more adequate way of judging our readings is the way we judge works of art - according to the standards of beauty. To what extent do our readings reveal the intricacy, the wondrous quality of what the biblical writers call ma'asei Adonai, "the works of the LORD"? To what extent do they draw us toward something, a way of being that is - to use Paul's language - more "lovely," more "gracious," more "excellent," "noble," "worthy of praise" (Phil 4:8)? - Ellen F. Davis and Richard B. Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture

Genesis 3; Matthew 4:1-11

Biblical authority is tied inseparably to the author's intention. God vested his authority in a human author, so we must consider what the human author intended to communicate if we want to understand what God's message is. Two voices speak: the human author is our doorway into the room of God's meaning and message. Thus, when we read Genesis, we are reading an ancient document and should begin by using only the assumptions that would be appropriate for the ancient world. We must understand how the ancients thought and what ideas underlay their communication. - Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton, The Lost World of the Flood

Acts 8:26-40

Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17

Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

The Spirit is given to begin the work of making God's future real in the present. ... Just as the resurrection of Jesus opened up the unexpected world of God's new creation, so the Spirit comes to us from that new world, the world waiting to be born, the world in which, according to the old prophets, peace and justice will flourish and the wolf and the lamb will lie down side by side. - N. T. Wright, Simply Christian