Tripp Fuller

In a world in which “you can’t always get what you want,” whether it’s justice, abundance, equality, or a decent political candidate, how do we continue to place our hope in God? Why should we place our hope in God?

Haggai 1:15b-2:9 In the midst of grave disappointment God says, “Don’t give up on me yet.” The presence of God is the promise of God’s acts in the future.

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 God is worthy of praise. Do we tell enough stories about what God has done that we know this to be true in the depths of our hearts?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Don’t worry: you haven’t missed the awesome thing that God is going to do, because God has that awesome thing in store for you. We can continue to hope, even if the present isn’t panning out like we expected.

Luke 20:27-38 The life to come is not just like this one. It offers freedoms and life that blow up all our categories. So when things seem to be hopeless, there is a hope beyond imagining still waiting.

 Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA where he is currently Pastoral Director for the Newbigin House of Studies. His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

Sometimes the chaos of the world compels us to call on God to set all things right. Sometimes the chaos of the world compels us to delight in God’s presence in the midst of hardship. Can we take hold of both?

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 A cry for justice in a time of uncertainty. And a renewed cry when God answers wrong. A call for patience as we await geopolitical transformation.

Psalm 119:137-144 Here we find righteousness not in a transformed world but in the Torah that God has given. Perhaps a call to find peace and joy in the presence of God even in the midst of geopolitical turmoil.

Luke 19:1-10 Did Jesus bring repentance to the house of Zacchaeus? Or did he recognize that Zecchaeus was already a child of Abraham? What message do we need to hear with respect to our own money? Comfort or challenge? Do we need to be chastised for our crowd-like presumption and grumbling?

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 Faith needs to get worked out in horizontal and vertical dimensions. And suffering is to be expected for those living out the story of the crucified Christ.

 Corinna Guerrero is currently the MTS Online Program Coordinator (Berkeley, Campus) and Lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at Santa Clara University. She holds these positions while writing her dissertation on motifs of atrocity in the Book of Judges. 

To read some of Corinna’s popular work see her cover article “Costly Scripture” for America Magazine and her essay “I am CHURCH” in Faithfully Feminist: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

In order for shame to be undone, our whole system of judgment must be turned on its head. God honors those whom the world would shame. But are we really ready to hear it? The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector might push us to our limits.

Joel 2:23-32 A holistic picture of salvation that turns the whole world on its head. It invites us to hope for a huge act of deliverance, but then asks us to be agents taking care of a big world as well.

Psalm 65 A psalm celebrating Joel’s God of “all flesh”—and all creation. It’s a God who receives praise from much more than human creatures.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 What Paul hopes in 1 Corinthians 9 is here fulfilled: a faithful finish to a race well-won. Are we adequately preparing people for such an end?

Luke 18:9-14 Are we ready to name the heroes who represent our smug? Are we ready to name the despised other who represent God’s grace and mercy? This parable can push us to our limits.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

What is the Bible and what are we supposed to do with it? What does knowing God mean, and how does scripture help? How will we know when we are seeing an accurate representation of God? These are the questions the Lectionary guides us through this week.

2 Timothy 3:14–4:5 Scripture is inspired by God—for making us wise for the salvation that appears in Christ Jesus. What it looks like to reframe our understanding of inspiration around the Christological purpose articulated in 2 Tim 3:13. 

Jeremiah 31:27-34 New exodus promises a new covenant. Jeremiah contends for a better covenant and a better understanding of God to go along with it.

Psalm 119:97-104 No equivocation about the Law here—in Ps 119 it is unequivocally awesome! But what does that mean for us who see Christ rather than the Law as the perfect embodiment of the will of God, and as the one whose knowledge transforms us?

Luke 18:1-8 Do we know who God is well enough to ask God for the things that God would only too readily give? Do we have the faith to entrust ourselves to the God who promises a love of justice?

 Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

How do we live as people who are not in charge? How do we live among a people who are not like us, how do we respond to life’s calamities, how do we respond to life’s blessings? What do our responses show us about what kind of people we are and how we do or don’t see God’s hand at work in the world?

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Are we ready to be a blessing to the city in which we find ourselves? Are we willing to come out of the greenhouse, out of the ghetto, and integrate with the city, seeking its good so that we can find our own?

Psalm 66:1-12 In order to praise God we have to respond to God’s great deeds—which means we have to notice them! Are we ready? Are we ready to do this as those watching for movements from suffering and trial to deliverance rather than as people who reap blessing upon blessing?

2 Timothy 2:8-15 Listen for the texture of the gospel story, carrying us from death to resurrection. Look for it at play in the text and in real life.

Luke 17:11-19 How Luke’s “man attested by God” radically reorients what appropriate worship looks like, and who’s actually doing it.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

A series of challenging passages invite us to image what sort of hope we have for the “life” that God promises us in Christ.

The passages this week are:

Luke 17:5-10

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26

Psalm 137

 Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

Tim Conder joins the LectioCast again, bringing his wisdom as a community organizer and pastor to texts calling us to account for how we look to God, how we deal with our money, how we love our neighbor. 

1 Timothy 6:6-19 Where pseudo-Paul comes in sounding a whole lot like Jesus, challenging us with warnings about money as people who live in a rich society with a superabundance of toys. It’s a text that strikes us in the reality of the place where we live. What practices might cultivate contentment with what we have so that we can also be generous with others?

Luke 16:19-31 A story with a deep twist, upsetting our political and economic expectations. We have the name of the poor man, but not the rich. That pretty much tells us what we need to know.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 Celebrating the deliverer, even for people who never see that deliverance on this side of death. We need to figure out what sort of refuge we’re talking about.

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 A loooooong story of buying a field, in front of people, showing that there will be buying and selling in Israel again. A sliver of hope in a ridiculous moment—something that invites us into a posture of collaborative directionality. 

Tim Conder is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, NC. He is also the author of Free for All: Rediscovering the Bible in Community and The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches into the Emerging Culture. He Vice-Chairs Durham’s MLK Steering Committee, co-leads the Clergy Caucus of Durham CAN (Congregations Associations and Neighborhoods), serves on the Ethics Committee of the Duke Medical Center, and is a Trustee at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. In addition to his work at Emmaus Way, Tim is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

Tim Conder joins the LectioCast to talk about lament, finding our role in the biblical stories, and understanding how Jesus confronts and overthrows the oppressive power structures of the world. 

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 The lament we need to embrace if we want to celebrate the comedy of the gospel. The right answer does not silent the cry of the people. This is a great chance to explore multiple voices, the truth of emotive experience, and the importance of empathy.

Psalm 79:1-9 Taking a step back to read our own narrative in solidarity with those who are struggling with God and deeply enmeshed in lament. We have the opportunity to name ourselves as an exilic people and therefore a people who are complicit in society’s failure.

1 Timothy 2:1-7 A text that we need to read with a full apprehension of how ancient people understood powers and how expansive patriarchy was. Here, the humanity of Jesus makes him the mediator and opens a new way to be human—including a reconfiguration of powers.

Luke 16:1-13 What do we do with this, one of the most troubling parables in the whole Bible? 

Tim Conder is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, NC. He is also the author of Free for All: Rediscovering the Bible in Community and The Church in Transition: The Journey of Existing Churches into the Emerging Culture. He Vice-Chairs Durham’s MLK Steering Committee, co-leads the Clergy Caucus of Durham CAN (Congregations Associations and Neighborhoods), serves on the Ethics Committee of the Duke Medical Center, and is a Trustee at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. In addition to his work at Emmaus Way, Tim is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina.

Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral

 This bonus edition was recorded before a live audience at the 2016 Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC. Michael and Daniel sit down to talk about how Christians should read the Old Testament. Do we take on board the NT authors’ view of things, that Jesus as Messiah is the interpretive key to the scriptures of Israel? This one has massive implications for not only preaching but our everyday reading, interpretation, and ethics.

Michael Kimpan has a proven history of leadership in helping individuals and institutions think critically about matters of faith and culture through his writing, teaching and consulting with churches, organizations, higher education institutions, NGOs and government agencies. HIs work has been featured by by Advocate magazine, Human Rights Campaign, The Huffington Post, CNN and TIME magazine as well as a number of nationally syndicated radio and podcast shows. Michael serves as the Connections Coordinator with OPEN Network, and is the founding Director of (un)common good collective. You can find out more about Michael at his blog, mjkimpan.com’

`Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Anti-creation. And it’s all the fault of God’s faithless people. Talk about terrifying.

Psalm 14 Here we face the question: what does it mean to consume God’s people? Slave labor? Prison industrial complex? It might be that we say “there is no God” in ways that we’d be surprised about.

1 Timothy 1:12-17 I make a big promise here: to show that something Paul says is something everyone can agree on. Let’s see if I can pull it off!

 Daniel Kirk is a writer, speaker, and blogger who lives in San Francisco, CA. He is also serving as pastoral director for the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. Daniel holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from Duke University and is the author of, Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God and Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? His third book A Man Attested by God: the Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels, is hot off the presses. He blogs regularly at StoriedTheology.com  (http://patheos.com/blogs/storiedtheology). You can follow him on Twitter @jrdkirk and on Facebook at Facebook.com/jrdkirk.