Year B, Ordinary 12 (Proper 7, Pentecost+5), 2018 – “I’m on a Boat!”
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Greetings!! We are beginning the new “slimmed down” version of our podcast this week. As we’ve mentioned in previous shows, David is about to go on a three month sabbatical starting in July. We spent some time discerning how this would effect this project and decided that we don’t want to stop doing it, but keeping up with three passages was going to be way too much. David will be traveling part of this time, and we just couldn’t quite figure out how to do a long distance recording. We’ve decided that we will instead simply focus our attention on one passage for the coming Sundays, probably the gospel lesson. This means we may not have any material for the Old Testament or Epistle lesson, unless that is the passage we choose to do. If you’ve been with us for a while, and have read some of our links to Multiple Intelligence Theory, you have some tools to jump in and try this process yourself! It’s like getting into the pool – once you get in, the water is great and a lot of fun! Please stay subscribed and thank you for your interest! And feel free to share any ideas you come up with, especially for the texts we miss.
The single passage we are focussing on today is the Gospel lesson from Mark. This is a very familiar story and if you’ve been doing this preaching gig for a while, you’ve come across this a time or three. We don’t have much new for the theology or exegesis of the passage – no flashes of insight about zeitgeist today – but we do have some fun ideas for each of the eight intelligences. Any one of these would be interesting to try and I know for a fact that we’ve done the special effect for EYE smart. I’ve seen the video! (I don’t know where it is, though…harumph.)
This week’s Gospel text is:
Mark 4:35-41 [03:22]
Ahoy, matey! Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are solidly into summer. This week’s passage has some earmarks of summertime vacations at the lake! We have boats and wind and water! But we also have storms and foundering and panic, which also may be part of your summertime history; I have a couple of those to tell. At any rate, the passage begins quietly with Jesus and the disciples getting away from the crowds and setting sail in the evening for the other side of the lake.
We begin our podcast with some WORD smart elements, because the Greek word mega is used three times. Try finding some other words in English that use “mega” as a prefix. We also have an idea for a special effect that has some EYE elements. For EYE smart, try telling this story visually as a skit. I know we’ve done this before for a Youth Sunday service at David’s church, and we had a lot of fun with it. Use your imagination and involve the congregation as much as you are able.
In MATH smart, we have an article that contains a chart explaining why boats float. It’s pretty simple, really, and for a special effect, get an aquarium and a toy boat to demonstrate the principle. Then, sink the boat! In BODY smart, we have an article from Psychology Today giving a brief rundown of hormones and stress and some tips to counteract them in times of crisis. We have a link to a poem and a hymn in MUSIC smart.
This story is full of NATURE smarts, and I went looking for information about windstorms over water. I found the link below that looks a weather event that happened on Lake Michigan that may have some connection to Lake Galilee. Essentially, when bodies of water experience disequilibrium, the water may surge and recede dramatically – and disastrously. Mark’s story is also a PEOPLE smart story, and this is usually where we “spiritualize” the storm. We have some commentary that does this in thoughtful ways. Finally for SELF smart, we have some ideas and questions for your own consideration and to give to your congregations to mull over in the coming days.
- Smarts – Word [04:46], Eye [06:33], Math [07:55], Body [09:34], Music [10:53], Nature [11:21], People [13:31], Self [17:36]
- Mark 4 worksheet
- Links in Mark
- WORD smart –
- MATH smart –
- An article at Explain That Stuff showing how a boat floats.
- BODY smart –
- An article in Psychology Today discussing the body’s response to fear.
- MUSIC smart –
- Maybe, a poem by Mary Oliver at “Journey with Jesus”
- Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
- NATURE smart –
- Did the Sea of Galilee experience a storm surge or a seiche?
- PEOPLE smart –
- commentary by Mark Davis at Left Behind and Loving It
- commentary by Mark Davis at Political Theology
- commentary by Jill Duffield, Looking into the Lectionary at The Presbyterian Outlook
- commentary by David Lose at …in the Meantime
Image Credit: Photo by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash. Used by permission.
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