Sneaking Up

As it turns out, I’m preaching tomorrow at the feast of Hugh of Lincoln. I’ve drawn Hugh before in the rota, so I have a sermon in a file that only the faculty might remember (and not all of them). But because I have a stubborn streak, and do feel as though I ought not simply recycle all the time, I’ll probably try to work up a new sermon in between course preps and writing up my response to Stanley Hauerwas for the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting.

Yes, I’m responding to America’s Best Theologian, my former teacher and Margaret’s present teacher; it was supposed to be a response to his commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, but Stanley didn’t get the commentary close enough to readiness, so instead I’m responding to one of his meditations on the Seven Last Words, the only one drawn from Matthew’s Gospel, which draws on wording first reported in Mark. So if you think there’s something a little off-center about a Matthew guy giving a response to a theological ethicist about a reflection on the words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as they appear in Matthew, even though the identical phrase appears in the New Revised Standard Version of Mark, also, then you’re probably on target.
But first things first: a sermon for Wednesday, for which the readings are
Psalm 112:1-9, Titus 2:7-8,11-14, and Matthew 24:42-47; I’ll probably preach on Titus, I think. I’ll post the result here when the dust clears.

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