15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year B:  July 8, 2012

First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10

Arthur and the Sword by Robert Sabuda

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: “The Lord said to you: ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.” As we have read over the summer, David’s story is one of someone small, young, and unexpected being called as king. Arthur was another small, young, unexpected boy called and chosen to be king in his time. While you can find Arthur’s story in a variety of anthologies and library books, Sabuda’s edition offers lovely images to accompany the tale.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

The Greedy Sparrow: An Armenian Tale by Lucine Kasbarian

(Written for ages 5-9)

Comment: “Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh…” Though we can only venture a guess as to what Paul’s thorn was,  he says it was given to him to keep him from being too elated. His reflections suggest that he was able to find a helpful purpose in it’s presence. Kasbarian’s folktale begins with the pain of a thorn. Free from the pain of the thorn, the sparrow grows greedy and sings with elation at what he’s accomplished. The tale ends “leaving the sparrow as he began… with nothing but a thorn in his foot!” Readers are left hoping the sparrow will discover a lesson through his experience.

Gospel Reading: Mark 6:1-13

Not the Piano, Mrs. Medley! by Evan Levine

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: “He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” This text can be a hard one for us to think about in a culture where we have gadgets for everything and we like our stuff. However, our things can weigh us down and keep us from the actual task at hand. Not the Piano, Mrs. Medley! is a great story and visual experience of a person weighed down and delayed by too much stuff. Jesus shared with the disciples that they didn’t need to take much to follow him and do the work to which they were called. This reading presents a good opportunity to reflect on what we need to follow Jesus today versus what delays us from our path.

This week’s Lectionary Links are written by regular contributor Noell Rathbun-Cook.

Lectionary Links: Sunday, July 8, 2012 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.