Lectionary at Lunch. Reading through the Bible in Greek with a Free Tutor. (Part 3 – Free Internet Services That Really Work)
Lectionary at Lunch at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
You don’t get more geeky than the internet and original language bible study. Well, I’m a geek and proud of it. Next in my series on “Free Internet Services that Really Work” is Concordia Seminary St. Louis’ “Lectionary at Lunch.” When I was a lowly Seminary student every Wednesday I used to sit at the feet of the Exegetical (bible study from the original languages) Professors at lunch time and listen to them translate and explain the Old Testament (in Hebrew) and the Gospel Lesson (in Greek) for the upcoming Sunday’s readings in church. It was a great way to prepare for when my teachers called on me to translate passages of the bible in class.
When I became a pastor I discovered that keeping up on translating the bible for preaching became very difficult. The parish ministry has many demands on a pastor’s time. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to let the deep study of God’s Word in the original languages slide because it is very time consuming. The thing is, in preparing to be a pastor that kind of deep study was a daily occurrence. I spent countless hours parsing verb, diagramming sentences, and memorizing vocabulary. None of that time spent was useless as it has paid off in spades every time I open the texts in Hebrew and Greek. As one of my professors said, “Reading the bible in English is like kissing your wife through cellophane.” (I think it was Gibbs).
Enter Lectionary at Lunch. In the old days those lunch reading sessions were recorded and posted to the internet for download. Now they are podcast and available through many different channels on the net (see list below). They have since removed the Lunch and added the Epistle reading.
Lectionary at Lunch is no substitute for personal deep original language study of scripture but it is a great way to begin preparation for preaching. The professors read and translate the texts from the Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary and then add a few suggestions for preaching. One of the best features is the variety of ideas and emphasis that come across as the Exegetical professors take turns in the task.
As a side benefit, a busy pastor is able to keep his hand in the original languages even when his schedule is packed.
Concordia Seminary Web Site http://www.csl.edu/Resources_AudioVideo_LectionaryatLunch.aspx
Concordia Seminary on iTunes
Pr. Jonathan C. Watt
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