It took a year to read the Bible, then almost 9 months to read the Apocrypha. Now, I'm going to try to offer reflections on the Narrative Lectionary. But, I won't be posting daily--at least, for a while.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Underdogs can win, a Reflection on 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5

I'm offering this reading as a bonus this week because it is in some lectionaries.
Read Malcom Gladwell's analysis of how underdogs can overcome more powerful opponents in How David Beats Goliath" in the May 11, 2009, issue of the New Yorker. Here's an excerpt:
When the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the herd, I would go out after him and strike him down and rescue it from his clutches," David explained to Saul. He brought a shepherd's rules to the battlefield.
In our lives, we often are willing to give in to what seems to powerful or pervasive to overcome--poverty, greed, fear, e.g. John H. Hayes, in Preaching through the Christian Year B, cautions us not to read this story of David's success as one that encourages us to overthrow those forces with violence. Rather, we should model David's faith, "The Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's."


The battle is the Lord's, but we aren't supposed to cower in the crowd. We are to step up and out.

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