Lesson Plans: Proper 17 (B)

Old Testament Lesson Plans: A Call to Love

Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:8-13

We continue to remember Israel’s leaders and how they strived to serve God. Each had their own challenges and gifts. The need for faithful leadership continues today and we seek wisdom from how these leaders sought the welfare of their people and showed their devotion to God.

We do not hear from this book of the Bible very often. It is filled with love songs, some of them erotic. This passage describes a time of renewal and issues an invitation to love. We can read this as an invitation to enjoy the Reign of God already present through loving and serving God, to experience the harmony of nature and relationships in this realm, and to explore the goodness God promises and its similarity to the land of Eden at Creation. Tradition suggests that this was written by King Solomon.

New Testament Lesson Plans: What Does Defile?

Scripture: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Temple security guards, those responsible for guarding the purity of the religion, are getting hung up on rules that seem urgent to them but they are missing what is important. Jesus dismisses their concerns about who washed what and insists that these concerns are reducing the ability to hear and do God’s word. What is important is not what goes into the body, it is what comes out of our hearts.