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Lectionary - August 2005 |
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August 7, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +12 Wesley White Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 or 1 Kings 19:9-18 Issues of inclusion continually crop up. Are we all slated to walk on water or just a select few? Is it one favored member of the family or are all important to the story? Is this all GOD's story or are we all partners in it? Do we justify exclusion because of the results we don't know how else to explain? Just how universal and deep is our faith are we when it comes time to turn the other cheek or otherwise attempt the impossible? Wesley White Matthew 14:22-33 Courage. We are not all water-walkers, at least mostly we are not. There are moments when it does happen. We are all encouragers of one thing or another. All you Barnabas and Barnabette types take note, there is a world full of recruits available to the "Take Heart" ministries so needed in a fearful culture. We can reach out to all those going down after getting into the storms following what were considered reasonable decisions. While we can acknowledge the doubts that come along we are also freed to remind folks that, given their experiences, they have come a remarkably long way along faith's journey. After Jesus and Peter enter the boat, there is no reason not to encourage them to try it again now that the waters have calmed. The good news here is not simply that Jesus is recognized as a "Son of God" but that courage has been evidenced, heart has been taken, learning has gone one, we need not give up after one failure. I keep awaiting the finding of a new old textual remnant that has it going this way: Jesus: You of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter: You're right. Let's try this again. Jesus: OK. Let's go back to the mountain and pray, then we'll give it another try. Although you do need to understand that walking on the water is no proof of anything other than an ability to be one with the water, to be one with the storms of life. It doesn't confer wisdom or authority that wasn't already present. Along with enough bucks it will get you a gourmet coffee. Peter: Oh, praying undergirds this. Let me make a note. Jesus: Make all the notes you want. Without the prayer they aren't worth the paper they are written on. Let me repeat, "You of little faith . . . ." Wesley White Matthew 14:22-33 If you are into movies as a metaphorical way of investigating scripture, you may want to check out the recent Walk on Water. A line from their trailer goes, "In a world of conflict, can a new generation forgive the sins of the past?" Is not forgiveness a sign of an ability to walk on water over the chaos of the deep past? Wesley White Romans 10:5-15 To name a name is to know the essence of that which is named. To name the name of Jesus, literally, gets us into the danger of not everyone who literally names Jesus enters the presence of GOD. To name the name of Jesus, metaphorically, gets us into the danger of seeking GOD's presence on our own. As we set about following the Way of Jesus, if not the spelling of Jesus, we live in the risk of the better danger. All who seek will find a generous response. This response is worth the risk. How do we assist one another in this journey, but by telling that which we know. Here we will speak of Jesus' Way and experiences of Wholiness Spirits. This is the inclusion we proclaim -- we have been welcomed and we, in turn, welcome. There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, Gay and Straight, Iraqi and American, or any other duality. All are on the journey, swift or slow, to GOD. Let's hurry up and enjoy one another. Wesley White Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b or Psalm 85:8-13 Sing for what can now be seen as providence. Once it could only be seen as disaster, but now, through the lens of steadfast love meeting faithfulness and righteousness cavorting with peace, we can glimpse a blessing in the midst of true disaster. This doesn't mitigate the troubles and or redeem the losses. This simply gives us a perspective from which to stand and take another step. What would this world be like if we had memorials to providence rather than to victors? to mystery of everyday living rather than to mechanical beasts? Consider what song you are singing. If it is too optimistic, get real. If it is too pessimistic, remember providence. Either way, lets continue to be a righteousness that goes ahead of GOD, making a path for GOD's presence. That's pretty good enough work. Wesley White Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 or 1 Kings 19:9-18 In a pit or in a cave or just standing on a corner, there can come a sudden question about who we are and what is happening to us and around us. This can strike whether we feel chosen, called, blest, favorite or if we have experienced being left out, rejected, unlucky, second-class. There is not much escape from such moments. If we are fortunate we have a community of trusted folks with whom we can check our sensibilities. If we are alone we are thrown on our own resources, our memories, our hopes, a whisper, an echo of a far-off hymn. May you be given the gift of a plethora of options for such moments in your life when it feels like wandering and numbness are setting in. May you be given the gift of a friend who notices and walks alongside. Wesley White Romans 10:5-15 We are what we do. What do we do and what is the basis of our doing that keeps us doing what we do do well? These have to do with community (the law) and heart (the Christ) working together. This has been imaged as "good cop" and "bad cop", foreground and background, inner and outer, and several other "thises" and "thats" that complement one another. One of the differences I experience between some form of literalized fundamentalism and creative progressivism is that of flip-flopping between the two poles to see how to keep things under control and that of rubbing the two poles against one another to see what sparks fly. Rub well. Wesley White Matthew 14:22-33 You of little faith. Why did you doubt? What's that next line that shows up in chapter 27? Oh yes, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This doubt business goes to the heart of things. Adam and Eve did it, Cain did it, Mary did it, even God did it. Why it is almost part of love, part of maturing, part of new life. It may be behind Jesus' second resurrectional visit to the disciples, specifically to acknowledge the doubting process and to offer more than propositional faith. Practice and experience are crucial steps to move through doubt that a simple berating for not having made it to some particular level of testing at the right grade will never overcome. When it comes to faith we leave all manner of GOD's children behind because we don't pay attention to categorizing and practicing the experiences that lead to faith. Christians have much to learn from the Buddhists in this regard. Contemporary American United Methodists have much to learn from their own early traditions that have been left unattended for generations. Finally we are all in the same boat. Recognizing we are all in the same boat we can stop being blowhards about faith (no wonder the wind stopped). If you can't handle everyone being a sinner, can you affirm that we are all doubters? This may not be so much about Jesus the water-walker as it is the humanity of all of us. Sort of a strange way to find comfort in the midst of whatever storm is brewing or blowing around me. How is it with you? This ability to doubt and continue is bedrock material for progressive prophets. How else see through the blowhards [whether you are the latest in line like David Seamands or Robert Novak or the next in line like _____(your name here)_____] of our time? Perhaps remembering that we are all in the same boat will keep us all a bit more humble and realistic and willing to learn through the doubting process. August 14, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +13 Wesley White Genesis 45:1-15 or Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 In today's world of negative campaigning it is so easy to ask the question of what defiles and to avoid the question of what evidences mercy. As you come into this week pay attention to the many ways in which (y)our first response is the negative one of finding the differences among us rather than noticing the commonnesses among us. To be aware of our tendency to blame first is to be able to catch ourselves at the blame game earlier and earlier. This will allows opportunity to enter into the mercy game earlier and earlier. Wesley White Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28 It is not what goes into our mouths that defiles us. It is not what goes into the mouths of our enemies that defiles them. Our mouths are different but our need for food is the same. It is so easy to focus on mouths with full lips or thin lips, rosebud lips or no lips. We can categorize mouths until the cows come home (been kissed by cow lips recently?). This business is so difficult that even Jesus had trouble with distinguishing the limits of like lips from the commonality of food to pass those lips. In today's world it easiest to find this same difficulty in the political realm of Party (whatever one you want to look at). We automatically give credence to our own and disparage anyone from a different Party. The woman's faith was great, to keep on claiming her commonality. Jesus' faith was great, to finally hear that claim and respond to it in a positive manner. How great is your faith? How great is the faith of the congregation with which you associate? How great is the faith of the community/nation you participate in as citizen? Wesley White Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 Has GOD rejected creation? If you say, "Yes," to any of these, how do you get out of the eternal threat that at any time GOD will, for whatever reason, reject you? If you say, "No," to all of these, how do you get out of the eternal work of expressing inclusion? Wesley White Psalm 133 or Psalm 67 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity. Note, this is far, far different than living in uniformity. When this is not only our intention, but our experience, we claim that GOD's graciousness and mercy are evidenced in our midst. So, where have our intentions run awry and amok? Who is not in unity? The prophets would have us look first to the poor, the outcast, the weak, and the minority, in whatever forms those take. Given the sweep and the specificity of their vision it is important to note both the big issues of poverty that affect everyone (including those currently rich) and the personal issues of those we have a particular affinity with. Just as each of us have a different set of gifts to add to the common good, so each of us have a different set of sensitivities to a person or group who is left out of unity. The deal here is not to claim everyone needs a particular gift to belong or that everyone needs to be focused on the same brokenness of unity. These simply leads us back into more or less sophisticated forms of uniformity. Interested in a good and pleasant life? It can't be done in isolation from the unity issue. A parallel is found in the American pursuit of happiness. If we don't care for the unity issues inherent in a common defense of all and the general welfare of all, we will miss the the mark of happiness. Wesley White Genesis 45:1-15 or Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 Once family feuds get rolling it is extremely difficult to break them. Even the one who has the power to shift the ground of relationship seems to have to work up to it. Having decided to reconcile, it is interesting to compare this the process of going first to the injuring/injured party and for the public nature of it to come forward later. At any rate, having the outcasts and the casters-out brought back together is a momentous occasion. This may be a reason we get back together so hesitantly. Inherent in the outcasts being gathered together is the understanding that such a specific action will grow to become the norm, and then where would we be -- "the more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we will be" is pleasant to sing about, but only in small doses. We are hesitant to let this expansive regathering loose by providing even a small family regathering as its seedbed. Not only are Joseph and his brothers re-gathered, but the promise is set loose that all separations shall be overcome. At this point we will be up against universal salvation, which is, somehow, more than our idealized reconciling mercy can bear. Wesley White To follow the unity/uniformity discussion from the Psalm comments, you may find this article by Joan Chittister to be helpful. Wesley White Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 I'd like to see this passage expanded to include verse 28 -- Regarding this part of life, such and such, regarding that part of life, such and such. This compartmentalism of life comes in helpful and unhelpful ways. Helpfully, we do find it advantageous to be able to focus without being overwhelmed with everything, sort of like the old joke about why God created time -- so everything wouldn't happen at the same time. Unhelpfully, we begin to think our compartments are true. Helpfully, we can still affirm that folks are doing the best they know how, it is just that they happen to be working out an inappropriate-to-the-situation compartment. Unhelpfully, we begin to act on our compartmentalized thinking. Awareness of the compartments of our own and others is a beginning step on being a partner with GOD and knowing what to do with those silly keys left in our hands to bind and unbind, to open and shut compartments. May you "aware" well with those you come in contact with. Wesley White Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28 Moral platitudes are distinguishable from moral behaviors. When we talk values talk it is important to emphasize that spoken commitments require expression in external action. One of the interesting processes of life is the way in which we posit good stuff in one moment and in the next we find opportunity to put that to the test. Its not what goes in to a person, but what comes out of them. What has gone into a Canaanite woman has been generations of a specific tradition and a life-time of relationships. What has come out of her has been advocacy for a sick daughter. What has gone into Jesus has been generations of a different specific tradition and a life-time of relationships. What has come out of him, eventually, has been satisfaction for a sick daughter. As we proceed we will always be tempted by the various specific traditions we have experienced -- tempted to have the specifics divide and sub-divide us. Of better assistance will be moving through those specifics to a different set of specifics, the relationship ones, where we can more easily grow from the helpful, fertilizing, past of the traditions handed down to us and avoid the unhelpful, weedy, past of that same tradition. Yesterday the news came that our ELCA cousins kept their status quo of tradition and left the healing of gay sons and lesbian daughters waiting for 2009. This is not a casting of stones as my own denomination has done that, and worse, but another great sadness that the time between when we mutter about dogs and their food and we affirm great faith coming from a surprising quarter seems to take forever. The work of the Holy Spirit can still be found in this in-between time as we resist and struggle with learning new things once too difficult for our ancestors in our tradition, and even ourselves growing out of such a tradition. May our times between dogs and daughters be shorter and shorter. August 21, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +14 Wesley White Exodus 1:8 - 2:10 or Isaiah 51:1-6 To bind or not to bind, that is a question. Do we do so proportionally? Do we entrust to dark waters a dream to see if it sink or swim? Do we participate in victory or turn it all over to some greater power? The question of binding goes on past every choice that is made and challenges us before every next choice. Wesley White Matthew 16:13-20 Caesarea Philippi was a place of diverse political and religious authority. When asked how Jesus was seen, we hear reports of diverse ways of putting Jesus into other schemes. When asked how Jesus was seen by the disciples, they report from their point of view -- Messiah. Nothing new here -- he is who he is and we see whom we see. What is new is a locus of authority that is shared. The community has authority (where two or three pray, etc.) to bind and loose. These are the same qualities Jesus claimed on his own -- "not a jot or tittle will be lost," "... but I say to you ...," "Spirit will lead you into more than was knowable earlier." The past, the present, and the future are connected to lead us beyond them, to GOD. With the keys we have the Jesus equivalent of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in our midst. Now how are we going to use them? Our heritage seems to be -- Mostly to bind with a little loosening when absolutely forced by generations of a larger truth. With Eve and Adam we have tasted choice and decided to hide behind the leaves of doctrine. As we needed to get beyond Eden, so we need to get beyond Church, State, and the Economics of the day. No wonder Jesus didn't want the disciples to say anything about this. What follows is a recognition that to appropriately use the keys is to put one so at odds with the cultures of the day that the mystery of death and resurrection need to be directly faced. Much easier to use the keys to teach us to hate those our relatives hate. The disciples weren't ready to be built into the anarchy of Jesus' way to GOD. But the hope is present that we will really bind evil and really release love. May this way of living continue breaking the bounds of Hades and other ignorances. Wesley White Romans 12:1-8 Ahh, a sweet renewal of our minds! What else is both so fearful and so freshening? We are asked to do this in light of that which offers a larger meaning than we have so far known. This is talked about in shorthand as the desire of GOD. The longer version contains many stories and fits and starts toward a next plateau. May we appeal to each other to not be conformed to this present time. It is this opening that is so crucial to moving into renewal. First, discontent, cognitive dissonance, then renewal -- a vision beyond and energy and community to transform it from vision to practice. This growth pattern is a part of the grace of humility, personal and communal. Thanks be for being knocked down a peg or two regarding our surety of the present. Thanks be for friends of sober judgment who encounter us in our low moments and clear our eyes to look higher than ever before. Wesley White Psalm 124 or Psalm 138 Good old Lord. The one that was bound to our side. Or was it us bound to Lord's side? Either way -- what a team! What a symbiosis! Lord provides protection and we provide praise. Hard to imagine a better scenario. We get to avoid responsibility, except for coming up with sufficient tribute, and get green pastures and an "arrogant soul" (alt. trans. 138:3) on top of this. What is your speculation regarding what would happen should this relationship loosen up? That is sort of where we are today in the realm of religious understanding as we wrestle with one another about whether we return to bondage of past relationships or are loosed to recommit to one another and all in a new manner. What would it mean to not escape, but to simply be in the presence of steadfast presence, both Lord's and ours? Wesley White Exodus 1:8 - 2:10 or Isaiah 51:1-6 Look to bricks (our lived reality). Look to a rock (a sign of release). Look to a flimsy papyrus basket and chaotic waters (our lived reality). Look to the heavens and earth (signs of release). As we play with that which binds (our lived reality) and that which looses (signs of release) we recognize that these play back and forth in mysterious ways that cannot be well anticipated. A release becomes a binding because of our lived realities (those now in power insist on control through destruction -- Tom Ehrich's comment today includes: "Pharaoh's strategy to secure his rule by destroying other lives wasn't original to him. Killing baby boys was Herod's answer, too. Killing entire families was Hitler's. If you look inside any of the cruelties that plague our world, from genocide to office politics, you will see exactly this: one rules by destroying another, a few rule by destroying many, or many rule by destroying a few."). A captive people leave a country and cause others to have an exodus from their country as they come to claim it. A constitution that frees landholding white males continues seeing blacks as fractional people and women as no one. A wall is built to divide a city and political blocs. A system of intentional racial divide makes law after law to make others powerless. An overthrow of economic colonialism sets up fights and divisions based on religious sensibilities. The list goes on. That which seems so set in stone falls apart at a moments notice, releasing new life for more folks. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions are set up, pardons are given, amendments are made, walls do fall, etc., etc. Each of these bindings and loosings and bindings . . . are still being worked out. There is nothing new under this sun. Listen for the swing of the pendulum that we might do our part to shorten binding times and lengthen loosing time. Wesley White Romans 12:1-8 Individually we are members of one another. Ouch. This means my well-being is tied up with yours and vice versa. It means your captivity limits my own living. None are saved, whole, well, until all are. And, yet, we are called to live forward from the future rather than from this present. We are called to live well in them midst of captivity. We are called to use our experiences and promises of wellness to model freedom for the captive parts of our common living. It is possible to live this call, to live ahead of our times, to help the rest of ourself to take advantage of the ever present opportunity to change for the better. This is not pop positive-thinking, this is very practical living toward salvation. Wesley White Matthew 16:13-20 Blessed are those who can see beyond the common sense of their day and past their own experiences. This is a gift of grace. This goes further than the gift to see ourselves as others see us or even to come as close as we can to seeing ourselves. While the church is built on this sort of visioning that goes past what is politically feasible (see the minutes of every church council) it still seems to build crookedly on that foundation by overemphasizing systems and methodologies that rely on majority votes (whether those are accumulated by persuasion of memes or muscle). This is part of the reason renewal movements of prophets so often fall on deaf ears. There is no willingness to have revelation again shift the ground from the lowest common denominator or our own proclivities. Even if we built well on a revelational foundation we find ourselves behind the eight-ball when a next revelation comes to teach us what was too difficult for us in the past. It reminds us that even, and even especially, foundations do shift. Renewal is always in order as the foundations shift again. As difficult as they are, such shifts bring new breathing room. So take a deep breath and shift into the next, yet unclear, foundation. August 28, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +15 Wesley White Exodus 3:1-15 or Jeremiah 15:15-21 Are you ready for GOD to repay you for leaving your life behind? Are you ready for GOD to repay the one who has had their life left behind because of you? Would it surprise you to learn that GOD's vengeance is the same as the vengeance we are called to -- heaping coals of undeserved kindness on folks who have injured another? Wesley White Matthew 16:21-28 What a difference a slightly different sentence structure makes! "... and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." "... and those who lose their life, for my sake, will find it." It is all to easy to read the first as a narrowing of the beneficiaries of Jesus' incarnate living. It is easier to read the second as a widening of GOD's expansive love and some expression of universal love and salvation that includes our slips and foibles as well as our moments of coming through. Which reading gives you the greatest pleasure as you look at your own life or the life of someone who bombs occupying troops or authorizes unconscionable debt of another individual/nation or individually tortures, BTK-style, or avoids every external sign of sin? We find it easier to see Jesus' intention, for his sake, that everyone find their way to paradise here and onward, than to see Jesus' intention to separate folks forever on the basis of a latest piece of information rather than a possible next piece. Stand by for payment and repayment that comes from Jesus' intention, not our deserving. This follows up on not blocking Jesus' intention (16:23) and anticipates a generosity past our usual way of doing business (20:15). (Our bias is to end this pericope with verse 27 and to attach verse 28 to the transfiguration story. More about this next Transfiguration Sunday.) Wesley White Romans 12:9-21 Wouldn't it be something if we really can't separate GOD's vengeance from our own? There is a sense in this passage that we can be the "good cop" while GOD will be the "bad cop." We can be nice, but GOD will put the screws to those who foul up. If, however, what is good for the goose is good for the gander, what is good for creation is good for creator, then we begin to find the hard part of the passage. We can no longer sit back and wait for folks to get their comeuppance because it isn't going to come. GOD's goodness to others will be a heaping of coals upon our own heads, as well as theirs. In fact it may be harder for us who are rooting so diligently that someone is worse than we are so we can be graded by GOD on some cosmic curve that will let us slide by any negative vengeance. We may just have to start retranslating the Bible in light of what we now understand about GOD rather than what we used to understand. Wesley White Vengeance is very close to violence. Just a reminder of a wonderful event coming this November - - Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki will be present in Eau Claire Wisconsin, November 11-12, 2005 to look at "Forgiveness as Power: Transcending Violence." More information can be found at our Kairos CoMotion website: KairosCoMotion.org. Wesley White Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c or Psalm 26:1-8 Among the generalized wonders of creation are specifics: Abrahamic icons of Israel/Jacob and Moses/Aaron who have learned integrity and trust by altar dancing and thanks singing. Mind you, there have been wrong altars frolicked about and more thanks carping than was seemly. Nonetheless, lessons have been learned and decisions remade from installing crafty foes to revealing steadfast presence. Give thanks for moving past times of trickery and falseness, past time of tests and failures. Give thanks for new ways to keep intact old relationships. Give thanks for soft words turning us from the elitism of vindication to the commonness of compassion for life in all its ups and downs. Wesley White Exodus 3:1-15 or Jeremiah 15:15-21 Moses has strange things to tell folks from his outsider position of being both the princess's boy and a self-exiled murderer. Jeremiah has strange things to tell folks from his insider position that is being spun against by loyalist prophets. Which strange message would you prefer to be offering in today's world? Our understanding of the situation we are in will determine whether we play or avoid playing Moses or Jeremiah. Are you called to work from the inside or the outside? It is important to identify this so you can come to terms with your disappointments and options when your message isn't heard. In such cases it is not enough to simply switch sides and think you can do any more from the other position. If called to work inside, work inside; if called from the outside, work outside. Most likely, which ever way you come to the issues of the day, you won't be heard (Jonah seems to be an exception and remember how disappointed he was to be heard -- as much as Moses and Jeremiah and you for not being heard). So come to grips with that and do what you do do well. It would be helpful to work in concert with other insiders or outsiders. They can help with your spiritual health issues in a world that acts as though physical health trumps everything else. Travel the I-AM-way and persistently sell an expansive love in the face of every argument to the contrary. Wesley White Romans 12:9-21 Friends, Romans, Countryfolk, and Lurkers, lend me an ear. Thanks. Now let me give it back to you with interest. No, not with poison tragically poured into it, but with a comedic filter that lets you hearken to the sorrow of the day, the bitterness of the years, the fear of the generations in such a way that you might yet hear a way in which others might yet allow a renewed love into their experiences. When listening to the poison of the day, assassination folderol and the like, may its screams not drown out the Elijah whisper of hope. What we listen to, we respond to. Yes, acknowledge the pain loudly around and about. Even more yes, rejoice in love, mutual affection, honor, patience, perseverance, hospitality, blessing, harmony, nobility, peaceable living, overcoming evil with good, and on and on. Bless your ears -- whether they hang low and wobble to and fro or perk up and fun pun new insights beyond stodgy dogmatic repetition. What are you hearing these days? Wesley White Matthew 16:21-28 "This must never happen!" is the cry of the past as it confronts possibilities yet available that will transform it. A part of the hubris of all of us is that our experience becomes normative. A part of growth is being aware of the experience of others. Instead of denial about the mystery of GOD and Neighbor (as though we have them covered with creeds and dogmas and stereotypes) it is helpful to say, "What is that about for you?" and "What options are open for a response in such a case?" It is instructive to consider what we are willing to do to avoid having any real information that might lead us to grow beyond where we have come. The very struggle to get this far slows us from going further. Political issues of the dead have come back to haunt a president who has studiously avoided that reality. Intellectual sloppiness of allowing a comparison of content (science) with no content ("intelligent" design) keep confusing school boards and church members. We could go on regarding sexuality, faith, mental health, and topic after topic that we subvert by crying out that we have enough information and that which we have conspires with itself to put forward the lie that anything other than what we have is impossible. Know that change is the nature of life. As such we ought to at least grin each time we hear someone claiming there is no choice but to stay where we are. A grin is much healthier than an anger that leads to simply saying the opposite. A grin helps us find balance in the midst of living. We do so get caught up with the words of scripture alone, so it would have been nice to have seen Jesus grinning, instead of scowling, as he deals with Peter's stuckness. |
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