20/20 Hindsight
Topic: Lectionary
Finding our present in the past
This week’s Lectionary:
psalm 119.97-104, jeremiah 31.27-34, luke 18.1-8, & 2 timothy 3.14 – 4.5 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3.16-17
Meditation: …'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" (Luke 18.3b-5)
Reflection: It's easy to miss the point. One should not, after all, pray to God this way! Badger God, hound God, throw all God's promises into God's face and demand that the Judge of the universe do right? Far be that from us, for whom decorum determines godliness. God hears us the first time we pray! Admittedly the judge was evil; but isn't this a contrast parable, implying how much more quickly God will answer our prayers?
Consider: In this week’s scriptures, I think the lectionaries’ point is to point us in the direction of praying really, really hard—persistently working toward God’s ends with great determination. However, that’s not how these pan out for me…
Psalm 119 has always been a bit of a paradox for me. I mean that we are not given the author’s identity (many believe that it is a psalm of David), but without knowing his specific difficulties with authority, those in power, the elderly, etc., we are simply guessing at what his problem really is. There is one point of view represented, and we never really get the other side.
Much of this psalm sounds like an arrogant youngster, complaining (as we do) about how the power structures’ and such “don’t get it.” And then there is the point of view that he really has been disservices by know-it-all leaders, bent on keeping him in his place. It’s probably accurate, that the truth of his circumstances lies somewhere in between.
Scripture is full of folks believing that God is on their side because they are right. Fortunately, God has wonderfully preserved their stories as “earthen vessels” that captures their most base character flaws for our benefit.
When we get to Jesus’ parable about the unjust judge, we are tempted to believe that he is giving us a pattern for prayer. The trouble is that this picture looks nothing like the “Our Father,” and leaves his question, about finding faith on the earth at his return, hanging in mid-air.
We are great at bugging God to give us everything we want, ensuring that we never suffer inconvenience or discomfort, calling it prayer, but if prayer is “communing with God,” surrendered listening to the master, perhaps we would find ourselves in the position of fulfilling God’s Kingdom here on earth, just as in heaven.
Unjust judges are slow to hear the cries of the least important. I suggest that if we were to spend less time burdening God with how right we are, deferring to listening to him in our weakness, I am sure that he will find faith on the earth, his will being done…
Just a thought. 2 timothy 4 .1-5
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 5 As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Posted by Pastor Kork
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, 26 October 2007 12:36 PM EDT
Spirit & Truth
Topic: Lectionary
How To Screw Up Worship
Proper 16 (year c)
Psalm 71.1-6, Jeremiah 1.4-10, Luke 13.10-17, & Hebrews 12.18-29:
When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day." Luke 13.13-14
Meditation: "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12 .28 & 29)
Reflection: The reign that God proclaims and that we receive "cannot be shaken." Whatever we may or may not see, whatever we may or may not accomplish, this promise is true. We can trust it.
"Jesus heals a crippled woman, provoking criticism from Pharisees who, perhaps threatened by Jesus' growing popularity and power, accuse him of breaking Sabbath rules. Jesus' response is quick and severe; he exposes their hardness of heart by asking, 'ought not this woman ... be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?' Jesus rejects the rigid interpretation of the law and insists instead on the spirit of the law - that the Sabbath provides liberation and renewal for all." - Freed from Bondage
Consider: Shaken, NOT Stirred? As we look at this woman, bound in sickness-"crippled for eighteen years," the religious authority may well have marked her as undeserving of kindness, through an embellished purity code system. First, she was a woman-property, and of little more worth, and a long sickness might have been believed to be God's just judgment on her in their eyes. So, Jesus affirms her as a "daughter of Abraham" and exposes their hypocrisy-they would rather take care of cattle, instead of a child of God.
Jesus points them to the Sabbath-the true meaning, and spirit of Sabbath. Remember him speaking on another occasion, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?" (Luke 6.9). The words he uses after freeing her, connotes the idea of obligation under the law. They surely understood his rebuke to be lawfully endorsed.
Prophets "pluck up" and "pull down." They "destroy" and "overthrow" (Jeremiah 1.10). His prophetic words and actions, reprimand the religious leaders of the day, for placing legalistic, and oppressive regulations-business as usual-ahead of the weightier matters of the law-like justice and mercy. Ultimately, prophesy is "to build and to plant," redirecting and renewing a vision with true compassion, as a worshipful reflection of God and his merciful order.
Today, the church seems to have things organized in such a way that this worshipful reflection finds its place in the margins of "normal" church life. The "business" of church, seems to have superseded the true "work" of the church. I wonder what will remain when our shaking begins.
Lord, let the shaking begin...
Posted by Pastor Kork
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 27 August 2007 5:50 PM EDT
Real Message/Real Community
Topic: Lectionary
The Power of Weakness
Proper 9 (year c)
Psalm 30, 2 kings 5.1-14, Luke 10.1-11, 16-20, & Galatians 6.1-16
Luke 10.3-6: Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.
Meditation: ...If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith." (Galatians 6.8-10)
Reflection: "Our readings testify to the contagiousness of a lived faith, which not only witnesses to our dependence on God but also enables us to trust more fully in one another." - Michaela Bruzzese
Consider: "Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals;..."
Is Jesus nuts? He tells us to go out perfectly vulnerable! Why would he do that? Doesn't he realize that power is the way of procuring what it is that we want and need? Doesn't he realize that setting up his kingdom would be something that's going to need capital and prestige in order to make it great? Amazing! Doesn't he realize that we will look like fools?
I received an interesting question this week about this mission. There was an obvious struggle within Jesus' earthly ministry, in that there were not a shortage of laws, and truly, his disciples thought that there was a military conquest (to whatever degree they even understood that) to begin, thus ushering in this kingdom. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem-to the cross, and they are out and about, rallying people to this inauguration. Surely they knew enough to understand that Jesus' kingship was different, and slowly they were able to digest his methods, gaining some understanding. But, underneath, they were still thinking that these are just a means to an end-a bait and switch (maybe) until the "power" of his kingdom was revealed. In short, gaining support through good works, and in the end overthrowing the bad guys, establishing the kingdom through last minute "power." "We Win!"
However, what we find to be true later, is that Jesus wasn't playing bait and switch. He meant it from beginning to end, and the methods that he employed, were kingdom living examples modeled right before them. They were not a way to the Kingdom, but walking in the Kingdom.
It is also interesting, that when Jesus went to the cross, he didn't have his friends with him. They misunderstood the message and the method. When he went to the cross, a struggle ensued within them. Viewing their mission as failed, they were struck with the thought that the movement was aborted.
So, here is the question, when Jesus sent the twelve out earlier, and now as we read, he sends the 70 (or the 72 in earlier manuscripts), we wonder, "what was message that they were actually preaching?" great question. Why didn't most people follow him all the way? Were they preach the wrong message?
Could it be that this was the reason that there were so many (throngs in fact) of people celebrating him as he entered the city--the "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem, as it is now known? More good questions.
I do believe that Jesus was beginning to move toward making a show of evil. It was his time of gathering people, making a show of, and exposing the "powers," selfishness, and sin, for what it truly is. His message (and their message) was obviously the good news of his kingdom, and how close it has come to them. We see hints in relation to what Jesus and his mission truly were, and we, ourselves, have been prepared even down to our shoes, with the preparation of this message--the gospel of peace; the good news of the kingdom. Our reading from Galatians, divides the ideas of what constitutes spirit and what scripture calls flesh.
Today, our power struggle with Jesus, is the breaking of our old paradigms that says that we must be powerful in order to accomplish his will. Jesus hands us the option of a radical surrendering of our strength. God calls our strength "flesh" and when it is employed, the kingdom is not seen. However, if we will forgo our own prerogatives, and our own righteous agendas--assuring that there is nothing in it for us by this world standards--then the message is not tainted, and the kingdom is free to rise above the private fires of difficult lives made worse by the gasoline of purity codes and sin police; free to rise above the ashes of people's lives.
In our reading from second Kings we see a nobody; a girl; the least important; One who is done wrong and still finds the higher road of blessing those who curse. Perhaps she thought that Elisha would call down fire on Naaman, perhaps she thought that he would treat her better if the Prophet would heal him. In either case God's way of blessing was reveled in weakness, regardless of her motive, the kingdom of God came very near to Naaman.
Maybe the lesson for Naaman (and us) is that all of this is, in fact, impossible, if we are independent; strong; self-reliant and able. The little prisoner of war, needed Elisha, Namman needed Elisha, the disciples needed each other, the Galatians needed each other. None of them need a program. They needed the true good news of safety that is contained in true family. They needed a good kingdom.
When has the kingdom of God come near you? Has it come near lately? Have you positioned yourself where it be revealed through you?
We can expend a lot of energy helping people to find God with all the wrong motives--with huge misunderstanding--with our own agenda. But even in spite of our misunderstanding, and our simple mindedness, God finds a way of bursting forth in simplicity, to those he's reaching. I ask us to think, for own sake and reward, if we have made ourselves small enough to apprentice with Jesus in his mission to people in our time.
With whom are you sharing the good news of the end of domination?
Embrace your smallness.
Posted by Pastor Kork
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 10 July 2007 4:08 PM EDT
Real Independence
Topic: Lectionary
Free to Live as a Slave
Proper 8 (year c)
Psalm 77.1-2, 11-20, 2 Kings 2.1-2, 6-14, Luke 9.51-62 & Galatians 5.1, 13-25
Galatians 5.13 & 14 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Meditation: ...Someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9.57b-62)
Reflection: "To have no place to lay your head is difficult, unsettling - and an essential part of a walk with God. This "liminal space" is a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the biblical God is always leading us." - Richard Rohr, OFM
Consider: To compound the distinction, Jesus, unlike Elijah, does not permit his followers to say goodbye or even to bury their dead, for "no one who looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God." To follow Jesus is to do so wholeheartedly-there is no middle ground.
Paul reminds the Galatians community that they "were called for freedom," which is most fully expressed by the ability "to serve one another through love." He insists that this law is the highest way because it bears the true fruits of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control" (Galatians 5:22-23).
James and John's suggestion to punish those who rejected them was a clear indication that they still lived by the flesh. We, too, can easily see where our loyalties lie by the fruits of our actions, especially those directed toward our enemies.
How can we possibly proclaim the good news if we ourselves have not left everything to live it?
Good questions - "What is the relationship between faith and the law?"."
Posted by Pastor Kork
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 10 July 2007 2:48 PM EDT
We should pray without ceasing because we cannot complete anything without God's help. - John Trithemius