Pentecost +2 Sunday – A

Pentecost +2 Sunday – A

Years A
Genesis 12:1-9 or Hosea 5:15-6:6
Psalm 33:1-12 or Psalm 50:7-15
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

To Abram and Matthew a call: "go from your country" and "come, follow me" - there is another spot where we will find greater life, greater hope beyond hope. Being open to this call in our own day is part of the challenge for settled individuals and congregations and nations.

This call is not just geographical. The Psalmist and Paul remind us of the changes we need to be making internally that our heritage might be healed, that our distress and sacrifice be swept away by steadfast love.

Whether an external move or an internal one, a key element is transformation from acting out of fear of further distress because our guilt needs to be atoned for by some sacrifice to being proactive beyond fear to ask for what is needed (Tabitha's father and unnamed woman with a twelve-year hemorrhage) in anticipation of steadfast love without retributive punishment needing to occur first.

Note the acceptance of Jesus of the request for him to move, not Tabitha's father or Tabitha. Note the acceptance of Jesus of a touch that slows him during his journey.

Perhaps we might envision a mutual journey - G*D's and ours - not one pulling or pushing the other from where they are, but a mutual attraction and desire to move in common.

= = = = = = =

journey without a destination
challenges our control need
even with past adventures
having turned out well
there is hesitation
to trust again

journey without a destination
raises again an insatiable god
testing and testing again
our temptation
to settle
in

journey without a destination
is a realistic assessment of our lot
no matter how we disguise it
change and death obtain
warrants to search
empty lives

journey without a destination
anticipates beyond current plateaus
use of several learnable skill sets
to envision preferred futures
to enact their foundations
to enliven generations