Pentecost +3 Sunday - B

Pentecost +3 Sunday - B

Years B

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 or Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 20 or Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17
Mark 4:26-34

How long will we grieve? Poor Samuel didn't have Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to lead him through any stages. It was get up and get on.

Ezekiel's image doesn't progress through any particular process. There is an intervention, a sprig is planted, a vision established, a journey given to participate in.

For the Psalmist G*D is present before any trouble is on the horizon, during such trouble as arises, and after any trouble has left its mark.

Paul reminds us of the importance of viewpoint. From some vantage points a new creation can be glimpsed that guide our interactions more strongly than the pain of the past.

Seeds have been planted that grow through their usual stages. They can also grow unbidden and unattended to surprise us with a harvest. These seeds do their work through time and beyond time to bring a new perspective from hardened ground. If watered only by tears, yet they flower and fruit.

Where are you in one of your griefs? Ready or not, a sprig has been planted on a dark crag of that mysterious mountain in your life.

= = = = = = =

molehills are real
our shape different
because of them

they loom when near
shrink with distance
perspective bound

mother-may-I baby steps
seven-league strides
both bring new views

one for me and one for you
both together
stretching togetherness

recovering from a trip
to grief
and beyond