Pentecost +20 Sunday – C3

Pentecost +20 Sunday – C3

Years C
2 Timothy 2:8-15

Being exiled in a foreign country (deportation) or exiled in your own (captivity) is a death experience. Thus you may want to try translating verse 8 as: "Remember Jesus Christ, returned from exile...."

To have returned from exile is to face all the broken dreams of the way things used to be as well as to do the difficult work of rebuilding community. Returning from exile is no easier than going into exile. While we fantasize about returning from whatever exile we are currently experiencing, the reality is that fulfilling such a fantasy will be as problematic as the life we are currently dealing with.

Therefore, enduring is a good word with which to become reacquainted. Endure the exile; endure the return.

= = = = = = =

what
no wrangling over words
when all I have for meaning
in this unlooked for exile
are words

words
clarifying our situation
encouraging endurance
fantasizing about change
present

words
harboring a past
experiencing this present
anticipating a new creation
priceless

words
so priceless
there is no choice
but to have dominion
wrangle