Pentecost +22 Sunday – C1

Pentecost +22 Sunday – C1

Years C
Joel 2:23-32 or Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22

Ya gotta love formulas. According to Grandpa: G*D gives once, generously, and we return it in the fashion it was given, generously. Once this test or tit-for-tat has been accomplished, G*D repays sevenfold. An unspoken understanding is that such increased generosity will be increased in return. Pretty soon we will be given and giving seventy times seven times to one another.

Don't forget, says Grandad, this generosity is not just in goodies, but in justice. If you make that mistake, and don't expand your generosity into the arena of justice, you have just broken the cycle of generosity and your ability to bless as you have been blessed is diminishing. At first imperceptibly, but eventually it can't be ignored.

= = = = = = =

afterward
always later
spirit is poured out
on all
forever

it takes a special eye
to see the presence
of an afterward already
active in the midst
of no accounts and slaves

still waiting
for afterwards
to lift you out
of yesterday
carpe diem