Genesis 32:22-31

Pentecost +7 - Year A

Genesis 32:22-31

When afraid I won't be treated with compassion, but recompense, it is easy to fall into a headset reflective of a fearful heart. I plan and plot how I can jigger the system to at least let me skim by. Assurance of an abundance of compassion fades in the realism that I'm not going to escape having to face a judgment against which I have no defense, but if I can parse things closely enough I may yet skate by.

This is similar to the state that those who put doctrine first keep running into - for every rule they impose there needs to be loophole for them to be able to access. Since they are the ones who set up the rules the out is not visible to any but themselves. Result: others bear the brunt of what the rule-setter will be able to slide out from under. They are consummate bargainers, finding just the right button to push when push-comes-to-shove and they can side-step G*D's justified anger with them or reality-based experiences that deny a neat systematization.

In this story we need to pay attention to Jacob's fear that his trickery has caught up with him and his response to that. After attending to this reality we might catch a glimpse of a different level of rule that has nothing to do with being able to figure things out ahead of time - A surprising mystery that we still have a new name to get used to. Every time we strive with G*D or Neighbor or One Another or Self or Enemy we are open to a new name, a new understanding beyond our previous limit of knowledge.

What new name have you sensed rising up? An old one reinvested with later experience? One given by others to you? One that is just there, as in a Never-ending Story? One that comes out of the blue to bless you and to become a blessing for others?

Try this one on for size - I am Penstock. I am a gateway for living water to multiply life and love and loaves 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.