Tuesday, August 07, 2012

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33


Pentecost +11 - Year B


“The men of Israel were defeated by the servants of David.” Can you say Civil War? It happens even where covenantal partners live.

It appears to be rather run-of-the-mill for humans to ultimatize one particular or another, draw a line in the sand over it, and begin a battle royal. Things got so confused there are huge contradictions about Absalom’s death from verse to verse. We are likewise confused in this day about church life.

It seems the result of these rising energies for power always end in regret. Whichever way things turn out, the result is a lessening of communal cohesion and hope to build on for a better option for tomorrow.

Intentions, whether best or mediocre, go awry all the way to grief. There is something about that middle part, the going gang aft agley that we should be more curious about. How do things get messed up? “Original sin” is not a sufficient response.

This may be an investigation that is particularly apt during Pentecost. Starting with such strange energy blasting its way out of a closed room of closed people, we might find sufficient freedom to ask why we insist on our own way instead of crossing boundaries and speaking another’s language rather than demand our own as standard.

Blessings on looking again at options available.

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