Luke 2:22-40

Year B - Christmas 1 or Blessed Body ¹

December 28, 2014

Luke 2:22-40

Every religion has laws. What is usually forgotten is that they have had many laws they no longer attend to. What we know as church law is usually that which has taken place in our lifetime and we really don’t quite know where it came from other than it is supposed to be authoritative for us. The choice of which law we are going to follow is much broader than usually acknowledged.

Here the law is not the main focus. It is only a setting for a tale of a “new law” taking shape in our midst that will make future generations forget the laws we are now following.

The story of recognizing a new law coming to us in its infancy is a story that has been repeated down through the ages and forgotten as quickly as it arises for it is always a story the establishment and its current laws doesn’t want to hear. We are fortunate to have this and other stories of insight available to us. Whether it is Archimedes’ “Eureka” or Simeon’s “I have seen a light for revelation” or Anna’s “child of loosening our captivity”, we rejoice that we can see something new coming forward.

The corollary is that others are seeing something new coming forth from us that we have no sense of. 

Now, Christmas begins to make more of a difference when we see it as a seeing in each other more of the light arising in our midst. Imagine “loosening the captivity or spell” we have been under that keeps us from moving from an obviously less than helpful construct into more of what might be terms “G*D’s Freedom” (not “kingdom”). This loosening is what is meant by “redemption” and we can encourage others and be encouraged, our self, to actually participate in this loosening. Where will the gift that is you be set free, be loosed? Look out world and be ready to be sacrificed upon an altar of gold—Christmas has come.

John 1:1-14

Year B - Christmas Day or Blessed Body

December 25, 2014

John 1:1-14

We get to where we are as a result or consequence of such a long string of events and decisions that we sometimes get caught in the mystery of pre-eternity (everything from as far back as we can imagine up to this moment).

If you were to enter your Wayback Machine (WABAC an undesignated acronym known only to Mr. Peabody and in a recent movie designated as a Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller), how far back would you trace your own birth? Presumably your post birth experiences of care and despair will affect your first draft. Ponder again. Can you take a step further back or allow for some light flickering into a presence that eventually comes to live in you?

This will probably take a leap of trust that the glory of creation is still alive in you, fully alive as your physical DNA (which is more malleable than its authoritative letter would suggest).

Again, if you were to report the remarkably unlikely event of your birth, how else would you track it other than the next iteration of the light of life. Well, if you would like to avoid the opportunities and new decisions that perspective will ask of you to break beyond our current culture and memes and habits, you might just track your family tree. But to tell your story most fully, you will probably find yourself pondering “light” as a metaphor of “life”. What’s your Word, your Story?

Note: The gift and power of being a Child of Light is given to all, we receive it differently. This is considerably different than “to all who received and believed”. When presumed for all and not a select few, we can look at how we have received this news to this point in our our life and decide whether or not we need to receive it differently and set off on this path which is deeper than a New Year’s resolution. This is an opportunity to see ourselves and others in a brighter light.

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

Year B - Christmas Eve or Blessed Body Eve

December 24, 2014

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

We can say whatever we like about days gone by. Who’s going to disprove us. “History is recorded by the victors/winners/conquerors/survivors.” (attributed to Winston Churchill, but of unknown origin and questionable regarding history written by the oppressed and losers such as the US regarding Viet Nam).

The whole “decree” thing is Luke’s story. While he is sticking to it, we don’t have to.

But it is a marvelous story that has held the imagination of many through the generations. This story could have been told many different ways (and was by Matthew). What is at stake this eve-ning is what we are pondering in our hearts.

What is the latest small and everyday but remarkable moment you have had. There are stories going around about people paying it forward at McDonald’s and various lay-away outlets so when a customer comes they find the bill already paid. If you were to be on the receiving end of such an action and try to record its significance, would you begin to think of our political or economic system and the trials it puts on people of having much or little?

Would you bring the least into this story of unexpected gift? Are those in need watching what you will bring forth from your gift? Is it for you alone or does it put an obligation upon you? How would you record your pondering your own life experience?

Perhaps you would end with the least receiving as much as you and they go on their way with a song in their heart for hope revived?

Your pondering is significant, share it.

2 Samuel 7:1-16

Year B - Advent 4 or Needed Change ⁴

December 21, 2014

2 Samuel 7:1-16

In contrast to an announcement coming at a right moment, we too often brazenly announce what our privileged position would seem to have a right to. We even solicit affirmation from authorities as support for what we want to do anyway. (Note how this is still happening in leaders and governance structures of every shape and time.)

Even as we listen for an announcement and try to force an easier than harder one to come along, we know that at these times we really need a “No”. Children do need boundaries to both keep them safe and provide resistance against which they can strengthen themselves. Neither of these give rationale for the abuse of rigidity.

In this scene Nathan moves from behaving like a false prophet (“Do whatever your heart desires and you can get away with”) to presenting a prophet of a better way (“No, you have more personal work to do than public—wait”).

In other scenes we know that false prophets cry out, “Wait”, while farther-seeing prophets simply say, “Proceed. Do not delay justice. Now!”

It is better to check motivation behind announcements and not simply rely on a formula of that way you wish things would be or what sounds good. This is more difficult and filled with gray-areas, but it provides far more healthy and stable decisions.

Luke 1:26-38

Year B - Advent 4 or Needed Change ⁴

December 21, 2014

Luke 1:26-38

In a 4^th week of Advent, what announcement from the Universe is sent to your location?

No matter how ready or not-ready you are, that announcement has been on its way for light-years. It has been coming from the beginning of your creation or a more general creation (it makes no discernable difference which). There has been much gravity along the way which has shifted it this way and that (as though you were ducking and dodging to avoid having to face its force). But neither nothing nor everything has been able to keep it away forever.

What new thing is being born in you? This is a very individual matter and can’t be guessed at by anyone else (or even yourself). All of us watching wonder at how it could be that this new thing has come through you. Usually we are each equally surprised at what is coming through us.

In the midst of every “How can this be?” there is only a quiet response that indicates the mechanism is of very little consequence. There is a new reality about to come that will catch our attention and keep us awake far more effectively than this question.

This is a week of giving thanks for that which has finally arrived to deepen our meaning and set us apart to work on a needed part of a larger community. Argue a bit, if you must (and you probably do), but not overmuch.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Year B - Advent 3 or Needed Change ³

December 14, 2014

John 1:6-8, 19-28

There is indeed a person sent from G*D. Their name is your name. You are here as a witness to testify to what it takes today to prepare for a better tomorrow. This light of tomorrow revealing emptiness in today is a gift for your eyes. While there is always a danger of confusing our own wants with this light, it helps clarify matters to remember we are not the light.

This light we have been speaking of is always a half-step ahead and asks us to make that half-step.

This passage drops out a whole section about Jesus being some true light already arrived and settled among us. All we are asked for in this section is allegiance rather than mutual exploration. This does get confusing and we are too quick to claim this as personal knowledge rather than communal growth beyond current privileges such as knowing Jesus as my “personal” Lord and Savior.

Our testimony is to be humble enough to not equate ourselves with salvation and powerful enough to cry out in the face of harm and mercilessness.

One among us stands yet unknown. Insert your name here again.

Now an Advent choice: 

   Will you reveal or claim

   your “sent from G*D” name 

          or 

   your “unknown one among us” name?

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Year B - Advent 2 or Needed Change ²

December 7, 2014

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Be careful what you ask for:

Let me hear what G*D will say....

“Steadfast trust and love are to meet, go forward together, and make a path for G*D.”

Why can’t G*D make G*D’s own path? Is this something that can only be done for G*D, not by G*D? “Salvation” here is implied to be a mutual endeavor. What do you think about a meeting at a new creation point between heaven and earth where your trust in G*D leaps from the mundane and G*D’s trust in you drops from the empyrean.

We get so tied-in to our dualities that we are blinded by our privileged unities set against anyone else’s reality. It is through catching a new possibility out of the corner of our eye that we begin to wonder about recognizing a new plateau as prelude to actually setting out for such. Beware Advent proposing a new way forward—beyond Ouroborus.

Isaiah 40:1-11

Year B - Advent 2 or Needed Change ²

December 7, 2014

Isaiah 40:1-11

We move from knowing, last week, we respond to negative reinforcement to, this week, an appeal for positive action: From “tear open the heavens” to “comfort, O comfort my people”. Both seem to be needed for we are such a various people. Some of us need a threat and some encouragement to move beyond where we are.

For the moment, go with the positive. Here a baptism with Holy Spirit brings a promise that, when all is said and done, both levers in the Great Experiment will bring forth food and we will have more than a wire mannequin holding the food.

So, recognizing both our longevity and constancy are limited, rejoice that when we look back over our life we did remarkably well with what we had available to us. There will remain questions about today and tomorrow, but yesterday is in the book and, all things considered, we played our what we were dealt as well we could. That is a comfortable thought in the midst of continuing uncertainty.

Supposedly we could have optimized more, but there is that longevity and constancy thing we have going on. We’ve done enough to be able to learn from the past and apply it to the present without having to perfect both. This learning so we don’t have to repeat processes ad infinitum does smooth the present a bit more than if we stumbled upon it with no experience that will allow us to live G*D with us, to be gentle with ourselves and others.

Have you not heard? Have you not learned? As we learn compassion for self and smooth the way for others, the presence of Mercy is revealed.

Mark 1:1-8

Year B - Advent 2 or Needed Change ²

December 7, 2014

Mark 1:1-8

December 7 was described by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as “a date that would live in infamy”. The second Sunday of Advent this year falls on December 7.

Roosevelt’s speech might have begun: “The beginning of bad new of war’s return.” On this day we could take any news medium and see what the proportion of bad news to good news might be found. The odds are overwhelming that the bad continues to be more powerfully portrayed than the good. Fear seems to always have the advantage over hope in the short-term.

Good seems to have to play a long game of moral arcs in the face of so much loss. Even as a background to all else, hope flickers along in the darkness. Hope is kept alive in prophecy. Here it is Isaiah that is remembered.

So what are we waiting for? Another shoe to drop confirming our worst imagining? A real though far off hymn hailing a new creation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UrzYCG0_-M

May we be ready to now know that we are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGeG8sVH0Js

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Year B - Advent 1 or Needed Change ¹

November 30, 2014

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

In the United States of America (again clarifying its dys-unity—racial at the moment and in other ways at various times) it is Thanksgiving Day (unified in its official celebration on the same 4^th Thursday of November in 1941).

Rather than dreading the dysfunction of our common-good (for ever has it been thus) look to what is still available: we are not lacking in any spiritual gift. This means it is not too late to still take on the dys-unity round and about. We have what we need and this clarifies for us that the issue is that of desire, of will.

To date we have preferred to jockey for our privilege niche. Once we find it, it is like an enchanted evening, never to be let go. An Advent question is how much privilege we are willing to give up that others might have some and enough more to thrive. If we are all willing to die for our current state, we will collectively do ourselves in before Jesus is revealed in our care for one another.

Give thanks—there are enough gifts to make a change in our basic relationships with one another. May this become a radical understanding that we will act upon it now on behalf of subsequent generations for it will take all our current life-times to make this shift. Anything less than starting now to live out of our abundance of gifts just won’t do.

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If you are interested in following a daily devotional or to have past Year B comments in one collected spot, check out my new book Wrestling Year B: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience at http://amazon.com/author/wesleywhite

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Year B - Advent 1 or Needed Change ¹

November 30, 2014

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Restorative justice is important because it opens a way forward, a way beyond retribution. In that sense, “restore us” is important. Unfortunately, the way we usual read “restore” is some going back to one set point or another without any learning having taken place. We just want to be in G*D’s good graces again with a spit and a promise that things will be different next time and we’ll never again be separated.

If we are on the cusp of something new and then get scared and back away into some idealized past, we have blown an Advent opportunity.

May we look again at the demands of a restoration and how we are going to participate in our own salvation as well as that of our Neighb*rs and G*D’s.

= = = = = = =

If you are interested in following a daily devotional or to have past Year B comments in one collected spot, check out my new book Wrestling Year B: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience at http://amazon.com/author/wesleywhite

Isaiah 64:1-9

Year B - Advent 1 or Needed Change ¹

November 30, 2014

Isaiah 64:1-9

We are so enamored of revolutions. We track history by its wars, its revolutions. Yes, we light fires to make ourselves known that our adversaries might tremble and overplay their hand.

Our revolutionary fervor is stoked by who it is that is to blame for the current untenable state of affairs. We’ll even blame G*D claiming G*D’s anger and absence made us fiery.

We need a new vision of G*D, beyond one who marks iniquity and never forgives or forgets it. We also need a new vision of ourselves. If we are not going to consider that we are all one people, why should G*D?

And so we come to an Advent question about our vision: Is G*D anticipating your blessing with a blessing or anticipating your foul-up with a curse? What do you see on the horizon and how will that affect your living today?

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If you are interested in following a daily devotional or to have past Year B comments in one collected spot, check out my new book Wrestling Year B: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience at http://amazon.com/author/wesleywhite

Mark 13:24-37

Year B - Advent 1 or Needed Change ¹

November 30, 2014

Mark 13:24-37

In these days of suffering for so many everywhere in the world it is as if the sun has been darkened, making such suffering invisible to those who could change it.

In these days of suffering for so many right where we are it is as if the stars we have hitched our comfort to have fallen and everyone is far more vulnerable than they could imagine.

In these days of suffering there is more than enough. We do not need more power and glory. What else has gotten us to the state we are in? We do not need a further demonstration of privilege with the elect getting a pat on the head and the non-elect getting one last kick while they are down.

There is no fig tree large enough to demonstrate the state of affairs, the season, we are in. We are living out past decisions without re-deciding.

Beware all you want, keep eternally vigilant all you want, we no longer need to wait for a time to come— it is rising before us like a City of Zombies and there is no where left to turn.

We do not need more works-righteousness Wakefulness. We do not need more predestined laissez-faire.

What we do need is a Word of Creation, of Change, of Compassion. May this season find us learning these words along with a Courage to live them.

= = = = = = =

If you are interested in following a daily devotional or to have past Year B comments in one collected spot, check out my new book Wrestling Year B: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience at http://amazon.com/author/wesleywhite

Ephesians 1:15-23

Pentecost Last or Evaluation Day
November 23, 2014

Ephesians 1:15-23

A corollary to premeditated mercy is prayer without having heard of faith. When criteria needs to be present for prayer to arise, something is bound to be skewed or screwed.

With or without a reason to so pray, might we not still look for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in our midst. Perhaps from that invisible one over there or from my own illustrious self? Such a spirit brings hope deeper than expectation. Such hope engages us in fulfilling all that has brought us to this time and building a sturdier foundation for that which won't arrive until long after we have passed by.

If Christmas was Incarnation and Easter was reIncarnation, we might finally figure out that a creation based on the carnal blesses the carnal. And that the carnal is not the end-all and be-all of life. Lord knows we are not to Lord it over one another. If only we could see this day as part of a feedback loop or an evaluation to be taken seriously, we might know the abundance of a merciful prayer.

At the end of this yearly sequence, may we be wise enough to not simply rinse and repeat. Report one difference made in your life or through your life (and don't forget to show your work). Reveal and add to the fullness of life.

Psalm 100

Pentecost Last or Evaluation Day
November 23, 2014

Psalm 100

Knowing any claim to the present being a culmination of intent (G*D's and mine), we can't simply declare things are all wrapped up. Obviously they are not and any claim to the contrary is simply fantasy and a usurpation of power.

Nonetheless, we can continue without a neat wrap-up. We can even continue with a sense of joy filling our next attempt to climb a step beyond our present. Try the psalm backward.

First, presume G*D is good, creation is good.
Also First, hold to an understanding that love endures—not only all things, but forever.
Add yet another First, mutual trust is what rolls the generations along.

Second, enter these with thanksgiving for all that has given evidence that these Firsts last.
Secondly, let praise loose that it might beckon a shy future to peek out and bless what is happening and secure this connection.

Thirdly, all of this is to be bone-deep. Know maker and made encourage and entice one another further together.

Fourthly, gladness is a sign of worthy work going on—so whistle while you work.

Fifthly and finally, so live that all the earth is joyful—so joyful that noise goes beyond cacophony, to harmony rich and connected beyond theory and experience.

= = = = = = =

For a musical adaption of Psalm 100, try Ann Reed's "Where the Earth is Round". Don't forget to note the bones of Indigenous Peoples who have claimed the goodness of creation even as they were massacred.

http://youtu.be/4Bil_EpuKOQ

What other non-hymn music might well be a hymn if our ears were better tuned?

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Pentecost Last or Evaluation Day
November 23, 2014

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

At least we are not categorizing sheep (good) and goats (bad). We've moved to distinguishing fat sheep (bad) from sheep (good). This helps us begin to define what is helpful behavior that builds up one another and delineate that which is out-of-bounds.

It is immediately obvious that not everyone will buy the understanding and boundaries of community. Profit of one kind and another always seems to enter in our decision-making.

The most difficult part of this passage is the way it ends with David being set up as a Fat Sheep among the Lean. Either the community is engaged in building one another up or allowing discrimination and hurt to find an entry spot and take hold. Servant leaders run as many risks, if not more for their intended benevolence, as Dictatorial leaders or Democratic leaders or just plain leaders.

If this is the best outcome of a church year, it is no wonder we shift immediately to an advent assessment.

Matthew 25:31-46

Pentecost Last or Evaluation Day
November 23, 2014

Matthew 25:31-46

This past year we started out analyzing the needs around us—"What is broken that needs fixing." We went on to acknowledge it was going to take a real presence and not wishful thinking or injunctions from on high to begin addressing the realities of how far short of where might be regarding relationships with creation and one another. Folks from afar could see better than ourselves the need for a new leadership paradigm (partnership of high stars and low mangers). Even with such recognition we wrestled with the intractability of being our own worst enemy. Eventually a moment of breakthrough came—and another. It appeared that we we crossing boundaries and finding the intersectionality of our common life when our practice to develop this into a habit stumbled over the humility needed to continue such. We got into all manner of arguments about symbols of food and male marking and divisions over which leader to follow.

After such a year we are at an important point of evaluating how it went. Any progress made?

What will make this day have a sense of movement? Claiming kingship feels a bit hollow in light of any newspaper or news program. Claiming some artificial Doctrine of Discovery and subsequent Reign is foolish on its face.

Is there any evidence that this coming Advent will bring any greater clarity of need or vision of a goal worth putting our life toward?

Even with Christmas plans are in place, what would lead us to think we are up to recognizing a new stable location; that mercy is any the closer to surfacing in our day-to-day lives; that we are any better prepared for learning from one another, much less teaching?

How many less children will die from hunger this last day of Pentecost 2014 than did in 2013?
How much cleaner and available is safe water given the amount of fracking for profit going on?
How differently are we dealing with the migration and welcoming of peoples?
How many coats are in our closets for which we will play a giving game and give $1 per coat to a charity that never changes underlying structural injustice?
How many are still not covered by health care simply because it is our common need?
How many visits were made to prisons to see what is being done in our name?
How many are so invisible that they don't even make it to the list of the least?

Again, any progress made? If you can say, "Yes", back it up with more than statistics about charitable work.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Pentecost +23 or Community Practice ²³
November 16, 2014

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

We are good considering how to get an immediate return, but not so good at thinking 6 generations or even 6 seasonal cycles into the future.

For just the briefest of moments consider the ramifications of G*D not coming like a thief in the night (unless, of course, you want to remember Prometheus bringing light out from some "chaos"). In this scenario we are called to live in the light available to us that we not harm the context of coming generations.

A light here would be to attend to the extreme change we have brought to the climate that is background to every other part of life. Our raping of the earth for energy has ended up dis-respecting air and water as well. Rather than blaming this on G*D we might want to acknowledge our own own culpability for the consequences of our own actions.

An excellent way for us to improve our common-future decisions is this model: "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing."

Psalm 123

Pentecost +23 or Community Practice ²³
November 16, 2014

Psalm 123

When we are a bit literal about the wrath of G*D we find our worminess is contemptible by G*D. This is a bit strange for a creator, but we do sometimes find ourselves misunderstanding.

For a moment, consider that G*D created you and named you Beloved or Good. Now, should that change, are we able to still call out for mercy or is that category meaningless in a situation where we have either done nothing or done something regrettable—vis-à-vis G*D.

Will G*D have have mercy where G*D has judged? Is such mercy dependent upon our change or G*D's nature? If the latter, are we able to claim that image for ourselves and ease the fear in the room and world.

= = = = = =

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn
   of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

Judges 4:1-7

Pentecost +23 or Community Practice ²³
November 16, 2014

Judges 4:1-7

Doing nothing (according to the parable) is evil in "the sight of the Lord". This is a difficult spot to be in. Who can ever do enough and if we do the rubric quickly switches to being done in for having done works righteousness.

Don't do nothing. Don't do more than enough. Do only what you are told. Do only enough to bring praise to G*D. Reflect back on the Pentecost Room where fear froze folks. Is that the measure of doing in every situation?

With another Church Year winding down, These pericopes may be more about evaluation of the past year, than prescriptions for a next. So, what was your return on investment this year? How was your proportion of doing to not-doing?

Matthew 25:14-30

Year A - Pentecost +23 or Community Practice ²³
November 16, 2014

Matthew 25:14-30

At home or on a journey we are always entrusting our self and stuff to others. Here it sounds as if the owner of people did not do due diligence regarding those specifically and intentionally entrusted with a few coins. The behaviors of the "servants" probably followed their usual patterns of behavior. So was this a set-up or a morality play? Are playing with fate or a legitimate choice?

If you were a judge here how would you assign responsibility? In today's fascination with austerity in an abundant world, not losing may be the best deal going. Overall, a return of +7 on an investment in a mixed portfolio is pretty good. Why the anger at one that broke even?

Come In

a presence of G*D
is a sharing

10 with and 10 without
10 full and 10 empty

meet in a moment delayed
open to revision

when instead
sleep visited

when roused with a shout
"Come out"

they came out
with and without

leaving us with a question
about coming in

is the shout to "Come out"
equalled by "Come in"

or is it more restrictive
leaving some called out out

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Pentecost +22 or Community Practice ²²
November 9, 2014

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

In every identity war the church has waged there have been thousands upon thousands who died without seeing themselves included in. The exclusive church has harmed and harmed again and returned to harm some more (same process; different target).

While it is little comfort at the time, hear again the work of Jesus: "through Jesus, G*D will bring with him those who have died". (Well, as constructed it is the work of G*D, but we'll leave that for another time.) Regardless of fanciful details, "Encourage one another."

If this is an encouragement to keep on working for mercy and  grace in the present, good. If this is one step too many to be an encouraging word, OK—use what you can for encouragement.

Whether an expectation of joy or an after-the-fact promise, may you have what you need to engage the powers-that-be with an affirmation larger than their limitation.

Psalm 78:1-7

Pentecost +22 or Community Practice ²²
November 9, 2014

Psalm 78:1-7

Opening one's mouth to give a word of wisdom is to open one's self to channeling the dark days of the past that are wont to regather and repeat their dystrophy. Wisdom is always growing out of our experience, not revealed unbidden from some above.

This is election day. At question is whether folks are able to remember far enough back to where we have tried attractive avenues only to have them again disappoint. The persistence of attractive-but-false decisions is quite remarkable--almost as if they are constituent of creation.

The "dark saying" is--What can go wrong, will. So lighten up and make the affirmations yet and always available to you.

Out of a remembrance of darkness will come a hopeful word that we will cut through the darkness more easily and quickly this time and place a stronger warning sign for future generations.

Joshua 24:1-3a, 15-25

Pentecost +22 or Community Practice ²²
November 9, 2014

Joshua 24:1-3a, 15-25

If you read the elided section you will find out the reason for the "therefore" in verse 14.

It turns out that the reason we are to revere some Lord is that they are the uber-colonialist that justifies our own tendencies in that direction. Choose to follow a Lord that provides you with privilege or a Lord that doesn't? Is that a question or just a set-up? Well?

Given the "Therefore" it is no surprise that the "So" is, we choose privilege.

How is it any different in your particular congregation? What benefits the most or the richest is the choice to make. The rest is disposable. All we are really interested in is the degree of discrimination we can comfortably live with.

Matthew 25:1-13

Year A - Pentecost +22 or Community Practice ²²

November 9, 2014

Matthew 25:1-13

Imagine if this passage was only 1 verse long: “Then the presence of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.”

Does this cover what “heaven” is like—An expectation of joy?

After this verse we are back on “earth” with judgments about good and evil, wise and foolish. This mixing confuses us. By the time we have had 12 verses of division, we have forgotten the basic nature of “heaven”, creative expectation.

May your vision of “heaven” be far greater than the limitations of our ambition to win, particularly when it is dependent upon not sharing the abundance we have.

New Resource for Year B

For those early adaptors among us, we have just released a new book of past comments on Year B. If you are interested in a KCMlection comment on the lections of Year B you can order one through my author page.

Right now it is just available in print (what I think is the best format for this resource), but a Kindle version will soon be available.

This is a new enough release that the Look Inside feature is not yet activated but it is similar to Wrestling Year A. Here is one of the comments about about Wrestling Year A that is on the back cover of Wrestling Year B:

From the first sentence of the author's introduction to the last comments in Revelation, these Year A lectionary responses offer words and ideas, both playful and complex, that invite continued thought. Written in a conversational style--sometimes providing definitions of terms, sometimes offering links to websites, song lyrics, and other theologian's ideas--White entices the reader to think beyond his musings and the words of the text. Occasionally, his arrangements take the form of evocative, poetic lines that show concepts connecting and clashing. He frequently asks questions and addresses the reader, not as argumentation, but as encouragement to narrow the application into individual experience. Other times, he broadens the view by pointing to implications for justice issues, such as health care, LGBT inclusion, and the power of corporations. His use of "my" and "your" are linked, illustrating the centrality of community for people, whether moving through texts or life experiences. The metaphor of journey consistently shapes his thinking. Rather than being paralyzed by discrepancies and mysteries in texts from the past, he welcomes the opportunity to be part of ongoing, enlarged understandings and actions. ~ Evie Yoder Miller, Author of Eyes at the Window and Everyday Mercies.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Year A - Pentecost +21 or Community Practice ²¹

November 2, 2014

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

We parent one another into being. For a moment I am parent to you and then you are parent to me. When this works well we are “pure, upright, and blameless in our conduct toward one another.” 

Of course this suggests that we also are growing uniquely, regardless of the parenting we receive. This is not as easy to put into categories of behavior. I am a child for you; pushing your boundaries. You are a child for me; pushing mine.

From either perspective it is possible to give thanks for solidity when it is needed and play in its time. The “word of G*D” is not just something received, but brought forth. If we haven’t wrestled with G*D as parent and playmate, we haven’t met G*D. It will be important here to note where Paul doesn’t act as a parent, but pushes at the boundaries of cultural protocols. If we haven’t met both in Paul, we haven’t met Paul. Now, of course, we need to look in a mirror and see if we are only inhabiting one role in life. Blessings on parenting and your pushing.

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

Year A - Pentecost +21 or Community Practice ²¹

November 2, 2014

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37

G*D’s steadfast love is much needed. 

Those who cause desert wastes for others to wander in are forever popping up to dismay land, water, and air. They project such wonders as eternal job creation and never-ending resources and only return wasteland for fracked fields.

Knowing how much we continue to try to hike ourselves up by our boot straps, the wanderers became desperate enough to add G*D to their escape their plight. When they finally find their way to an oasis, their rejoicing is G*D oriented. In this action they set themselves up for their next human-created disaster.

It isn’t long before the redeemed are again ripe for the plucking by earth rapers. Not being able to save ourselves, we call G*D to the the rescue one more time. At question is how many cycles of this the land can stand?

If even the Pope is going to finally acknowledge an evolutionary process, we are pushed to evaluate the effect our actions have on the on-going life on and of this planet. No more can we afford to excuse bad environmental policy in thrall to popularized economics and pseudoscience.

Steadfast love does not keep death at bay. When relied upon when our own action is needed it is like a counter-productive fix for an addict. May we rejoice at steadfast love and engage our own.

Joshua 3:7-17

Year A - Pentecost +21 or Community Practice ²¹

November 2, 2014

Joshua 3:7-17

So Jesus says to a crowd and his disciples, “Be humble to be exalted.” The Lord says to Joshua, “I exalt you, so walk humbly into flowing rivers.”

As for me and my house, we are pleased that you are the ones walking into the river with only a promise. We’ve seen too many promises delayed and changed to be willing to act on one more. 

It is surprising when we who are not exalted turn out to be exalted (make it to the other shore with a dry sandal).

Blessings on your exaltedness and your humility. They go hand-in-hand and hand-to-hand.

Matthew 23:1-12

Year A - Pentecost +21 or Community Practice ²¹

November 2, 2014

Matthew 23:1-12

Who would you substitute for “Pharisees” in this passage? This is a dangerous exercise because of the way the passage is set up. Almost any substitution will bring more disfavor on the Pharisees than they probably deserve and misrepresent whomever is being compared to them.

With this caveat in place, might Fundamentalist (of any stripe) work here? 

Jesus could have also come to the same conclusion about humility if he had used his own Disciples as an example. That may cut a bit close for many of us as it suggests that it is not some other stereotyped or scapegoated group that needs a refresher course, but me.

As you come to this passage one more time, you may want to consider your own renaming of what this intended to be ordinary time following Pentecost might be? Here we are using “Community Practice”. One practice is the development of refrigerator magnet check-lists. What parts of this pericope lend themselves to a daily checklist to see how you are doing with your humility for its own sake, not to get an A+ on a test and become exalted? Design a checklist for yourself to guide you into next steps of growth. If you pay attention you’ll find out more in the defining of parts related to your life than reading any 3 devotional books.

Exodus 33:12-23

Pentecost +19 or Community Practice ¹⁹

October 19, 2014

Exodus 33:12-23

Show me your coin. Show me your face.

What we show defines us. What has been staring us in the face all along is the face on the coin. Our imaginations are so limited. Coin of the realm will go to the realm. If not given willingly, no matter how grudgingly, it will be confiscated. So we play along with the figment that church and state are so intertwined that one is used as a trap for the other.

What has also been staring us in the face all along is the lack of a single face for G*D. Everywhere we look a different face appears. No wonder that, when push comes to shove, G*D pushes and shoves Moses into a crack so a face can't be claimed. Even as a chosen people there is an unknownness as to whether we can pick out whether we have one or more of G*D's features. A faceless G*D is the trade off of partnership and neighborliness. In this facelessness we can be partners and not just privileged heirs. In this facelessness everyone is Neighb*r.

Biblical koan alert:

Here is the sign that you are favored: You are not favored above all others.

Everyone can see where G*D has been. No one can predict or prophecy where G*D will next be seen. Try as we might, our best laid trap to capture G*D has been foiled again.

Matthew 22:15-22

Year A - Pentecost +19 or Community Practice ¹⁹

October 19, 2014

Matthew 22:15-22

Political dirty tricks begin with religious dirty dirty tricks. Politicians have learned from the best, people adept at turning their religion into a theocracy long after their G*D has moved on. In other words, from each and every established religion.

This acknowledgment of religious dirty tricks is not to denigrate religion to the point of irrelevancy, but to recognize an eternal tension within every religion between its ideals and implementation. This tension affects every other part of our common lives.

In today’s world, as always, not taking the bait of responding too large to a too large question gives a bit of an edge. When we don’t say more than can be known we participate in clarifying where lies trickery and realism.

Blessings to you in not claiming too much, staying in touch with what you know, and knowing the value of small affirmations. These are all difficult to stay with in the face of big questions and a medium-sized ego, but their value has been shown down through the years.

Philippians 4:1-9

Year A - Pentecost +18 or Community Practice ¹⁸

September 28, 2014

Philippians 4:1-9

Definition of being of “one mind”: Let your gentleness be known.

Definition of “the Lord is near” (with you/within you/partnered with you): Do not worry.

Definition of “excellence”: Keep doing what you have learned from your experience. (Unfortunately we can be excellent in doing harm as well as doing good.)

How might you practice gentleness in your context? Remember, gentleness here is a way of standing firm; it is not as floppy as milk toast.

How might you practice not worrying in your context? Or, perhaps, worry a bit less? Again, remembering that standing firm means, in part, not letting worry have the last word even if it is a first word.

These words of instruction are grounded in practice. We hear the encouragement and now we are called to practice. Such practice takes place most effectively in a community where we identify how it is with our soul and are accountable to practice deepening or changing what we have found out about our condition. Practice is going to look differently in different locales and stages. These details are not worked out for us, but we do have three overviews that help us put a practice plan into effect. It is alright if we even only work on practicing one of the three as they are all interconnected and we will still engage them as a matter of course.

Finally, beloved, just do it.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Year A - Pentecost +18 or Community Practice ¹⁸

September 28, 2014

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

Did you know you, too, are a “chosen” one. From before a big bang the conditions have been put in place for you to be who and where you are. With your experiences and location you can stand in the breach between the silliness of today and the hope of tomorrow, protecting the seed in expectation of a flowering and fruiting and more seed.

What king and what G*D do you need to stand before and say, “This far and no further”. Isn’t it wonderful irony to be able to use G*D’s words to Job on G*D.

Let’s move it out of a question about chosenness. Now that you see yourself as chosen as a protector of the seed of tomorrow, where are you choosing to stand? Is is a large or small breach that threatens to do in all that has come along so far? Actually, size doesn’t make any difference. Large or small, stand sturdy.

Exodus 32:1-14

Year A - Pentecost +18 or Community Practice ¹⁸

September 28, 2014

Exodus 32:1-14

When the cat is away, the mice will play. This is one of the difficulties of authority—it leads folks to be afraid and see themselves as prey. A helpful use of authority is that of teaching folks how to think and learn on their own. Imagine if Moses had assisted folks to engage YHWH and YHWH to engage the people beyond a hierarchical relationship.

This is one way of evaluating pastoral leadership at any time in history. Is it empowering better thinking and deeper relationships? If so, good energy will continue to flow. If not, there will ultimately be abuse of power from either the congregation or the pastor as they tussle for being at the right hand of G*D.

About the best thing going here is that wonderfully freeing line about G*D changing G*D’s mind about planning disaster. Enough disaster is going to happen without planning more. Can you imagine a king or an image of heaven that takes change into account regarding a king’s actions or heaven’s exclusivity? If so, we can yet grow further. If not, well, who will still stand for long?

Matthew 22:1-14

Year A - Pentecost +18 or Community Practice ¹⁸

September 28, 2014

Matthew 22:1-14

Always with the intermediaries. Why send “slaves” to do a final ask? 

Who would dare to ignore a king to their face or to try to imprison them? It is so easy for us to fall into judging where we are going to spend our time and energy. Convenience is a major issue here. Also at stake are judgments about survival and whether attending a wedding will detract from the needed commerce to continue growing personal wealth. Both of these remind us of the eternal tension between our social contracts and our personal judgments.

Here the kingly prerogative is to make the king’s judgments preeminent and so all citizens need to drop everything to attend to wherever the king ends up on a particular decision. Why would a wedding banquet be expected to be of the same import and value to everyone? Is this but the latest in a series of vanities of kingship that is weakening the interrelationships of the community or is it a key turning point in the way the citizens are recommitted to one another? The mere fact of a banquet doesn’t tell us much about where it fits into larger pictures.

The only consistent things here is the hair-trigger recompense a king is able to wreak upon their subjects. Many are slaughtered and single outliers are bound and tortured.

Where would you rank this particular parable in light of other parables. Is this on the same par as a mustard seed?

What aspect of heaven does this convey that another parable about a field pearl doesn’t or can’t? And, is this a constituent part of heaven or another of our interpretations based on kingly privilege?

Not being able to take a parable at face-value, how might we use this to reveal a misconception about heaven (defined by hell rather than itself) or an integral part of its nature (exclusive, decisional)?

Imagine for a moment a moral that is a bit less privileged. What would it be like to follow Chapter 21’s insight that many regarded Jesus as a prophet? Might that push us to reconsider the telling of this parable in favor of one that is more prophetically merciful than kingly/priestly judgment and end with “Many are called, and many welcomed.”

Philippians 2:1-13

Year A - Pentecost +16 or Community Practice ¹⁶

September 28, 2014

Philippians 2:1-13

In the game of Jenga, blocks are removed from a tower and placed on top of the remaining structure. The result is a progressively more unstable structure. Even with the strongest base of communal values:

     encouragement

     consolation

     sharing

     compassion

     sympathy

     joy

these are not sufficient for a tower to reach to the heavens. We see our very own construction teetering and our hand shaking the more with each move.

Our imagination also teeters in stressful situations. We have accepted the limitations of our rules. Eventually our tower of life comes tumbling down. Our neighbor’s hand or our own falters. But even if we were to build until only one piece was still in its original place, the simple settling out of dust from the air will destabilize the structure and down it will come. Things fall apart, is not just the name of a great book by Chinua Achebe but our constant reality.

We attempt to corral life by hedging it in with rules as though Jenga were but a physics problem to be worked out with what we know at any given time. All we need to do is set initial boundaries of behavior and somehow we will be able to take that final piece from the bottom and successfully place it on the top so we can marvel at the space now available between tower and table. Higher and higher we go with increasing amounts of nothing below.

Our communal stability relies on common consent

     same mind

     same love

     same purpose

     same heart

only to find tensions

     ambition – humility

     self interest – other interest

in the middle of love and purpose that are as intractable as gravity in everyday life. An ideal game will never be played, even by robots. Something there is that doesn’t like pat answers to messy questions. And so someone usually knocks it over with intentional unintentionally or out of simply meanness or revenge—anything to move on to a different game or get away from those present.

Therefore, beloveds, your fear and trembling work is

     non-exploitation

to not turn our various games of life into some fantasy of winning.

Now for the Zen of gaming. We watch with bated breath as our neighbor successfully completes their turn. And there is celebration. We are watched with bated breath as we successfully complete our turn. And there is celebration. We watch our neighbor fail. And there is mourning. We are watched as we fail. And there is mourning. Together, our celebrations and our mournings reveal G*D among us. Together, we rebuild a tower, all the fallen pieces become integral to a next opportunity to play together as we will and work for the pleasure of one another’s company.

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

Year A - Pentecost +16 or Community Practice ¹⁶

September 28, 2014

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

I receive the posting of Jim Taylor every Sunday and Wednesday. I thought his paraphrase was one that leads us to continue connecting various parts of the scriptures together, along with our own lives.

How would you bring this psalm into a world so bound by political rhetoric and advertising slogans?

Where does a central story or two from our past still inform us?

Anyway, here’s Jim’s comment and paraphrase:

We all need family histories. No one is so poor as the person with no roots. I’m sure that’s why Deuteronomy stresses that when children ask about laws and statutes, you should tell them a story. I worked that idea into the Psalm 78 reading for this coming Sunday. 

1   If I say, "Once upon a time," everyone knows a story is starting.
2   I do not know the meanings of my stories;
     I merely pass them on as they were passed to me.
3   Only you can decide what they mean to you.
4   This is our story. This is where we came from.
     When you hear this story, you must also tell it,
     so that others may also know where they came from. 

12  Once upon a time, we were slaves.
      We were exploited for economic growth, and held captive by capital.
13  But God freed us from the prisons of our past.
      God flung open our minds, and let us see new possibilities.
14  By signs and symbols, God led us to new life.
15  In arid canyons of crisis, God showed us how to drink deeply of life.
16  In barren wastelands of despair, God gave us joy. 

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

Exodus 17:1-7

Year A - Pentecost +16 or Community Practice ¹⁶

September28, 2014

Exodus 17:1-7

We all journey by stages. Whatever stage we are currently in, there is yet another stage to enter. Of stages there will be no end.

One of the clues that we are ready to move on is thirst. When we have made peace with our recent stage of life, it no longer satisfies as it once did. We are thirsty for a next stage of meaning, of engagement with an on-going creation.

Is this all there is? This question stands behind the question asked here, “Were we brought here simply to die?” Have we been through all we have been through to settle for this?

Is this all there is? This is also background to the concluding question, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The miracle here is not a water-bearing rock, but the thirst that moves us farther along a larger journey. If there was not the thirst there would not be the questioning that brings a sign of water from a rock. If there was not the thirst we wouldn’t be able to affirm both the presence and the absence of G*D.

What more are you thirsting for than can be fulfilled in the current state of affairs. This thirst is a gift from the future to the present that we might move onward.

Matthew 21:23-32

Year A - Pentecost +16 or Community Practice ¹⁶
September28, 2014

Matthew 21:23-32

If the two greatest commandments are to Love G*D and Love Neighb*r there is no way to split authority in “heavenly” or “human” realms. These are intimately bound together.

Not to put too fine a line on it, this separation ends up privileging heaven over human. Listen  to the danger here as Greg Brown sings, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy from his album, “Freak Flag”

I don’t know why we as people
do the things we do.
We are mostly fine just the way we are
if we could only get a clue.
This longing for an afterlife
has damn near wrecked this place.
Mercy, mercy, mercy:
tears on a face.

http://youtu.be/OF2l_OWaWlw

This separation of heaven and human leads us to deny our own experience. The condemnation is not so much what we have done, but what we have failed to learn when the opportunity was upon us — “...even after you saw it, you did not change your mind.”

May your cry for Mercy be heard by yourself, bring the tears, and then the change.

Romans 14:1-12

Year A - Pentecost +14 or Community Practice ¹⁴

September 14, 2014

Romans 14:1-12

Welcome those who are weak in faith, even while they are convinced in their own mind that they are strong in faith. Perhaps that needs to be, even while they are convinced in their own mind that they have the stronger faith.

Of course this is a set-up for institutional chaos and an eventual schism such as a king throwing a slave out for not being merciful. At best the setting up of such confusion may foster a new synthesis, a new creation not otherwise available than through an inherently weak process of revelation without experience.

The experience of church, early and late, is that the more loudly people claim every knee is to bow and every tongue be the same the more or the larger comes a split, a throwing of some out, the intentional knocking of dust off the feet of some as they high-tail it.

This welcome is not intended to weaken those first to arrive at an insight by deliberately setting up a heterodox setting. By verse 22 the welcomers are to keep their own belief and act according to their own conviction even in the face of different convictions by those they welcomed. Finally, by 15:5 a reliance is put back on G*D rather than convictions: “May G*D, the source of all perseverance and comfort, grant you to live in peace with one another....”

For now,
                 keep welcoming others
                 keep your convictions clear
                 keep partnered with G*D
                 keep on keeping on.

Psalm 114

Year A - Pentecost +14 or Community Practice ¹⁴

September 14, 2014

Psalm 114

When viewing your last 10 years, can you make a similar review of the positives without mentioning the tension of being caught between a rock and a hard place with no good option, helpless to decide which way to commit suicide, or the difficulty out of which came some unexpected providential event?

This Psalm is very much on message regarding the effect of the Presence of G*D—a blessing. Regardless of what the point of contention, we are reminded that it shall pass and the remainder will nourish many.

Of course, sometimes we have to use a multi-generational view to find such a providence. In the meantime, many will have gone the way and be no more. Hopefully they were able to die with some assurance that the little they were able to do to make a change will have been added to many other little choices that coalesced into an opportunity for their great-grandchildren to actually make it into a more open space.

Read and analyze your spirit seismometer. Test your study with a prediction of the next tremblor. Refine your next prediction on the basis of your result. Finally your prediction and a prophecy of mercy need to have a conversation. If what you are testing for doesn’t include a shaking of the foundations of an injustice, you are probably wasting your time.

Exodus 14:19-31

Year A - Pentecost +14 or Community Practice ¹⁴

September 14, 2014

Exodus 14:19-31

Salvation of some by the denial of mercy to others. This is our usual way of looking at this victory passage regarding a people caught between a devil and a deep blue see (at least an enemy and marshy ground).

Assurance is evidence based. This is our usual way of looking at a providential moment and deriving a need for repeated providential actions to prove our G*D is still OUR god.

Hopefully it is not too late in a Season of Pentecost (no matter what other season we might also be in) to remember wonder-sharing is particularly for those who have been denied mercy and changes both the teller and tellee? Hopefully it is also a good time to remember that one event can change a whole life arc and never need another booster shot.

Has mercy slipped away over the course of a short 14 weeks? How about assurance? Might this be a renewal Sunday. This Sunday is actually my 42nd wedding anniversary. In remembering the forgetting of it along the way with whatever unkindness has manifested itself, renewal in a new setting of today revives the soul. This Sunday is also a 14th weekly anniversary of Pentecost. In remembering our forgetting of it along the way with whatever self-absorption has manifested itself, renewal in a communal setting of today revives the soul.

Matthew 18:21-35

Year A - Pentecost +14 or Community Practice ¹⁴

September 14, 2014

Matthew 18:21-35

In today’s world, with slavery gone underground and been institutionalized in economic policy, it is be important to review that forgiveness is not a one-way street.

The very beginning of Jesus’ story telling about the Presence of G*D makes us wonder about what would lead a king to even begin to consider forgiveness unless it is to remind folks how much they are dependent upon the king.

Eventually we see a king that will forgive some things but not others. An alternative is a king who requires emulation and will torture to see that their image, their slave, reflects themself back to themself.

Of course, these stories are not intended to be one-to-one correspondences to life. Nonetheless, we wish more had been revealed here about the initial forgiveness of financial debt racked up in every company-store setting and what mercy/forgiveness is needed for the king/CEO. If mercy is the category of the day, what are the limits of that mercy by the end of the story? Do we need some provisional ways of describing mercy?

This mercy is to make me look good, thank me.

This mercy is instructional, repeat it.

This mercy is time-bound, be thankful for little things.

This mercy is a set up, beware.

This mercy is to be translated into other settings, learn from it.

This mercy is to further indebt you, serve better.

This mercy is to . . . .

Having thought of a few of the ways mercy is circumscribed and kept from being an underlying understanding of a creative impulse, what might have to change the next time you use the word? Is this a primary word (way we live toward or in response to life experiences)? Is this a secondary word (a useful tool to arrive at a self-defined destination)?

Romans 13:8-14

Year A - Pentecost +13 or Community Practice ¹³

September 7, 2014

Romans 13:8-14

All commandments are summed up in “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In this regard, if you are in the United Methodist tradition you might want to consider supporting a Love Your Neighbor coalition working to transform the world by beginning with transforming The United Methodist Church. Anything you can do to help support this group will be appreciated. (In terms of disclosure, I am working their the legislative arm of Love Your Neighbor).

Love Your Neighbor Campaign

It is very easy to put off engaging differences, particularly where there is no room to move with one or another absolutist positions. Sometimes be clear in one’s affirmations is the only engaging that can be done.

This is not a reason, though, to put off our work. Whether of not others will engage with us, we can still live honorably and affirm where our trust is grounded.

Again, there is a temptation to have to be a holier-than-thou “honoring of self” that sets up its own absolute division into competing dualities (flesh and spirit, for example). If Jesus is incarnational, so are we and dividing Jesus from the manger and feasting and death only divides us from this wonderful Native understanding of Honor. (No, not retributive honor killings reflecting a fragile life, but an expansive and expanding honor to bring forth everyone’s best affirmations).

So, in the time remaining:

Live Honorably

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Psalm 149

Year A - Pentecost +13 or Community Practice ¹³

September 7, 2014

Psalm 149

When it comes to resolving issues between persons and peoples, all too often it comes down to finding a way to justify getting rid of someone rather than live in the tension of differences (understandable differences, but not differences that are equal in validity).

This psalm all too clearly spells out our tendency to short-circuit a resolution that helps clarify a next engagement of differences. We let the unresolved differences pile up until we are preemptively justified in striking first. Here the language is “to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples ... to execute on them the judgment decreed.”

Somehow or other this exercise of removal is an expression of “glory for all G*D’s faithful ones.” Really?

Vengeance seems to all too often be the hidden and unrevealed until it is too late side of praise. Go ahead and be thankful, but be careful with unrestrained praise that sets us apart for soon it will lead us to setting other apart for their destruction.

Exodus 12:1-14

Year A - Pentecost +13 or Community Practice ¹³

September 7, 2014

Exodus 12:1-14

“You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.” So much for literal legalisms based on biblical mandate selected to support my bias.

This passover is not a feast. Feasts are leisurely. This has a manic feel to it. It is like trying to play Twister and eat at the same time. This is serious competition eating. Imagine miscalculating the proportion of lamb to diners. Somebody is going to be throwing up from cramming too much too quickly.

In observing Passover as a perpetual ordinance we diminish its power. The sign is not the experience. Emphasizing the repetition of a once wonderful sign dims our ability to catch a next wonderful sign. We get so caught up in doing it just right the second or two thousandth time that we can easily let a quieter and deeper transformation slip by.

Conclusions:

• Literalism carries within itself its own contradiction.
• It is difficult to carry desperation past its time.
• Familiarity blinds us to beauty as we yearn for novelty.

This is not an easy place for the generation of a sermon. It is a helpful place to wrestle with some of the persistent tensions on a pathway to freedom, except for those are simply subjected to active genocide such as that experienced by Indigenous Peoples everywhere. There is no redemptively violent exodus for them.

Matthew 18:15-20

Year A - Pentecost +13 or Community Practice ¹³

September 7, 2014

Matthew 18:15-20

Thank goodness these instructions are in the context of finding a lost sheep. They put us in the position of a privileged shepherd, right in being affronted by another loser (uh, lost one). The obvious work to be done is to get them to acknowledge the hurt I have received and make it good. I need my boo-boo kissed.

So a logical way of doing this is to start by providing the least embarrassing option of a personal apology. However, the odds are that if I am feeling the need to straighten out their behavior I would like a little more than a private conversation. I have already escalated this to having talked with my friends and gotten their agreement that I am the aggrieved party.

So we are already on our way to a separation. By the time I can muster saying, “You hurt me.” The possibility of a lesser encounter is long past. I am no longer able to start with a clarification of what I took to be an injury or to say, “I felt hurt when....”

So it is that our experience of being discounted (whether we were or not) gets tied up with universals and eternals and I am ready to bind another, forever, if they have any different picture than I do about their fault I am lovingly pointing out to them for their betterment.

We are here well past the beginning humility of this chapter, causing another to stumble. We are all too ready to say, “Yes, I messed up a little with that kid, but you messed up big time with me!”

What do you think was in the mind of the lection committee when they stopped at verse 20 and didn’t go on to Peter and forgiveness in multiples of 70? It would seem we are more intent on another’s confession than our own affirmation or practice of premeditated mercy.

A Foreword Question

I have been working on selecting and sprucing up comments from this blog for a second volume of Wrestling with Church Years — Wrestling Year B: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience.

The person I had anticipated writing a forward is no longer able to do so as a result of a significant change in their life.

On short notice, I thought I would put out the possibility of someone on this list contributing a Foreword or a blurb for the back cover about the value of the jottings here for their life/work.

If you have an interest in such, let me know and we will work out deadline and other details. Rather than using a reply that goes to the whole list, I can be reached at wwhite2u@gmail.com

Thanks for the consideration.

Wesley

Romans 12:9-21

Year A - Pentecost +12 or Community Practice ¹²

August 31, 2014

Romans 12:9-21

A series of wisdom proverbs is difficult to categorize. And yet the various layers can be seen as a series of lenses choices when at the optometrist. Each choice add its own power and correction.

Here’s “genuine love”, how clearly can you see now? 

Oh, not too clear because a big hurt makes you leery of love. How about now when I add “hate evil, embrace good”? 

Yes to be able to see what happened to you as evil and that you are still good does improve the vision. But things are still a bit fuzzy. How about we try focusing the first lens of genuine love with this one of “mutual affection”. How’s that? Better. Good. We seem to be on a helpful track.

Now it’s your turn. How do you connect this list to finally see well enough to come to the action piece—overcome evil with good?

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c

Year A - Pentecost +12 or Community Practice ¹²

August 31, 2014

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c

“Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.” Remember Ham, cast away by Noah? Here we have a castaway in a castaway land. What might it be like to be twice exiled?

Like Michael Brown in Ferguson? Like any Palestinian? Like a Trans anywhere? 

The difference here is that none of the above or the folks you thought of to add to the list had experience of being fruitful and strong. It wasn’t a case of surface thanks to Joseph before enslaving his descendants. These folks have only known hate and craft used against them.

There is still a promise for everyone that allies will be sent who will assist our coming through the current hell on earth that another prayer might be lived—G*D’s presence come on earth.

In the meantime praise a vision of new relationships not dependent upon mining the poor to resource the rich. 

Exodus 3:1-15

Year A - Pentecost +12 or Community Practice ¹²

August 31, 2014

Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was good at noticing what was going on around him. He saw abuse and tried to put an end to it (he just chose the wrong vehicle—vigilantism won’t do what community reorganizing can do). He saw a bush.

If we connect the bush with Pentecost through flames of fire that did not consume those evidencing them, we can ask about the going into the streets to speak different languages, engage different experiences. The same is going on here with Moses being pushed out of his locked expectation about his own call and gift. A wonder is to be told. (In fact a wonder is still expected to be told by you and me and all of us together.)

Things are always more complicated than they seem. Does Moses’ response of “Here I am” trigger YHWH’s playful name of presence?

One of the more creative lookings at this passage is by Rabbis Arthur Ocean Waskow and Phyllis Ocean Berman. May it free you to look again. When Moses Burned Inside the Burning Bush

It is always good to listen in to poets talking about their choices. Here is what Everett Fox has to say about his translation of verse 14 in The Five Books of Moses 

God said to Moshe:
EHYEH ASHER EHYEH/I will be-there howsoever I will be-there.
And he said: Thus shall you say to the Children of Israel:
EHYEH/I-WILL-BE-THERE sends me to you. 

“God’s answer is one of the most enigmatic and widely debated statements in the Hebrew Bible.... What does ehyeh asher ehyeh mean? One’s suspicions are aroused from the outset, for the answer is alliterative and hence already not easy to pin down; the poetics of the phrase indicate both importance and vagueness or mystery. There is some scholarly consensus that the name may mean “He who causes (things) to be” or perhaps “He who is.” Buber and Rosenzweig, taking entirely different tack (of which one occasionally finds echoes in the scholarly literature), interpret the verb hayoh as signifying presence, “being-there,” and hence see God’s words as a real answer to the Israelites’ imagined question—an assurance of his presence. The B-R interpretation has been retained here, out of a desire to follow them on at least this significant point of theology, and out of my feeling that it also fits the smaller context. For of the several times that Moshe tries to wriggle out of his mission, God answers him all but once with the same verb, in the same meaning: “I will be-there with you” (note the parallel between Moshe and the people again).

As you proceed to wrestle with the scriptures, don’t forget to look at things in the small picture of your experience and that of your Neighb*r as well as some imagined big picture of G*D and eternity.