tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33066275632037102802024-03-05T05:13:20.750-08:00hOlybytesseekers and believers finding the Holy in our livesDebra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.comBlogger631125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-77519907963645943422023-01-17T07:01:00.002-08:002023-01-17T07:10:18.969-08:00Please find my hOlybytes at dasis.medium.com<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpw_7dOT2uiTzxOil5Ei7CG5yHBgp4FCbEladENA2rKA0bnqVqGYO-6Uxs-dcpmgKfxBCwUkF8ovhEqO_F3hWj2oQQJyDU8QbxfVrRF7O3fSfT1zCYZDRxTO0oE0jD5LCfFfvc-v1go5G3BpVbS_g5z_p-rvI0tlC-LDrnLAUMqLvuJ-33Uu58let/s6720/51_willoart.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4480" data-original-width="6720" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpw_7dOT2uiTzxOil5Ei7CG5yHBgp4FCbEladENA2rKA0bnqVqGYO-6Uxs-dcpmgKfxBCwUkF8ovhEqO_F3hWj2oQQJyDU8QbxfVrRF7O3fSfT1zCYZDRxTO0oE0jD5LCfFfvc-v1go5G3BpVbS_g5z_p-rvI0tlC-LDrnLAUMqLvuJ-33Uu58let/w433-h288/51_willoart.jpeg" width="433" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hello friends! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It is a new season and time for a refresh. Each week I will publish a reflection on my journey in relation to the scriptures for the upcoming Sunday. And occasionally, even a drone may sneak into the picture!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Please find and follow me at dasis.medium.com </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There you will find my 4-6 minute reads and can even listen to them read aloud to you by AI. (she almost sounds human)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Please share your thoughts, questions and comments with me and your friends. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Tell me what you would like me to write about. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Your questions and presence makes me better and I long to hear from you.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Grace, Grit and Gratitude,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Debra</span></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-35641379571915128012023-01-16T05:20:00.001-08:002023-01-16T05:20:08.878-08:00Psalm for Sunday 15 January 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjwP8Ri94zdtdN-zKeUqEUz7_p1gKIUVGYVSoE8N-7ZwCD382grSgUMd8mJwE-UJqx0Mw--UE3yxAkzPFMlOL2NDazixeDkwDf3GHWBnK0nKQtCRaYNZxIhGmrQvSAExq4aWkEY3gAMOHvcNMWa5esRPQHq4l_eRlIWLGvpABT5UM6GBhVoAWfoGj/s1000/https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-341119869-479311546823-1-original.20220824-090540.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjwP8Ri94zdtdN-zKeUqEUz7_p1gKIUVGYVSoE8N-7ZwCD382grSgUMd8mJwE-UJqx0Mw--UE3yxAkzPFMlOL2NDazixeDkwDf3GHWBnK0nKQtCRaYNZxIhGmrQvSAExq4aWkEY3gAMOHvcNMWa5esRPQHq4l_eRlIWLGvpABT5UM6GBhVoAWfoGj/w420-h210/https---cdn.evbuc.com-images-341119869-479311546823-1-original.20220824-090540.webp" width="420" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Dear friends please see my new blog site at dasis.medium.com Follow me there as soon the medium site will replace hOlybytes. Thank you! </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;"><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Psalm 40:1-12</i></span><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> I waited patiently upon the Lord; * <br />
he stooped to me and heard my cry.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; * he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> He put a new song in my mouth, <br />
a song of praise to our God; * <br />
many shall see, and stand in awe, <br />
and put their trust in the Lord.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> Happy are they who trust in the Lord! * <br />
they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! <br />
how great your wonders and your plans for us! * <br />
there is none who can be compared with you.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! * <br />
but they are more than I can count.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure * <br />
(you have given me ears to hear you);</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required, * <br />
and so I said, "Behold, I come.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: * <br />
'I love to do your will, O my God; <br />
your law is deep in my heart."'</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; * <br />
behold, I did not restrain my lips; <br />
and that, O Lord, you know.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; <br />
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; * <br />
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 4px 48px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -48px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">You are the Lord; <br />
do not withhold your compassion from me; * <br />
let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever.</span></i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reflection Why should I attend Church?: Ruminations of a recently retired priest.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Last night I dipped my toe in a stream of holy water while attending Evening Prayer at Church of the Holy Faith. With one hand wielding his oxygen backpack Mark shuffled his way through the lighting of candles, took his place as officiant and asked me, the only other person present, “Are you familiar with Evening Prayer?” Nodding yes I asked, “Rite I or II?” Raising a solitary finger Mark began the service for two, “From the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same…” </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A moment’s respite in the ancient words quickly gave way to raucous as my heart summoned my roiling head to rest rather than wrestle with the arcane sexist language. From the law written “deep in my heart” I heard, “Be still and know that I am God, born in the light of this well wrought poetry. Let the letters be ladders rather than stumbling blocks.“ Recalling a year with the great congregation from which only weeks ago I retired I heard myself “speak of your faithfulness,” promoting the practice of “putting our heads in our hearts.” Perhaps I should listen to my own counsel? Sighing I settled on the blue kneeler cushion. I am almost embarrassed to confess, I felt welcomed home. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure. He put a new song in my mouth…” </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Like sweet honey slathered on a stone, the responsive reading of the psalms, the mingling of two voices saying the Magnificat and St. Simeon’s song silenced my head, sweetened my heart and set me to “depart in peace.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Which stands me square in the wake of the question, “Why should I attend Church?” Excusing my hesitating head my heart sings, “Because Church is a holy “other” place. Unlike secular spaces construed to confirm my power, pleasure or position, Church puts me in my proper posture, a nameless creature among numberless others, knees bent before the Mystery, wrought by the work of the people (liturgia), that cannot be captured in words.”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The fact of the matter is this. It is I who is captured by words! “God he. God the Father. Thou. Thy. Mankind.” Rite I language. Why do I balk? Must the words be stumbling blocks? Rather than meeting each word as a rung on a soaring ladder, aping my ancestors my toes curl and cling to the fettle thing. Admitting I am mired in the clay of the desolate pit I cry, “O God, where can I go from here?”</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanks be to the Psalmist’s song. “ I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure. He put a new song in my mouth …” </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today I cease my search for a Church that looks, feels and speaks like me. Today I stop my futile attempts to feed my heart with reason when it craves mystery. The One, Holy and Living Mystery put a new song in my mouth and this is what I sing.</span></p>
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<p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Avenir;">“I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart. I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation at Church of the Apostles. I did not restrain my lips… I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance. I have not concealed your love from the people. Now it is time for me to find my proper place in the heart of a different great congregation and wait patiently to hear my new song.</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Avenir;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Avenir;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p></div>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-42534804656939463502023-01-06T06:36:00.000-08:002023-01-06T06:36:15.241-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 8 January 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN25B1LCvB4Zy5hbFpfleOAGO8dx9hCIVjkfAzDEd5ekyvuAQ3zzzabRDNktB3kprTa7sPD29zokmGgCUg68uQQRhtG12aai1eBDxtj9rcOUqGhKC_SNMu8rcA28k6IK7bOw0F0zbeR9A_MBWO6SMwxytN89TwgU19pPi2OZ35feVn0EP0GBNf_97i/s500/Ordinary-Saints.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="500" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN25B1LCvB4Zy5hbFpfleOAGO8dx9hCIVjkfAzDEd5ekyvuAQ3zzzabRDNktB3kprTa7sPD29zokmGgCUg68uQQRhtG12aai1eBDxtj9rcOUqGhKC_SNMu8rcA28k6IK7bOw0F0zbeR9A_MBWO6SMwxytN89TwgU19pPi2OZ35feVn0EP0GBNf_97i/w390-h385/Ordinary-Saints.jpg" width="390" /></a></div><p></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>Matthew 3:13-17 </i><i>Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”</i></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Many people who come after Jesus, most notably the writers of the Christian gospels and other religious officials, spill buckets of ink insisting we believe certain things about Jesus. But John the Baptizer ‘came before’ Jesus pointing the way of repentance. And Jesus comes before us, embodying the way of living in right relationship with God, all people and creation. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b>The question true Christians face is not, “What do we believe?” It is, “How are we living?”</b>The clue to answer this question is hidden in plain hearing, in Jesus’ response to John’s hesitation to baptize him. And Jesus says, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” <b>We are meant to live in fulfillment of all righteousness.</b></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">What does righteousness look like? Let’s begin with what it is not. Righteousness is not an abstract moral code nor a mark of religious piety. Righteousness is not about belief. Righteousness is right living. It is an attribute of God and as beings created in the image of God, righteousness must also be an attribute of each one of us. Righteousness means living in right relationship with God, all people and creation. As righteous people we are faithful, truthful, humble, and make choices for the good of all people (even at our own expense). </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">It is important to understand that the writer of Matthews gospel is interested in Jesus’ identity. This is evidenced in the baptismal narrative when a voice from heaven addresses the crowds, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” But Jesus has a different agenda and I would argue it is Jesus to whom we must listen. <b>Jesus’ life and ministry is nothing if not a gleaming example of how to live in right relationship with God and all people. This is righteousness. </b></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Which brings us to Jesus’ other weighty word, ‘fulfillment.’ To fulfill is to make real and carry out. It presumes there has been an order or instruction that is to be performed and perfected. When Jesus says, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness,” we understand the instruction to be performed and perfected is righteousness, living in right relationship with God and with all people. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The radical twentieth century social activist Dorothy Day who founded the Catholic Worker Movement writes,<b> “All are called to be saints but all are not called to be extraordinary.”</b> Day continues, “God expects something from each one of us that no one else can do. If we don’t do it it will not be done.” * Each one of us is uniquely gifted to do what only we can do by living in righteous relationship with God and all people.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Earlier in Matthew’s text we hear John the Baptist excoriating the outwardly religious folk, “You brood of vipers! … Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” (Matt 2.7-8) John’s message is clear. It is not enough to step into the river and be baptized. It is not enough to go to church on Sunday and resume life as usual on Monday. Our actions must make real the mark and mission of our baptism, otherwise the ritual is empty as a fist full of air. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Empty rituals can not fulfill a life of righteousness. Kings’ Cake at Epiphany parties, exotic vacations even lavish liturgies and baptismal rites may be titillating but they do not fulfill a life of righteousness. We are meant to use our lives to embody and express God’s promise of dignity and love for all people. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><b>So, how will you answer the call to be an ordinary saint today?</b> How will you do the one thing that no one else can do to fulfill your life of righteousness?</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><ul>
<li style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shawn Madigan, CSJ, ed., <i>Mystics, Visionaries & Prophets: A historical Anthology of Women’s Spiritual Writings (</i>Minneapolis, Fortress Press) p332.</span></li>
</ul><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </span></i></p><div><i><br /></i></div><p><br /> </p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-16671044929838542092022-12-15T10:11:00.000-08:002022-12-15T10:11:03.729-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 18 December 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-55gSYCNjASBzcCnaEfWo4RedHUCs-Q2K3GAa293qwND5l7_JnQBAEiSs9JOhWM6jhdobt_PzzA2pPcSoMGziijaojo3uotOGLcoMqcL5OE70IUoRRRflk6m87eTOPBcZyro5DSQM0zk_Bnk8axXH8FbsJ-4-bBqUsSPu5HN2vhBM4ft9X7e-bHr/s400/no-fear-image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-55gSYCNjASBzcCnaEfWo4RedHUCs-Q2K3GAa293qwND5l7_JnQBAEiSs9JOhWM6jhdobt_PzzA2pPcSoMGziijaojo3uotOGLcoMqcL5OE70IUoRRRflk6m87eTOPBcZyro5DSQM0zk_Bnk8axXH8FbsJ-4-bBqUsSPu5HN2vhBM4ft9X7e-bHr/s320/no-fear-image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <span style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Matthew 1:18-25</span><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:</p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 80px; text-align: justify; text-indent: -80px;">“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,<br />
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”</p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Of what are you afraid? Being censured for living in accord with your conscience? Being convicted for challenging the status quo? Being condemned for speaking the unspeakable? loving the unlovable?</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The angel said to Joseph, “Do not be afraid…” Do not be afraid to do what is right even though it puts you crosswise with social, cultural and religious laws and order. Do not be afraid to protect and cherish a pregnant teenager and raise her son as a Holy gift of God. “Do not be afraid.” The angel’s counsel rings through the years to awaken our ears.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Of what are you afraid? Being censured for living in accord with your conscience? Being convicted for challenging the status quo? Being condemned for speaking the unspeakable? loving the unlovable?</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Fear is formidable. When bound by trembling, trepidation or timidity there is no possibility for light, life and love to enter and take root in us. But, when we choose to live without fear we are the fertile ground in which the seed of Holiness is planted, gestates, is born and raised. This I believe is the heart of the story of the ill conceived birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">What will it take for us to awaken from the dream that by refusing risk or responsibility we can escape the rough and tumble stumbles of life? What will it take for us to consent to Holiness born in and of, with and through us? The answer is simple. Living without fear.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Living without fear; new light penetrates even our darkest darkness, love replaces faint heartedness and Holiness is born of us. And yes, the birth of Holiness costs our whole lives.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </i></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 19.2px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px; text-align: justify;"><b></b><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 19.2px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px; text-align: justify;"><b></b><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-44779447864242943522022-12-08T10:40:00.001-08:002022-12-08T10:52:45.327-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 11 December 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpQVXoBRjHSPh6uudA6n4TX_hyyAlwTKY67wRWEV8XdbsgHYYOOSNsQz7OPdn0iN-mjwk3sjmWNhjU-2XwdcNuOwQe4Yd9Ch7rAsdy5zYHpfVQWnWNaexq8NxwyLckaNyfop3j2dgtxM9aQpeUFX0wmBvcPEeeroAbfcu3PuHV2lESd9dhQ8cCHbG/s960/0x0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpQVXoBRjHSPh6uudA6n4TX_hyyAlwTKY67wRWEV8XdbsgHYYOOSNsQz7OPdn0iN-mjwk3sjmWNhjU-2XwdcNuOwQe4Yd9Ch7rAsdy5zYHpfVQWnWNaexq8NxwyLckaNyfop3j2dgtxM9aQpeUFX0wmBvcPEeeroAbfcu3PuHV2lESd9dhQ8cCHbG/w422-h317/0x0.jpg" width="422" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> <i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Matthew 11:2-11 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”</i></span><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 80px; text-indent: -80px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,<br />
who will prepare your way before you.’</span></i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”</span></i></p>
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<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reflection <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">What are we hoping against hope will arise in the wilderness of our lives today? What are we looking for ? An apocalyptic fix by an autocratic messiah king wielding power from an imperious precipice, bursting onto the scene with grandstanding performances? Or a humble servant silently birthing the Spirit of the living God in our unguarded hearts, one person at a time?</em></strong></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">According to the Jewish scholar, rabbi and physician Maimonides, who is to Judaism what St. Thomas Aquinas is to Christianity, belief in the eventual coming of a messiah is a fundamental part of Judaism. Maimonides describes the messiah, the “one who is to come,” this way. “A king shall arise from among the House of David, studying Torah and occupied with commandments like his father David… and he will impel all of Israel to follow it and to strengthen breaches in its observance, and will fight God’s wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded and built the Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the dispersed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together…”</em></strong><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="#" style="text-align: left;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messia</a></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">Rumors must have been rampant about Jesus’ mind-bending mountaintop sermon proclaiming the poor and the hungry are blessed, the meek who understand their place in God’s kingdom are happy and those who are just and sincere are satisfied. (Matt 5.1–11) Waiting in prison and hearing about “all the things” that Jesus was doing; giving sight to the blind, restoring the lame to walk, cleansing the lepers, healing the deaf and raising the dead, John the Baptist had to be scratching his beard in bewilderment.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">How does Jesus conform to a messiah’s job description?</em></strong></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">To make matters even more muddled, some of the things Jesus says are flatly offensive. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (that would be the religious Jews) you will never enter” God’s kingdom. (Matt 5.20) What?</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Are not the religious people guaranteed a fast pass to the kingdom?</em></strong><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">After all, they are the people with temple privileges, the ones who enforce and piously follow the letter of the law. No wonder John is perplexed and sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come?” (see below)</span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></em></strong></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Here is the thing. Jesus does not come to fulfill the letter of the law. He comes to fulfill the Spirit of the law.</em></strong><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">“You have heard it said, you shall not murder…but I say to you if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgement…” (Matt5.21–22) “You have heard it said, an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say… give to anyone who begs from you…” (Matt 5. 38,42) “You have heard it said that you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt 5.43–44) Give your charitable gifts anonymously. Uphold your position of power with mercy and integrity. Speak truth and treat all people with dignity. Be humble rather than make a display of what a righteous religious person you are. (Matt 6.1–11)</span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></em></strong></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">From the point of view of John and the religious Jews of his time, Jesus does not fit the messiah’s job description.</em></strong><span style="text-align: left;">This remains true today. Although many Jews understand Jesus to be an exemplary prophet, he fails to gather the “dispersed ones of Israel together,” therefore Jesus cannot be the anointed one. To date Jesus fails “to mend the entire world to worship the Lord together.”</span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">To make matters even worse, Jesus offends the keepers of the law, the religious people, calling them hypocrites, “For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside (you) are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matt 23. 25) “You are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt 23.28)</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Jesus is exposing the superficial way overtly pious religious folk adhere to the letter of the law but miss the mark by failing to follow the spirit of the law. (Sound familiar?)</em></strong></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The one whom John baptized in the river Jordan, the one whose sandals John is not worthy to tie, the one upon whom the Spirit of God descends, the “one who is to come” and bring the “kingdom of heaven near” appears to be the unorthodox healer, preacher, dissident, Jesus who comes to reform, not replace the Jewish tradition. But John’s expectations about what the messiah’s success should look like prevent him from recognizing Jesus’ status quo shattering presence and consciousness bending invitation to change.</span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">Which begs the question; What expectations, beliefs or preconceived notions make us deaf and blind and unreceptive to the”one who is to come?”</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">What are we hoping against hope will arise in the wilderness of our lives today? What are we looking for this Advent season? An apocalyptic fix by an autocratic king wielding power from an imperious precipice, bursting onto the scene with grandstanding performances? Or a humble servant silently birthing the Spirit of the living God in our unguarded hearts, one person at a time?</em></strong></span></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="text-align: left;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"><br /></em></strong></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-37475944719125549352022-11-30T16:54:00.000-08:002022-11-30T16:54:07.774-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 4 December 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzLCCojsYyPykZjyJb1W8jEj1j5Hs8RkSUrrWEhZSeipJlGWm9Vg3FBmToB_OOlRtknkopdqvvvy5Lyryw8e5ft9OdER-ZtM0EYPtpoEV68-5L2BVBY3k3TCY5-uSuqSLZXsvqsNFUlQmdytGbVYNyeKpOPmuGRILq4Un0wo_ta7RBH8ODJxqDQbe/s1002/justice%20c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1002" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzLCCojsYyPykZjyJb1W8jEj1j5Hs8RkSUrrWEhZSeipJlGWm9Vg3FBmToB_OOlRtknkopdqvvvy5Lyryw8e5ft9OdER-ZtM0EYPtpoEV68-5L2BVBY3k3TCY5-uSuqSLZXsvqsNFUlQmdytGbVYNyeKpOPmuGRILq4Un0wo_ta7RBH8ODJxqDQbe/w385-h355/justice%20c.jpg" width="385" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; min-height: 19px; text-indent: -40px;"><i></i><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Matthew 3.1-12 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 80px; text-indent: -80px;"><i> "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: <br />
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.</i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.</i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reflection Finding his place in the mystery of the wilderness rather than in Roman baths or columned temple halls, grizzly John the Baptist is an anomalous character. Even though John's scraggly beard is crusty with legs of locust glued to globs of honey and he looks more like a hippie than a holy man, crowds listen to him. What is he saying? “I am nothing. What I have to offer you is merely a bath in water that is nothing compared to the baptism by fire that the one who follows me will bring to you.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">John consistently directs attention away from himself toward Jesus. “He who is coming after me is more powerful than me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.” (Matt 3.11) Yet, even as John is a paragon of humility, he is an intrepid prophet fearlessly speaking truth to power. He not only calls for the people’s radical change, “repent and be baptized,” daring to criticize King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, John also demands social justice. This does not end well for John who ultimately loses his head for it. But I am leaping ahead.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even though he is a descendant of the priesthood of Aaron, as a comment against common corruption John renounces his rights to a position in the Temple. As a critic of injustice and exploitation the humble prophet John chooses to stand outside of Roman culture and condemn the status quo. But, in keeping with his culture, John expects a Messiah to come and in a singular sweeping apocalyptic act set the world right. He declares, “(the Messiah) will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”</p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">John expects an all powerful Messiah King will bring an end to the corrupt status quo and institute a happily ever after life. This is where he and Jesus part ways.</p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Somewhere I read the contemporary Christian Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan’s description of a fundamental difference between John the Baptist and Jesus. According to Crossan both of them are interested in how the world will be transformed into the Kingdom of God. John believes the solution to the insoluble social situation depends on a deus ex machina, Divine apocalyptic intervention. This means the kingdom of God is contingent on a God engineered catastrophic event that happens <span style="text-decoration: underline;">to</span> the people and instantaneously results in peace and righteousness. </p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">By contrast, Jesus teaches that the Kingdom of God depends on actions <span style="text-decoration: underline;">through</span> the people, socially conscious action taken to transform the misuse of power, position and privilege in the world. Rather than waiting for a distant god to provoke an apocalyptic event and instantaneously revolutionize the world, Crossan argues that Jesus assigns the responsibility for restoring peace and righteousness and remodeling the world to the slow work of the people. This represents an enormous advance in the development of human consciousness; from apocalyptic magical thinking to taking personal responsibility for the quality of life and care of all humanity.</p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What does this mean for us today? I believe it means taking a stand with Jesus and exercising the right use of position, power and privilege in response to human suffering; mass shootings, seditious conspiracy, hunger, obfuscation of truth, homelessness, hopelessness and every form of oppression and inhumanity. </p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What does this mean for us today? It means we, the people, must take responsibility to care for the roughly ten percent of the eight billion people in the world who are suffering from extreme poverty; beginning in our own country where nearly thirteen percent endure impoverishment. </p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What does this mean for us today? It means we, the people, must speak truth to power, calling for responsibility, accountability and factuality. It means, with all humility we must use our hands and feet and voices to end hate, harm and hopelessness by living, acting and voting to insure dignity and care for all people, beginning where we stand.</p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>No singular apocalyptic event, no messianic savior king or president, will bring to light the Kingdom of God on earth. But a million, a billion, countless trillion decisions made by each of us every single day will. </i>We are meant to be humble prophets, standing shoulder to shoulder with John and Jesus, willing to renounce positions of power and privilege in the interest of claiming our shared responsibility for calling out corruption and being the kingdom of peace and righteousness on earth.</p>
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<p style="color: #420158; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </i></p></div><p><br /> </p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-6695522441882146132022-11-18T08:12:00.000-08:002022-11-18T08:12:02.088-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 20 November 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kOyxZOk0qYFJGFPD_Ku3joiG4IdTArr3gL77LlM6xcE9PPRWa5UawTHMuecUPokmEuL_082V5xnweh6iFQexL5QxFzmsV-mXWkHvCfwixIPenDOzi2KpfiH6PSufjDWVvYKbfc5MKObmXqrw0Xa2ODs-dZPodbjqOdYejm-X6TAKVF65TPje2_cO/s800/integrity-website-word-cloud-tag-cloud-isolated-integrity-word-cloud-tag-cloud-isolated-118251012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5kOyxZOk0qYFJGFPD_Ku3joiG4IdTArr3gL77LlM6xcE9PPRWa5UawTHMuecUPokmEuL_082V5xnweh6iFQexL5QxFzmsV-mXWkHvCfwixIPenDOzi2KpfiH6PSufjDWVvYKbfc5MKObmXqrw0Xa2ODs-dZPodbjqOdYejm-X6TAKVF65TPje2_cO/w404-h270/integrity-website-word-cloud-tag-cloud-isolated-integrity-word-cloud-tag-cloud-isolated-118251012.jpg" width="404" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <i style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Luke 23:33-43 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews.”</i></div></span><p></p>
<p style="color: #570e72; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”</span></i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reflection Practicing what we preach can be a rather agonizing experience. When, my six year old daughter Leela planted her tiny hands on her hips, looked me square in the eye and said, “Why do I have to eat healthy food if you smoke those cigarettes,” a steel saber could not more surely have pierced me to my core. And there it was, the test of my integrity. Was I going to practice what I preached about making healthy choices and give up smoking? What was I willing to give up to live in integrity? </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Two thousand years earlier Jesus' integrity was also questioned. Throughout his ministry Jesus preached, “But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6.27-28) And then we meet Jesus at the place called The Skull, nailed to a tree between two criminals. One of the criminals, who no doubt would have planted his hands on his hips to chastise Jesus were they not nailed to a cross, questions Jesus’ integrity. “If you really are who you say you are, get yourself and us out of this mess.” </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus does the unthinkable. He does not climb off the cross. He does not implore God to save him. Instead, he forgives the criminals between whom he hangs as well as the perpetrators of his crucifixion saying, “Father, forgive them…” At the end of the day, when push comes to shove, Jesus practices what he preaches. He forgives the people who hate, curse and abuse him. In fact, he gives up his life rather than giving up his integrity. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This raises a question for all of us, “For what are we willing to die?” The only way I know to begin to respond to that question is by asking yet another question, “For what are we willing to live?” Jesus lived his life practicing what he preached. “Love God, love your neighbors, love your enemies, and forgive them.” Jesus was willing to die for that which he was willing to live. There is no better way for us to live our lives than to live for that which we are willing to die. And yes, I did quit smoking the day Leela confronted me. </span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you found this post meaningful, please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </i></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-45313553533480052442022-11-12T07:34:00.001-08:002022-11-12T07:34:29.768-08:00Gospel text for Sunday 13 November 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3oDgYY63rskgNitod6YpzH0GWIULz2oEck5Fny2Sf3YlE0pcNqZPDSxSQaIcLUWY9kZtoN18CnTUKVM2Lk0xSyJ0ohR157xEf81YdLvkakeb9abHazn5T2zJzWF1duOKV2gNyJpnLYai7N9n2qTagILM9YbPmOv89PejisxeCLTFuuUyhKimEPH3/s470/d7e8d4795a47b3d7715157b79793d586.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="470" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3oDgYY63rskgNitod6YpzH0GWIULz2oEck5Fny2Sf3YlE0pcNqZPDSxSQaIcLUWY9kZtoN18CnTUKVM2Lk0xSyJ0ohR157xEf81YdLvkakeb9abHazn5T2zJzWF1duOKV2gNyJpnLYai7N9n2qTagILM9YbPmOv89PejisxeCLTFuuUyhKimEPH3/w454-h302/d7e8d4795a47b3d7715157b79793d586.jpg" width="454" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.1px; text-align: justify;">Luke 21:5-19 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."</p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;">They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.</p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;">"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.</p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;">"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection The illuminating words of the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli describe “a colorful and amazing world where universes explode, space collapses into bottomless holes, time sags and slows near a planet and the unbounded extensions of interstellar space ripple and sway like the surface of the sea….all of this..is not a tale told by an idiot in a fit of lunacy or a hallucination… (Rovelli asserts) it is a glimpse of reality.” (Seven Brief Lessons in Physics, p11) In Jesus' words, " T<span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 0, 128);">he days will come when not one stone (of the temple) will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." </span>All created things change, change, even dramatically.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">When we take Rovelli’s description and apply it to the planet on which we plant our feet, we step smack into Jesus’ apocalyptic assertions; “there will be wars and insurrections, earthquakes, famines and plagues… you will be arrested and persecuted and betrayed even by your relatives and friends." Yes, all created things change and change dramatically. But do not worry or look for a fortuneteller. "Do not bother preparing a defense in advance," counsels Jesus, “I will give you your words and your wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to contradict. “ </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Please consider this apocalyptic moment during which I felt as if I was being brought to trial before a king and his governors. The 24 governors were actually 23 white collared Episcopal priests, one lay person (the only other female present) and the singular stand in for a king, a purple shirted Episcopal bishop. This illustrious body was the Commission on Ministry, fondly referred to as the COM. The meeting with the COM followed a year of discernment with members of my parish before they recommended to the rector (chief priest of my parish) that I be an aspirant for Holy Orders. After the rector interviewed me he sent me to the bishop for an initial screening and to declare my intent. Discernment continued with the parish as I was nominated and applied for postulancy, which hinged not only on the results of continued discernment, completing mountains of forms and composing countless essays but also on an executive medical evaluation, financial review, criminal background check and the most extensive psychiatric evaluation known to humankind. Having navigated this sea of shifting hoops I finally landed in an upstairs conference room to be interviewed by the bishop and 24 COM members.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">And so I prayed. “OK God, remember, this is your idea and you promised to give me words and wisdom because I have none. If I am really called to the priesthood, which is probably a very bad idea, then give me the words because I am terrified and I cannot do this.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Following the briefest of introductions and no small talk, the river of questions flowed. I listened to each COM question, paused, closed my eyes, waited for a response, then spoke. It seemed to be going alright until Rev. Daniel, who was sitting three seats to my right, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and said, “Debra, tell us, what is your vision for the Church?” I think my gulp was audible as I choked out, “Church. Do you mean capital C Church?” “Yes.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Again I paused, closed my eyes, and there was nothing. Not a single thought or word. I wondered how long I could sit there with my eyes closed before someone asked me to leave. And when I figured my time expired and my heart like a volcano threatened to erupt, I opened my eyes and words came pouring from my mouth. There were boatloads of words. I can recall none. When the words stopped, the room was so silent I was afraid to breath. I had no idea what was happening. Thankfully the bishop broke the pall saying, “Thank you Debra, you may leave.” As quickly as possible I exited. Before I got to the stairs to descend into what I assumed was my grand failure the bishop called to me from behind. “Debra, wait. You knocked the ball out of the park. Congratulations.” I was stunned and speechless. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">“I will give you your words and your wisdom … for nothing will be impossible with God.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">All that to say, when challenge and change, even seemingly apocalyptic change is upon us, do not panic. When unwelcome events are exacerbated by wars and rumors of war, insurrections and betrayals, do not panic. Because, when we choose to put our faith in the one and only thing that is unchanging; the unborn, undying, eternally all that is that we call God , “Not a hair on (our) heads will perish. By (our) endurance we will gain (our) souls.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-63727642130790118592022-11-04T07:24:00.002-07:002022-11-04T07:24:29.741-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 6 November 2022<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozys2kCJyvn-0U6uSahwe2csbFs7IsGdVLi-T_cqjKwXbRmO638YCrFBMPn7aG0XevWaZZsMfSzXx8cfmrJhf09wtsRPPk4zoHxrplf3T17GzY1WuV8lHB2M9apr0tVetAZm1une23ZhVnR3E_npQq-oKPAk3paM7jDSR8OLAI1NIt4PnYwb39OEd/s3309/636521464388676355--CE13406.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1869" data-original-width="3309" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozys2kCJyvn-0U6uSahwe2csbFs7IsGdVLi-T_cqjKwXbRmO638YCrFBMPn7aG0XevWaZZsMfSzXx8cfmrJhf09wtsRPPk4zoHxrplf3T17GzY1WuV8lHB2M9apr0tVetAZm1une23ZhVnR3E_npQq-oKPAk3paM7jDSR8OLAI1NIt4PnYwb39OEd/w465-h263/636521464388676355--CE13406.jpg.webp" width="465" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><p></p><p class="FreeForm" style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0in 0in 0.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #66028d; font-family: "Avenir Book Oblique";">Luke 20:27-38 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."</span><span style="color: #66028d; font-family: "Avenir Book";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="FreeForm" style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #66028d; font-family: "Avenir Book Oblique";">Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."</span><span style="color: #66028d; font-family: "Avenir Book";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="FreeForm" style="margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Avenir Book;">Reflection Could it be that two thousand years ago Jesus was saying to the Sadduces and whoever else was listening that there would come a time when women would not be considered property to be transferred between the hands of brothers? Could it be that Jesus was looking square into the face of the patriarchy and saying, “Your question about the sexual rights of brothers with regard to their widow wed sister-in-law misses the mark? You are blind to the ways of God of the living because God of the living does not rely on humanly contrived institutions to protect humanity. God of the living gives life eternally to all people; women, men, Jews, nonJews, married, unmarried.” Could it be that Jesus was declaring, “God gives life that does not depend on human understanding or human institutions?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="FreeForm" style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Avenir Book";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Sadduces conspired to entrap Jesus. Their motive was the same when they asked Jesus the question about paying taxes to Rome. But Jesus rises to a ten thousand foot above the ground persective. Jesus claims dignity for all people and righteousness in all relationships... right here, right now, on earth among the living. He makes the point that this really is a matter of choosing life or death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="FreeForm" style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Avenir Book";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus exposes the Sadduces‘ debauched protestations (alleging to protect widows) for what they really were, heartless attempts to rule and exert power over others., including Jesus. But Jesus would have none of it. He cuts to the heart of the matter. Women are people, not chattel and “God is God not of the dead but of the living.” All people are meant to be in righteous relationship with each other and with God, “for all of them are alive in God.” The way with God is the way of life, but the way of the rule mongering Sadduces (and most present politicians) depends on death. The question is, which do you choose, the way of life or the way of death?</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="FreeForm" style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0in 0in 16pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Avenir Book";"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful, please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</i></span></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-60722475044966233622022-10-28T08:34:00.001-07:002022-10-28T08:40:32.691-07:00Gospel text for the Feast of All Saints 30 October 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9bCfsLeXpxaDKRJzlqT7hsEC059k6CdIOHohRTrustXjrVA0XDZbykZhLPl6kj1Ts7fUQr35YoMeKwH9Rv29MDZnnH-c6mn5FnHFNsD_1iSLQ19vQ2nMkrqoOfmj1mhtUnkFimNO2o_p66XisIgYOypNruGG0mQz0aehrJu73Ucgk0HIZi2Rinfvl/s500/Ordinary-Saints.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="500" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9bCfsLeXpxaDKRJzlqT7hsEC059k6CdIOHohRTrustXjrVA0XDZbykZhLPl6kj1Ts7fUQr35YoMeKwH9Rv29MDZnnH-c6mn5FnHFNsD_1iSLQ19vQ2nMkrqoOfmj1mhtUnkFimNO2o_p66XisIgYOypNruGG0mQz0aehrJu73Ucgk0HIZi2Rinfvl/w423-h417/Ordinary-Saints.jpg" width="423" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Luke 6:20-31</i></div><p></p><p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Blessed are you who are poor,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for yours is the kingdom of God.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Blessed are you who are hungry now,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for you will be filled.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Blessed are you who weep now,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for you will laugh.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"But woe to you who are rich,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for you have received your consolation.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Woe to you who are full now,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for you will be hungry.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Woe to you who are laughing now,</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>for you will mourn and weep.</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets</i></p>
<p style="color: #570d72; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection We are all saints, or at least we can be because saints are ordinary people who refuse to experience the world divided in two buckets; visible - invisible, divine - human, sacred - secular, physical - spiritual, blessing - woe. Saints are ordinary people who seek unity rather than duality. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Here is the thing. Our lives depend on both; visible and invisible, divine and human, sacred and secular, physical and spiritual, blessing and woe. We begin our lives seeing only black and white. Two months pass before newborns can distinguish red and green and a few more weeks before they can tell apart blues and yellows. It takes time for the cells of the eye to mature and the brain to make sense of subtle signals, like the countless shades of grey. Much as mature vision proceeds through developmental steps so too does our capacity to experience life in shades of grey rather than in competing buckets of black or white, blessing or woe. But unlike our eyes which for most of us mature by autopilot, it is through choice and deliberate practice that we mature to experience the unifying consciousness of ‘this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">and</span> that’ rather than dualistic consciousness of ‘this <span style="text-decoration: underline;">or</span> that.’ </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Which begs the question, what constitutes deliberate practice that fosters the development of unifying consciousness? I believe it is as simple as seven words and as ungraspable as mercury. The deliberate practice intended to develop unifying consciousness is simply following Jesus’ example and praying, “Not my will, your will be done.” Seven simple words!</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In his essay, “The Meaning of Holiness” the French philosopher Louis Lavelle insists that we all have the potential to be saints, which is to say, to experience the presence and action of God with us, to live in the tension of the seen and unseen, the material and the spiritual. Saints are ordinary people who live extraordinary lives because of their disciplined intention to live praying, “Not my will, your will be done.” When we live in accord with the will of God ours are lives of holiness and we thrive in right relationship with all people and creation. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Much like accomplished baseball pitchers, pianists, professors, construction workers, teachers or firefighters who persist in disciplined study and practice in their respective fields, if we aspire to holiness of life we must exercise our spiritual muscles through disciplined prayer, worship, study and the diligent practice of living, “Not my will, your will be done.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">And, when the insufferable nay sayer that hides behind our heart stages a protest insisting, “How can I know the will of God?’ Jesus answers. "But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.” And if that is not clear, how about Jesus’ summary? “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Do to others as you would have them do to you. Others. All others. Jesus offers no exceptions. It sounds like that means when someone cuts us off while driving on Interstate 10, we bless rather than curse them. When someone is wrestling with their candy wrapper during a heart stopping scene at the theatre or shuffling pages during contemplative prayer, we choose to hear their sounds as divine music rather than personal affronts. When someone is citing their social, political or religious position quite contrary to ours, rather than attacking, defending or beating a quick retreat, we open our hearts and minds to listen with respect. When face to face with the one person who always rubs us the wrong way, we make ourselves smile and see them as holy because we are ordinary saints and so are they. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">We are ordinary saints because we choose to exercise our spiritual muscles through disciplined prayer, worship, study and diligent practice of living in accord with seven simple words. “Not my will, your will be done.” Are we perfect? No. And that is what makes ordinary saints both divine and human. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </i></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> Lavelle Louis. <i>The Meaning of Holiness, </i>London, Burns & Oates, 1953.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-28158667741179733092022-10-22T08:07:00.000-07:002022-10-22T08:07:24.252-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 23 October 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_YzpIYVugpNaFGD56cUHyorgsfaFJ3RAbnscIRdU6qE4WRsEPX22GO4sYcvjcm4nrxfnsmqIh477AOhabk6g7QWor4O5BDqKGZyf6YV7jzhbQrCU1JYdT2SDqrE5IBQl__r96wkbUxjK6gMr0lv1bJN1MG9OJCP5nGjM0bTJgjvU5hg_dAb5yNs-/s612/istockphoto-1069276874-612x612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="612" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_YzpIYVugpNaFGD56cUHyorgsfaFJ3RAbnscIRdU6qE4WRsEPX22GO4sYcvjcm4nrxfnsmqIh477AOhabk6g7QWor4O5BDqKGZyf6YV7jzhbQrCU1JYdT2SDqrE5IBQl__r96wkbUxjK6gMr0lv1bJN1MG9OJCP5nGjM0bTJgjvU5hg_dAb5yNs-/w457-h320/istockphoto-1069276874-612x612.jpg" width="457" /></a></div><br /> <i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Luke 18:9-14 Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”</i><p></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Have you ever overheard someone spewing a list of laments about a person or group of “those unworthy people” while assuming a morally superior stance insisting “I am not like that? I would never do such things?” And while we are excavating, shall we be painfully honest? Have you ever heard yourself rehearsing your exceptional credentials, thanking God that you are not like “those disreputable people?” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Being a respected religious man who goes to the synagogue for all of the appointed prayers, steers clear of contact with undesirable folk and exceeds the biblical obligation to give ten percent of his income to the temple, the Pharisee in Luke’s text assumes he is in God’s favor.. But Jesus does not concur. When Jesus commends the sinful tax collector for humbly petitioning God for mercy, Jesus turns the Pharisee’s self-righteous assumptions upside down. The upstanding Pharisee is shocked. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I am willing to wager that when most of us hear this teaching tale comparing the Pharisee and the tax collector, we identify with the pious Pharisee. We go to church, say the appointed prayers, we read books and blogs about scripture, we steer clear of contact with undesirable people and fulfill our biblical obligation to give ten percent of our income to the Church (well, maybe not so much). We trust in ourselves and believe we deserve God’s grace. So, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Pharisee our eyes glaze over when Jesus commends our law breaking neighbors and condemns us to humility.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe this troublesome teaching tale requires we take out the windex, wipe the dust off our mirrors to look through a new perspective. “Yes, there I am. No, I am not a thief, a scoundrel, or two-faced deceiver. I worked for everything I have and I give sensibly to my church. Just look at me Lord. I am not like those reprehensible people. I am pious and practice the way of perfection. I am law abiding and above reproach.” But our flourishes hold no sway with Jesus who roundly rejects our litany of “look at me” statements. In a sleight of hand that we do not foresee Jesus brings us to our knees. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">From our corrected perspective we listen to Jesus’ confounding comment just a few sentences following this text. While blessing the little children Jesus admonishes us, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18.17) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Again we join the Pharisee protesting. “How can this be? We are meant to read, mark, study, digest and keep God’s law. Children cannot even read! They do not know the law and furthermore, they have nothing to offer God.” Can you see Jesus scratching his head, screwing up his eyes and muttering, “Precisely! Children never presume they have anything to give to God or anyone else. Guileless and unguarded children simply turn to the One from whom their blessings flow. Children and admitted sinners stand naked before God. Being empty, open and receptive they are available to receive God’s favor.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Mirroring cloudless contrast between those who put their trust in themselves and those who put their trust in God, Jesus is crystal clear. There is only one way to be in right relationship with God. Humbly. Those who exalt themselves will be deflated, disgraced and degraded. Those who humble themselves will be filled, favored and pure.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Oh, Jesus, this is hard. Too hard. From the time we are tiny children we are told to prove ourselves, master the world, and accumulate the social, political and religious badges of success. I do not know about you but I cannot count the times my child self heard, “What have you got to show for yourself young lady? What have you done to deserve being here? God helps those who help themselves?” Not until I was well on my way to old did I receive the counsel “To receive the wisdom of the wise you must be empty, open and receptive.” Even then this sage advice did not come from the Christian tradition. It came to me through Taoist wisdom tales.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Assuming the unaffected sincerity of children we find a new perspective. Now cheek to jowl with the tax collector in today’s gospel text, we are “standing far off… not even look(ing) up to heaven, but beating our breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'. Just in case your eyebrows scowl and your alarms howl when you hear the word, ’sinner,’ relax. This is not an invitation to self loathing and flagellation. This is a summons to a new perspective.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">If sin means we miss the mark and the mark is right relationship with God, then being a sinner means we are turned away from God. A sure and certain way for us to know we are turned away from God is when we hear ourselves announcing our virtues instead of humbling ourselves and proclaiming the goodness and mercy of God. This is why Jesus insists we stop singing our holier than thou sonnets and turn to the One from whom we receive all blessings, blessings we only receive when we are open, empty and receptive as unspoiled children.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</p><div><br /></div>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-86066688644624120432022-10-15T15:30:00.002-07:002022-10-15T15:30:59.912-07:00Hebrew Scripture for Sunday 16 October 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQX4_P0XicdOwvb_opoi1U3AGQJ6Zw-Gt1xkBFpR0y4oEbqGWf1UGmNimE5QU1WG9QKloUehktrK1FuzZbY_qZz2hxEJUb8d2tgwTAUftGLsvX0cwrhWQCLorw2pFZ5i4f3BchYLpN8cCznhSO5ZpvvHcrLJ3t11X557nLgTYBJ0azinaiQ1YfhVT/s800/Written%20on%20heart.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUQX4_P0XicdOwvb_opoi1U3AGQJ6Zw-Gt1xkBFpR0y4oEbqGWf1UGmNimE5QU1WG9QKloUehktrK1FuzZbY_qZz2hxEJUb8d2tgwTAUftGLsvX0cwrhWQCLorw2pFZ5i4f3BchYLpN8cCznhSO5ZpvvHcrLJ3t11X557nLgTYBJ0azinaiQ1YfhVT/w507-h285/Written%20on%20heart.png" width="507" /></a></div><br /> <i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Jeremiah 31:27-34 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:</i><p></p>
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and the children's teeth are set on edge."</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection The prophet Jeremiah gives voice to one of my favorite scriptures. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” What more could a woman (or man) possibly want? This all inclusive, unconditional promise is everything we humans need ; God’s law, God’s wisdom written on our hearts. What more could we possibly want?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Of course we have to ask ourselves, if God’s law is written on our hearts, “Why do we keep tripping all over our selves and one another, aligning our will with everything but God? Why do we have so much difficulty mercifully navigating life?”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe the answer is simple and demanding. Instead of putting our heads in our hearts, listening to and acting on God’s will and wisdom, we are captivated by whirlwinds of words and destructive distractions shrewdly scheming for our attention. Every day we are assaulted by our country’s ceaseless litigation over matters of law, alarming news cycles, inflammatory humor and profane politics all crafted by humans in alignment with their partisan will and ploys for power. In the midst of our dis-ordered distractions the question we keep forgetting to ask is,“What is the will or the wisdom of God?” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">According to the Hebrew Scriptures our first human attempt to record the will or wisdom of God is scratched in stone as the Decalogue, the Ten Laws given through Moses to our ancestors. (Exodus 20.2-17) But as the prophet Jeremiah reminds us, our ancestors broke the laws (which of course none of us have) and so, speaking on behalf of God Jeremiah makes a new covenant with the people of God. “I will put my law within (the people), and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">This marks an incredibly important moment in which the source of authority is reimagined. Whereas Divine Law was once understood as being external or outside of humanity, the purview of a distant transcendent God, now we recognize it as being sourced inside our selves. Jeremiah explains, “No longer shall (the people) teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…” We are all meant to know God from the inside out because the will and the wisdom of God is written on each of our hearts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">As early as the third century Christian hermits living in the desert understood the heart to be an organ of perceptivity, the site of engagement with Divine Wisdom. The well respected theologian, Episcopal priest and teacher of non-dual consciousness, Cynthia Bourgeault writes, “According to the great Christian, Jewish and Islamic wisdom traditions, the heart is first and foremost an organ of spiritual perception.” (The Heart of Centering Prayer, p54) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">When we turn our minds to read the law written on our hearts we penetrate the surface of things to access Divine wisdom and every single one of us has direct access to it.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Human access to Divine Wisdom is always available. But, driven my profit and power motives, religious and political institutions have appropriated and buried Divine Wisdom beneath doctrine and partisan politics. Still, Divine Wisdom is accessible to all us all of the time. Borrowing language from early Eastern Orthodox spiritual writings Bourgeault counsels, “Put the mind in the heart…. Put the mind in the heart…. Stand before the Lord with the mind in the heart.”(p53) </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">When we consciously and conscientiously endeavor to “put the mind (or head) in the heart” to actually direct our attention to experience our hearts beating, we begin to break through the constructed boundaries and barriers that prevent us from accessing wisdom. When we regularly take time to pause and plant our heads in our hearts we make ourselves available to experience Divine Wisdom. In Jeremiah’s words, “To know the Lord.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Every day we wake up to a world bombarding us with breaking news and boundless disaster. Our affections are disordered, our wills weakened and our patience worn thin. Rather than looking for the latest shout out telling us what we ‘need to know’ about the stock market, coronavirus, midterm elections, atrocities of war, conspiracy theories, rumors of disaster, whatever sound byte pokes our emotional buttons and puts cash in the pockets of a few, it is time to break through the noise that bars us from directly experiencing the promise Jeremiah made to humanity twenty six hundred years ago. It is time to commit to putting our heads in our hearts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, (in other words, no longer will we give priority to laws contrived by humans and our institutions…) for (we) shall all know (God), from the least of (us) to the greatest…” We will all know God in the wisdom written on our hearts.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">This all inclusive, unconditional promise is everything we humans need to live and thrive in peace. God’s law is written on our hearts. Which is why we must turn away from media and marketing meant to deceive, distract and divide us. Here is a secret the media and our institutions do not want you to know. Whenever you experience yourself swept into a maelstorm of thoughts infused with fear, anger and judgment you can be sure your head is not in your heart and you are not accessing the will and the wisdom of God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In the run up to midterm elections, emotions are high, tempers are hot and the need for us to resist the wily ways of pundits and politicians could not be greater. If ever we needed to keep our heads in our hearts, now is the time because God’s will is written on each one of our hearts. The way we know that our will is aligned in the will of God is by the quality of our thoughts, words and actions. When our thoughts, words and actions are brimming with mercy and breathing in peace, we can be assured, our heads are in our hearts and our will is aligned in the will of God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-54460188665029693922022-10-08T21:09:00.003-07:002022-10-08T21:09:39.785-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOfJHANGNk_TWNXqCu1ec77u2YUVFxdHq4LEKhWwB7_nQK1ktBnPRd9hc7vazx1WvvAS2nhWaWtkhq1DJW4ndsjeUoq7Gdmy5o5avqWMAp8012sorvWihmsDZ-iLKX403e3x8lfmtr4wUqptInoJYBSNWL2C6-8YuGp-BjxBLNtmfom-zosRuOtJH/s1920/borderlands.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcOfJHANGNk_TWNXqCu1ec77u2YUVFxdHq4LEKhWwB7_nQK1ktBnPRd9hc7vazx1WvvAS2nhWaWtkhq1DJW4ndsjeUoq7Gdmy5o5avqWMAp8012sorvWihmsDZ-iLKX403e3x8lfmtr4wUqptInoJYBSNWL2C6-8YuGp-BjxBLNtmfom-zosRuOtJH/w446-h251/borderlands.jpg" width="446" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Luke 17:11-19 </i><i>On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection There is an uncharted strangeness to borderlands. They hide and hold the fractious edge between native and other. When contrasting customs, language and beliefs collide, folks on both sides feel vulnerable and strive for protection by building walls both real and in our hearts. The problem is, no matter how ominous our walls, we still feel vulnerable. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Therein lies the conundrum. For as long as we look through jaundiced eyes and hardened hearts we will be contemptuous of ‘those people,’ the in crowd, the out crowd, brown, black or white, for as long as we hold to us and them distinction we will feel vulnerable because we are fracturing what is meant to be one, whole and holy humanity. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">When Jesus arrives at “a (borderland) village, and, keeping the prescribed distance, ten lepers approach him, asking for mercy,” he does not ask for their passports, “Are you a Jew or a Gentile?” He does not try to figure out who has leprosy and who has a minor skin rash. Jesus looks at them (and here I believe “look” means more than seeing the condition of their skin or physical appearance), Jesus really looks at them and sees their humanity. Jesus sees people of God who have been separated from their communities and God. (It is helpful to remember that, unlike today, two thousand years ago people did not have a personal, private relationship with God. God was present with people in community which means, if you are cast out of your community you are separated from God.) Therefore healing means being restored to your place in the community with God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">“God is with and for all people, regardless of which side of the border they live,” because people are not defined by geography, ethnicity, religion or disease. People find their identity in relationship with God therefore, all people are one and all deserve mercy.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Walking in the borderlands, the in between places, Jesus affirms the humanity of outcasts. As a devout Jew Jesus knows the Hebrew scripture and acts precisely as prescribed in the fourth book of the Torah, Leviticus. “<span style="color: #646464;"> </span>When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body…” (Lev 13.2-3) and determine whether or not the person may be received back in the community, worthy of being in the presence of God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Following accepted religious practice Jesus sends the ten lepers to the priests who will examine them to determine who is in and who is out. But, something more is going on in this parable. As soon as the ten lepers accept Jesus’ instruction to “Go and show (themselves) to the priests,” they are “made clean,” fit to return to their community. I believe what we are meant to understand here is, as soon as the ten lepers turn toward God and ask for mercy, as soon as they acknowledge their dependence on something more than themselves, they are restored to relationship with their community and God. Nine of the ten lepers run off to the temple to receive the priest’s stamp of approval and return to life as they know it.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Turns out, one of the lepers is a Samaritan. A bit of background. Samaritans are half-Jew and half-Gentile. You have heard of the twelve tribes of Israel? When the northern kingdom of Israel was captured by Assyria in 721BCE the Assyrians dispersed the ten Northern tribes. A fragment of the ten tribes that remained in the Northern kingdom became the Samaritans, people who lived among and intermarried with the Assyrians, producing the Samaritans, half-Jew, half-Gentile. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Two of the twelve tribes of Israel never left the southern kingdom. These were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They remained pure Jews and wanted nothing to do with the mixed breed Samaritans. Another case of us and them. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">There is no point in the Samaritan leper going to the priests of the Southern kingdom because with or without leprosy no priest will stamp his proverbial documents and he will not be welcomed into the temple community. Overwhelmed with gratitude the healed Samaritan leper turns around “praising God with a loud voice.” He has been transformed by the grace of Jesus’ mercy. There we have it. From the depths of his transformed heart the Samaritan claims his true identity, identity found in relationship with God, in the unity of all humanity, the relationship that transcends all borders, inside and out. This is his healing.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Here is the thing. Nine of the lepers know the rules and know their place. They keep their distance when Jesus arrives, they follow the prescribed order to return to the priests and look forward to leaping back into life as they have known it. But the tenth leper who was an outsider even before contracting the ostracizing skin disease is transformed by the grace of Jesus’ mercy. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">On the way to Jerusalem we are confronted by important questions. ”Like the nine lepers, is it sufficient for us to follow the rules, know our place, stick with our tribe, get our passports stamped and continue life as we know it? Or, is it time for us to see the people we treat as lepers, foreigners, strangers, ‘those people,’ through Jesus’ merciful eyes? Is it time for us to stop fracturing the community of God and restore the one, whole and holy body of humanity by seeing with the merciful eyes of Jesus? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-33325616805126424582022-10-01T18:51:00.000-07:002022-10-01T18:51:33.719-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 2 October 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6IJ2vikwEUEhCrN18z3-myHunX5984TnFlp8VXj1tHsqC6WTnrZD6q2X4TqFz6XrCyjD-ruXILvOEWo2pRHCh60S5ApWlOxrvDKbOIHE2k7_mjIRjNsE48OojOUuanobHU7cxUCUjQ0EADUYAF9hMYcts0rNHlq5zDO0KMYhGhJdXZKrGng1z4ZBH/s1024/lluncxgwpkkoldc0fldt.png.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="1024" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6IJ2vikwEUEhCrN18z3-myHunX5984TnFlp8VXj1tHsqC6WTnrZD6q2X4TqFz6XrCyjD-ruXILvOEWo2pRHCh60S5ApWlOxrvDKbOIHE2k7_mjIRjNsE48OojOUuanobHU7cxUCUjQ0EADUYAF9hMYcts0rNHlq5zDO0KMYhGhJdXZKrGng1z4ZBH/w554-h218/lluncxgwpkkoldc0fldt.png.jpeg" width="554" /></a></div><p></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.</i></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, `Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, `We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"</i></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection “Jesus, what are you saying to us? How can you possibly call us slaves? Our ancestors were slaves in Egypt and God sent Moses to free them. (Deut 24.22) Our country is splintered by its lamentable history of slavery and we cannot figure out how to heal and move on. We cringe when we think about the fifteen to fifty thousand women and children forced into sexual slavery in the United States every year. Jesus, how can you call us slaves?”</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Rather than toss out this text let us take a deep dive into the Biblical Greek. <i>Doulos</i>. In addition to being translated as slave or servant, doulos is also understood to mean one who gives him or her self over to another's will, or, those who act to advance God’s mission and ministry among people. Doulos, or slave, can also mean acting without regard to one’s own self interest. The feminine version of the word is doula. Doula actually refers to a midwife, a woman who serves women in childbirth. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The first time we bump into the word doulos in Luke’s gospel is in the first this familiar scene. The angel of God bursts into unsuspecting Mary’s life and stuns her with the news that “the Lord is with you, has found favor with you,” and that she will give birth to a son destined for great things. Young, unmarried, peasant Mary questions the Angel, “How can this be?” The Angel assures her, “With God nothing will be impossible.” Then we hear Mary’s astonishing response, “Here I am, a doula, a handmaid, slave or servant of the Lord. “ (Lk 1.38) </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Mary consents to be a slave “with God.” She agrees to give her self over to the will of God in order to advance God’s mission. Think about this. Being an unwed pregnant girl in the ancient middle east was a stoning worthy offense so clearly, Mary is acting without regard for her self interest. Mary is choosing to be a slave, doulos, with God.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Like our sister Mary, every one of us is called to conceive and give birth to the utterly impossible;“uprooting and planting a mulberry tree in the sea,” lavishly giving shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, healing to the sick, wholeheartedly offering welcome to the stranger, freedom to the prisoner, love to the enemy, all of which add up to; unequivocally giving birth to the presence of God with us by subordinating our self interest in order to advance God’s mission in the world; being doulos.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Being doulos, slaves of God, demands we have faith even as small as a mustard seed, faith in the angel’s assurance that, “Nothing is impossible with God.” Still, immediately our minds leap to sit on the fence and make excuses. “This is too hard. There are too many homeless and hungry and sick, scores of strangers and prisoners and frightful enemies. Climate is changing, politics are degrading. Soon we will have no fresh water to drink nor clean air to breath. What can we possibly do?”</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The key is hidden in a seemingly insignificant word. With. “For with God nothing will be impossible.”(Luke 1.37) With God. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The little word “with” is rich with meaning in the Biblical Greek. <i>Para</i>, with, refers to something that proceeds from one's sphere of power, or from one's wealth. When we accept the angel’s annunciation, “For with God nothing will be impossible,” we are affirming that with our will aligned in the will of God, all that proceeds through us is impregnated with the power and the wealth of God’s presence. Para, “with God, nothing will be impossible.” </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">As soon as we wrap our minds and hearts around the idea of being slaves with God we trip over another stumbling block in the final sentence for today’s gospel text. “We are worthless slaves!’ Worthless? </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Turning back to the Biblical Greek<i> achreios</i> is understood to be a hyperbolic reference to pious modesty. We humbly acknowledge that all the good that we do arises, not from us but, from the wealth and power of God’s presence with us. As doulos or slaves of God we call ourselves achreios, not deserving of merit, because we have done nothing more than what we ought to have done; lavishly providing shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, healing to the sick, wholeheartedly offering welcome to the stranger, freedom to the prisoner, love to the enemy, which all together add up to; unequivocally giving birth to the presence of God with us. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Is it not just like our wise teacher Jesus to turn things upside down so that rather than being offended when called worthless slaves with God we smile knowing that by the power of God with us “we have done only what we ought to have done?” Brilliant!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-33397852212744711862022-09-23T16:26:00.000-07:002022-09-23T16:26:10.374-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 25 September 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdb7vlTevCycSctoTzhLY6y2ilO2KrQ6FlopUq0W2p7_LaArwk_ximXoz2mzrAllJUgsr6ZFUyBQACX0oUceWkGUr07zsObPDJ1ZqPJf3IiVSAyh70C5wFD_FIyxwVHWLGOgdSAi-Z49ycCH_7V8zUbGp2EB1rAI15v8dqkjuHUV9R2QfXpohU0cY/s1024/GettyImages-530208375.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="863" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdb7vlTevCycSctoTzhLY6y2ilO2KrQ6FlopUq0W2p7_LaArwk_ximXoz2mzrAllJUgsr6ZFUyBQACX0oUceWkGUr07zsObPDJ1ZqPJf3IiVSAyh70C5wFD_FIyxwVHWLGOgdSAi-Z49ycCH_7V8zUbGp2EB1rAI15v8dqkjuHUV9R2QfXpohU0cY/w315-h373/GettyImages-530208375.jpg.webp" width="315" /></a></div><br /> <i style="color: purple; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> Matthew 5:21-26 </i><i style="color: purple; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be subject to judgment.’ But I say to you all that if you are angry with a sister or brother, you will be liable to judgment, and if you call a sister or brother an idiot, you will be subject to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be subject to the hell of fire. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and you remember that your sister or brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your sister or brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to favorable terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way with them or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the court officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”</i><p></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection I have never been particularly interested in the Royals. I have never had a favorite movie star nor been enamored by any politician. The way I figure, those folks give themselves enough adulation, they do not need mine. Still, somehow Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II captures my mind and my heart. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Jew, Baha’i, Jain, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Interfaith, Muslim; this procession of religious representatives led clergy of the Churches of the British Commonwealth into Windsor Cathedral for the Funeral of Her Majesty the Queen. The message resounds as ninety-six peals of the Great Bell Big Ben bring England and the world to silence for two heartrending moments. All the people are with their vast array of cultural and faith traditions, personal opinions, preferences and politics, all the people are welcome in this place.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Being a woman of profound faith and having the world’s best liturgists at hand, long before her death Elizabeth meticulously designed the funeral liturgy to walk her family, the Commonwealth and the world through a moment of great transition with our feet marching on firm ground and our hearts grounded in deep faith. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">At the ripe young age of twenty-five years Elizabeth received the crown of her station and two essential symbols of the Monarchy, the sceptre and the orb. At the apex of her coronation the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the sceptre in Elizabeth’s left hand as a symbol of her earthly power and authority to govern saying, “Receive the rod of Equity and Mercy. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; so execute justice that you forget not mercy. Punish the wicked, protect and cherish the just, and lead your people in the way wherein they should go.”</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The Archbishop then placed the golden orb, a cross above a globe, in Elizabeths’ right hand instructing, “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer,” a gleaming reminder that Elizabeth’s earthly power and position to govern on earth is subordinate to the power God. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In my mind I see Elizabeth standing on the globe, mercifully exercising her governance with feet firmly planted on the ground. I simultaneously see her sitting at the foot of the cross, humbly finding her authority and direction in the ground of her wholehearted relationship with God. In the grace of God Elizabeth held a vision holy enough to accommodate fifty four member countries, from the impoverished Mozambique to wealthy Singapore. Which begs the question, “How on earth could she possibly do so, and not only do so but at the time of her death evoke world wide mourning and incomparable commendation?”</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe the answer sparks from the illustrious orb that Elizabeth held literally and metaphorically in her right hand until her coffin became its anchor. For seventy years Elizabeth subordinated her personal preferences, opinions and politics to the authority of God’s power and presence exercised with mercy for the common good. Was she perfect? No. But, morally Elizabeth was unimpeachable. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In the Gospel text according to Matthew we listen as Jesus holds the disciples and us to a high order of moral conduct. Jesus insists it is not enough not to kill our neighbor, not to slander our neighbor, not to incite fear in our neighbor, not even to be angry with our neighbor or call our neighbor a fool. Do not even think about it! Judgment is the purview of God and God alone. Mercy is the means of commerce on earth.The rod of earthly authority is held with mercy. Elizabeth heard and heeded this counsel. Calm, dignified and unswerving in her faith, Elizabeth reigned with equanimity.</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe every single one of us would do well to hold in our right hand the luminous globe with the cross above it, and take to heart the Archbishop’s words: “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.” Elizabeth never lost sight of her place, sitting at the foot of the cross with her feet firmly planted on earth, exercising earthly rule empowered by her humble relationship with God. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Following an extraordinary forty-five hundred person military procession from Westminster Cathedral to St. George’s Chapel, the symbols of Elizabeth’s power are removed from her coffin and placed on the high altar, the site of their source and sustenance. When the Choir of St. George’s Chapel put wind in the words of the great Anglican poet John Donne’s poetry, there was no question. All power is the purview of the One, Holy God. </p>
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<p style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">“Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitation of they glory and dominion, world without end.” </p>
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<p style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Elizabeth’s was an uncomplicated and profound faith which gave her the courage to face the incomprehensible call on her life, executing justice with mercy for the 2.4 billion people of the Commonwealth and stunning the world. Dear people of God, it is time for us to receive the orb beneath the cross and remember that all of our earthly power and position is subordinate to the power of God. </p>
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<p style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-22736937497666727322022-09-17T19:21:00.001-07:002022-09-17T19:21:19.455-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 18 September 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3A7EoVCx43hQcHSIZKqI6wGEwiE2b2gM-yBQmS-WGGkeP57qRJtAkvXvr5F1AfAAGnp9BLDqkrMxpPtRNP5nJTBY5kdwR_ZpmiHOmeHQlcxFTCd0CWbAp2_WU5oPWx6Xvd3v8ZMBbKO29Iq8zk2troLLz5SvsLL-fTLCtAMtGeeYshpoNKV3YR_k/s363/going%20and%20coming%20sign%20363.jpg-550x0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="363" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3A7EoVCx43hQcHSIZKqI6wGEwiE2b2gM-yBQmS-WGGkeP57qRJtAkvXvr5F1AfAAGnp9BLDqkrMxpPtRNP5nJTBY5kdwR_ZpmiHOmeHQlcxFTCd0CWbAp2_WU5oPWx6Xvd3v8ZMBbKO29Iq8zk2troLLz5SvsLL-fTLCtAMtGeeYshpoNKV3YR_k/w407-h396/going%20and%20coming%20sign%20363.jpg-550x0.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>John 16.16-20 “A little while, and you all will not see me, and another little while, and you all will see me.” Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me; and ‘Because I am going to the Creator’?” They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you all discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you all will see me’? Very truly, I tell you all that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you all will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has pain because her time has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the tribulation because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you all have pain now; but I will see you all again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” </i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Once again Jesus’ disciples are beside them selves and say to one another, “What does this mean that (Jesus) is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me…?” They act as if this is the first time they heard the message of going and coming. The thing is, throughout much of the gospel according to John, Jesus has been preparing the disciples for his going away and coming again. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Let us take a deep dive into the text. The disciples are reclining after their final Passover Supper with Jesus. Realizing his imminent departure and betrayal, the air is foul with foreboding as we listen to Jesus reassure the disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled… I go to prepare a place for you… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am there you may be also.” (14.1-3) There it is. The going and the coming. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Jesus continues to assure the disciples and us that even though he is going we will not be abandoned. “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth.” (14.16-17) “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (14.25-26) leaving</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Jesus’ counsel is unambiguous. “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you… “ Going and coming belong together. Going creates the spaciousness into which the Spirit comes. “When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth… he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (16.7, 13.14) In other words, nothing will be lost to the disciples when Jesus physically departs because they will participate in the mediating agency of the Spirit, the same Spirit of truth that informs Jesus, the same Spirit that informs all of us. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">One of the concerns of the unidentified writer of the Gospel according to John is conveying the Trinitarian nature of God. There is every chance this is an effort to distinguish the new Christian teachings from the teachings of the Synagogue. The gospel explicitly names the disciples and all of us as participants in the Holy Trinity, effectual members of the Community of God. Jesus puts it this way, “I and the Father are one…(10.30) The one who believes will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works than these.(14.12) ) because the Advocate, the Spirit of truth… abides with you and he will be in you.” (14.17) Immediately before being betrayed and arrested Jesus prays for the disciples, “As you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us…” (17.20) Trinity.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">We are intimate participants in the Community of Trinity, the Community of God. When we no longer see one another in the physical realm we remain connected by the Spirit’s mediating action of coming and going. It is in and of, with and through community in Trinity that the will, the ways and the works of God are embodied and expressed. The strength and creativity of Father Mother God moves through the agency of the mediating Spirit in intimate and compassionate relationship with all of us “to do even greater works” than Jesus has done. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">This is why Jesus advises the disciples and us, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you… When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own... because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.(16.7, 13-15) We are full participants in the Trinity.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The physical presence of Jesus must go away for the mediating agency of the Spirit to be experienced by us. All the good, grace and generosity we witness in the physical life and ministry of Jesus takes root and residence within us through the agency of the Spirit. Let me be crystal clear. This in no way intends to privilege the spiritual over the physical. The very fact of incarnation, the living Spirit of God embodied in human flesh, sets that misapprehension to rest. Jesus reveals to us the way of being fully human, of consenting to the living, breathing, healing and redeeming agency of the Spirit made revealed through him in the Community of Trinity. Through the agency of the same Spirit we are meant to be likewise.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-89372985169224967732022-09-10T11:44:00.000-07:002022-09-10T11:44:30.588-07:00Gospel Text for Sunday 11 September 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMt80XR5Z_btVzq04Fo9YMBifE_TqpLzS057LBPkv0QJ8iY_8XcISzAVeZ8Cn9QcpIPUHwWTI7E7l3RmyEb4I_T-t8N4Xak5UKD21zVJfYnLfJF3pss5TCngNiX7OzXx5LxGhJ8WNzvnNzcB0ngu9n6MN1776C18PV0pPaNpJFK8tXwjkg83oHkgt/s512/cropped-OUR-Logo-Letters-Circle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMt80XR5Z_btVzq04Fo9YMBifE_TqpLzS057LBPkv0QJ8iY_8XcISzAVeZ8Cn9QcpIPUHwWTI7E7l3RmyEb4I_T-t8N4Xak5UKD21zVJfYnLfJF3pss5TCngNiX7OzXx5LxGhJ8WNzvnNzcB0ngu9n6MN1776C18PV0pPaNpJFK8tXwjkg83oHkgt/s320/cropped-OUR-Logo-Letters-Circle.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"></span><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"> Matthew 6.9-13 </span></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>(Jesus said) Pray then in this way: </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>Our Parent and Provider in heaven,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>holy is your Name. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>May your majestic rule come. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>May your will be done,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>on earth as in heaven. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>Give us this day our daily bread. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>And forgive us our debts, </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>as we also forgive our debtors. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>And do not bring us to the time of trial, </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.1px; text-align: justify;"><i>but rescue us from that which is evil.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Seated in a wheelchair at a pleasant assisted-living dining room table, Veronica’s gnarled fingers fumbled with wilted playing cards. With mulish determination she labored, counting to seven then starting over, again and again and again. Remembering that Veronica had been an avid bridge player, not to mention black jack and craps aficionado, I queried, “Playing bridge Veronica?” For the first time since I sat down next to her Veronica turned toward me and from a place deep behind her empty eyes she threatened to smile then promptly resumed dealing cards. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Various care-givers came by, initiating small talk or sharing their comments about Veronica’s declining condition. She remained nonplussed. When twenty five minutes had passed I leaned my head in front of Veronica’s and said, “Let’s pray. Our Father, who …” and with that her hazy grey eyes met mine and through a veil of tears she joined me praying the words aloud with precise lucidity. In the background I heard two care-givers adding their voices to our imprecation. “Amen.” A moment or a lifetime elapsed until with unfettered sincerity, the full force of her voice and unblinking eye contact Veronica announced, “I have never been so lost.” Swallowing tears I replied, “And now you are found by Our Father.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1.1) From the beginning words matter. They can harm us or heal us. Ravage us or rescue us because words matter.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">The very first word of the prayer found in two of the synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke, is “Our.” We use the word ‘our’ when we want to communicate belonging to us and one or more other persons. The implication is that we share something in common, and if we share something in common we cannot possibly be alone. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">So, when we are praying we are never praying alone. We are praying in communion with all that belongs to the interconnected web of being, which means, we are praying in communion with all that is. Our father. Our mother. Our parent and protector. Our truth. Our light. Our holiness. Our God.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Whatever name we ascribe to the all encompassing holiness that refuses a singular name, when we pray we are in deliberate communication with the holiness that permeates everyone and every thing. Our father. Our mother. Our parent and provider. Our truth. Our light. Our holiness. Our God, manifest in all of creation guarantees the infinite variety of holiness.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe this is why there are multiple versions of the Our Father prayer. Because words matter. They can point us toward holiness, or away. Words can open doors and extend invitations or seal passages and set out stumbling blocks. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Even though we are all included in ‘our,’ not all of us have the same experience of the next word ‘father.’ For some the word father evinces protection and benevolence. For others injury or abandonment. Likewise, for some the word mother conjures care or comfort while for others coldness or antagonism loom. The words ‘parent and provider’ may evoke grace and gratitude or fear and emptiness. Still, we all belong in ‘our’ and thankfully there are many versions of the prayer that Jesus teaches the disciples and us, versions that hopefully provide open doors and invitations so that all feel welcome to participate in the holiness to which we belong.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">We use the word ‘our’ to communicate belonging. The implication is this. If God is holiness and God is all and we are part of all, then we are holy and we can never really be lost.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">As we face the twenty-first anniversary of the 9/11 carnage, it would be remiss if we failed to note that even though we are all holy we cannot escape evil. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Not children in classrooms or trafficked for sex.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Not elders preyed on by mail and phone predators.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Not workers exploited by swinish bosses.</p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Not people caught in the combat of twenty seven ongoing wars and <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>conflicts that vandalize the globe. </p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Not housekeepers, clerks, diners or traders in the New York City </p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Twin Towers.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">All of these holy people cannot escape evil nor can any one of us stop it. So we pray. Our father. Our mother. Our parent and provider. Our truth. Our light. Our holiness. Our God. We pray because in our prayer we all belong and in our prayer we are restored to common holiness.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-15019729610550629322022-09-03T13:39:00.001-07:002022-09-03T14:50:56.383-07:00Hebrew and Gospel texts for Sunday 4 September 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWR1ihZWGtpjsQHPC8O1_dsnENsnAFi4-MFX7SR4_RW8FS7GjUNil1gKG5-dbOXzFVSy3PY9PhkY3fIkPq9ISnsCIly9tfDBbvOFFxB-9fBBX1EbA_0CxjUq3REiCnIvsjlyZo5Na2l3ZE13YFpxZ0rn9ywJ3F93mfeF_OJY96vLN4o3bMgloRmhcp/s3072/00000163-652e-dbef-a367-edafd20b0000_2x1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="3072" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWR1ihZWGtpjsQHPC8O1_dsnENsnAFi4-MFX7SR4_RW8FS7GjUNil1gKG5-dbOXzFVSy3PY9PhkY3fIkPq9ISnsCIly9tfDBbvOFFxB-9fBBX1EbA_0CxjUq3REiCnIvsjlyZo5Na2l3ZE13YFpxZ0rn9ywJ3F93mfeF_OJY96vLN4o3bMgloRmhcp/w482-h241/00000163-652e-dbef-a367-edafd20b0000_2x1.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir;">1 Samuel 27.1-3, 8-12 David said to his heart, “Now, one day I shall be swept away by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better than that I escape to the land of the Philistines, then Saul will despair of seeking me any further within the border of Israel and I shall escape out of his hand.” So David got up and went over, he and six hundred men who were with him, to Achish son of Maoch, ruler of Gath. And David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his troops, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, wife of Nabal. </i></div><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>And David and his men went up and raided on the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for they were the inhabitants of the land from of old on your way to Shur and on to the land of Egypt. Then David smote the land and there was neither woman or man living; and he took sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels and clothing and would return and come back to Achish. Then Achish would ask, “Against whom did you all raid today?” And David would say, “against the Negeb of Judah,” or “against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “against the Negeb of the Kenites.” Neither woman nor man David left living to be brought back to Gath, saying, “Lest they tell about us, and say, ‘Thus did David.’” Thus was his custom all the days he lived in the country of the Philistines. Now Achish trusted David saying, “He has made himself an abhorrent stench in the nostrils of his people, in Israel; so he shall be my slave for all time.”</i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Mark 7.14-23 </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>Jesus called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a woman or man that by going into them has the power to defile, rather what comes out of a person is what defiles a person.” </i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Are you all then also without understanding? Do you all not see that whatever goes into a woman or man from outside has no power to defile? For it does not enter the heart but rather the stomach, and goes out into the sewer.” (Thus Jesus declared all foods clean.) Jesus said, “It is what comes out of a woman or man that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, and evil eye [or envy], slander, pride, thoughtlessness. All of these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” </i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">2022 09 04 1 Samuel 27.1-3, 8-12, Mark 7.14-23</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sometimes I find it almost impossible not to take the bait and swallow things that come at me from outside. Cat calls, robo calls, family forgetting to call. Cyberthreats, viral threats, threats to my right to choose and equality of my status as a single woman. I find it almost impossible to fend off fear of unprovoked violence and visions of nuclear disaster. I find it almost impossible to reject charges that cite me as the source of other peoples problems, deploring me for being white and having access to home, health and happiness. I find it almost impossible to dodge grandstanding politicians tongues denying responsibility for the havoc they wreck on we the people. Perhaps the kings Saul and David felt similarly felt similarly assaulted from outside more than three thousand years ago.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the Hebrew text 1 Samuel David is the favored one, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, a shepherd boy called from his flock to be anointed by Samuel as King of Israel while Saul is still king. Saul is jealous of David’s popularity, fears his throne is threatened and attributes his ill-favored thoughts and feelings to David. Saul believes he is being defiled by David when in fact it is his own thoughts that pierce his heart and provoke him to defile himself. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Although David is anointed King of Israel, his predecessor Saul refuses to step aside and accept the change in leadership. Instead he conspires to kill David. David reacts saying “to his heart, “Now, one day I shall be swept away by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better than that I escape to the land of the Philistines…”” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Swallowing Saul’s bait, David decides he is threatened by what is coming at him from outside and heads south to the coast of Canaan. While seeking refuge among the Philistines he massacres entire communities of innocent people with whom he is not at war and who in no way pose a threat to him. Some suggest this is to ingratiate himself with the Philistines, but who knows. In any case, David defiles himself as he executes unwarranted brutality. Both kings Saul and David defile themselves in reaction to what comes at them from outside. What are we to make of this Shakespearean tragedy?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps Jesus’ words in the gospel according to Mark will help. “Listen. Understand… There is nothing outside a woman or man that by going into them has the power to defile, rather what comes out of a person is what defiles a person.” Listen and understand. This is a matter of the heart. It is “from within, from the human heart, that evil thoughts come…” and evil thoughts give rise to the defilement of evil action. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The fact of the matter is this. Regardless of what other people say, threaten or actually do to us, defilement does not come from others. Defilement rises from within ourselves. Nothing anyone says or does can disgrace, degrade or dishonor us <span style="text-decoration: underline;">unless</span> we take the bait and swallow it, unless we take their words or their ways to heart. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The innocent women, men, children and animals that are massacred by David are not degraded or defiled. David is defiled by his evil thoughts and action. The children and teachers murdered in the twenty-seven school shootings that have taken place in 2022 are not disgraced, dishonored or defiled. The shooters are defiled. When we are subjects of every kind of verbal or physical slander or abuse we are not degraded or defiled. The perpetrators are defiled. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Listen and understand.” We are only defiled when we take the bait and swallow the double-dealing devilry that attacks us from outside. We are only defiled when like Saul or David we take what is happening outside of ourselves to heart. By swallowing bad blood that comes at us from outside, we violate our own hearts. Then, feeling victimized we look for someone or something to blame, we strike out with our words or actions and we become defilers. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Listen. Understand.” It is not what is outside of us that defiles us. Rather it is what comes out of us that defiles us.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I believe we have wasted far too much time endorsing those by whom we feel victimized. We have spent far too much energy composing lists to explicate the ways in which we have been defiled from outside. Do you see, we violate our own hearts when we swallow labels that define us as victims of sexism, classism, racism, agism, ableism, patriotism, liberalism, capitalism, socialism, conservatism, nationalism? Believing we are defined and defiled from outside we cram ourselves into ever shrinking boxes then fight like hell to get out, defiling ourselves.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What if we said “Stop. No more. Nothing anyone can say or do can touch who we truly are?” What if we listened to Jesus’ words and truly understood? “There is nothing outside a woman or man that by going into them has the power to defile, rather what comes out of a person is what defiles a person.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The deepest truth of ourselves is safely hidden in the cave of our hearts where it is not subject to misuses or abuses from outside. Only the Holy has rights and access to our hearts. In spite of the fact that like the kings Saul and David we find it nearly impossible not to bite and swallow things that come at us from outside, hidden safely in the cave of our hearts is the Unborn, Undying, Eternal Holiness that can never be defiled. Let us stop swallowing the bait that comes at us from outside. “Listen. Understand.” It is not what is outside of us that defiles us. Rather it is what comes out of us that defiles us.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. </p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-31492613149836748872022-08-27T18:01:00.002-07:002022-08-27T18:01:31.006-07:00Gospel Text for Sunday 28 August 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95SHBc6BmOPNvNNnSWRQXXZ2qdPqL_d9KKnCWsEG38G2lL6YoizgrjbYP0SMpgPKsLqIa6cf_XoleynrxW_AN5xX9Q9tshfKiWeecWBzRO4gQaD46xA64ejBpfRwy5kuahh2CsfhMf4Sd4loNkC_n5WemHYCX5oy1YNltlewjyNF5eygaFrmZF8Gr/s1600/bald-man-red-shirt-sitting-large-tree-green-leaves-serene-image-man-sitting-large-tree-branch-175059087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1600" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95SHBc6BmOPNvNNnSWRQXXZ2qdPqL_d9KKnCWsEG38G2lL6YoizgrjbYP0SMpgPKsLqIa6cf_XoleynrxW_AN5xX9Q9tshfKiWeecWBzRO4gQaD46xA64ejBpfRwy5kuahh2CsfhMf4Sd4loNkC_n5WemHYCX5oy1YNltlewjyNF5eygaFrmZF8Gr/w444-h321/bald-man-red-shirt-sitting-large-tree-green-leaves-serene-image-man-sitting-large-tree-branch-175059087.jpg" width="444" /></a></div><br /><i style="color: navy; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Luke 19.1-10 </i><i style="color: navy; font-family: Avenir; text-align: justify;">Now Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. There was a person named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector and was rich. Zacchaeus was seeking to see who Jesus was, but was not able to on account of the crowd, being short in stature. So Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. Now when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Jesus, rejoicing. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “To a sinner has he gone to be a guest.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Messiah, “Look, half of my possession, Anointed One, to the poor will I give, and if have defrauded anyone, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a child of Abraham. For the Son of Woman came to seek out and to save the lost.”</i><p></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection In light of recent legislation that increases resources for IRS audits of the wealthy, we may experience a particular resonance with Zacchaeus as well as the crowds who despise him in this teaching tale found only in the Gospel according to Luke. Zacchaeus is a Jew who got rich by taxing and defrauding his Jewish sisters and brothers on behalf of the Romans. As chief tax collector he is scorned and rejected by his countrymen. It is fair to say he is a lost sheep of Israel. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">So is it curiosity? Fear? Boredom? Remorse? Desire that compels Zacchaeus to seek Jesus? We can only imagine. At the same time Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus, Jesus is seeking folks who are lost. When the two seekers paths cross in Jericho, the holier-than-thou grumbling crowd rails a barrier between them. Zacchaeus cannot see beyond the self-righteous crowd. Whether to gain a bit of perspective or escape the hypocritical horde, Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree where he gleans a glimpse of Jesus. At about the same time Jesus notices Zacchaeus and calls him down from the tree.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I have heard some preachers interpret Jesus calling wealthy Zacchaeus down from the tree as a gesture to lower Zacchaeus’ rank from arrogance to humility . But I say, having climbed a tree to get above the crowd and see Jesus, Zacchaeus is already expressing humility. Jesus notices Zacchaeus and must have thought, “Surely this man is lost for why else would he be apart from the crowd and climb a tree to see me? Let me call him down and go to his home. There I will discover what he is seeking.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe one of the messages this teaching tale tells is about the necessary intersection of the seeker and the sought. Jesus’ heart and mind are set on seeking the lost and when Zaccheus tunes his heart and mind to seek Jesus, voilà, they intersect. When Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home, by promising to give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back those he defrauded four times over, Zacchaeus extends unsolicited generosity to his community. Jesus proclaims, “Salvation has come to this house,” in other words, “Your relationship with God and your Jewish neighbors is restored.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, as far as we know the crowd is still grumbling because their hearts and minds are set on branding Zacchaeus a sinner and being outraged with Jesus’ benevolent behavior. The crowds behavior creates division, the very divisiveness that would have kept Zacchaeus apart from Jesus. Which of course begs the question, “Who now is really lost?” Zacchaeus? Jesus? Or the self-righteous crowd?</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</span></p><div><br /></div>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-69721352308416367362022-08-20T14:22:00.000-07:002022-08-20T14:22:36.502-07:00Gospel Test for Sunday 21 August 2022<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByxPZultT7CGDCGDjBJyrseDsBNQFw-2ls973seSsg1JvvELfl8aT9PdbU2WsDG3b0fsTh9njwtKrgbovYRs2tLXR9w5Kd2CS7twVa4mgjD09BjGYVxfuHtkp5h70I0xd6n6PDrbAEkpA6n43RO1co1GFzV_dj3F9P_fzHyHExwb7p-Ri9nY6NRwX/s995/122733769852-995x269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="995" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByxPZultT7CGDCGDjBJyrseDsBNQFw-2ls973seSsg1JvvELfl8aT9PdbU2WsDG3b0fsTh9njwtKrgbovYRs2tLXR9w5Kd2CS7twVa4mgjD09BjGYVxfuHtkp5h70I0xd6n6PDrbAEkpA6n43RO1co1GFzV_dj3F9P_fzHyHExwb7p-Ri9nY6NRwX/w644-h175/122733769852-995x269.jpg" width="644" /></a></div><p></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>Mark 12.28-34 Now, one of the biblical scholars came near and heard them [the other biblical scholars, the chief priests, and the elders] discussing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, the scholar asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is: Hear, O Israel: the Holy One our God, the Holy is one; you shall love the Holy One your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the biblical scholar said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘God is one, and besides God there is no other; and to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. This is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that the scholar answered wisely, he said “You are not far from the reign of God. After that no one dared to ask Jesus any question.</i></p><p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Driving the Turquoise Trail, a fifty four mile National Scenic Byway that winds through miles of grazing land and polka dot hills pierced with abandoned turquoise, gold and coal mines, a mine shaft remade into a Tavern, crumbling shacks revived by artistic squatters and General Robert’s property with its one hundred foot long specimens of petrified bamboo laced with tiny beadlike fossils from the Cretaceous period, I gained a bit of perspective. Between 70 and 135 million years ago the Turquoise trail that connects Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico as well as half of the North American continent were under water. And this is but a splinter of history in our 13.8 billion year journey to be here, now. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Here, today, we receive an invitation. An invitation to love bigly. Not blind or naive love. Not Hallmark card sentimental love and certainly not self serving love. But love that begins with an emerging Mystery as big and unfathomable as our 13.8 billion year journey to be here, now. Today we receive an invitation given to our Israelite ancestors six hundred years before Jesus was born, an invitation to love bigly by participating in the Oceanic Mystery we call God.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6.4-5) This great commandment to love God bigly is part of a series of sermons telling the people of Israel that Yahweh, God, is bringing the people to the promise land not because they deserve or have earned it but because God loves bigly. What is required of God’s people in response to this love is just one thing. Love God and God alone. No idols. No other gods. No thing and no one may come before God. Just love God bigly.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">This was the Great Love Commandment that Jesus learned sitting on the lap of his mother Mary, sitting at the feet of rabbis, sitting in the synagogue, unrolling the Torah and reading, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” But when the Biblical scholars question Jesus asking, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesusgoes off script.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">“The first is: Hear, O Israel: the Holy One our God, the Holy is one; you shall love the Holy One your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Did you hear it? Jesus adds our minds to the first commandment and with a second commandment he advances the scope of love to include our neighbors and our selves. Truly, we are meant to love bigly.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Much like Jesus, we learn about love sitting on the laps of our parents or caregivers, we learn in Sunday School, listening to teachers and preachers and reading books. We also learn about love from the media and mass marketing. Does this sound familiar? “You must first learn to love yourself because if you do not love yourself you cannot love anyone else.“ So get into therapy or buy a fistful of the one billion nine hundred million self help books you can find with Google in eight tenths of a second. The resounding message is unquestionable. Love number one and number one is me. Next in line for love are my neighbors because as a good person it is my duty to love my neighbors. And when the eleventh hour inevitably quakes and my life becomes wild and unruly, then I get on my knees and remember God. It seems, most of us most of the time turn the Great Commandment to love bigly upside down. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Consider the order in which Jesus gives the scribes and us the First commandment. Love God with everything you have; your heart, soul, strength and your mind. Mind is the thing that Jesus adds to the equation. By bringing our minds to love One God everything else falls into its right place. We realize we are not number one. Our little lives and piddling opinions do not determine the plot. We are not the protagonists of the story that spans from star dust to space station. We are a drop in the ocean of all that is and majestic in our ability to bring our minds to the Mystery of the Eternally Becoming Ocean that we call God. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">All that to say, most of the time our stories are far too small. Swept away in our personal melodramas, seized by what we love and hate in local, national and global politics, the stories we tell are too small because we fail to love bigly.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">What if we turned our upside down love right side up? What if we decided to follow Jesus’ commandment to love God and God alone. No idols. No other gods. No thing and no one loved before God? What if we made God the main character in our story? Would that not be an epic tale, beginning in an infinitesimally small singularity and stretching across 13.8 billion years of heat and energy, sub-particles and black holes, stars, planets, bamboo forests, polka dot hills, turquoise mines and a mere human being driving an improbable machine across what used to be an ocean after it was a bamboo forest as the universe expands faster than the speed of light?</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">I believe If this was how we told our story we would fall to our knees in wonder, love and awe. We would be compelled to admit our infinitesimal smallness and, at the same time grab the handles of our magnificent minds and bring them to the edge of what we know in the ocean of Mystery in which as a single drop of water we float. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">If only we accepted the invitation to love bigly, to tune our minds and hang our hearts on the First and Great Commandment; Love God and God alone. No idols. No other gods. No thing and no one loved before God,; if we truly loved bigly I believe Jesus’ Second Commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves would wholly and habitually be fulfilled. </p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-85867085262346026952022-08-11T20:26:00.000-07:002022-08-11T20:26:56.791-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 14 August 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bSY1CjrxlEDAgoiS2BDDjE4uHvqkwji9kG3L7HRnUZnXaTG73dUkthfJoV9iuvgpCf0Ij-f676haWwMPbWSUAmeET8fQGvosQdLxWFKBLy8DCK0RErssV8vHTSHYUgg18acsxG3W9I5_21SkWZO0lO3mYWgOXsXk5ZE5mYwNU5cqVqbowTyluxtU/s800/pasted-image-0-2-800x600.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8bSY1CjrxlEDAgoiS2BDDjE4uHvqkwji9kG3L7HRnUZnXaTG73dUkthfJoV9iuvgpCf0Ij-f676haWwMPbWSUAmeET8fQGvosQdLxWFKBLy8DCK0RErssV8vHTSHYUgg18acsxG3W9I5_21SkWZO0lO3mYWgOXsXk5ZE5mYwNU5cqVqbowTyluxtU/w341-h256/pasted-image-0-2-800x600.png" width="341" /></a></div><br /></div><p class="graf graf--p" name="1c34"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-size: medium;">Luke 1:26- 38 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee, Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary. And the angel came to Mary and said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Most High God is with you.” Now, she was troubled by the angel’s words and pondered what sort of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Sovereign God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his sovereignty there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have not known a man intimately?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit, She will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the one born will be holy. He will be called Son of God. And now, Elizabeth your kinswoman has even conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for she who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the woman-slave of God; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.</span></em></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reflection <span style="text-align: left;">The big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence does not end with Mary!</span></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How many young, virginal women did the Angel Gabriel approach who failed to “see, hear, or recognize” Divine Presence with them? How many thought they heard or saw something and decided they must have had too much wine or not enough sleep and promptly dismissed Divine Possibility? How many heard “the call” and dug deep down to the bottom of them selves and choked, “No way. This will never happen to me?” How many young women missed the opportunity to put their body, their very life on the line for the big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence before the Angel Gabriel found Mary of Judea who, after pondering these things and questioning the angel, wholeheartedly consents? </span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What would it take for you to consent to conceive and give birth to Divine Presence today?</span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I personally fall into the category of a not so young woman who heard “the call” and promptly reacted, “No way!” Mine was a call to the priesthood, a position that would bend my body and stretch my mind completely out of shape. After all, I am an introvert. I would rather be invisible than in front of a crowd. Daring to preach the Word of God, well, that is for holy people, which I clearly am not. There is nothing about being a priest that sits comfortably with me. </span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But that darn angel would not give up; for more than ten years, disturbing my peace, unsettling my life, twisting my gut, sending me to classes and even a convent, hoping to avoid “the call.” Until physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually spent I gave my consent. But, not without declaring, “Oh God you know I cannot do this. I cannot be this. I cannot speak in front of people. I cannot be with dying people. I cannot even say I believe all that the Church claims about you. The truth of the matter is, right now I am utterly barren. I have nothing to give. If I go down this road, you better show up because I am going to put my faith in the angel’s promise to Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”</span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I consented. God has been faithful, been “with me” every time I ask. The only times I have faltered or failed are when I put my faith in my self rather than pausing to consent to God’s presence and action with me. I am living, breathing proof that “nothing is impossible with God” because countless things are done through me that I cannot possibly do. </span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What I have learned is this. When the writer of John’s gospel declares, “The Word became flesh,” he was not only speaking about Jesus. His proclamation is intended for all of us. The big, hairy, audacious idea of conceiving and giving birth to Divine Presence does not end with Jesus. Rather, it depends on every human being’s consent to be the fertile womb through which Divine Presence lives and breaths and makes us new as “the home of God among the woman-born…” (Rev. 21.3)</span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What would it take for you to consent to conceive and give birth to Divine Presence today?</span></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you find this post meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-68993394336580706882022-08-06T09:59:00.003-07:002022-08-06T09:59:59.590-07:00The Psalm and Gospel texts for Sunday 7 August 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-J5vFWRS01fuWsPY4epV7-tl1Xq89sKQ8bug3D8xJLV5UznmMm6ij5x-dv0y3GTGcPgRLdFn6IDwLUurLGxqJVT5xUtRNKiJGQ8KnLPbDYtvzZ0QCtKcLKbYYlKgsz86FQgUugGyCc4HSd77an1BOE8q8-acn_HnSHiVV-ehkwoVPcet0ehY09Fop/s1400/gettyimages-661641076_wide-b688cc830cc0b1a9cfe435351c518792e13997fc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1400" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-J5vFWRS01fuWsPY4epV7-tl1Xq89sKQ8bug3D8xJLV5UznmMm6ij5x-dv0y3GTGcPgRLdFn6IDwLUurLGxqJVT5xUtRNKiJGQ8KnLPbDYtvzZ0QCtKcLKbYYlKgsz86FQgUugGyCc4HSd77an1BOE8q8-acn_HnSHiVV-ehkwoVPcet0ehY09Fop/w503-h283/gettyimages-661641076_wide-b688cc830cc0b1a9cfe435351c518792e13997fc.jpg" width="503" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Psalm 10.1-14</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Why, Compassionate One, do you stand afar? </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> Why do you hide yourself in hard times?</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>In arrogance the wicked harass the poor; </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> let them be caught in the schemes they have devised. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>For the wicked praise their [every] inmost desire,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> extort gain and bless those who despise the Creator of All.</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>The wicked turn up their nose and do not seek [God];</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> There is no God in all their thoughts. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Their ways prosper all the time; </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> your judgements are on high, beyond them;</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> all their foes scoff at them. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>They say in their heart, “We shall not be shaken;</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> nor [see] evil down through the generations.”</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Cursing fills their mouths along with the deceit and oppression; </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> under their tongues are trouble and iniquity.</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>They sit in ambush in the villages;</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>in hiding places they murder the innocent.</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> Their eyes surveil the vulnerable. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>They lie-in-wait that they ay snatch the poor;</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> they search the poor and drag them off in their net. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>They stoop, they crouch, </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> and the vulnerable fall prey through their might. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>They say in their heart, “God has forgotten,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> she has hidden her face, she will never see it.”</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Rise up, Faithful God; dear God, lift up your hand;</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> forget not the oppressed. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Why do the wicked despise God,</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> and say in their hearts you shall not find out?</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>You see, you regard trouble and grief, </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> to take [it] into your hands. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Upon you the vulnerable entrust themselves; </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i> to the orphan you have ever [only] been their helper. </i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><i></i><br /></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>John 10.11-16 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. All because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Shepherd-Of-All knows me and I know the Shepherd-Of-All. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold: I must bring them as well, and they will listen to my voice, thus there will be one flock, one shepherd.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Reflection Here is the secret about bullies. Bullies are people or nations driven by fear to project an image that they are special, superior and sinless. In a bearded effort to cover up their own weakness, smallness and vulnerability, bullies puff themselves up to exert power over others who seem weaker, smaller or more vulnerable.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Remember the swaggering giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17) armored in bronze and fitted with fine forged shield and spear? His looming presence sends the ordinary citizens of Israel fleeing in fear. Goliath was a bully. We face another Goliath as the Russian superpower deploys masses of money and military might to impose its tyrannical will and exile ordinary Ukrainian citizens. Here is the thing. When brazen superpowers appear to get away with their barefaced bullying, they boast about being exempt from the will of God. Cocksure and crowing, “the wicked turn up their noses and do not seek God.” They rant and rave, “We can get away with anything. What need have we for God?”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Meanwhile, drenched in dread the oppressed lament, “We cannot trust anything (the wicked) say, because “cursing fills their mouths along with deceit and oppression…” What are we to believe? What can we do?” Still, all is not lost if the subjugated do not give up on God. Truth be told, what else can they do? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A survey of people who identify themselves as nonreligious completed in the United Kingdom in 2018 found that “one in five atheists and agnostics pray on a regular basis in times of personal crisis. Atheists and agnostics reported that the most common reason for them to pray is during a tragedy, but 25 percent of these individuals admitted to also praying for comfort or simply out of loneliness.” **</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we are invaded by a superpower or for any reason come face to face with a bully, there is a good chance we will join the Ukrainians and the psalmist protesting , “Why is God not devouring the oppressors and rescuing us?’ Consenting to the reality that we are vulnerable we put our faith in God rather than ourselves. We implore God to take decisive action, “Rise up … lift up your hand”…do not forget us!” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Unlike bullies who act as if they were gods, the vulnerable never stop calling out to God. The vulnerable, even the atheist, pray, “Faithful God, “you see, you regard our trouble and grief, take it into your hands.” Faithful God, we entrust our selves to you.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Consenting to the reality that we are not in control, the vulnerable and oppressed are blessed. As Jesus teaches in the gospel according to Matthew, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.<span style="color: #646464;"> </span>Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.<span style="color: #646464;"> </span>Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “(Matt 5.5,6,8) Restored to hope, we join the psalmist and our Ukrainian sisters and brothers proclaiming, “Faithful God, to the orphan you have only ever been their helper.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This is the Good News that points to the familiar gospel text known as the Good Shepherd. The sheep depend upon the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd never abandons the sheep, cares for the sheep and knows each one by name. Here is the tricky bit. The Good Shepherd is the Shepherd-of-All. All means all. The Shepherd-of-All has other sheep, “that do not (yet) belong to the fold.” The Shepherd-of-All is faithful to the oppressed as well as the oppressors, the Ukrainians as well as the Russians, because the Shepherd-of-All’s superpower is not forged in bronze nor deployed with fear. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sending the disciples out “like sheep into the midst of wolves,” (Matt 10.16) like Ukrainians into the midst of Russians, like us into a world fraught with division and violence, Jesus offers counsel, “…have no fear… for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul… “ </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Here is the uncovered secret about bullies. Bullies are people or nations driven by fear to project an image that they are special, superior and sinless. In a bearded effort to cover up their own weakness, smallness and vulnerability, bullies puff themselves up to exert power over others who seem weaker, smaller or more vulnerable. In other words, bullies and reject their role as sheep assume the posture of Bloated Bad Shepherd. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even Jesus is both, a vulnerable sheep known and cared for by the Shepherd-Of-All and Good Shepherd of his flock. We all are meant to be both, good shepherds extending our lives for the benefit of others and vulnerable sheep, known and cared for by the Shepherd-Of-All. The thing is, we cannot be one without also being the other. Sheep and Good Shepherd are two sides of one coin. Power held in check by humility. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I can think of no better counsel for the Ukrainians and every other person subject to the vulgar misuse of power by bullying tyrants who deny they are sheep. “Do not fear those who would kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Though bombastic bullies may polish their armor and sharpen their tongues, we need not be afraid because as sheep we entrust ourselves to the One who has “ever only been our helper,” the Shepherd-of-All who knows our name and cares for us as we muddle along in the midst of bullies while doing our best to be good shepherds of others. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Have a listen to James Finley speaking about Sacred Moments of Vulnerability by clicking on image near the upper right of your screen. </p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/14/half-of-non-believers-pray-says-poll</p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-7408323903250188862022-07-30T12:18:00.000-07:002022-07-30T12:18:41.498-07:00Gospel text for Sunday 31 July 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkWMNGOLhyQwiBsowEaKyzXoMpIPsX3z0K974CwqqAJQqHQynSMLCSxEUJI0IaBZ6xho_PYlfYQNzypiv60fngFWePq-2FKYGjvbLuh8Daj-HXutlX3EJvcijhe6XwdHJyUq4BIlzA9ZEZFJRUtk9wtsItSr9m76MlSA0z6tHIffe6c6S5CYWjv_d/s650/faithoverfear.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="650" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkWMNGOLhyQwiBsowEaKyzXoMpIPsX3z0K974CwqqAJQqHQynSMLCSxEUJI0IaBZ6xho_PYlfYQNzypiv60fngFWePq-2FKYGjvbLuh8Daj-HXutlX3EJvcijhe6XwdHJyUq4BIlzA9ZEZFJRUtk9wtsItSr9m76MlSA0z6tHIffe6c6S5CYWjv_d/w407-h272/faithoverfear.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i>Mark 6:14-29 Now King Herod heard of [the teaching of Jesus], for Jesus’s name had become known and some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead and that is why the powers work through him.” Yet others said, “It is Elijah” while others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets [of old].” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”</i></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i> For Herod himself had sent men who seized John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for Herod had married her. For John had told Herod, “It is not right for you to have your brother’s wife.” Now Herodias had a grudge against him and she wanted to kill him. But she could not. This was because Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man and a holy man and he protected him and listened to him, though greatly perplexed; yet it pleased him to listen to him. </i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i> Now an opportune time came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for his courtiers and commanders and for the leaders of Galilee. And Herod’s daughter Herodias came in a danced, pleasing Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish and I will give it to you.” And he swore to her repeatedly, “Whatever you ask me, I will give to you, even half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” Immediately she returned to the king with haste and asked, saying “I want immediately for you to give me on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.” The king was deeply sorry, yet because of his oaths and the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier under orders to bring John’s head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison. And he brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. </i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection Worried about evil? Here is how it works.</p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Slave to his fear of people’s judgment King Herod does not have the courage to live his convictions. Although he knew John the Baptizer to be a “righteous and holy man,” when his pride and power are on the line, Herod orders John’s head be given on a platter to his daughter. Fearing his guest’s judgement were he not to satisfy his daughter’s egregious demand, Herod is subject to the work of evil through him.</p>
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<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">By contrast, John the Baptizer, a wilderness wandering preacher, dares to speak truth to power by calling out Herod for marrying his brother’s wife Herodias. Being a man who lives by faith not fear, John is confident in his convictions and veritably glows in contrast to the cold footed King Herod.</p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">Fearful people capitulate to social pressure to conform. Believing their source of strength is in themselves or with other people they bow to political squeeze and aim to execute whoever threatens their sense of security, safety, esteem, power or control. Consequently the fearful become vehicles for the work of evil. It is not that the people are evil, rather, they are vulnerable to evil working through them when they live in fear.</p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">On the other hand, when we choose to live in faith we find confidence and conviction in something greater than themselves. Finding faith with God (or Yahweh, Allah, The Light, the One, the Mystery...) gives us the freedom to remain calm in the face of threats to our security, safety, esteem, power or control. Being faithful we are free rather than slaves to the working of evil through us. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">Eight years ago we witnessed a show of faith in Charleston, South Carolina when the Emmanuel American Methodist Episcopal Church responded to the murder of their senior pastor and eight other church members who were gunned down during a Bible study. Rather than eat the bait of evil and set off riots and a race war, the leaders and people of the AME church chose to respond with calm confidence, which they were free to do because they live in faith, not fear. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">Four days after the tragic shooting during the Sunday morning service at the AME church, the Rev. Goff pierced the hearts of the people in his church and across the nation when he preached, “Some wanted to divide the races - black and white and brown - but no weapon formed against us shall prosper.” Outside the doors of the church hung a banner that read, “Holy City… let us be the example of love that conquers evil.” Choosing faith leaves no room for the work of evil’s hateful hand.</p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">This is what the families in Lancaster, Pennsylvania did seventeen years ago following the hateful shooting of their ten young daughters in an Amish school house. This heart breaking incident shocked the nation, with strangers contributing more than four million dollars to support the Amish families. For many of us, even more stupefying than the massacre of ten girls between the ages of six and thirteen years was the Amish community’s response to their tragedy. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">Almost immediately following the shooting the grandfather of one of the girls who was killed expressed forgiveness to the killer while other Amish folk visited and comforted the killer’s family. In the midst of unspeakable loss and grief, the Amish community refused to react with fear, anger, blame or seek retaliation. Instead they chose to respond with compassion which they were free to do because they choose to live in faith, not fear, which leaves no room for the work of evil’s hateful hand. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">In Luke’s gospel we see Jesus nailed to a cross, hanging between two criminals. We are stunned by his shocking words, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23.34) I believe Jesus’ remarkable words are intended not only for the criminals flanking him but also for the disciples who abandon him and all who participate by their action or inaction in his brutal suffering and death. Jesus chooses to live by faith leaving no room for evil’s hateful hand to work through him.</p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">We live in a world at war with our selves and one another. We have tuned our ears to hear insult and offense. We have set our minds to mine for misdemeanor. We screw up our eyes to find someone to blame for our wounded feelings. We harden our hearts to the suffering that abounds around us. We engage litigious means to execute retribution. We fail to follow the way of faith driven conviction commanded by God and embodied by the folks in Charleston, Lancaster, and Jerusalem. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">I believe we are at a crossroads in our community, our country and our world. Evil seduces us in the marketing of excess and tolerance of abuse. Evil thrives when we shade our eyes to lies and bow to corruption. Evil succeeds when we choose fear rather than faith as the standard for our lives. </p>
<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;">The only way I know to overcome fear is to choose faith, faith in something greater than ourselves that some call God, Yahweh, Allah, Mystery, Light, Divine Presence. Here is the thing. Choosing faith is not a once and done endeavor. It is a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute commitment to choose faith in the face of whatever shows up on this wild journey we call life, because when we choose faith there is no room for evil to work its hateful way through us.</p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 7px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-58941184372262490462022-07-23T12:15:00.000-07:002022-07-23T12:15:13.737-07:00Hebrew and Gospel texts for Sunday 24 July 2022<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJY-Jtpfpl87EG0iaW7QQz0PlvS0I3mxJ_kbS39Bolfr2wQGfQsioYAdXZshX5-XBarMvxJvyJcTJkzZLGXMO7-TveZV6Rng07c8grJeuLCFp76B9FKogyjzXCRh_hRTT6NZzE0_2O68LSJ2_MIUQUuHkyikQzkmDgkSm7CjGiTWslINH0kgplJaf/s700/scared-young-woman-sitting-in-the-corner-of-her-bedroom-despair-rape-victim-waiting-for-help-the-concept-of-stopping-violence-against-women-and-rape-700-238744440.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJY-Jtpfpl87EG0iaW7QQz0PlvS0I3mxJ_kbS39Bolfr2wQGfQsioYAdXZshX5-XBarMvxJvyJcTJkzZLGXMO7-TveZV6Rng07c8grJeuLCFp76B9FKogyjzXCRh_hRTT6NZzE0_2O68LSJ2_MIUQUuHkyikQzkmDgkSm7CjGiTWslINH0kgplJaf/w418-h278/scared-young-woman-sitting-in-the-corner-of-her-bedroom-despair-rape-victim-waiting-for-help-the-concept-of-stopping-violence-against-women-and-rape-700-238744440.jpg" width="418" /></span></a></div><p></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #400080;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis 16.10-13 The angel of the Lord also said to (Hagar), ‘I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.’ And the angel of the Lord said to her,</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>‘Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;<br />
you shall call him Ishmael,<br />
for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. <br />
He shall be a wild ass of a man,</i><span style="background-color: #fd979a;"><i><br />
</i></span><i>with his hand against everyone,<br />
and everyone’s hand against him;</i><span style="background-color: #fd979a;"><i><br />
</i></span><i>and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’ <br />
So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?’</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">John 20.1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.</span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.</span></i></p>
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<p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Genesis 16.10-13 The angel of the Lord also said to (Hagar), ‘I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.’ And the angel of the Lord said to her,</i><span style="background-color: #fd979a;"><i><br />
</i></span><i>‘Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;<br />
you shall call him Ishmael,<br />
for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. <br />
He shall be a wild ass of a man,</i><span style="background-color: #fd979a;"><i><br />
</i></span><i>with his hand against everyone,<br />
and everyone’s hand against him;</i><span style="background-color: #fd979a;"><i><br />
</i></span><i>and he shall live at odds with all his kin.’ <br />
So she named the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?’</i></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">John 20.1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’ Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.</span></i></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.</span></i></p>
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<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reflection “Have I really seen God and remained alive?” asks the astonished Hagar when Living God finds and encourages her in the presence of her deepest despair. The slave woman Hagar belongs to Abram’s wife Sarai and when Sarai is unable to get pregnant she gives Hagar to her husband to bear a child for her. But when the deed is accomplished and Hagar is pregnant Sarai is furious and abuses Hagar, who runs away to the wilderness, utterly bereft. (Genesis 16.1–7)</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is there, in the depths of her despair that the messenger of God finds and encourages Hagar. Realizing she has encountered Living God while still alive, Hagar’s burden becomes bearable knowing that she and her unborn child have not been abandoned or forgotten. In the depths of despair, God finds her there.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Consider another such moment as experienced by Mary Magdalene. Luke’s gospel text presents Mary as Jesus’ devoted friend and disciple. She follows him to Jerusalem, is there for his triumphal entry and humiliating departure. Surely she is sickened by the smell of his sweat and taste of his blood while standing at the foot of the cross. All four gospels aver that Mary is the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb. When Mary Magdalene announces to Peter and the other disciple that Jesus’ body is not in his tomb, all three of them go to the tomb. Once Peter and the other disciple confirm that Jesus’ body is gone, they “return to their homes.” Mary alone stays present, waiting and weeping outside the empty tomb.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although it seems that everything is lost to Mary she does not return home to the way things used to be. She does not turn away from her experience of the present moment. Mary consents to the depth and breadth of her despair. Broken hearted and empty handed Mary waits and weeps.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">If we choose to wait with Mary in the chill of the empty tomb we will learn something about navigating the inevitable moments of despair in our own lives. Stay with them. Stand in them. Do not turn away and attempt to return to the way things used to be. Consent to wait and weep and wonder as does Mary Magdalene until a glimmer of hope arises in our emptiness.</span></b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the gospel according to John we read, “(Mary) turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you w</span><span>eeping? For whom do you </span><span>look?’ Supposing him to be the gardener she said to him, ‘Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew ‘Rabbouni!’” Following Jesus’ instruction Mary “went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord.’” In the depth of her despair Mary Magdalene is surprised by Divine Presence with her.” Again, In the depths of despair, God finds us there.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rapt in the darkness of impending doom Hagar and Mary Magdalene’s despair is transformed by the surprising Presence of God with them. Like light from a distant star traveling through billions of light years to pierce our dark hearts, the power of Divine Presence does not dim over time. The lives of both Hagar and Mary Magdalene are for all time illumined.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Avenir; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Today as we stare into the empty tombs in our lives; pondering the atrocities that assault our minds and inflame our emotions, wondering when the season of seeing and treating each other as enemies will cease, waiting for a glimmer of hope to penetrate the pandemic darkness of our hearts, we can be assured of just one thing. The God of Surprises arises in the midst of our fear, suffering, heartbreak and despair <i>when we consent</i> to feel the depth and breadth of the present moment, turn our faces to God and wait until Divine Presence surprises us with a mysterious kiss that transforms our tears into cries of joy, “I have seen God and remained alive.”</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</i></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3306627563203710280.post-39537234354233310332022-07-22T15:48:00.000-07:002022-07-22T15:48:11.991-07:00Hebrew and Gospel texts for Sunday 17 July 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hJVZVlMQL1EUTkEaXsj1enPubInNUyZPbvgPq_QejC8AjXPu3e7SYoZzSBNgYZ1qqMniniZ-zKT9KSvdpd7d3GHjl0oGz5ggsgIuqCJqj3u91ua_7t1O7UtjgfvIkS4PiefFPGqhvDYb9rh9wp0VpoJ5GbZa9So2c6K4RFkP_OgphequLwDGjffj/s900/great-storm-of-1987-university-of-dundeescience-photo-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="785" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hJVZVlMQL1EUTkEaXsj1enPubInNUyZPbvgPq_QejC8AjXPu3e7SYoZzSBNgYZ1qqMniniZ-zKT9KSvdpd7d3GHjl0oGz5ggsgIuqCJqj3u91ua_7t1O7UtjgfvIkS4PiefFPGqhvDYb9rh9wp0VpoJ5GbZa9So2c6K4RFkP_OgphequLwDGjffj/w321-h368/great-storm-of-1987-university-of-dundeescience-photo-library.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><br /> <i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">1 Samuel 8.1, 4-18 </i><span style="color: #400080; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i> </i></span><i style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “Look here! You-- you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now then, set up for us a ruler to judge us, like all the heathen nations.” But the thing was evil in Samuel’s sight when they said, “Give us a ruler to judge us.” Then Samuel prayed to the Holy One of Old. </i><p></p>
<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>And the Holy One said to Samuel, “Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for it is not you they have rejected, but it is me they have rejected from ruling over them. Like everything else they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this very day, forsaking me and serving other gods; they are doing the same to you. Now then, hearken to their voice; but—you shall testify against them, and show them the judgement of the ruler who shall rule over them.”</i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>So Samuel relayed all the words of the Holy One to the people who were asking him for a ruler. Samuel said, “This will be the judgement of the ruler who will rule over you all: your sons he will take and set them aside for himself his chariots and in his cavalry, and to run before his chariots. And he will set aside for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his plowing and to reap his reaping, and to make his furnishings of war and the furnishings of his chariots. Your daughters he will take to be apothecaries and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards; he will take and give to those who serve him. One-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards he will take and give to his eunuchs and those he enslaves. Your male slaves and your female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, he will take and put them to his work. Your flocks he will tithe…and you all, you shall be his slaves. And you all will cry out on that day in the face of your sovereign, whom you have chosen for yourselves; and God Whose Name is Holy will not answer you all on the day.”</i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>John 6.14-20 </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><i> </i></span><i>When the people saw the sign that Jesus had done [multiplying the loaves and fish], they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to kidnap him in order to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. </i></p>
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<p style="color: #400080; font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>And when it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea. And they boarded a boat and headed across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea surged; a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about twenty-five stadia [three or four miles], they saw Jesus walking upon the sea and coming near the boat and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; be not afraid.”</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Reflection If only we had the right politicians, the right king or president they would make and enforce laws that support our preferences, promote our programs for happiness and settle the storms in our lives. Right?</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Apparently similar logic drove the elders of Israel whom we meet in the Hebrew Text insisting the prophet, priest and judge Samuel anoint for them a king to rule in their favor and make their lives better, effectively ending the tenure of Judges’ caring for the tribes of Israel. And so faithful Samuel prays to the Holy One and hears, “Give the people what they want and in no uncertain terms detail the consequences. Your sons and daughters will be drafted, farmlands seized and labor taxed for the sovereign’s benefit and “you all shall be (the king’s) slaves.” “</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">As predicted, insisting on transition from tribal jurisdiction to monarchy, life for the Israelites dives downhill. Caught in the argument between the elite who want to centralize power and the peasants who want their lives and liberty protected, Saul, the first King anointed by Samuel, is powerless to effect change. Not only that, he is consumed in a struggle with David who systematically strategizes to steal Saul’s crown. So what has changed? </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Leap forward one thousand years to John’s text where we meet five thousand people who have seen the signs of Jesus’ healing and when their hunger is mysteriously satisfied with five barley loaves and two fish (John 6.1-13) the eyes of their hearts are opened. They recognize Jesus, “is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” No doubt their minds are reeling with possibility. “Finally we will have a king to make and enforce laws that support our preferences, promote our programs for happiness and settle the storms in our lives. We must make Jesus king.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">But Jesus has no interest in being king or politician. <span style="background-color: white;">“</span>Perceiving then that (the people) were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” Jesus will not submit to making and enforcing laws that support political preferences or promote particular programs for happiness. Jesus wants nothing to do with exercising power over people nor is he here to assure a happily ever after life. Rather than being seized by the peoples’ passions Jesus turns his face toward the Holy One and withdraws to the mountain alone. Jesus turns to the source of Real Power.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Here is the thing. Beginning with Samuel we are forewarned, “Do not turn your back on the Holy One. If you put your faith in kings, monarchs or presidents they will demand your fealty, you will become their slaves and “you will cry out on that day in the face of your sovereign, whom you have chosen for yourselves, and GOD WHOSE NAME IS HOLY will not answer you all that day.” Do not look to kings or presidents to make and enforce laws that support your preferences and promote your programs for happiness. Do not look to kings or presidents to rescue you from life’s stormy seas. Turn to the source of Real Power.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">As the psalmist proclaims, “Blessed be the Fount of Justice, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.” (PS 72.18) Every blessing, every mercy, every act of justice originates with God whose name is Holy. This is why we sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…” And here is the thing we do not like to hear. When the storm is raging and winds are raising great waves of distress around them, Jesus does not still the storm for the terrified disciples. He just shows up to be in it with them. “Here I am. Do not be afraid.” Perhaps he would add, “ I do not come to serve your desires, to legislate your preferences or promise you a happily ever after life. I come to be with you so that you experience the Peace of Real Power no matter what storms rock your life.”</p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Truly we are living in a storm stricken time. We have lost control of our lives. What seemed settled is unsettled, things we thought were done have been undone. Once a shining city on a hill our country is ruptured and her light is dim. Even our Christian tradition is breached by angry voices demanding they have the right to impose their version of Christian values on the laws and life of society, who justify violence to achieve their end and believe real power can be centered in a president or king. </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">What then shall we do? Follow the lead of Jesus, withdraw to the mountain with Jesus remembering, “God whose name is Holy alone does wondrous things.” </p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><i>If you find this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.</i></p>
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<p style="font-family: Avenir; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Debra Asishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11473546155592177064noreply@blogger.com0