November 7, 2010  Hag.1:15-2:9 Lk. 20:27-38

 

We continue looking at books of the twelves, the minor prophets. This is a parade example of why i use the lectionary, as Haggai would not come to mind as a preaching text in my mental file cabinet. Haggai is a great piece for dispirited people. It does stake the reality of feelings seriously but says in spite of them to take heart, to not be afraid, to work. How much should one work when you are colonized? How does being under the thumb of a power affect people? Here Darius is building a fabulous city and they are struggling to rebuild a ruined city that seems to remind them only of their failure.Work has begun on a reconstructed temple. Like all building projects, this one runs into criticism. It is especially poignant as it lacked the real or imagined magnificence of the first temple.Darius the Great ruled from around 522 until 486 BCE, so this is early in his reign. This Darius was called king of kings. This is the builder of some of the glories the great Persepolis that Alexander would later level. In contrast, the exiled have returned to ruins.  I get sad when I see grass growing in the cracks of city sidewalks, of "whitewashed windows and vacant stores" as Springsteen sang in the midst of the recession of the early 80s, just as I am delighted that some new businesses will grace the eternal Lincoln Street project..  

How to fight that sense of failure?  God is with you. God is with you in this project. Notice the spirit of God is among them or within the community already. God is not only presence, the power of God would be felt again. This power was already felt in the rebuilding and in the work. So Haggai says to find courage, to not fear, and to work. Putting hands to work negates the drooping hands of despair and resignation. It is a description of living in the culture of life, not death. it is seeking out new life in the midst of the old ways that have crumbled into dust. 

 

Now it says, just you wait, this will be even better than before. The point of all of this is a move toward shalom=peace/prosperity/well-being. After all, we are temple of the spirit, as Paul said. god will not allow us to fall into decay and ruin forever, but offers whole new way of being. We obviously can't do this on our own, but the revivifying spirit of God can.  We see heaven as a place to help to make up for life's failures and disappointments, the goal toward which we press on.We use heaven to express an ultimate destination of shalom, of well-being in an entirely new and different dimension.  Jesus sees us as children of the resurrection While his religious opponents are assuming the cultural pattern of a family taking responsibility for the widow and family, Jesus is pointing to a whole new way of life. They are trying to show the foolish extent of a belief in an after life that has but  vague hints in the Scripture. Jesus sees it as discontinuity of existence. The need for children is an arrangement about immortality through progeny. The immortal needn't worry about arrangements for having children. more than that, Jesus sees God of the living not the dead. Living or dead, we are alive to God. In this new realm restricted love is  not within resurrection  life. Rev. Eversull  had Albert Outler as a teacher. Once he was discussing the resurrection with a Yale colleague. Outler said that we can't pin down resurrection except at two times, when we are on our deathbeds or when we are at the bedside of a dying person. Jesus would not play mind games abut describing life in heaven, but he did claim it as a reality that will not only restore us but will blow away any of our cherished preconceptions.

 

 

This story follows a story of a blind man. Two men want to see, one physically blind, one morally blind. The name, Zaccheus,  is ironic as it means clean or innocent-the last person who should have that name. Z may be  small inside and out? I imagine Z to look like Danny DeVito. Apparently a good deal of prejudice was directed at the very small.  Climbing a tree was considered undignified for an adult. Z and the publican both are seeking God. We are in the interesting position where the rich Z is a social outcast to some degree.  What draws Z to Jesus? Z may well be eager to do a lot for the poor as opposed to the rich young ruler. Both the  blind beggar and Z attain  spiritual insight. The sycamore is different than our sycamore had figs, an evergreen one could reach (Amos 7;14) here is a  rich guy is climbing a tree for the poor.  He rejoiced in coming down. when Jesus says must that is a divine imperative- Jesus announces salvation has come to this house ( himself or what)-

 

Some think Z is protesting that he indeed does good. this might be  resolve to follow biblical principles. Paying back double was for the law in Num. 5:7, the big number for animals. The "if" in Z's words bothers some of us. If Z is repenting, he is going to follow the regulations and pay back money to those whom he defrauded. For those of us who are more suspicious, he could be saying in the future, I will make restitution, or a broad statement, if, if I defrauded anyone (not that I ever did) then I will pay them back more than what I owe. Z was seeking a but so was Jesus. For us in a culture of religious choice, God is the seeker for us-Today is a word of emphasis the issue of restitution and forgiveness-"giving back" I realize that we cannot ever make full restitution, but we can make a start. Few things show taking responsibility as much as it does. First, it obviously means paying back funds. Second, it seeks to try to make up for the emotional impact of a wrong. In legal settings it is not only compensatory but even punitive. I would extend it and ask us to consider trying to make restitution when we have wronged someone. We have the quick phrase kiss and make up. Restitution is a serious way to try to make up. It is a sign of sincerity. Men buy candy and flowers as a sign of trying to make up. What do women bring when they hurt the feelings of their spouse? We don;t have symbols of trying to make up as much as we could

 

It is big surprise that Z gets picked. The long sweep of salvation history points to this little guy. This would be as if we received a vision that

LINDSAY Lohan, or colts punter Pat Macafee or Donald Trump was to receive special divine favor. Of course, all the people grumble/murmur, that word for complaining in the wilderness, that word of putting God to the test. In large part, the complaint would go, why Z and not us. Why Z and not me? There must be something not right about Jesus if he would invite himself to share some time with Z. The grumbling comes from the same instinct that angers the elder brother and pushes the Pharisee into an arrogant prayer. We claim god's gift of salvation extends to everybody, but we would still like to pick and choose those on the inside. That attitude puts us precisely in the role of the judgmental in the gospels, so places us in need of the grace. Today in worship once again we all hear the words salvation has come to this house, today.

Dan.7:1-3, 15-18 second cut
1) I'm glad we have this choice, as I am weak on the book of Daniel in general. this section moves from Daniel interpreting dreams to being the seer. It also is a decisive move into apocalyptic. Some date material to the time of the rebellion against Antiochus and the period of  Hanukkah, 160s BCE.

2) the four winds( see Zech.2:6)  are attacking the sea in the LXX. tghe word is birth pangs in Micah 4:10.We are in mythic territory certainly. See also 1 Enoch and four angels. See Job 26:12 and Ps. 89:9-11 for more cosmic weaponry.

3)Now four great beast arise. the are creatures of the deep, maybe ancient chaos itself. Clearly Rev. plays off this. Political powers are associated with evil here. Also the sea could stand for the nations of the earth (Is. 17:12, Jer. 6:23) This is no surprise for a long colonized people to imagine.  We may also be in Persian Terrijo with its emphasis on dualism, good v. evil.  Some think the four beasts are a symbol for the entirety of wrong as in Zech. 1. As you can see these are mixed beasts, so they are unclean beasts. IB (457) the beasts emerge from our own hearts. In our time Walter /Wink would call the beast powers as in powers and principalities.

4) Our passage concludes with an emissary giving explanation of the vision. the dream interpreter now needs help in interpretation, like a therapist going to a therapist.

5) Quite simply, power arises and falls, but god will win out in the end.  the fourth beast gets elaboration later, if you choose to go that way.

 

6) the old IB (449) sees this as a "trumpet call to loyalty." whenever it was recorded ti reflect the difficulties of a colonial people and the prevailing cultural assumptions. As religion grows culturally disestablished n this country, we too face these issues of drawing the line.

7) Apcalyptic material appeals to the underclass when they feel beaten and need outside, external help to change their world. they are encouraged when they see that might does not last forever.

8) IB (450) links the beast to the metals of ch. 2. In both cases, they decline in value.

9) sons of the most high can be saints/holy ones. Possibly this refers to the angelic host. The will possess the kingdom the way we hold property.

A minister slips into church early to pray before a church board meeting: no, a Presbyterian minister, maybe one serving  two churches. Feeling tired and  frustrated, he prays that in comparison to others, it could be worse. Most church goers know we should have the humility of the publican. At the times of prayers of confession, we may feel more like the Pharisee. self-righteous people unwittingly, unknowingly put themselves sin the position of the publican. I have heard people say that they don't share in the prayer of confession because it doesn't apply to them. Whenever we hear a sermon really going at a sin and folks say to the minister, you really let them have it, we are in Pharisee territory. We have pews in church so the self-righteous have something to hold on to so that they don't ascend at that moment. It is difficult for community when we  view others with contempt when we are judging others harshly. Of course, the moment we go, whew, I'm glad I'm not like the Pharisee, then the trap is sprung shut on us. This story cannot be read as denigrating the good acts of the Pharisee who walks the talk. This is an an admirable religious person, no hypocrite.

 

An old story tells of a student wanted to know the way of God. The master poured the cup full and it spilled on to the saucer. Was it a sign of my cup runneth over? No, you have no room in yourself for God.Think of the publican as say, a meth dealer, or a corrupt official, who has cheated on a spouse, been negligent toward the children, but who has now broken under the pressure. Or consider the recent great  NYT piece on a woman, Annie, 85,  who haunted the old Fulton Fish Market in New York. She was a foul-mouthed older woman who ran errands for the market, cleaned offices, and laundered the fishing clothes for the workers.  and hid the money in her clothes. At one point, she had been a beauty that turned heads, and her old pictured was featured at one of the docks. At home, she was a grandma. She gave away all of the money she made at the fish market. She supported a ballet school in LA. She got a car for a grandchild and sent the other through college in new Hampshire. She almost single-handedly supplied the clothes need for the Catholic worker house. The publican is a recipient of Joel's vision. 

 

Joel wrote to people who felt like the world seemed stacked against them, when everything from nature to politics to religion seemed to be going wrong.Joel's vision of the Spirit being poured out speaks of offering access to God in a more direct way. In Joel images of nature drying up and in abundance vie for pwoer. Old and young, men and women have the Pharisee and the publican residing within. We've all done things of which we are proud and justifiably so and done things of which we are ashamed and justifiably so. That kind of access is scary, as it illumines parts of ourselves we would rather remain hidden. Pride is an obstacle to getting involved with God. So is the confidence that we can handle anything all on our own.Humility seems to be a vehicle for prayer. It's a rare posture for most of us, appearing without our masks and justifications and rationalizations. Maybe it's related to being cast down by something that most predictably draws us to prayer. God's not as lucky to have us, as we are to have a generous, open-hearted God who loves us: Pharisee or publican.

Second  cut Hab. 1:1-4, 2:1-4
1) Habakkuk is a shorter version of Job in its way, or if you prefer a longer version of Ps. 13. If one is feeling bold, this is a good place to work on some theodicy. I resist material that seeks to excuse or defend God for the weight of evil in the world, so I like material such as Douglas John Hall, God and Human Suffering, or Wendy Farley Tragic Vision and Divine compassion.. A good textbook is Tyron Inbody, The Transforming God. N.T. Wright works with the issue in  an accessible way in Evil and the god of justice. On lament see Migliore and Billman or the compendium on prayer, Patrick Miller's They Cried ot the Lord.

2) We are back to the issue of Lk. 18:1-8 two weeks ago and the issue of persistence in prayer and unanswered prayer. The messenger is to be bold, to write it in large letters.

3) Calvin saw God as constantly acting in discrete ways. So, he was uncomfortable in talking of god's permissive activity. We see it here in the lament. Why would God tolerate evil? At 1:3 destruction and violence (hamas) can be literal but also metaphors for perverted justice and the power of Mammon Strife (rib) and contention (madon0 are often legal hearing words, trial words. See MacLeish's JB.

4) The lectionary breaks make the readings a bit unclear. The end of chapter one has another complaint/question from the prophet about the propriety of god punishing the Nation with an evil idolatrous nation. Chapter 2 is god's response to that second complaint. In other words, God announces punishment at the hands of the Chaldeans and the prophet responds with how could that be a proper instrument?

5) 1:4 aqal=twisting/bending of justice at 1:4. 2;2 is a tough translation. Think perhaps of running with it as a metaphor for working the mesage to its ocnclusion.2:3 is an attempt to give assurance that God really will act, even with a delay.

6) 2:4 looks t the arrogant, the puffed up/ swollen apal) My old teacher JJM roberts reads it as two words and the fainthearted will not walk in the way. righteous or just is saddiq.2:4 is quoted by Paul,  if you want to get picky about the Hebrew word, faithfulness/steadfast trust/faithfulness/fidelity/loyal commitment  may work better, and it would read his faithfulness..We also don't know if it refers in its antecedent to that faithfulness or the faitfulness of the message. In others word, hold on, keep on, trust in the promise. In the LXX it would be my faith. I suppose one could then use this to force the words into a Pauline mode to create the old Protestant fear of works righteousness 500 years after Luther. One could also work with the best translation one could muster and work on it, even though its meaning seems different than Paul's use of it..

7) Hiebert in NIB quotes Wendell Berry at 643, 'be joyful, even though you have considered all of the facts." Faithfulness to God's loyalty will not permit the tyranny of mere facts.

resemble God's people pray. Usually, our prayers are asking for help in some way, it may well be the only time we ever admit dependence on anyone or anything. We look for the recipe that will somehow get a good answer to our prayers. Weary with life's troubles, we get weary in prayer. (IB 308) Perhaps faith does not find God except on the last edge of helplessness,  Success maybe, but yes to perseverance and fortitude in prayer.  Praying like politics can be the slow boring of hard board in the story. Ps. 44 wonders if God is asleep and uses its prayer to rouse the sleeping god to justice and action. Early in the movie The Apostle, Robert Duval's Pentecostal pastor character comes to an accident scene and prays through the window of the crushed family in the ruined car. The woman's hand moves. He goes back to his car and tells his mother, Mama we made news in heaven today, yes we did

 

Even the early church struggled with prayer. Jesus dealt with unanswered prayer in the Garden. Jesus would resemble the widow in the parable in the Garden.The widow demonstrates power disparity and the temptation to despair when no one could or would help. The story does not ask us to make analogies to God but to have us move from the lesser to the greater   Prayer may feel like pounding on a locked door.Dylan had a song years ago, knocking on heaven's door. Prayer can be pounding on heaven;'s door. I never thought that I would live to see the Berlin wall fall peacefully. It did, and that utter surprise may have had some of the countless prayers for peace to thank.So, the unfit judge cannot be equated to God but can still do right, even though he is not virtuous. We don't know why she is not heard, maybe it's one more person looking for justice when he is waiting for a bribe. Instead, he is fed up with her constant pleading, literally so she won't strike me or wear me out.=keeps giving me a black eye.

 

 

Gen. 32 prayer as wrestling, with purpose, with oneself (see Janzen-old grabby self and a new one ends in dislocation-the words in Hebrew play with the ordering and the sounds-new name-new birth in baptism-alienated from the true self) One of the things we wrestle with is a slow answer to a prayer-we wrestle with what seems to us to be uncommon slowness, like drumming our fingers when the ATM doesn't spit out bills immediately,and the divine timetable. Wrestling prayer can be exhausting, not polite mere feigned emotion. Prayer does not leave us unchanged. Patience as a virtue lost.Having it out with God may leave us with a bit of a limp. I think of Robert Duval in the Apostle, yelling "I love you Lord, but I'm mad at you." We don't need to nag God who knows and wants good for us. Persistent prayer teaches us about the flow of time and to learn patience in the sense of forbearing/long suffering/enduring with God amid trouble.

 

Our Greek Orthodox sisters and brothers pray with images, icons. It is noteworthy we use the word to speak of old entertainers now. Praying hands evoke the spiritual sense in me. I have always liked the Grace and Gratitude pictures by Eric Enstrom or the praying hands of Norman Rockwell's freedom of religion piece of the four freedoms set. We all received a living tableau of persistence and rescue from Chile this week. For some time, miners were trapped in what col miner grandfather called the bowels of the earth. Many prayed, and some gave the enacted prayer of presence

day after day at the entrance. They waited for a rescue capsule to arrive on the surface. Think of prayer as sending messages from below ground up to God's presence, as we wait for the rescue capsule to bring us back to a safe place together.

Third  Cut As far as I am aware, no consensus exists on the date of these oracles. Since I was in seminary, roughly at the time of the writing of Joel, a move has been made to conflate the minor prophets and refer to them as the book of the twelve.

 

1) A good bit of disagreement exists if the locust horde was a natural disaster or a symbol for an army of destruction. Either way, God will make recompense. All of this reverses the previous indicators of suffering.If it is a natural event, see the new book by Terence Fretheim on creation and natural disasters.

2) the abundance image fits this time of harvest.

3) Notice the repetition against being shamed, by what do you think?

4) Now we move into familiar Pentecost territory. since we see this being fulfilled at Pentecost where does this place us in the afterward of v.28

5) What do vv. 28-9 and 32 say about claims to religious exclusivity?

6) v. 31 seems out of place to me. It certainly is of a peace with Amos 5 and the blood curdling view of the Day of the Lord. Notice how it gets picked up in Mt, especially, during the crucifixion.

7) The old men dreaming dreams seems to me to be a a very good place to write a sermon about defying age's debilities.

When some therapists are assessing stress levels, they use a simple instrument to add up stress points. Some are obvious, divorce, for instance gets 100 points. Some are not. Apparently moving is one of the most stressful events in life. Imagine being transported to a far off land, without any idea of whether if, or ever, you would return; to nod to Tom Petty, you have to live like a refugee. How long would they be there? Already they were hearing that they would be home before they knew it. Jeremiah is warning them that they should prepare for the long, long haul.They are not insular; they are to be part of a larger political unit, even if they do not wish it, they fortunes are tied to that of this new place. We may well often imagine some shangri-la, some new Eden where everything would be better compared to where we are. Everything would be better if only things were the way they used to be. 

 

Jeremiah says that God has  plans for us, our future, a hope, and our welfare.  Philip Cary in the new Christian Century has a good piece where he demonstrates that God does not have a special secret agenda that will guarantee us happiness, if only we find the key to unlock it. It is similar to the fiction that we have one and only one soul mate who is a fit twin to ourselves, as if we are two pieces of a puzzle made whole only when we fit together.Isn't it anxiety producing to claim too much specificity.God does not play hide and seek. God is as present to them far away as if they were in the temple. Still, it won't be forever. If not next year in Jerusalem, some day in Jerusalem.the Creator God is endlessly creative and is not bound by the past. that is a foundation for hope.

 

Paul writes as a prisoner. Even though he is chained, he knows that the Word of God not chained. Chrysostom said that we could not chain a sunbeam.He too his doing church work by giving advice to Timothy. Even though he is a prisoner, he can make it a workplace. He works for God, no matter the circumstances. God is faithful even when we are faithless That may be from old Christian liturgy. I find real comfort in its words. God is faithful even when we are not. We see lots of syn/together words to emphasize with Christ and with each other. We think of the hymn "great is thy faithfulness."

Bloom where you're planted would sound almost traitorous for people who saw the temple destroyed and are now strangers in a strange land. They are given some basic advice: to make a new life for themselves as aliens in this new, dangerous place. After Jeremiah's letter was written, we have some evidence from archaeology that his advice was heeded. A Jewish group, Marashu and sons had made a business enterprise and we have some documentation of it. Be Here Now. Make the best of a circumstance. Live into a future instead of longing for the past or a misty future. Palestinians have lived in squalid refugee camps for more than a half a century in a fruitless hope to be able to turn back the clock and claim a right of return to the family property. Even while we wait for better days, for the coming of God's way in the world, we build a future as best we can with the resources at our disposal. That then is holy work, to build a life. Building a life is putting prayer into action.

When some therapists are assessing stress levels, they use a simple instrument to add up stress points. Some are obvious, divorce, for instance gets 100 points. Some are not. Apparently moving is one of the most stressful events in life. Imagine being transported to a far off land, without any idea of whether if, or ever, you would return; to nod to Tom Petty, you have to live like a refugee. How long would they be there? Already they were hearing that they would be home before they knew it. Jeremiah is warning them that they should prepare for the long, long haul.They are not insular; they are to be part of a larger political unit, even if they do not wish it, they fortunes are tied to that of this new place. We may well often imagine some shangri-la, some new Eden where everything would be better compared to where we are. Everything would be better if only things were the way they used to be. 

 

Jeremiah says that God has  plans for us, our future, a hope, and our welfare.  Philip Cary in the new Christian Century has a good piece where he demonstrates that God does not have a special secret agenda that will guarantee us happiness, if only we find the key to unlock it. It is similar to the fiction that we have one and only one soul mate who is a fit twin to ourselves, as if we are two pieces of a puzzle made whole only when we fit together.Isn't it anxiety producing to claim too much specificity.God does not play hide and seek. God is as present to them far away as if they were in the temple. Still, it won't be forever. If not next year in Jerusalem, some day in Jerusalem.the Creator God is endlessly creative and is not bound by the past. that is a foundation for hope.

 

Paul writes as a prisoner. Even though he is chained, he knows that the Word of God not chained. Chrysostom said that we could not chain a sunbeam.He too his doing church work by giving advice to Timothy. Even though he is a prisoner, he can make it a workplace. He works for God, no matter the circumstances. God is faithful even when we are faithless That may be from old Christian liturgy. I find real comfort in its words. God is faithful even when we are not. We see lots of syn/together words to emphasize with Christ and with each other. We think of the hymn "great is thy faithfulness."

Bloom where you're planted would sound almost traitorous for people who saw the temple destroyed and are now strangers in a strange land. They are given some basic advice: to make a new life for themselves as aliens in this new, dangerous place. After Jeremiah's letter was written, we have some evidence from archaeology that his advice was heeded. A Jewish group, Marashu and sons had made a business enterprise and we have some documentation of it. Be Here Now. Make the best of a circumstance. Live into a future instead of longing for the past or a misty future. Palestinians have lived in squalid refugee camps for more than a half a century in a fruitless hope to be able to turn back the clock and claim a right of return to the family property. Even while we wait for better days, for the coming of God's way in the world, we build a future as best we can with the resources at our disposal. That then is holy work, to build a life. Building a life is putting prayer into action.

first cut for october 10 OT lectionary text
1) OK in the midst of the destruction, a new future is positied that sees planting again. It is a creation image certainly. How do you come to grips with changes in the biblical frameworks?

2) Note the similarity to Ezekile 18 on personal responsibility. This goes against the to the fourth generation language of DT.

3) Here is new covenant, a new bond, a new partnership. what happened to the old covenants:to Noah, Abraham, David, and Sinai? Were they obviated by the punishment, ro is this better called a renewed covenant?

4) How do you think that works in practice, a new grasp of life that will not require teaching, that would come naturally?

5) Miller in NIB p. 815 has  a good section at #9. he urges us to consider the issue of supersessionism.

6) New covenant language is in Communion (Luke 22:20, I Cor. 11:25).

First cut
1) I'm not sure how  to look it up, but this lectionary passage just begs to be extended into v. 14, especially if it is not read at some other time.

2) This sends the advice Jeremiah has for the home folks to exiles in far off Babylon, present day Iraq.

3) If I were a recipient of this letter, part of me would call Jeremiah a version of Marshall Petain when France was overrun by Hitler's forces. Why would I seek the welfare of the land of the destroyer? what hard advice to make a life in exile and turn one's back on the return. On the other hand, Palestinians have lived in refugee camps for generations in fruitless waiting to go back home.

4) As a different approach, this is classic bloom where you are planted advice. It is also a good stand against those who counsel not working toward the good, indeed looking for signs of decline only, in some sense of trying to hasten the Second Coming.

5) The new Christian Century has a good piece on the futility of trying to find a specific "plan of God" for one's life. I would go further and call it using the faith as a fortune -teller.

6) what good news, to hear that God has plans for their welfare after the vistas of destruction, (see 18:8, 36:3) for instance).

7) What sort of future would you like to see for: your church, your country, your inner life, the lives of your children?

8) How do images of the future, good or bad, affect one's current action or inaction?

9) Miller has a good section in #4 of the NIB commentary at 796 on the "paradox of divine activity in Scripture."

 

World Communion Sunday 2010

Amy Mann, the singer, once said that even as a child she heard notes of sadness even in the happy, cheerful material of the Beatles. The blues usually are bemoaning one's life, often of being hurt in love. Sometimes the basic pattern turns upbeat for a party. This morning, let's use the two readings to get at that dual sense of the Lord's Supper. It cannot be an accident that the very center of the central poem in the five poems of lamentations is a word of hope amid all of the torment. Indeed, Communion includes lament, the agony in the garden, the shed blood, the broken body, the cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Maybe it's a good practice that the tunes behind our communion songs song mournful, not only to remember the death of Jesus but to remember that human life is a mix of successes and hardships.

 

At the same time, Communion tells us that the Lord is our portion. The cup of life and the bread of life encapsulate our lives: the joys and sorrows together. What sort of celebration, what sort of soul feast do we actualize today? In both cases, we share the experiences in Communion, and God shares them with us; to relive a wedding party, a baby shower, a mercy lunch after a funeral. In thanksgiving, we remember to celebrate the goodness of life and the God who sets it up and continues to be active in and through it. We also remember the healing, the teaching, the example of Jesus, especially the resurrection when we celebrate Communion. the Lord's Super feeds the new life already within us, already in our grasp, already growing in the church.

 

As Jesus says in Luke, we can do great, unexpected things through God. Perhaps God comes to expect them from us.Even when we don;t want to, we are capable of forgiving people. Forgiving is not condoning repeated wrongs, but it does start with refusing revenge against the person who hurt us repeatedly. In Communion we ingest forgiveness, our own forgiveness, the forgiveness not offered, the forgiveness thrown back, the forgiveness accepted with grateful tears. We do so out of a proper response, not that we expect a pat on the back. It is a Christian expectation, part of our job description. We get the chance to have Communion.Being a good Christian does not push us into elevating the faith above others, especially by denigrating others. This World Communion Sunday is a stark reminder that we are one baptized family in Christ. 

 

In the Lord's table we incorporate those hopes and hurts into the whole church, the body of Christ. Private issues seek significance by placing them on a public stage. We call it building awareness now; we used to call it publicizing. Shared life elevates the private into the public realm. On this day, we especially remember that Christianity is all over the globe, the messianic feast come to life.

 

What is new every morning? Thoughts, as every once in a while we are inspired to a newer, richer, fuller understanding. grace, as God's life and love come to us in unexpected but needed ways, often through someone else: cell changes (Stomach lining is almost constantly being renewed. Even our bones change over in time. The liver is basically regenerated every year or so.) loves don't fade but continue and even grow over the years, an astonishment. Sometimes we get up and notice a new ache and expect new troubles. To continue the sense of Communion please consider a spiritual  exercise. The opposite of a day's review would be to set out some hopes in receiving the day. It may be a good spiritual exercise to start the day to hope for something at home, at work, in one's spirit., to ask, "where would I like to see God's hand in my life today-where would I like to sense God's presence today?"