Ite, missa est !

Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” ...and, I imagine him following with, ‘beyond proclaiming that I’m the messiah, what are you actually doing in my name / for my sake... collectively as a church body?’ 

New life in/with Jesus as Christ is a corporal/corporate endeavor, in the best sense of that word – a living body... an expanding ecclesia of inter-functioning parts / all sorts of folk with different traits and talents, all valued and needed for a healthy whole 

Q: what’s your role / part in our life together?

We’re being sent out into the world not only to tell our story

but to demonstrate faith and hope in God’s grace

through intentionally – sometimes outrageously - generous acts

of charitable and reconciling love that loosen

and break open demonic gates

designed to entrap, isolate, and separate us

from our creator and each other. 

[ref: RCL readings for Proper 16, Year A]

yes, you're a part of the new covenant

Moral defilement is matter of the heart and the dirt we allow to take root there. 

Worry less about appearances and what we put in our mouths, and more about the words that cross our lips and the charitable labor of our hands – the quality of those fruits are evidence of the cleanliness of our soul’s soil. 

“...maintain justice, and do what is right.... [God’s] house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 

Whether or not we were on the earlier invitation list, 
now by grace, 
we’re ALL invited in, with clean hearts, 
demonstrating love toward God and neighbor. 

[ref: RCL readings for Proper 15, Year A]

I'm not able to gently address our assigned lectionary readings this morning while violence persists in the region of the Holy Land and while religious extremists are murderously purging / displacing tens of thousands of Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities in pursuit of establishing a more pure theocracy. The zealots also aim to paralyze their opposition with fear of further terror. 

Confronting violence in God’s name in our scriptures is particularly salient. 

The current storm our sisters and brothers are facing is very real. 

Oh how I yearn to hear Jesus say, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” What a joy it would be to join the psalmist in crying out, “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” 

Christ, please reach your hand out to those in danger, even of little faith, who are seeking safety and relief. 

O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make haste to help us. 

[ref: RCL readings for Proper 14, Year A]

This is the Arabic letter “nun,” the first letter in the word “Nazarene.”We're being told in the media that in ISIS controlled regions of Iraq,
it has been painted on doors to identify the homes of Christians
who are then brutally beaten and often executed.

bring me what you have. you give them something to eat

There’s just too much need – I don’t have enough to offer.  

Jesus says, “bring me what you have.”  

Self-centered assumptions and presumptions are interrupted.  

We’re shown God’s way and sent out to do what seems impractical if not impossible.  Hungers and needs are addressed with whatever has been offered in faith and shared in love. 

Amid our thanksgivings and blessings, the Spirit tirelessly encourages ever more generous giving and sharing,... 

revealing ever broader abundance in God’s grace so more and more of God’s family can ‘get it’ and radically communal nourishment becomes the norm in the new kingdom. 

[ref: RCL readings for Proper 13, Year A]

Church of the Multiplication of Loaves & Fishes in Tabgha, Israel(photo by The Rev. Michael S. Bell, 2010) 

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/church-of-loaves-and-fishes

the good, the bad, and our patience and compassionate God

Good and bad seeds are thrown our way.  

Either and both will grow in our hearts if we let them in. 

The seeds that thrive are the ones to which we give most attention.  

Discerning weeds from wheat as they sprout up in our own hearts and become tangled in our own ways of being requires glasses of grace offered to us with patience and compassion by God’s Spirit.  

However, when any of us with haste presume to weed the larger field ourselves, there’s great risk of error from hubris and myopia.  

At the end of all our days, have faith that God will sort out the harvest justly, gathering what is good and throwing the waste to the fire. 

“Let anyone with ears listen!” 

[ref: Matt 13:24-30, 36-43 and RCL reading for Proper 11, Year A]

worms of grace for our godly composting

[ref. Revised Common Lectionary readings for Proper 10, Year A]

e-i-e-i-ohhh... it’s good and godly wise to offer seeds of the Good News widely, 

even seemingly wastefully with faithful flings, 

even upon ground that appears to be infertile or hostile to new life. 

We hope and trust that, through God’s Spirit, some will take hold in fertile soil (perhaps unseen) and yield fruit abundantly (even after we’ve moved on to other mission fields).  

It’s also good and godly wise to be mindful of the rocky roads and thorny thickets of in our own hearts, and occasionally til our own soil, asking for God’s help and worms of grace to make creative use of inevitable natural crap and other compost to better prepare our soulful selves for the acceptance, cultivation, and sharing of Christ-like love. 

liberty for all

Following fireworks and leisure of a day on which we celebrate independence and freedoms (and hopefully remember the sacrifices made in faithful and hopeful pursuit of our liberty).... 

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). 

Jesus never says his way is meant to be a cake walk or that it’s not costly.  

And, when it’s less about continuing to carry the illusion of being capable of doing it all on your own as well as the intellectual hubris and idolatry of having to be right, 

and instead more about surrendering to wisdom and support through community of right relationships with God and neighbor; 

while there’s still labor for us, 

it’s not as complicated, heavy, and seeming hopeless as it’s too often presented and believed to be... 

and liberation and peace become affordable for all.