riffing on responsibility, repentance, and reconciliation....

What inevitably happens when two or more of us are gathered (politics and discord); who has responsibility for our well being as well as for our actions, or lack of; and do we believe Jesus is among us? 

A professor of mine (Ron Heifetz) used the metaphor of needing to maintain perspective from the balcony while also being on the dance floor in order to effectively mobilize groups for adaptive changes (to see systems for what they are while facilitating new behaviors within them). 

In today's lectionary readings, I hear a call for each of us to watch/maintain perspective from an elevated place as we not only boldly speak about approaching dangers on the horizon but also humbly name brewing unhealthiness within... maintaining fortitude in sharing responsibility for repentance while also providing ongoing opportunities for reconciliation, collectively, with God’s help. 

[ref: RCL readings for Proper 18, Year A]

Before considering our call to faithful patience and steadfast acts of love amid suffering, even in the face of death [ref: RCL readings for Proper 17, Year A],

let’s offer prayerful thanksgiving this ‘Labor Day’ weekend 
for the labor of many others that is often taken for granted, 
but without which we would not live as we do... 

as well as ask God to keep us mindful of our roles in meeting the needs of others: 

"Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." 
(Collect for Labor Day in the Book of Common Prayer) 

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]