Words 9.10

 Words Twice a Week  9.10

Some thoughts on some of the lessons -
and there are a lot of options for this week. The “standard” Old Testament lessons are about Israel’s deliverance at the “Reed/Red” Sea. The alternate track lessons are about the relationship of Joseph and his brothers after Jacob’s death. And this week the psalm readings seem particularly reflective of the first OT readings.

Standard track -
Psalm 114 When Israel went out from Egypt, the mountains and hills skipped like lambs
+the house of Jacob going out “from a people of strange language’. Interesting realization that our language makes a difference in who we are. How does English shape us, I wonder?
+nice images, mountains and hills skipping like lambs, the sea turning back. As we will see again in the Exodus lesson, the stress is on God’s power over the cosmos, not just humans.
+then here is a thought-provoking bit from Texts for Preaching – “The present depends on what is remembered. Without a pertinent, available memory, the present becomes a chance for distorted perception and careless conduct. Ps 114 is an act of powerful remembering that leads to present-tense confidence and ends in an awed warning.” Especially as we discover that we re-create a memory each time we remember it. Could you say the same thing, I wonder, about having a common understanding of reality, a common set of facts – that without a common understanding the present becomes a chance for distorted perception and careless [or even malevolent or malicious] conduct – with regard to climate? with regard to politics? with regard to racism? with regard to economic policies?

or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21 Songs of Moses and Miriam
+again, celebrates God’s salvation in history and in the cosmos. (cosmologically?) Today we might look for God to be working in our politics (history) and in issues like climate change, intense heat, wildfires (cosmologically).
+reaching way, way back in the recesses of my memory, it seems to me I learned that the Song of Miriam - "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea" is perhaps the oldest line in the Bible.

Exodus 14:19-31 Delivery at the Sea
+fundamentally a story about the reliability of God’s salvation, in history (the Egyptians and their army) and cosmologically (the sea was “chaos” – God orders it as in Creation).
+so again, history [politics, race issues, wealth inequality]; and cosmology [wildfires, climate issues, storms] - how do we appropriate this vision for today? How do we look for God’s salvation? Note that the Israelites were feeling scared and weak, complaining – they were not saved by their strength, or faith, or cleverness, but simply because it was God’s will. Are we willing to depend on and wait for that kind of salvation, or would we rather work it out ourselves? Or how much should we be working while we wait? Or, are there some things we work for and some things we wait for?
+A piece by Maya Angelou -
   The women wept, and I wept. I too cried for the lost people, their ancestors and mine. But I was also weeping with a curious joy. Despite the murders, rapes, and suicides, we had survived. The middle passage and the auction block had not erased us. Not humiliations nor lynchings, individual cruelties nor collective oppression had been able to eradicate us from the earth. We had come through despite our own ignorance and gullibility, and the ignorance and rapacious greed of our assailants.
   There was much to cry for, much to mourn, but in my heart I felt exalted knowing there was much to celebrate. Although separated from our language, our families and customs, we had dared to continue to life. We had crossed the unknowable oceans in chains and had written its mystery into “Deep River, my home is over Jordan”. Through the centuries of despair and dislocation, we had been creative, because we faced down death by daring to hope.

- or - Alternate track -
Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13 The Lord is gracious and merciful...as the heavens are high above the earth...as far as the east is from the west...as a father has compassion for his children
+familiar words of assurance. We pause for a Prayer of Confession, and then hear them again

  Lord, forgive us, for we are fragmented persons.
  We go many directions at once.
  We seek opposite goals, we serve contradictory causes.
  We mouth liberation, we live oppression.
  We shout peace, we practice violence.
  We shout justice, we walk in injustice.
  We preach love, we practice hate.
  Through your compassion have mercy on us and make us whole.
  Enable us to discern your voice among the dissonant voices. - Nat Council of Churches, Philippines
Now, we can go back and hear the words again -
   The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
   God does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
   For as the heavens are high above the earth, 

     so great is God's steadfast love toward those who fear God;
   as far as the east is from the west, so far God removes our transgressions from us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, and for his sake, our sins are forgiven. Thanks be to God.

Genesis 50:15-21 Joseph and brothers after Jacob dies
+ the brothers still dealing justice, not kindness; still trying to “work it out themselves.” (Come back and think about this after dealing with the gospel). Family issues, and maybe even congregational issues (see Romans!) are not to be settled with justice, but rather with kindness and faithfulness.

Romans 14:1-12 How to relate to Christians with whom we have differences...
+continuing a theme we touched on thinking about the gospel last week.
+Christians belong to God, not just to each other, or to their faction or congregation.
+Christians stand united before God, who justifies us all. If this is God’s way, Paul says, it must be our way as well.
+Is there a resonating thought about how Americans relate to other Americans with whom we differ? If my neighbor puts out a Trump sign and I put out a Biden sign, can we trust that our vision of ourselves as Americans will hold us together? Again, what common memories do we have, what common understanding of reality?
+Again from Texts for Preaching – “What Paul seeks in this passage is not merely the tolerance of diversity, a grudging acceptance of differences. Instead he articulates an active welcome for those with conflicting views and practices. If Christ welcomed (welcomes) all people then Christians must find a way to welcome one another and to respect the integrity of one another.”

Matthew 18:21-35 70x7; the unforgiving servant
+here’s a nice line – “forgiveness is not arithmetic; we are called to forgive freely from the heart, not begrudgingly from the head.”
+then the parable of the unforgiving servant (or the powerful master?) Language does make a difference – what we call the story partially determines what we hear in it!
+not a morality story – “you better forgive, or else” (to be told you ought to forgive does not really effect a change anyway!) - but rather a story of how grace experienced begets more grace. When we experience grace our lives are transformed in gratitude.
+Except that it didn’t. The forgiven servant did not forgive. One suggestion – perhaps he is still operating by justice, not yet realizing he was experiencing and living by mercy, kindness?
+And how does this (and the Romans passage) square with the “No justice, no peace” theme?
+Here’s another thought, from Provoking the Gospel -
First off, how could a servant/slave ever have amassed such a debt? Swanson does the figuring, and it would take as long to repay the debt as humanity has been around on earth. So then he suggests this is really a story about power -
  +the master lets the slave accumulate debt, threatens to sell the slave and family, then forgives the 

    debt  –  all “because he can”.
  +the slave has learned the lesson about power and abuses his over the slave who owes him money – 

    “because he can”.
  +finally the master condemns the slave to prison – “because he can”.
So – is this the world we live in if we forgive arithmetically? Is there another option?   

[comments are moderated - by me - and may take a day to appear]