Words 9.24

 Words Twice a Week    9.24

From camp – formatting may be a little different.  Geese flying over both yesterday and today.  Hauled in the last of the green tomatoes here – hopefully some are still ripening in Mqt!

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts -

Ps 78.1-4, 12-16 We heard from our ancestors/elders and will tell to the next generation the wonderful things the Lord has done…

+this is a nice little passage – we note that it is just part of the whole psalm which is a bit more complex.  One writer calls it (the whole psalm) the mystery of history – about why Judah was chosen instead of Ephriam.  We’ll stick with just our partial portion.

+the psalm runs over the whole story of the Exodus, our part looks at the escape through the sea and the water in the dessert.  More on that when we get to the Exodus reading.  

+what have you learned from your elders/ancestors (or refused to learn, or thought you knew enough already, or thought you knew better, or thought new times brought new understandings)?  Are there some kinds of things our ancestors are better authorities on and other kinds of things current thought, science, discoveries are better at?  Prayers vs vaccines for the virus?  “Thoughts and prayers” vs laws in gun issues?  Moral codes vs laws at establishing community behaviors?

+How does our culture do at paying attention to both the elders and the children?  Where do you see difficulties, or positives?  I continue to be awed by indigenous understanding and behavior, at least as much as I understand it.  I don’t think I really respected older pastors when I was starting out, and since I have been retired….?

+in particular, with regard to the faith, how do we do at telling the next generation what we have heard?  One confirmation curriculum we used for a while was basically built around pairing each youth up with an elder.  I still remember a few of my Sunday School teachers with great affection.  We still say the same grace before meals that my parents said.

Exodus 17.1-7   The people murmur and God provides water from a rock!

+again, as last week, part of the early years “wandering in the wilderness.”  Israel is still “a people at risk”; this first generation is a people in training.  Is God still with us?  Are we still with God?  I suppose today it resonates with the question – what difference does it make if I am a Christian?

+last week we read how God tested Israel with the quail and the manna, this week we read how Israel tested God.  Does this seem disrespectful or collaborative?  An evolution from Abraham’s “unconsidered OK” to a more conversational relationship with God?

+here’s an intriguing thought – “Israel’s liberation is really dependence on Egypt transferred to dependence on God”.  Wow – what do we depend on, really?  

+what wilderness have you wandered in/are you wandering in?  Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that our national and international political situation is something of a wilderness?  What do you “thirst” for in your wilderness?

+the people murmur, Moses speaks with God, God gives instructions and Moses follows them.  Note that “Horeb”/”Sinai” in vs 6 foreshadows the 10 Words for Life that we will come to next week.

+the place is named “Massah” and “Meribah”, “testing” and “complaining”.  (Some scholars now think the sense is more “conversing” or even “negotiating”.)  “Testing vs trusting”?  “Complaining vs accepting”?

+finally, water issues – how do/will we respond as more and more people (in the world and even in the US) lack clean water?  What about clean water protections?  There is a World Water Day – I need to look up when it is when I get back to internet availability.  How often do you use bottled water, your own water bottle?  There was a fundraiser where you could buy water bottled in celebrity’s homes.  How about a fundraiser where we sold water bottled at St Paul’s, or your church, or various church leaders?

Phil 2.1-13  Be like Christ, who emptied himself…

+so this is a really big passage for scholars.  This is one of the earliest expressions that Christ pre-existed (and “post-existed”) Jesus.

+”live in harmony, be united,” Paul says, even though there were certainly a variety of understandings and beliefs in the early years.  Cindy McCain (widow of John) talked the other day about how there were always differences between Democrats and Republicans, but we were first of all Americans and could/would talk about our difference from a perspective of unity, and maybe even some humility.  How well do we deal with conflicting beliefs or understandings (faith or political) in the church?  I would suggest, not always that well!

+with a new tune, ”At the Name of Jesus” is one of the most popular hymns in England.  Again, when I get back to civilization, I’ll try to find a link.

+what would you have the most difficulty giving up for God?  What do you think God asks/has asked you to give up?  Specifics!!!

“work out with fear and trembling what it means to be saved” – further evolution of conversation and collaboration in our relationship with God.  Humans are both responsible for themselves and subject to God’s will.  How does that work out?

Matthew 21.23-32  Questions about authority and the story of two sons…

+Swanson notes that this comes as Jesus starts teaching, and after Jesus’ unconventional behavior in the Temple and cursing/blasting a fig tree (as we say today “without evidence”!); probably someone at the door should ask for his ID, for his teaching credentials!  How do we confer authority – in families, in church, in corporations, in government?  How do we respond to authority?  How do you react to religious brothers and sisters swearing obedience to an Abbot or Abbess?  And Swanson notes that the religious leaders here are caught between the power of Rome and the popular movements, in particular following the failed Jewish revolt.

+Jesus links himself to John – are they a team to be accepted or rejected together, or is it that  John is dead and hard to speak ill of?  Does the same apply to John McCain?  I vaguely remember a prayer for the dead, I think in the Jewish tradition, about how their faults grow dimmer and their strengths ever brighter.

+Or is this whole thing about John just to show Jesus’ skill at turning a question?  Again, a comtemporary political skill!

+Ok – the two sons – one says he will but he doesn’t, the other says he won’t but then he does.  Does this really connect with the faith leaders and the tax collectors and prostitutes?  They seem to be caught up not in “saying vs doing” but in “believing/doing in response to hearing”.  How would you say we do with hearing, saying believing, doing?  

+Jesus suggests that life is a matter of doing, not just saying, but that saying now does not preclude doing later.  It’s possible to have a change of heart.  I’ve known people who have had a change of heart and come to the faith later in life.  They have been pretty moving stories.    The husband/father/grandfather who after 50 years suddenly shows up and kneels with his family for communion.  Not many dry eyes in the church that day…

+those who are unconcerned with God can sometimes be caught up more fully than those who have been comfortable with God.  And can sometimes be kind of obnoxious!

Ok – that’s what I got for today.

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