If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church. Click here.
I know this is supposed to be the one where we look at the lessons, not the days, but -
Backspace to Jan 6 – Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building. Ok – did not see that coming!
Backspace again to Jan 5 – some of Western Christianity, in particular the Roman Catholic Church, recognizes and remembers Simeon Stylites on Jan 5, and he was enough of a character that we should take note. (Note – this is not the Simeon from last week!) He was born about 390, and entered a monastery at age 16, but was so extreme in his austerity that the brothers judged him unsuited and asked him to leave. Then he spent a year and a half in a small hut. Then he found a ledge on Sheik Barakat Mountain, part of Mount Simeon, that was about 20 meters in diameter. But people kept disturbing him, asking for prayers or counsel. So he found a pillar, built a platform on top of it and determined to live out the rest of his life on it. His first pillar was about 10 feet tall, later he moved to higher ones, the last was 50-60 feet, and he had a platform on top that tradition says was one square meter although some say it was a little bigger. According to Edward Gibbon in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, “In this last and lofty station, the Syrian Anachoret resisted the heat of thirty summers, and the cold of as many winters.” Apparently he lived to be about 68 years old, and died on Sept 2, 459. He was buried near the pillar. A church was built up around the pillar, but then, in the words of Wikipedia, “Unfortunately, on May 12, 2016, the pillar within the church took a hit from a missile.” So how big is the average residence today? I have to admit, the Tiny Houses intrigue me.
On to this week’s lessons -
Ps 29
+ Ok, I don’t really like Psalm 29. I used to, I used to think it was really cool. We read it adding one more group of people with each verse so it got louder and louder and ended with a great crash. I always wanted to get a couple of tympani (kettle drums, we used to call them) to end with. But then I read this article (Rescuing Earth from a Storm God, Ps 29 and 96-97, by Norman C Habel – he was one of the moving forces behind the “Season of Creation” that many churches observe towards the end of the Season after Pentecost – and Geraldine Avent) about how Ps 29 portrays God as (ecologically, environmentally) violent and destructive, and how Ps 96.7 – Ps 97.6 has a similar theme and structure, but presents God as “creating, nurturing, restoring”. “In Ps 29 Earth is reduced to a battered object; in the second hymn (Ps 96, 97) Earth becomes a subject, a “thou” who rejoices and celebrates...In terms of the ecojustice principles reflected in our approach, Psalm 29 devalues Earth by treating it as a domain for divine power plays, while Psalms 96-97 acclaim the participation of – and consequent valuing of – the entire Earth community in a rich response to YHWH’s advent. It is especially obvious that the first psalm negates and silences the voice of Earth while the second makes the voices of Earth and the wider Earth community (a community that includes everything from the fish of the sea and the trees of the forest to the skies above and all peoples below) central to its call to celebrate.” So ever since I’ve had issues with Ps 29.
Gen 1.1-5
+ this (from A Small Fiction) is for all you “dog people” -
And God said, “Let there be dog”. And there was dog.
God saw that dog was good, and said
“Who’s a good dog?”
And it was dog. Yes it was.
+ and then I am always glad to look at Gen 1 because it gives me an excuse to return to my favorite book on The Creation – The Splendor of Creation by Ellen Bernstein. On Gen 1.1 she notes “The idea that a God exists who created heaven and earth is truly profound. It means that the earth we walk upon, the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, are all signs that the world is filled with mystery.” All this stuff isn’t just randomly here (for us to do with as we wish!) but it is here because God intended and intends for it to be here.
+ and still from Bernstein, God called the light “Day” and the darkness “Night”, but then Genesis says there was evening and there was morning, and apparently in Hebrew the word we translate as “evening” carries connotations of chaos and the word we translate as “morning” has connotations of order. “So every day the world goes through another round of chaos and order. Every day we are reminded of the essential cycle of creation. Both light and darkness, order and chaos, are critical to the fabric of life.” Where do you encounter chaos? Order? Or here’s an interesting question from a United Methodist – where in the life of the congregation, even in our worship, does chaos reside? Where does order reside? How comfortable are we with each? And how is God’s Spirit involved in this?
Mark 1.4-11 Jesus gets baptized
+ Have you been baptized? When? How? Is it something you remember or have been told about? United Methodists typically baptize infants so I don’t have any memory of it. I have been told (by my mother) that I screamed all through it!
+ John the Forerunner, The messenger, in particular here, the Baptizer. Note that according to Mark John preaches a “baptism for the repentance for the forgiveness of sin”. In Matthew John said, Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Is that a significant difference? (Ok, yes, later on he gets to “I baptize you with water for repentance”.)
+ “Everybody” went out to be baptized by him. Kind of like a Billy Graham crusade? Would you have gone?
+ Jesus comes and gets baptized. Note there is no hesitation on John’s part here, I suppose because Jesus didn’t look any different from all the rest. And in fact when the dove and the voice come Mark says “he” (Jesus) saw and heard (“You are my beloved son”). Not clear if anyone else did. As Matthew tells the story, John recognized Jesus, as he did even in the womb in Lk 1, and has to be convinced to baptize Jesus. So thinking about all that, does it encourage us to see Jesus in those around us? In some of those around us or all of them? In those who are sinners coming to be baptized?
+ John ate bugs. They say it’s a good source of protein and better for the environment than eating beef! I once ate some cookies made with “grasshopper flour” or something like that. About as far as I go. I could be vegetarian, but eating bugs – (to take a line from Lindsey Graham) “Count me out.”
+ And John dressed in natural clothing. What clothing issues do we encounter today? For example, I like 100% cotton, but apparently it’s hard on the soil. And the whole “fast fashion” thing where we need new shirts each year or even each season is something to consider.
+ How is Jesus mightier than John? Would it have been helpful for Jesus to have John describe him thus or not? What adjectives would you use to describe the difference between John and Jesus? (Front man; main act?)
+ finally, we’ve considered it before, but if our sins are washed away, where do they go? Do the folks who live downstream from us, geographically or temporally, have to deal with them?
+ How are baptism with water and baptism with the Spirit related? How has that worked out in your life?
Here’s a prayer for today -
Eternal God,
you smiled and the light broke upon our world,
and your presence throughout creation
brings healing and beauty and wonder.
We stand at the start of a new year,
but one which already carries the burden left to it by last year.
Give us the wisdom, the vision, and the determination
to see that this year reduces that burden rather than adding to it.
Help us do things that will have you smiling again.
That’s what I got -
Comments are moderated – by me – and may take a day to appear
No comments:
Post a Comment