Words 8.26, finally

 Words Twice a Week        8.26 

well, 8.27 by the time I finally get it done!

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.

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Proper 17

Song of Songs 2.8-13

+ Song of Songs is a series of love poems, some of them quite explicit.  Are they just about a man and a woman?  Are they about God and Israel? Are they about Jesus and the Church? It seems to me anything besides a man and a woman ends up being quite a stretch.

+ Physical and even sexual love has a place in the Christian faith.  Has that been your experience?

+ My beloved comes, leaping, bounding, “hot to trot”.  (A little too disrespectful?)

+ “The winter is past” – well actually, the summer is just about past.  Winter is over the horizon.  Nevertheless, it is always time for singing?

+ “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.”  Well, it does recall the times Jesus called the disciples to come away to a desolate place for prayer.  I don’t think that’s what the guy has in mind here!

+ “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away” – an invitation to take a break now and then, for prayer, for meditation, for relaxation and fun, just to be together.

+ Anyway, the Bible would just be a whole lot less interesting without the Song!   And a note that St Bernard preached 86 sermons on the book and never got beyond the third chapter.

Ps 45.1-2, 6-9

+ A song of praise for the king, perhaps on his wedding day.

+ But still, this psalm is a little odd.

+ words of grace, scepter of equity, love of righteousness – reflection of reality or hopeful longing?

+ but then “robes fragrant with myrrh, aloes, cassia” – what’s that about?

+ “Out of the ivory palaces, into a world of woe; only his great redeeming love, made my savior go.”

James 1.17-27

+ Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee...

+ “Those who study this letter diligently find that it lacks a carefully defined structure”!

+ “James is convinced that as the word comes to the believers, and the believers open themselves to the presence and the power of this word in their lives, they will be able to defeat the power of sin that is within them, because God’s word is powerful unto salvation”.  How has that worked out in your life?

+ And some of our familiar words – be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; be doers of the word, and not merely hearers; If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23

+ the disciples are criticized for not following the ritual, and Jesus comes to their defense; 

+ “Jesus called the God and the religion of purity codes into question, and like the prophets o old he called people beyond mere ritual to genuine devotion to living out God’s will.  If the crud that comes out of a human life reflects the corruption of that person’s soul, then the good that comes forth in the course of living demonstrates the health and wholeness of one’s life.  If this is the case, and we appraise the matter theologically, the God is concerned that our inner dispositions and our actual lives be congruent in terms of active good.  In turn, if this is true, then God is not removed from life into a heavenly compartment of super-purity; rather God is present and active in the world, especially in the hearts and lives of truly religious people, accomplishing that which is good, honest, compassionate, generous, and of lasting value.  God’s glory is grace, not sanitation.

   “The words of Jesus are both liberating and irritating.  He refuses to allow us the comfort of a carefully prescribed and regulated religion.  There is no easy parade for the kind of piety Jesus talks about.”  - Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary

+ “We cannot misconstrue Jesus’ words here.  They do not say that religion is a matter of inward piety rather than external behavior, that one’s private spirituality is valued more highly than one’s physical life in the world.  Rather, Jesus warns that sin arises from within and leads to destructive deeds such as fornication, theft, murder, and the like.  The lack of holiness is marked not by breaches in the cultic code, but in evil acts that spring from evil intentions._  -  Fred Craddock

+ So how does that intersect with our lives?  Would it be eating without saying grace?  Would it be dressing nicely to go to church?  Would it be giving a tenth of your income to the church but then doing whatever you want with the rest?  What rituals are our faith built around?

+ Or, do we think of God being distant from everyday life, perhaps now and then intruding to do something, or do we think of God participating in each moment?

That’s what I got for now…..

Comments are moderated – by me – and may take a day to appear