Words Twice a Week 10.21
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Ok – we are back, after a week on the Mississippi River. Saw a couple of churches – one United Methodist, one Episcopal – that had one or more Tiffany windows. One had an edible garden next to the sidewalk with an invitation for passers-by to take something and eat it. One that had a little sidewalk-side food pantry. Hiked in Pere Marquette State Park (in Illinois) and ate a Marquette Burger (not as good as our local burgers, in my humble opinion) and a cup of Marquette French Onion soup (unfortunately the “croutons” on top was just a hamburger bun.) Good to be home.
Here’s a few thoughts on some of the scripture lessons for this week – Proper 25
Job 42.1-6, 10-17
+ vs 3-4 – Job is quoting God’s response from the whirlwind last week.
+ “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” – How have you learned about God? How have you experienced God? How did you respond – Job repented in dust and ashes!
+ vs 11 still talks about “all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.” Is that how we think about what happened?
+ Job’s Daughters – we were not a “Masonic family” until my mom married my step-father, so I joined DeMolay but my biological sisters, older than me and out of the house by that time, were not in Job’s daughters, my step-sisters were. One thing that impressed me about Job’s Daughters was the family support. When someone was getting installed as Honored Queen, people - parents, grand-parents, aunts and uncles, came from all over and brought presents!
+ Job gave his daughters an inheritance, along with his sons! Forward thinking.
+ overall thoughts on Job?
+ a Trivia note – I believe that the first public event in the “new” community room in the “old” library – ie., before this last renovation – was our reading of the Stephen Mitchell translation of Job. We had Job and the friends lined up on the stage, and the voice of God on a tape recording in the audience. Seemed like a good idea at the time – probably got a bit long for those listening, although it is a pretty accessible translation..
Ps 34.1-8
+ “I will bless the Lord…..Let us exalt God’s name together.
“God answered me and delivered me….you will not be ashamed.”
- A strong invitation to join in the psalmist’s faith experience.
+ “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” What comes to mind – the communion? The coffee-hour? The good food we have to eat? The beauty of God’s Creation?
+ “God redeems the life of God’s servants – they will not be condemned.” I was reading a fantasy novel from the ship’s library about two young people that end up going back 250 years in time – being condemned was presented graphically! How do we think about it?
Jeremiah 31.7-9
+ a grand home-coming from the Exile! Everyone is included.
+ Has the pandemic put us into a kind of exile? We are not able to be together; we have not been able to go to church; we look forward to returning with the same joy and excitement as Jeremiah pictures and the psalm celebrates.
Psalm 126
+ what are other folks saying about “us” – “us” as a country? “us” as a church/congregation? “us” as a family? If other folks are saying “The Lord has done great things for them” – does that imply a certain responsibility on our part to share those “great things”? What “great things” has God done for us, for you?
+ Those who go out bearing the seed for sowing shall come home rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. What seed are we bearing and sowing?
+ There was a thought at one time the behind this verse was the reality that in cultures that live close to the land, there comes a time in spring where a family has to choose between eating the seeds and sowing them. The tears the psalmist mentions could be tears of hunger, or the pain of watching a child go hungry. We take it for granted that we’ll be able to buy new seed next spring. What if we had to live on plants we grew from seeds we saved? Time to make a deposit in the local seed library?
+ if we think in terms of the pandemic, the tears could be for those many ones who have serious consequences or who have died.
Mark 10.46-52
+ bookends nicely with Mark 8.22-26 about the healing of another blind man. In between Jesus teaches what it means to follow him (note Bartimaeus calls Jesus “My Teacher”) and the disciples pretty consistently “fail to see”!
+ also, it’s the last story before the entry parade.
+ “Son of David” – it has political/national overtones. It’s an inadequate name for Jesus that a “blind” (or uninformed) person or the fickle crowds might use.
+ note there is no call to keep quiet about it as there has been in earlier healings. Already Mark is leaning into the Jerusalem experience where it is all out in the open.
+ a nice comparison to the Rich Man in Mk 10.17-22. “Though sincere, respectable, and religious, the rich man, when the chips are down, cannot break with his many possessions. He resists the invitation of Jesus and winds up a grieving nondisicple. In contrast, the beggar abandons the one possession mentioned (his coat) and gladly becomes a follower.” The minimalist guys say when you get rid of the things that absorb your attention, you can live by intention!
+ Bartimaeus is an outsider, but contrasts nicely with insiders James and John. When Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?”, James and John ask for seats of power and honor; Bartimaeus asks for vision. Those who think they see are in fact blind; those who are blind come to see.
+ so – with all of that, who are we in this story?
And a prayer for this week -
God of all peoples,
in this time when we are so pushed to think in political or national terms,
open our eyes to see all your children among us here and even to the ends of the earth.
As you gather us together,
help us make each other welcome
as we follow Jesus on the Path of Peace.
That’s what I got for now…..
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