Psalm 105:1-11, 45b

Proper 12 (17) - Year A


Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128

Canaan is where these days? What place of peace will we rejoice in?

It is very easy to associate Canaan with some place, with some physicality that can be measured in bars of a gated-community or resources stored away for both immediate and future accessibility. It is also easy to equate Canaan with my family and those like me.

If we open up images to things like "commonwealth" or "extended and inclusive family," what does that do to the promise of Canaan?

Will the image of Canaan, the promised land, still hold up if a way can be claimed that will hold us together, rather than further divide us? It might help if we reflect on Canaan coming from the humiliation and distancing of Noah's son Ham (used to justify racism) to become a favored place (or does that simply prove a triumphalist view of life that possession is 9/10 of the law and if there is oil on the reservation even that last bit of land can be confiscated?). How can we nudge along a reclaiming of our being bound together rather than continue to anchor ourselves where our differences lie?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/july2002.html

 


 

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 119:129-136

"Seek the Lord's strength" can be a call to dependence or greater interdependence.

Our tradition has a huge hunk of worminess within it. When we operate from that stance this kind of approach leads us to bow our heads and leave it all up to the one with power. We place our enemies before God to be smited.

Fortunately our tradition also has a huge hunk of wisdom and goodness within it. When we operate from this stance this kind of approach appreciates the qualities of G*D, for they are also our qualities and we are able to reveal them in our day-to-day living. We place our enemies before G*D to be forgiven.

Place your bets. How will G*D's strength be lived out in the midst of all the indeterminate issues of life? Does it have to do with some absolute as a law about Roe v. Wade or the Sabbath? Does it have to do with some imponderable as birth and death matters or spiritual breathing space?

Many will be reflecting on that as the new U.S. Supreme Court nominee becomes better known. I know from my own voting for United Methodist bishops that the issue of peering into a person's soul is most trying. May G*D have mercy as well as strength.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/july2005.html

 


 

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128 or Psalm 119:129-136
Genesis 29:15-28 or 1 Kings 3:5-12
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

With what intentionality does G*D create or foreknow? One camp says absolute intentionality - there is plan, purpose, malice aforethought with every thought/action of G*D. Another camp says no intentionality, only potential.

Of the two, we side with the potential that accords with spending time following the twists and turns of love and understanding. Mindful of a covenant of mutuality that thinks and acts for the sake of others/creation, we experience a love and understanding that continually pulls us toward one another.

There are many ways to express this unity of mutuality. Mustard seeds, yeast, treasure, pearls, and fish but scrape the surface of the presence of G*D.

- - -

before prayer
a sigh
before knowing
a call
before covenant
a thanks
before serving
a love
before presence
parable

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html


 

"Make known G*D's deeds among the people." This is a call to tell parables, not to construct creeds.

Since G*D is notoriously obtuse in being revealed (whatever the motivation, plan, personality, or distractability that is behind that quality), a part of our partnership with G*D is to let others know what G*D is like.

Here G*D is like a real-estate agent in a time of volatility (perhaps not unlike our own). This agent has found a real fixer-upper that appeals to our participatory spirituality. The terms are almost favorable, just a bit more wholeness or perfection on our part and we'll be able to engage it directly.

While we are not yet able to sign on the dotted-line, the agent continues to be supportive and encouraging. "Canaan has you written all over it." "Don't give up." "Keep building up your reserves." "It will be worth it."

When you are finally settled in, remember with thanksgiving, the agent that facilitated what will become a blessing for us and others as we add on rooms in which ourselves and all will be welcomed to continue growing in love with G*D and Neighbor.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

 


 

Covenants and prophecies are only confirmed by their deeds. Here we have a perspective that says a particular understanding of cause and consequence have conspired together to affirm a prior stating of a covenant. And so the appropriate response is, "Praise the Lord" or "Amen" or "So be it".

In the meantime there are other covenants and prophecies that are contended between by those whose world would shake, and for some collapse, should there be a disconfirmation of their particular understanding. Of course there is no need to acknowledge that one's viewpoint has been from a spot built upon a fault-line.

Other psalms bemoan an experienced loss of covenantal or prophetic hope. There are those times when we don't seem to be able to recover from a lack of anticipated victory and give ourselves over to imploring our holiest-of-holies to wake up and come charging to our defense.

One of the questions this psalm raises is that of sufficient evidence that a past understanding is confirmed. Is it time to continue standing in its light or time to turn out that light so some more helpful glimmer might be glimpsed? So, time for a second thought about our underpinnings - on what are you basing your next action - A past covenant? A newly received prophecy? An openness to either yet to arrive?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/07/psalm-1051-11-45b.html

 


 

imagine praise of another
as sowing a small
mustard seed
of encouragement
into their life

in time
will grow
confidence
to welcome strangers
from another realm

with them
comes fertilizer
to grow
into further
praise

each to the other
will cede
to the other
a new
inheritance

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/07/psalm-1051-11-45.html