Psalm 128

Proper 12 (17) - Year A

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

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

 

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