Isaiah 49:1-7

Epiphany 2 - Year A
"Holy Week" Tuesday - Years A, B, C


1)

It is too little, too light, a thing that our belovedness be limited to a narrow range of blessing. To be beloved at all is to toss off blessings in all directions. There does not seem to be any distinction between a touch of belovedness and a universe of blessing.

A blessing of wholeness (salvation) cannot be bordered according to cultural, familial, experiential, or political boundaries. Once set loose, belovedness has an arc beyond the particular and peculiar. Belovedness will probably start with a specific focus, but it can never end there. This is much the same with the reading and hearing of evocative text—it begins with the literal, but can never be limited to the literal.

Hear Isaiah in terms of your own life: “It is too light a thing that you should be only for those you are currently for; you are given as a light to creation that it might be whole.”

Be ye lifted up and shine, shine, shine.

2)

Being called before being made is a marvelous image of the pull of the future working its way into the present and, if you are bold enough, into the past. Pushing a picture into the future of a preferred way of being is another way to talk about this same mystery that connects space and time with all parts of time and space.

Note that this work of deep calling to deep—whether forward or backward—is not intended for such minutia as finding a parking space or extra dollars. If deep is going to call deep, it is for much deeper effect than personal comfort (not that such is excluded, just that the personal will be included within a larger context).

You and I and we together are lights and light beyond ourselves. There is a temptation to use the comic phrase of “Flame on!” except that it is all to easily understood as abusive language precursing violence. Mere heat is not what is looked for, rather light that illumines an original choice—not simply knowing good and evil but actually choosing the good, whether inconvenient or not.

Tomorrow desires us to light today that tomorrow might better shine.

 

As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience

 


 

For the workaholics and/or perfectionists among us it is easy to get caught in verse 6: "It is too light a thing that you should be who you are, doing what you are; I have something larger for you to attend to."

These words can also be a challenge to individuals, congregations, communities, and nations who. over time, have come to the conclusion that the dreams we once had have become vain. We settle in to routines and settle out of the action.

Now comes a larger picture again. Will we have the energy to follow where it leads? Can we face one more disappointment? Has our strength been for nothing? Is vanity all there is?

What dream, what call, has been beckoning for the last little while in your life and in the life of the communities you connect with? Perhaps it is time to take that last breath and give it a try. Trust is not in our own, but in the call. Follow and gain and learn. Follow and fail and learn. Follow. Learn.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/january2005.html

 


 

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42

Even though I was called before being birthed [Isaiah], yet I have waited patiently [Psalm] for spiritual gifts [1 Corinthians] to be identified and put to work [John].

This is an arduous journey at each stage.

Calling before birthing leads to entitlement that all ought to go well with me. When it doesn't a tantrum ensues. It is difficult to be patient.

Presuming patience is learned there is still a desire to arrive and we can patiently go down many a wrong alley. Patience is needed, though, to clarify a gift's presence.

Again with the entitlement, seems it never goes away, isn't a spiritual gift a very valuable thing to possess and to use at every occasion, even when a different gift is called for. The spiritual gift of a hammer sees every occasion as a nail, even when it isn't. It is difficult to find one's place and to humbly use one's gift.

And we are back to a call again. Jesus is called, disciples are called, all G*D's children are called to birth after birth, to use of their present gift and future gifts (but not necessarily past gifts) again and again. A call to communal birthing moves us onward even as we try to find our place in a community that will challenge our entitlements with its own and both will need to be seen in a larger light.

The initial process seemed pretty straight-forward at first and then our realities set in. Now we need to move on to see our community as but one gift part of a community of communities.

- - -

called
through time
through space
through ancestors
and descendants

called
in time
in space
in ancestors
and descendants

called
in spite of everything so far
in anticipation of something different

called
through insight
through attribution

called
through and in mercy
to birth ad infinitum

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html

 


 

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 71:1-14
I Corinthians 1:18-31
John 12:20-36

Two days ago we were so close to being in like Flynn. There was this parade happening the next street over, but we were just settling in to the Inn. We missed it.

Now we're trying to get a belated autograph and have a lead through a Mr. Philip who apparently knows someone who knows someone.

And just a quickly there is no response, our contact didn't show up. We're left behind.

So, from the other side - Jesus says, "We're full up. Disciples, stick closer than ever, no more taking bribes so someone can get their picture taken. Everyone, huddle up. The game's going to depend on this next play."

Well, believe it or not, this is a different time and place from these ancient stories. What is our criteria for helping someone come close to Jesus? What litmus test do they have to pass? What is the minimum ante? Will we take the time to introduce someone to the value source of our life ourselves or wait to see if someone else will blackball the idea? Is there still time available to slowly transform interest into involvement or must we expect instant conversion?

Is the game plan still to huddle up? Does looking back on this story from postEaster make a difference for how we are going to act in this, our next preEaster, season?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html


 

It is too little, too light, a thing that our belovedness be limited to a narrow range of blessing. To be beloved at all is to toss off blessings in all directions. There does not seem to be any distinction between a touch of belovedness and a universe of blessing.

A blessing of wholeness (salvation) cannot be bordered according to cultural, familial, experiential, or political boundaries. Once set loose, belovedness has an arc beyond the particular and peculiar. Belovedness will probably start with a specific focus, but it can never end there. This is much the same with the reading and hearing of evocative text – it begins with the literal, but can never be limited to the literal.

Hear Isaiah in terms of your own life: "It is too light a thing that you should be only for those you are currently for; you are given as a light to creation that it might be whole."

Be ye lifted up and shine, shine, shine.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

 


 

Being called before being made is a marvelous image of the pull of the future working its way into the present and, if you are bold enough, into the past. Pushing a picture into the future of a preferred way of being is another way to talk about this same mystery that connects space and time with all parts of time and space.

Note that this work of deep calling to deep - whether forward or backward - is not intended for such minutia as finding a parking space or extra dollars. If deep is going to call deep, it is for much deeper effect than the personal (not that such is excluded, just that the personal will be included within a larger context).

You and I and we together are lights and light beyond ourselves. There is a temptation to use the comic phrase of "Flame on!" except that it is all to easily understood as abusive language precursing violence. Mere heat is not what is looked for, rather light that illumines an original choice - not simply knowing good and evil but actually choosing the good when it is inconvenient to do so.

Tomorrow desires us to light today that tomorrow might better shine.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/01/isaiah-491-7.html

 


 

Listen.

Before I was born, I had meaning.

Since being born this meaning has been questioned and squashed and redefined. It has been an exercise in vanity, in futility. And yet, a sense of meaning flickers.

And in this confliction, I am called to recognize the meaning of the exiled, the lost. I am to claim them for themselves, that honor might be shared, even before I am able to claim myself.

In this work of bringing meaning when it is so dark to myself, my task grows from another to all. Every jot and tittle has meaning. Conception and egg and sperm have meaning. Before their activation and proximity they had meaning. And before that. And before that.

In expanding my work it circles back and my own meaning again rises.

What is not able to be healed when our meaning is set free of meaning? Naught.

Listen.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/01/isaiah-491-7.html

 


 

Early promises can bind us to Sunday School responses we carry with us into situations where they become frozen and too small. Even if an early promise is huge, such as descendants too numerous to count or a promised land that become idolized, there is much to be worked out every day and every generation.

Note how G*D is upping the ante. You thought you were here for a plan and now the plan shifts to no plan or a different plan. Everything is back on the table and G*D says we’ve thought too small. The plan is no longer personal or tribal, but global. It is no longer what is in it for you and yours, but universal salvation and health of which yours is but a part.

Oh my!

To move in this direction is literally to end our youth and childhood. We are to expand our image of steadfast love to enemies, strangers, and the just weird. It will take the death of the Sunday School part of us to set free an adult relationship and partnership with G*D. Stand by. The game is afoot.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/04/isaiah-491-7-tuesday.html