Jeremiah 17:5-10
Epiphany 6 - Year C
Above all know this, your heart is devious. We are as much a puzzle to ourselves as we are to others and to G*D.
As such we live and breathe skepticism and cynicism. We test and are tested.
The blessing in all this finds open places in which to place a new root and be ever more firmly anchored. The curse in this all this finds nothing but shifting sands that elude and cover-over.
And so, in our extremity, we are blind to the coming of relief and, in our satiation, deaf to the cries the presence of need.
We yearn for insight that releases and awareness that commits.
In all this we pray G*D will respond out of mercy, not wrath, as we puzzle our way through life. We pray G*D will deal with us from G*D's best, not our worst. We pray the same for ourselves and our neighbors. We pray . . . .
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/february2004.html
In memory of Molly Ivins: "They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes." So are folk who trust in their own strength and don't know how to extricate themselves from the very messes they have caused. Shrub folk are always causing an unintended consequence.
In light of the limitations of a shrub masquerading as a stately oak and a desert having lush dreams the prophet suggests another picture for us - trees by a stream.
With these two alternatives we come to the heart of the matter - deviousness not only happens, but abounds. A test is always running (and not just the annoying emergency broadcast test) to see which of these pictures we will choose - shrub or tree, desert or stream. Like it or not, each eventually bears consequences, bad or good.
- - -
"We are the people who run this country.
We are the deciders.
And every single day,
every single one of us
needs to step outside and
take some action to help stop this war.
Raise hell.
Think of something to
make the ridiculous look ridiculous.
Make our troops know we're for them and
trying to get them out of there."
[from Molly Ivins' last column]
a shrub sees itself
as substantial as a tree
when it finally meets a tree
it can see itself as it is
at this point there is hope
and so the call
comes to each to stand tall
that shrubs might see themselves
it is this gift of irony and satire
rightly applied to power
that lightens our souls enough
to put down strong roots
with a connection to
thousand year old aquifers
we are nourished
are not discouraged
when choice is willing to receive decision
we gather wisdom
from every direction of time
and we fear not to stand tall
- - -
Sharon (Reader) said...
Thanks so much for this. It spoke to a deep place in me.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html