Matthew 25:31-46

Proper 29 (34) - Year A
"Reign of Christ" - Year A
New Year's Day - Years A, B, C

 


So what is it that separates the unblemished sheep and goats from the blemished goats and sheep? It is the quality of healthiness of living, not the categorization of sheep and goats or my kind and your kind that is of importance here.

Two nights ago my beloved and I went to see the second Harry Potter movie. Near the end we heard the line, "it is not our abilities that set us apart from one another but our choices" (paraphrased).

So what choices are you aware of making? and, perhaps, of more consequence, what temperments are we growing that will be in place to guide us when we are not aware of making a choice and yet are? According to John Wesley's sermon On Zeal, these seven temperments, at a minimum, flow from G*D's love into our lives and, also, draw our lived choices toward G*D's love : lowliness of mind, meekness, gentleness, longsuffering, contentedness, resignation unto the will of G*D, and deadness to the world and the things of the world.

We are faced with both our conscious and unconscious choices having long-term consequences. How do we learn from the ancients who put before us the image of needing to consider some seven generations to come when we make choices in our day? How do we put this into effect in today's world where, with information overload, it is all to easy to claim conflicting scenarios and become paralyzed in our choice-making.

Developing the temperments to see the "overlooked" and "ignored" helps us cut through any overload that freezes us into unconscious harm instead of unconscious help. We can help develop a Christian intuition. This is another way of talking about the work of the Holy Spirit.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/november2002.html

 


 

So how do we resolve the choices before us? Given the hungry and thirsty and homeless and shivering and sick and imprisoned, how do we live beyond our desires and their desires?

I failed this last year. I've failed every year. I expect to fail again this next year - within the first day, even.

I've had moments of glory this past year. I've had moments of glory every year. I expect to have moments of glory again this year - within the first day, even.

Friends, have mercy! Foes, have mercy! G*D, have mercy!

There is a time for mercy and it is always that time.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/january2003.html

 


 

Hear this note from The New Interpreter's Study Bible: "This judgment scene (and others like it in chap. 13) has several troubling (and not easily resolved) features. It bullies disciples into faithfulness. it celebrates the imposition of God's empire while the gospel criticizes imperial strategies. It upholds God's justice, but the vision of harsh condemnation is at odds with the presentation of God's inclusive mercy (5:43-48) and with the acknowledgment of God's covenant faithfulness to save Israel (23:37-39)."

The issue of bullying continues in the church of our present day. We see it revealed in the machinations that lead pastors/congregations rejecting from "membership" those who, to the glory of G*D, are homosexual in orientation and practice. In days of yore (and still to this day) we have wrestled with this in terms of Gentiles and Slaves and Women and Children and Poor and any other category of otherness you can think of such as divorce, smoking, or use of alcohol.

How might a "sheep" feel as they traipse off to green pastures and recognize "goats" grazing on burnt grass?

If they are a sheep from the Empire they would feel justified and pleased to be a "sheep". If they are a sheep of Jesus' fold they would weep and go to be with and find the "goats", even as they had been found; they would refuse their benefit and go to share life in solidarity with the goats, to be a Lamb in their midst.

So are these Empire sheep we are viewing or Jesus' sheep? Where is your identification?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html

 


 

When is shaped by now.

When humanity comes to be human (otherwise read as: When the Son of Man comes in his glory) there will be a recognition of consequence.

There is a consequence for seeing ideals such as:
     That which builds community will eventually flourish further.
     That which avoids community will finally falter and fade.

There is a different consequence for seeing
     That which refuses connection with its evil or blessing side is not yet in touch with itself.

Hope: Humanity will recognize these two within itself and willingly choose both saint and sinner, both sower and reaper, both past disaster and future hope. In choosing both they both will find their time to be sheep, their time to be goats. Ol' "Solomon" done got it right. There is a time to plow under the previous year's residue to plant the seeds for tomorrow. There is a time to let the land lie fallow, open to the weeds.

Until then we cycle back and forth, penduluming nowhere. Until we deal with this duality and stop accepting only sheep, we sow a breeze and reap a whirlwind.

Just how far can we go in arguing with scripture?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html

 


 

With the eyes of your heart enlightened, hope lives in you.

Hope that you will be unscattered and hope that you can help return folks who have been pushed out. Such hope rises to the surface, becoming conscious. From there it is but a matter of applying courage to implement it.

And so, at the end of a long year, we are left with hope. After all the disappointments, we are left with hope. Even in the presence of current and in the anticipation of judgments now and yet, we are left with hope.

- - -

hope revealed
shyly and boldly
pokes its head out
to reveal its heart
in deeds of loving kindness

a bit of feast here
a tun of fun there
a goodwill stop also
a visit when all seemed lost
so hope travels

as we have been done unto
we are thankful
thankful enough
to hope to do well
to do well unto

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html


 

A difference between blessed and cursed stereotypes is a slippery one. No, it's not a difference in lanolin.

Blessings flow toward us and our response choice is to be thankful and pass the blessing on or to be thankful and hold on to it as long as possible. This is the slipperiness of holiness - to receive a blessing with thanksgiving and send it further along.

Whatever religious techniques we come up with to extend a blessing's presence, turns out to be counter-productive. At issue is not how much can be given away, but how easy it becomes to share that which is available.

Although the focus here is upon judgment, the larger dynamic is about passing a slippery blessing on - regardless of any judgment from any source. This shifts the conversation from a quantitizing consciousness to a qualitizing unconciousness. We use the externals to practice on but the game comes down to the internals that allow the externals to expand without increasing volitional energy.

- - -

Magdalene (Reader) said...
This is the slipperiness of holiness - to receive a blessing with thanksgiving and send it further along.

This is really beautiful. Thanks for your poetic and powerful reflections.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

 


 

Well, it has been quite a year.

Advent ------ Pope Benedict XVI discusses sexual abuse of children by priests while dining with cardinals and bishops.

Christmas -- The 112th United States Congress is convened. Republican Representative John Boehner of Ohio is elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, succeeding Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.

Epiphany --- U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower who is thought to have revealed secret U.S. government documents to the international public, is reported to be held in solitary confinement awaiting trial by the United States for seven months now, treatment which the United Nations deems a form of torture when used for such prolonged periods.

Lent --------– An 9.0 magnitude earthquake hits offshore of Japan's Miyagi prefecture, producing tsunamis as high as 10 metres near the epicenter, reaching land throughout the Pacific ocean, and disabling nuclear reactors.

Easter ------– NATO jets fly over Tripoli on their mission to destroy Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

Ordinary ---– Occupy Wall Street begins and continues.

- - - - - - -

Who amongst us will separate sheep from goats?

OK, each of us does it as we make our daily decisions.

Rats, that brings it back to what we are now doing as opposed to what we might do later.

Let’s not get caught up with some glorified mythology of cosmic judgment. It’s all we can do to set one more blessing loose in the world, to consciously choose (until it becomes second nature) to change one system that separates people out and then ignore them.

For instance what grabs your heart and won’t let go:
the hungry (“the food insecure” is too passive)?
those without potable water?
refugees looking for a home?
those without clothes for warmth or work?
inequitable health care systems focused on profit and illness?
punitive legal system untouched by restorative justice?
education systems locked into tests rather than learning how to learn?
religions not trusting G*D and making up rules for lesser gods?
mental illnesses that remove people from community?
your addition?

Choose one arena in which to both apply bandaids and reform systems. Note how far we have fallen short in that one area as we come to the end of another year. Commit to one thing that will be different by this time next year because you will have shifted your weight from protecting your own “inheritance” to investing in a better outcome for all those who are no longer visible.

Remember this vision is not the end of Matthew. We go on to hear of Passover two days hence and a plot, betrayal, and death; and a surprise - both capable of engaging our life. Don’t settle for closing the year with a dualistic courtroom scene when you could be planning a feast, accepting consequences of building common good, and heading on to some edenic “galilee” where we see face-to-face.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/matthew-2531-46.html

 


 

lest the least

when a glorious judge
finally arrives
then the nations
will be gathered
to be separated
again and forever

hmm hmmm hmmmm
how do we take advantage
of the interim
between now and then
how little can we give
how much can we keep

there is an apparent line
invisible in the moment
rued after the fact
which cannot be crossed
without a consequence
present from the beginning

a line that begins
separating out enemies
moving to divide neighbors
inexorably against
one’s own
zero sum in orientation
that is less than even one

a light that may have beamed
across sea tossed many
begins to flicker
dimming dimmer
to one log alone
and out

it is no new story
a center does not hold
when there is no periphery
yet good news reveals
care for a field’s edge
strengthens the whole crop

make a joyful noise
before a forced gathering
sing yourselves healthy
send a gleam along a wave
lest alone we struggle and sink
as the least rise and shine

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/lest-least.html

 


 

Here is another Day of Resolution. How nitty-gritty are you willing to get.

I resolve to work on both the personal and structural realities of hunger.
I resolve to work on both the firsthand and business realities of clean water.
I resolve to work on both the interpersonal and institutional realities of welcome.
I resolve to work on both the charitable and corporate realities of shelter.
I resolve to work on both the singular and societal realities of prison.

That will be sufficient for one year; for one lifetime. Working on any one of these will get you trouble with family, friends, and community. I pray you are up to facing the consequences of not attending to these resolutions, for they will come around and not just in some final judgment sort of way.

Based on the resolutions and enactments of this day, there will be positive or negative consequences for the next seven generations. Will we care for them as much as we do for our own immediate comfort? Aye, there's a rub.

- - - - - - -

If you need another prod to significantly resolve, read this conclusion to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech on the Four Freedoms with the refrain, "Everywhere". [Epiphany (January 6) 1941]

Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world. For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy.

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

  • Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
  • Jobs for those who can work.
  • Security for those who need it.
  • The ending of special privilege for the few.
  • The preservation of civil liberties for all.
  • The enjoyment -- The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/12/matthew-2531-46.html

 


 

This past year we started out analyzing the needs around us—"What is broken that needs fixing." We went on to acknowledge it was going to take a real presence and not wishful thinking or injunctions from on high to begin addressing the realities of how far short of where might be regarding relationships with creation and one another. Folks from afar could see better than ourselves the need for a new leadership paradigm (partnership of high stars and low mangers). Even with such recognition we wrestled with the intractability of being our own worst enemy. Eventually a moment of breakthrough came—and another. It appeared that we we crossing boundaries and finding the intersectionality of our common life when our practice to develop this into a habit stumbled over the humility needed to continue such. We got into all manner of arguments about symbols of food and male marking and divisions over which leader to follow.

After such a year we are at an important point of evaluating how it went. Any progress made?

What will make this day have a sense of movement? Claiming kingship feels a bit hollow in light of any newspaper or news program. Claiming some artificial Doctrine of Discovery and subsequent Reign is foolish on its face.

Is there any evidence that this coming Advent will bring any greater clarity of need or vision of a goal worth putting our life toward?

Even with Christmas plans are in place, what would lead us to think we are up to recognizing a new stable location; that mercy is any the closer to surfacing in our day-to-day lives; that we are any better prepared for learning from one another, much less teaching?

Again, any progress made? If you can say, "Yes", back it up with more than statistics about charitable work.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/11/matthew-2531-46.html