Mark 4:26-34
Proper 6 (11)- Year B
Jesus spoke publicly in parables. Jesus offered viewpoints on the parables in private.
This is an interesting dynamic. In the midst of a church that doesn't seem to get what the progressive, prophetic parts of the spirit and world are saying, we have to ask ourselves whether or not we have been speaking publicly in a parabolic form? (Not that speaking forthrightly would do any better in the presence of hard and hardening hearts.) Have we kept private the keys to a wider perspective?
What would sermons, homilies, witnesses, conversations look like this week if we were deliberate in keeping such as parables? Could you really refrain from trying to make your viewpoint clearer and clearer with greater and greater explanations? Even if we piled parable upon parable, would we be satisfied without trying to clarify some point or other?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/june2006.html
I expect Jesus would have been just as well off not explaining things to the disciples in private. It only leads to their thinking they can get a handle on what it is that Jesus is up to and makes the temptation to power on Palm Sunday even stronger for them. If they have the inside scoop what is to keep them from having the preferred seats in paradise?
Inasmuch as the presence of G*D is quite a mystery to us, we can, at best, compare it to other things we know. In each instance the comparison falls apart somewhere and goes too far in other ways. We are called to have a series of parables at our disposal to be be able to bring out the one that will cause the most stretching in the moment. We sharpen our appreciation of the presence of G*D by whetting one parable against another other.
May we listen beyond hearing and evoke in each other a greater attention to what is going on in the moment.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/june2006.html
How long will we grieve? Poor Samuel didn't have Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to lead him through any stages. It was get up and get on.
Ezekiel's image doesn't progress through any particular process. There is an intervention, a sprig is planted, a vision established, a journey given to participate in.
For the Psalmist G*D is present before any trouble is on the horizon, during such trouble as arises, and after any trouble has left its mark.
Paul reminds us of the importance of viewpoint. From some vantage points a new creation can be glimpsed that guide our interactions more strongly than the pain of the past.
Seeds have been planted that grow through their usual stages. They can also grow unbidden and unattended to surprise us with a harvest. These seeds do their work through time and beyond time to bring a new perspective from hardened ground. If watered only by tears, yet they flower and fruit.
Where are you in one of your griefs? Ready or not, a sprig has been planted on a dark crag of that mysterious mountain in your life.
- - -
molehills are real
our shape different
because of them
they loom when near
shrink with distance
perspective bound
mother-may-I baby steps
seven-league strides
both bring new views
one for me and one for you
both together
stretching togetherness
recovering from a trip
to grief
and beyond
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
"The Presence of G*D is as if . . ."
Everywhere we turn we see another "if". Listening to Folk Music on iTunes radio while typing this note brings a multitude of Presences. Remembering the Youth Worship this morning brings more G*D sightings. Anticipating traveling to a new home tomorrow opens us to many "ifs" about new community.
Even before such present/past/future awarenesses, there is prevenient grace behind it all. A new folk song, Never So Far (lyrics) by Greg Brown exemplifies this – we are never so far that love can't find us. Greg will be coming to the Great River Folk Festival in La Crosse, WI (Aug 28, 2009). Let me know if you want to come and crash to attend the festival. For a sneak preview you can listen to the song performed on The Prairie Home Companion, October 21, 2000 here on RealAudio, it begins 2 minutes into the clip. Imagine G*D singing this song to you.
"With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it." When we enter into "if" space we are better able to hear what we need to hear. Practice whatever technique it is that best gets you to your "if" space.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
Enlightened “dominion” requires information. We do have much data about seeds these days. In fact we know so much that we are constructing new crops and it is next to impossible to get some heirloom seeds.
Our “knowing” doesn’t automatically come with “understanding”. There are periodic difficulties with the new manufactured seeds. While resistant to some traditional pests our monoculturing set us up for that next or unknown-until-now pest that can wipe out a whole uniformized crop.
We run into the same dynamic with institutional growth that we do with plant growth. Adjusting the mystery of diversity to achieve an enhanced emphasis on church growth raises questions about churches and mustard plants. Is the only way to go a manufactured mono-cultured, mono-doctrianal church?
Participatory “dominion” does appreciate the mystery involved in there being anything, much less a reasonable rotation and scheduled fallow time. The fruit of a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil needs a little wine and cheese to mellow such a duality into understanding.
What parable would you use these days regarding the Freedom of G*D (and thus of ourselves)? Might it have to do with more conscious choice? Choices that appreciate mystery as well as information?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/06/mark-426-34.html