Exodus 16:2-15
Proper 20 (25) - Year A
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Proper 13 (18) - Year B
Where two or three are agreed, ask! See what happens when a whole company asks!
Apparently the half-life of blessings is just a tad longer than that of plagues.
All too soon we forget. It will only take folks 6 days to forget what to do on a 7th. After a plague is passed we seem to immediately return to our previous normal and reverse any learning that had gone on.
Yet, big lie memes seem to catch so quickly and last forever. What is a thoughtful person to do?
“Mercy” can easily be translated as “manna”. (Aren’t we still wondering what mercy is?) Are two or three of us crying out for mercy or have we left it in G*D’s hands, forgetting our responsibilities as images of or partners with G*D?
We cry out for mercy. When asked about a consequence of receiving same it is so easy to start bargaining, talking about works that one will do in response. You give me mercy and I’ll do whatever you say. Give me mercy and I’ll hedge myself round with the law so I will never have to ask for mercy again.
A more difficult route is to receive mercy and humbly ask for more. This presumes that there is not a static juridical balance point for blind justice. Receiving mercy is to live boldly again, not to hide away in respectability. Receiving mercy is to pass mercy on, not handy one-liner proverbs or aphorisms. Receiving mercy is to see one’s secret heart, to know creation is good, and to experience the spirit of the law. Yes, to be law-observant or dutiful is a minor virtue. To live mercy is the better part of virtue.
On this last point check out the whole Charles Wesley hymn, “What Shall I Render to My God” based on Psalm 116.
Apparently the half-life of blessings is just a tad longer than that of plagues.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
What we experience as freedom others experience as great discomfort. Images and experience of a G*D beyond theism; seeing creation as a flowing river rather than a series of start-up points; and placing a culture of welcoming hospitality over the rules of time-specific doctrine -- allow differing responses of freedom and discomfort.
To yank people into a desert of reliance upon experience rather than regularity of structure does cause discomfort for them beyond their previous discomfort. It is no wonder that complaints come. In fact it would be miraculous if there wasn't this response.
One of the questions here is whether the experience of meat and potatoes (quail and ?manna?) came as prediction or interpretation.
The words lead us to prediction, but were the words crafted to assist folks to see in a new way so they could move from discomfort to comfort by taking small steps toward freedom? This can be seen as a story moving on the continuum between comfort--and--freedom.
One of the reasons I am attracted to the "freedom" end of life is that the stated purpose of the quail and ?manna? is to assure people that G*D is G*D and is on their side. Obviously this result doesn't come about in any lasting way. Any evidence that G*D is on our side slips and slides away and is open to misuse. [Later the people will choose the known desert with its ?manna? over going into a land overflowing with milk and honey - people don't know how to easily separate the experience of G*D with them from the particulars and choose to keep the particulars rather than experience GOD with new particulars.]
A part of the appointment (call, if you will) we label as progressive, has to do with what Moses did - define what is already in front of people - their experience - as the presence of G*D.
In the midst of the ?manna? ("what is it?") of life, may you experience G*D and aid others in experiencing G*D in the midst of the ?manna? of their life.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/september2002.html
In the morning, when some were chosen to work and receive payment, those left behind, unemployed, muttered. No, it doesn't say that, so this is projection. "If only"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the morning, when some were not chosen to work and receive payment, those proceeding to the vineyard, employed, rejoiced. Again, projection. "Whew"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the evening, when payment was made to the last hired, the one-hour workers, there was rejoicing. "Wow"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the evening, when payment was made to the first hired, the twelve-hour workers, there was consternation. "Unfair"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
What comes around, actually came around.
This same shifting ground is going on right now with refugees from hurricane Katrina and an "administration". It went on with the folks just starting a trek toward a "promised land" (Exodus) and those who saw their dream of being on the right side of a widening gap between peoples (Jonah). It is going on with you and with me if we pause to reflect rather than just react from one moment to the next.
A part of the prophetic nature is to be curmudgeonly. We, too, see great value in returning to a previous value system (it is just that ours, when we are at our best, goes back further). We, too, talk about consequences of present behavior and preach change to avoid it (it is just that we, at our best, expect change to happen and rejoice when it periodically does).
We can identify with the desert travelers and the reluctant warners. Hopefully, we are also able to move beyond simple identity to care for drowned charioteers and foreign citizens and others in need. This takes some preaching to the choir to keep one another alert to the compromises we make and to lift our eyes beyond our present situation, to lift our eyes all the way to the shift from first to last and back again.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/september2005.html
Sitting on the shore of a great lake, with a state forest behind, it is easy to note that the context of our viewing/participating in life affects much. Here it is easy to note that when the Israelites of old heard G*D was coming they turned toward the wilderness. From whence else might G*D come? Everything else is too close to the usual sources of our complaining - inconveniences that don't match our projected desires.
For the preacher types it might be worth an intentional relocation of your reflection/writing/preparation time to meet G*D in your nearest wilderness. Yes, that might be a city as wide as Ninevah.
Jesus' story of a landlord hiring city folk to work a day or an hour brings together the rural and urban at a point of tension - the harvesting and consuming of food. At this point it is easy to find a dissatisfaction with life and a need to turn toward that strange wilderness of generosity beyond comprehension. Doesn't real generosity challenge all the structures we have put up around ourselves? In doing such we are again faced with a survival question - to protect ourselves from economic wildness do we need to give up radical generosity that comes with G*D from that same wilderness we have turned away from?
- - - - - - -
from the white breakers
methodically rolling on shore
to the indigo line
of the wide horizon
a circle wider than a rainbow
wraps a circle
around my eyesthere is no room
for personal ipod sounds
as giga-billions of rock washings
bring more sand to shore
slowing a stride to a stroll
until a next step
is taken in silencewith sight and sound
rhythmically cared for
doors to a wilderness within
crack open a bit
and with attention elsewhere
being a dance
to give themselves away
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
Ah, sweet fleshpots! There is nothing sweeter than vain imaginings that something other than a worthy life will satisfy. We look for that "more" in sex and getting what we want through betrayal. We look for that "more" in "the good old days" (that really weren't). We look for that "more" in controlling unanimity using fear of the "other" to keep us in line. We look for that "more" in fullness of stomach and pocketbook.
The John passage in particular is antidote to the prosperity theology so popular these days. Always looking for one more buck, one more sign, these "theologians" continually miss life-bread in the simplicity of living oriented toward deeper meaning. As long as the Ponzi Scheme of prosperity theology holds, folks will give untold dollars for a food that perishes. In short, short-cuts bring us up short and cut us to the quick. There is no slot-machine God who will consistently pay out - it is all a ploy to pay out a little, because we remember that, in order to suck us in further and further -- all the way to bankruptcy.
- - - - - - -
our transgression
needing untold mercy
is the violence
to which we will go
to get a full stomachno matter how we cover it over
sin is connected with violence
this is its ultimate ending place
little by little we accommodate
and fear fear enough to instill feara clean heart restores joy
so lacking in short-cuts
that lead to violence
so focus on joy
sustain a willing joyjoy-gifts touch us
deeper than tokens of fear
joy that sees abundance
all around
reveals the lie of violence
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
Where two or three are agreed, ask! See what happens when a whole company asks!
Apparently the half-life of blessings is just a tad longer than that of plagues.
All too soon we forget. It will only take folks 6 days to forget what to do on the 7th. After a plague is released we seem to immediately return to what was our normal and reverse any learning that had gone on.
Yet, big lie memes seems to catch so quickly and last forever. What is a thoughtful person to do?
Following is a comment I made a year and a half ago on "mercy", that can easily be translated as "manna" (and aren't we still wondering what mercy is). Are two or three of us crying out for mercy or have we left it in G*D's hands, forgetting our imaging responsibilities?
"We cry out for mercy. When asked about a consequence of receiving same it is so easy to start bargaining, talking about works that one will do in response. You give me mercy and I'll do whatever you say. Give me mercy and I'll hedge myself round with the law so I will never have to ask for mercy again.
"The more difficult route is to receive mercy and humbly ask for more. This presumes that there is not a static juridical balance point for blind justice. Receiving mercy is to live boldly again, not to hide away in respectability. Receiving mercy is to pass mercy on, not handy one-liner proverbs or aphorisms. Receiving mercy is to see one's secret heart, to know creation is good, and to experience the spirit of the law. Yes, to be law-observant or dutiful is a minor virtue. To live mercy is the better part of virtue.
"On this last point check out the whole Charles Wesley Hymn based on Psalm 116 or hear a shortened version with music at CyberHymnal."
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html
The Israelites saw themselves as “first hired”. Hadn’t they miraculously escaped from the powerful Pharaoh? Why then are they having such a difficult time? Isn’t there a perk for their exalted position?
Turns out there is only one perk - recognizing there is no perk, only common care for the whole body. Paying attention to the sufficiency available is a leg up on the usual survival issues of the moment.
Of course we could always attribute manna to the loudness of the complainant rather than the generosity of respondant. That approach usually peters out fairly quickly and we are left with another learning experience regarding abundance and assurance, two key issues for us to get our minds and hearts around.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/09/exodus-162-15.html