Numbers 11:24-30
Pentecost - Year A
A power-sharing process leads to prophesying and inclusiveness enough to welcome Eldad and Medad and folks of all languages.
It is of great importance to note that a power that was set loose in a desert and a locked room both came through a power-sharing mechanism. To focus on a process of power-sharing is prelude to making Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors more than a slogan, but an exciting reality.
If there were one thing I would covet for congregations it is a greater sense of needing everyone to be involved in decision-making. To have a vision of building a better decision for the present and future is a source of creative energy that is helpfully bounded by innovative pictures and responsible reservations. These parentheses bring fruitful growth that is both deep and wide.
It is of great importance to note that a power that was set loose in a desert and a locked room both came through a power-sharing mechanism. To focus on a process of power-sharing is prelude to making Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors more than a slogan, but an exciting reality.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
A power-sharing process leads to prophesying and inclusiveness enough to welcome Eldad and Medad and folks of all languages.
It is of great importance to note that the power that was set loose in the desert and a locked room both came through a power-sharing mechanism. To focus on the process of power-sharing is prelude to making Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors more than a slogan, but an exciting reality.
If there were one thing I would covet for congregations it is a greater sense of needing everyone to be involved in decision-making. To have a vision of building a better decision for the present and future is a source of creative energy that is helpfully bounded -- innovative pictures and responsible reservation combine to bring fruitful growth both deep and wide.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/may2005.html
How manifold are G*D's works! So many languages, so many gifts, so many prophesies, so many locked doors walked through, so many "Peace"s, so many breaths, so many rivers of living water.
This is a time to remember how these have been loosed in the past, to talk about how they are currently ebbing and flowing all around us, and to anticipate more blessings than can be counted.
While we can get caught up in the mechanisms of all this we are basically dealing with a song of hope and faith and love all mixed up in its themes and meters and keys.
A part of our task is to stand and proclaim, "What you are experiencing is real - don't deny it by blaming it on excess of one kind or another." More is going on than this world knows.
- - - - - - -
languages speak what they know
today is a day to focus on what we are saying
how we are saying what we are saying
going beyond whom we usually say what we say
there is a drive to communicate
we will even learn another language if need be
we will talk with our hands and our eyes
until our tongue connects with an ear
in camp or out of room
we will join gift to gift
forgiving past separations
calling Peace where there is none
until there is
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
Prophecy and power travel together. Prophecy can be passed on as Spirit is distributed among the gathered. It can also have tricks played through technical means, as Eldad and Medad had happen to them. They were registered but not at the gathering and prophesied beyond the once-and-done prophesying by the other 68 (numbering in Numbers can get to be tricky).
In another 5 chapters we will have what is referred to as the rebellion of Korah, which might be thought of as a counter-prophesying against Moses. Eldad and Medad are in some sense forerunners of Korah, even though here they are permitted (what are just 2 to get worried about) but when it gets to be 250 an earthquake is called to swallow them.
We are all in the happy time of everyone being able to prophesy. In theory Pentecostal prophesying has a unifying feature to keep everyone on the same page. This doesn’t seem to be true anymore as folks claim the prophet role from every perspective. Now we are back to the interesting time of discerning true prophets from false—those who see connections between today and tomorrow most clearly and those who would cover tomorrow up with today to keep current power inequalities alive and well.
Pentecost doesn’t just take place in a vacuum of Jesus, but in a context of Judaism. How do you play with these?