Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Proper 22 (27) - Year B
Once we were not a people, now we are. Once there was Job, now there is Israel, now there is Church.
All have had their moments of blessing. All have had their trials. Always, though sore afflicted, they have had life.
A key question for us is whether or not our life is reflected in the "persistence of integrity." Are we able to affirm and question the contexts within which we find ourselves so that we leave open the theodicy question in similar manner to the etiology of Job's testing: verse 3, it is G*D who has been incited to test Job and verse 6, it is the power of ha'satan that touches Job.
Regardless of where our circumstances arise, will we persist in our integrity? Regardless of how we have been injured by the limitations of creedal renewal organizations or literalists, will we persist in our integrity, our gifts?
Welcome, descendants of Job. You come from hearty stock - able to question circumstances. Remember your heritage and be able to see Job as a whole community, not simply as an individual.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/october2003.html
Job 1:1; 2:1-10 or Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 26 or Psalm 8
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
To walk in my integrity implies an understanding of what has been joined to G*D and therefore is joined to me. It is easy to see good joined to G*D, not so easy to see evil having a connection. This is probably a function of our ability to see rather than G*D's experience of good and evil.
It is easy to see inherent relationships between lovers who find themselves in one another, not so easy to see divorce as a sacred event (only a state event). Yet, for integrity's sake, we find we cannot live only one side of an equation. What is being joined and separated in our living today? What is defined and named and to what are we still so blind we cannot see to name? This state of already and not-yet is the interface where we find the energy and experience of life.
May your helpmeet (experienced, whether legalized or not) assist you, with integrity, to both curse G*D and die, and come to yourself.
- - -
I wash my hands in innocence
again and again
I am washed away by life circumstance
again and again
my very same hand hugs my brother
again and again
that slaps my sister
again and again
so I define and define
again and again
and am in turn defined
again and again
until I cannot tell
again and again
truth from falsehood
again and again
and am joined to the cosmos
again and again
and divorced from myself
again and again
redeemed
again and again
gracious
again and again
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
What land are you from? Job was from the land of Uz, which was a traditional source of wisdom. Wouldn't you like to be known as someone from the land of Wisdom?
A part of wisdom is to know where to focus; what is chaff and what good grain, what will lead to infinite arguments and what will nourish now and again.
The whole business of the Satan, the agent provocateur, the prosecuting attorney, the litmus tester, etc. gets us into all manner of theodicy issues we won't find our way out of without some Gordian Knot getting sliced and diced.
Of more pertinence is the reprise of the Adam and Eve (fruit) story with Job and Sitis (bread). Are you going to persist in your understanding of G*D or not? In some sense Job bests Adam. As in Adam all sinned, so in Job are all made to question.
What is your bottom-line? What questions are you asking G*D these days?
[Aside: The description "foolish woman" goes back to a sense of "outrageousness" - in this case a word study leads to the incongruity of a married woman acting as though she were engaged in premarital sex. To have our actions repeat a previous stage of life rather than moving into a next stage is foolishness that does not sustain. This is the foolishness of Sitis contrasted with the wisdom of Job. Now take this out of the patriarchal model and apply it to your life. Are your questions reflective of where you were in a previous stage of life or are they stretching into new territory that will feed your soul?]
- - -
Anonymous (Reader) said...
While appreciating the value of changing questions as life and experience proceed, it occurs to me that recycling the same question in new circumstances and stages of life is also likely to challenge previous "wisdom" and nourish the soul. Sometimes doing so turns out to be viewed as a step into a new question.
I can't tell that the above adds anything to the conversation but it does give evidence that the postings stimulate and provoke thought.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html
This passage concludes with “Job did not sin with his lips”. How many ways have you avoided sinning? and how many ways have you sinned? Let us count the ways.
There is an old saying that “sticks and stones may break bones, but names will never hurt”. Here it is loathsome sores may afflict, but lips will never sin.
To go beyond the physical, what about questions? Can we say that “questions may discourage, but responses can remain gentle”?
More to the point, what is a difficulty that you are facing this day? Have you considered a different response than your usual knee-jerk one? This passage can come alive if we take a look at a disconnect available between stimuli and response. This is deliberately phrased in the plural for what it is we face, as almost anyone can deal with one cause and one effect. It is when the stimuli of life gang up on us and reinforce one another. Can’t you just hear the Tester or Confuser orchestrate this:
Stimulus 1, enter stage right.And our perfect storm of excuses for having returned a tit for a tat swirls on and on. It is good to pull out for generations.
Stimulus 2, enter stage left.
Stimulus 3, enter by wire from above.
Stimulus 4, enter on elevator from below.
Stimulus 5, enter from upstage.
Stimulus 6, enter through the 4th wall.
Stimulus 7, enter from within a sense of privilege.
Actor, Ad-lib.
When a next question comes, what will be your level of defensiveness? And another, how might you detach the stimuli from your response?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/10/job-11-21-10.html