Isaiah 50:4-9a
"Passion" Sunday - Years A, B, C
"Holy Week" Wednesday - Years A, B, C
Proper 19 (24) - Year B
I have the ear of a learner and the tongue of a teacher!
This combination increases the little gray cells and their white matter connections. All in all, a most blessed combination.
It is unclear why it is then felt to be necessary to go on and drag G*D in as a big brother who will watch out for us. Can a relationship with G*D be a partnership or is it always paternalistic?
The implication is that if we learn to the test, all will turn out grand. Unfortunately tests are always behind on the facts. This leads to being stuck in the past. I only know what the test was able to affirm. There is no room for a new approach. With only fingers to deal with we are unlikely to arrive at the mysteries of zero and limits.
Rejoice in verse 4 as it is antidote for inappropriate guilt.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/03/psalm-504-9a.html
When we listen we can begin to hear how important sheer volume of speaking is to us. The speculations and attempts we make to make meaning, instead of only saying what we know and labeling our theories as such, become overwhelming. It is as if one's speculation is the latest Babel as we continue to strive to be in charge.
Listening beyond our prejudices is a valuable gift. This sort of listening means we are open to learning again and again that we are not G*D - we hear the Word, we are not the Word. [shh, mysteriously, when we so listen, others can hear a Word that is within us but not otherwise able to be heard through the din of self-serving words.]
So, since we are helped through listening and learning, helped by G*D, it must be that those who declare guilt have not been listening beyond their prejudice. There you have it, listening - the process by which is revealed G*D's help and our condemnation.
Listen and help bring heaven on earth.
Don't listen and join the cry of crucifixion.
We can't make our condemners listen, but that doesn't excuse us from proceeding to live the best response we can to having been heard by a listening G*D. As we have been heard, so we are to hear.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/april2003.html
Listen. From the inside you hear the yearning for security, for ever plus. From the outside you hear constraint from others and all the other limits of life.
Listen. Beyond the inside to know salvation and deliverance are forever -- including now already. Beyond the outside is the generational reality of death and dying -- including now already.
Already saved. Already dead. Listen.
Listen. We hear G*O*D's affirmation and yet cannot listen to it. Evidence of this disconnect is the cry for G*O*D to "Awake!"
We simply seem incapable of listening deeply. Soon we will hear the hubbub of Jesus entering Jerusalem and the yearning for a ruler to take our responsibilities unto themself. Will we listen to the symbol of donkey? Will we listen deeply enough to find our own life, now already?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/april2004.html
There are those behind who push and those before who pull, neither in a good way. Hurt is intended and received. It does no good to spin around to confront the strikers as they become the pullers and those who were pulling now push. We simply become more and more unstable as we try to address each and every hurt along the way. Finally we topple over, exhausted.
An alternative is simply not hiding, riding in to the presence of death's door.
Perhaps this is not a setting of one's face, like flint, hard and immovable, but a setting of one's eyes on the created goodness within every adversary. We are still upright and moving toward another with steadfast intention to love them. We are not simply reacting to the situations around us, but, not understanding the fuss when all about us are running in all directions, we listen for the teaching of the moment and ready to bring a parabolic word to set imaginations free.
What city will you be riding into today? Who will you meet and how will you meet them?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/april2006.html
The previous several days have had a look at tongues and teachers and mornings.
Isaiah brings us an image of what we too easily call the suffering servant to deal with the difficulties of exile and betrayal and weariness. Some form of stoicism will see us through difficult times, but I suspect we and all are looking for more than simply standing and take it on the chin.
While still taking it, the assurance of the presence of G*D, even in ungodly circumstances, would have us standing with G*D and that makes all the difference.
So what promises of G*D are you standing on? How else do we set our face like flint (growing ever more like The Great Stone Face) and not get confused about the measurement of disgrace which so easily falls into failing to meet the cultural stereotype of success)?
G*D help you! G*D help me! G*D help us all! G*D help us help you and and me and each other and all!
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/september2003.html
For Palm Sunday only two lections are listed. I am filling in the remaining texts from the Passion Sunday listing. I wonder why this is so, but not enough to get to the bottom of it.
Teachers know how to sustain weary students with a word of encouragement. Lest we take that too literally, words of encouragement are also symbols in action.
There is nothing that will disgrace a student whose ear has been stimulated by an encouraging word. They are as flint in their pursuit of wisdom, even to the point of entering a lion's den, as long as they can be in the presence of their teacher's word.
So ride on O students, come and look at what we thought we knew. Look around and see if there be any wisdom left. If not, ride on, again. Ride on with friends and fellow students and fellow teachers. Ride on, sustained and sustaining. Ride on to new community and new wisdom. Ride on without mourning, just ride on.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Passion:
What word sustains a weary Jesus?
The Lord God is already helping me, even though it is hard to see right now?
This is the confrontation that clarifies our relationship?
It is for times like this that my practice of trust comes to the fore?
Or should those question marks become exclamation points? (Better to spell that out, otherwise it looks like: should those ?s become !s? - and that is a bit confusing.) Some folks find possibilities more energizing. Some find certainties to better sustain them.
What word sustains a weary you?
A word that sustains me is, "My times are not mine alone."
- - -
a weariness unto
a vanity of weariness
wears our vanity
into weariness
circular repetition
or steady state
trap weariness
into our bones
passion beaten
into weariness
beats us down
to misery
passion in the midst
of weariness
shines light
beyond time
which was
and is
and may yet be
freedom
one kingdom
stringing up another
calls for a new realm
freedom
freedom - morning awake
freedom - learns to listen
freedom - open eared
freedom - beyond time
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Passion Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1 - 15:47
Palm Sunday
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16
Palms: Here at least permission is directly given for the lending or leasing of a colt (perhaps because it only entailed one animal? [grin]). Or, a young donkey is "found".
It is instructive that the Gospels (at least part of them) are written from the perspective of the resurrection. Later folks remembered more than they knew at the time. This remembrance was just in time to be recorded as eternal truth for all time. In this circle we are freed, if we desire to live in freedom, to anticipate future insight as well as newly appreciating past experiences. It is helpful to both name the original understanding and the later revision. This grounds both in a larger reality of growth and allows a better appreciation of the witness.
A process of "midrash" is still of the utmost importance to breaking through the religious restrictions that have accumulated down through the years about expected meaning of particular passages. These midrash moments are appropriately responded to with, "Hosanna!"
Passion: Any of the numberless deadly sins could be used as a lens for this section. An easy one to use is that of greed. The set up is John's version of an anointing story and the harassing of the woman on the basis of perceived loss of revenue (greed excused as a good thing because it is "concerned" about the poor - not that they would have received any real help after an appropriate amount of administrative costs and overhead were taken out).
From there we can ask about greed of position, greed of power, and greed of control (all experiences can be commoditized).
We can also ask about generosity as we follow the story of a number of Marys. They offer their time and energy to a faithful presence. It is not as though they have any position, power, or control - they simply are witnessing. I am reminded of the women of the disappeared who publicly dance in solitude with the missing loved ones. To speak would be to be disappeared, but their act of witness is critical.
- - -
looking back brings new insight
mining experience is valuable
we polish events
bringing their deeper significance
to the surface
standing quietly by
witnessing events is valuable
we avoid secrets
pushing common realities
into the background
hands over eyes, mouth, ears
quickly diminish values
we increase ignorance
keeping insight restricted
to authorized versions
looking standing vulnerable
caring presence is valuable
we join life
partnering common good
with uncommon good
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Passion Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:14 - 27:66
Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11
Psalm 118:1-2,19-29
Ahh, the joy of choosing to walk a slow walk, even though many will not know how to slow down that long, and focus on Palm Sunday, or to take all of pre-Easter week in one big gulp and focus on the Passion.
Thanks to the wisdom of Robert Frost you are encouraged to take whichever path is least traveled by you and/or your community of faith.
Palms: There is still hospitality in the big city. Someone needs your donkey and colt, you lend it. That's the happy spin.
Less happy is the implication of an entitlement to have one's needs met. There is no reporting here of a question being asked when the disciples followed Jesus' command and took the animals. This is the moral equivalent of stealing. Just being Jesus doesn't get anyone off the hook of the commandment.
From there we are on to Hosanna and a recognized, but too easily passed over, understanding that Jesus is a Prophet. It would be clarifying to counterpose Palms and Prophets.
Passion: Where we usually look at the Passion of Christ and focus on his suffering, we might also look at the Passion against Christ and focus on what it is that drives people to participate with the principalities and powers.
In this vein we would investigate the commonalities between Judas, Chief Priests, (Peter, John, James and the other disciples who choose betrayal after a first betrayal), a crowd ready for violence with swords and clubs, false witnesses, Governor Pilate, a crowd still ready for violence with voice, military cohort, and guards. What passion sustained them, one to the next, until passion led to passion, in not a good way?
- - -
Thief Jesus dies alongside thieves
like calls to like
Messiah Jesus dies alongside thieves
like calls to like
do you like the call you're calling?
who are you living with?
do you like the call you're receiving?
who are you living with?
like still calls to like
like still lives with like
better like what you like
better like what you like
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
Wild flight of fancy – Read this passage from Isaiah as though spoken by a donkey. The only tricky part is reading verse 4 from The Message about "a well-taught tongue" rather than the NRSV, "the tongue of a teacher".
"Let us stand together" is an important line here. In this solidarity we can take part in the "singing union" tradition. We can face any disappointment together. The disappointment of promises broken or good faith betrayed is all too frequent, but standing together is a comfort and a strength.
"Let's take our stand together." What else is there, inasmuch as "the only holiness is social holiness."
Donkey and Jesus and Disciples and Fawners and Onlookers and Wiretappers and Agents Provocateur all standing together. No wonder the word is Hosanna, which in its original sense is a plea to be saved. In taking our stand together (such a motley crew) we are certainly given plenty of opportunity to recognize that salvation is not something we whump up on our own. So keep standing together with all sorts of folks, even asses.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 70
Hebrews 12:1-3
John 13:21-32
We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses to the cloud of behaviors within. Today the warring of sore throat, bloated belly, and constricted head are all things I would leave behind. Along with them I would leave all the helpful family system techniques that are so helpful in conflictual settings (internal and external). I would also sit out any race someone is trying to sign me up for. I'll take any kindness offered, even from a hand that tells me I am dead to them. I don't care if I am supposed to be nice and conciliatory, whatever is hurting me - get rid of it, now!
Hurry help along the way. May it race to me even if I can't race toward it. Here in the middle of preEaster week the wrestling happens between Demonstration Sunday three days ago and Betrayal Thursday just around tomorrow's corner.
It all comes together into a perfect storm, inside and out. All that is left is perseverance and not even that looks doable. Soul's Dark Night arrives again. It has passed in the past but that is little comfort in the present.
"Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together."
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
Isaiah 50:4-9a or Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19 or Psalm 116:1-9
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
Physiologically, tongues are strong and flexible, made up of sixteen muscle groups. Metaphorically, tongues are also easily bitten and easily biting.
Tongues are equally at home carrying a blessing or a curse. They can cut to the quick or lovingly caress one another. They are a source of encouragement and a keener of despair.
Presume again an original blessing of "It's good." We heard it from our teacher leading us out of chaos, into life. In such an image we honor our teacher by offering a sustaining word tot he weary - those caught in moments and millennia of chaos.
The tongue of a creator becomes a tongue of the nursling. [I have long enjoyed an out-of-print book, The Tongue of the Nursling by P.E. MacAllister - here is a brief bio and an online article by him you might enjoy that could take you far afield of today's reflection (and yet have enough tangents to be instructive).
- - -
we see a forked tongue
and suppose we are
hearing a forked tongue
our senses aren't sensible
we mistake one another for hats
magnify molehills and ignore mountains
we execute desperate thieves
and reward those who contract to steal
missing what's behind the surface
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
The temptation to give up on belovedness comes in many guises. There were as many as 212 temptations in the American House of Representatives as that many votes were recorded against providing health care access to more people. This insensitivity to Matthew 25 is saddening even as it is understandable.
There are some processes that help clarify such temptations and give courage to run counter to them. First and foremost is to be a participant in a teaching function. Indoctrinators instruct to any test they are asked to meet. Teachers learn to listen, gather new information, and apply all they know to the people and issue at hand. To teach is to learn and to learn reveals idols at work and both bring options to move around temptations.
The second is like unto it - to believe one's belovedness enough to continue choosing it before any inducement to give it up (either for one's self or for another's benefit). With the gift of belovedness comes an openness and assurance that allows learning and change to trump acts developed out of despair (insult-acceptance) and control (beard-pulling).
With learning and assurance we persist with what is holy (life-giving) not what is holey (moth-eaten).
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/03/isaiah-504-9.html
Having the tongue of a teacher does not clearly define behavior. If we use the gospel lessons, Jesus' tongue sends out instructions - go get a donkey - and Jesus’ tongue says nothing at all and cries out, "Forsaken!" and simply cries out - even dying becomes a holy word from a teacher's tongue.
The tongue of a teacher is shaped by what they are listening to. If they are not continually being filled, there is a fading - a yellowed lesson plan is a "yellow" way to teach.
So, what are you listening to these days?
If nothing comes to mind, you may want to reclaim listening with Radiolab or To the Best of Our Knowledge
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/04/isaiah-504-9.html
The gift of deep, attentive, appreciative listening is critical to clarify the issues in one’s life and the life of a larger community. Listening is the backbone of being a teacher and leads to new learning, important learning, prophetic learning.
It is important to note what one is listening to as well as how one is listening. What combination of listening to the wisdom of ages gone before, dreaming of days to come, and their transition through the present will best serve?
There will be times when appeal needs to be made to an historical perspective. At other times we will over-ride well-settled precedent that no longer carries energy for new relationships and opt for a wide-eyed dream of a better or more expansive community. And there will be times when all we can do is hold to listening as best we can as we wait for a better question to hear a new word of the past or future to come clear.
This will, though, require us to stand in the midst of opposing teachings without claiming special privilege of having some god on our side. With a waking ear we can wait with others to learn without falling prey to bad-mouthing them or arbitrarily setting them aside as being of no account.
With this kind of listening we will likely hear what needs to be relinquished and what needs to be picked up. Blessings on intentionally practicing your listening skills.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/03/isaiah-504-9.html
On Hump Day we need a word about sustentation in the midst of weariness. Carrying on the excitement of a Palm Parade is as difficult as remembering any parade. Subsequent days bring their agendas and the parade fades. Likewise, keeping the passion of dread fresh and alive is wearing.
The same process sustains a teacher and learner of an encouraging word—attending, day by day, to the echo and witness of the cosmos. Its explosive expansion simply carries on, eon by eon. We hear of this steadfastness and we share what we hear. It sustains a first hearing and each subsequent hearing. All can be born and borne.
For today is it enough. Hump Day becomes Dayenu Day and we can breathe again with thanks for where we have been and affirmation of what yet lies ahead.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/04/isaiah-504-9a-wednesday.html