Jeremiah 1:4-10
Epiphany 4- Year C
Proper 16 (21) - Year C
We are not stuck where we are. Even though we typically project all possible futures in light of today's limitation, and so settle for a limited tomorrow, this is more connected to our fears than to reality. Again we meet ourselves as our own worst advocate or best enemy who can preemptively disarm our hope.
A new vision and new way of speaking about such is always available.
Here G*D may be appealing to our id more than our super-ego. Reduce your boundary watching and let more energy loose. Dangerous, yes. Necessary for growth, yes. Uncomfortable, yes. Meaningful, yes.
So what boundary excuse have you been using these days? Probably not age, if you are reading this.
One of the best ways around talking ourselves into not proceeding is to gather in a small group able to encourage experiments as well as be in solidarity in the midst of difficult decisions (acknowledging such and working toward addressing them).
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeremiah-14-10.html
Before you were born there was a community awaiting your gift to further connect us and push us beyond our current limits.
This reality keeps being blocked by a sense of an independence that can never allow interdependence to be recognized for fear that it will limit us (scarcity model - there is too little of me to go around) rather than expand us (abundance model - I am more when you are more and vice versa). So we self-censor lest we recognize our need of others.
This is not the least of it, however. We are also so quick to jump on the bandwagon of blame. We will censor unto death those who remind us of the interrelatedness of life and love.
While it doesn’t help to have an irrational sense of overweening power over nations and kingdoms, we can remind one another of the long-term benefit or harm of our current responses to that which happens. Be not afraid to speak of interconnectedness. Don’t claim you are just one. You are one part of a very large body turning toward the morning, no matter how slowly or jerkily, and your vision and voice do make a difference in how well we turn.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/01/jeremiah-14-10.html
Imagine Jeremiah as the new Adam.
Adam is appointed dominion over bird and beast.
Jeremiah is appointed dominion over nation and state.
How effective was Adam? Jeremiah?
Will giving Jesus dominion over heaven and hell get us further?
What is the level of dominion that you are involved with? a tree of life? a new heaven and new earth? and how are you doing?
Perhaps it is sufficient to experience a touch of life and go ahead where you can go ahead.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/february2004.html
Once upon a time I thought it would be more truthful to shift my language away from that of the predominant patriarchy - male language standing for all people.
It was an interesting birthing process that took a fair amount of time.
It began with the conception of the idea. Just even thinking about it took awhile.
In fact it began before conception with the witness of faithful folk.
My first attempts were not very hopeful. I would hear myself sliding back into the old language pattern, time after time. It seemed my best intention had no effect. If Homer Simpson had been around at the time I would have echoed his, "Doh!"
Little by little the time between hearing my slip and the slip itself was reduced. Image the word "his" being recognized closer and closer to my lips.
Then came that awkward moment that lasted, again, all too long, when my mouth wrestled with a caught word. It would still get out but not without a struggle that may have sounded like a stutter.
Eventually the word didn't make it to the mouth and the process continued to before the thought.
What other words and concepts do we need to work at leaving behind, beginning with understanding their desirability before their presence?
PS - actually there are still slips in moments of stress - old tapes don't die they just bide their time.
PPS - We know what needs to be changed, now we just need to begin the formation of a change process in the wombs of our lives.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
It is not unusual for scripture to be written backward. A wonder is experienced. Wonder about wonder goes on and on. A meaning is settled upon. Reports go forth. It is repeated and finally written. By the time the writing is done it has gone through much refinement and interpretation.
Just as the birth stories of Jesus were probably the last part of the gospels to be written, this understanding of Jeremiah's birth probably came much later in response to the difficulties he faced. It would give much needed support in his trying times to come to understand that his current consequence is a natural outgrowth of having been a prophet from before a life-confirming breath.
What story do you rely on to get you through your consequences? Does it go back to creation? to conception? to an event? to yesterday?
The better you know your foundational story, the bolder you can be in making a difference in the usual mind-set of your cultural setting.
- - -
today a second adopted grandson
comes to his new home
before adoption
he was known
before being known
he wasthanks be for
grand kids with grandkids
Nathan
Nicholas
may they have words in their mouths
for the joy of life
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
Jeremiah 1:4-10 or Isaiah 58:9b-14
Here is an area I don't know much about. One chronology suggests this order for the writings: 1st Isaiah, Jeremiah, 2nd and 3rd Isaiah. Is there conversation to be had between Isaiah and Jeremiah as there was between Job and Proverbs?
Of interest is Jeremiah's boyhood diffidence and an immature or rigid appointment over nations. Can you hear Isaiah's age commenting on the yoke implied in Jeremiah and a call to Jeremiah to be just as a source of assurance rather than simply a speaker about justice.
Isaiah might be counseling the doing of justice over the proclamation of justice.
What conversation partners do you have?
- - -
speaking loudly
because god is speaking
through me for the ages
since before birth
to this day
I speak as commanded
such is the arrogance
of Jeremiah
and even each of us
such assurity
enough to destroy
before planting
such temper
calls for tempering
removing such a yoke
that requires such power
offering nothing in its place
but afflicted needs
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
Jeremiah can be compared to Moses. Though this is the beginning of his life of prophecy, it extended for 40 years, as did Moses' work. Both begin their ministry with natural images - burning bush and almond branch. Both have priestly connections as well as prophetic. Both mark changes in eras - from captivity and into it.
Jeremiah represents a lifetime of calls (verses 1-3). I hope you are enjoying your latest call. There is no telling how long it will last before another comes along. So, gird up those loins, young or old, and grasp your walking stick for there are miles to go, calls to go.
In each of your calls there will be elements for you to:
pull up and tear down,
take apart and demolish,
and, then, start over,
building and planting.
This is simply a matter of a consequence of life. It cannot ethically be avoided. And so the call to enjoy your opportunities to participate in journeying with G*D and Neighbors, whether in a demolishing or planting call.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
It would be helpful to extend this passage to verse 19. Left where it is, Jeremiah is given words, but when further queried by G*D Jeremiah responds in pictures and is then given words to describe the scenes. This distinction between the doctrine of words and the experience of pictures is important for those of us who dabble in biblical metaphor.
Most of us can confirm that there has been an energy within that has been working its way outward and now cannot be restrained. It is a gift that now seems it couldn't be otherwise. This gift must have been with us from before we were even thought of (read Azimov's Foundation Series). It is of such intensity that we will now hold to it through thick and thin. And so Jeremiah rises and stands.
My hope and prayer is that more folks would have this sense of being part of something larger and be about the business of using their gift to engage a larger community in making the changes needed for all involved to continue. Stability is not the hallmark of a long life, appropriate adjustments mark the successful individual and culture.
At the same time that there is good energy here, there will be trouble later with Jeremiah being dismissed and ignored. And now at a much later date, there is the danger of taking Jeremiah's images too literally and to mean the same thing in days to come. There are none who can hold the whole world in their hand (or mouth). In the words of a song by Bob Franke, we are all bottom-feeding catfish, "for everything falls, after all."
Jeremiah looks realistically at the world around him and sees transitions of power. If you were to look around you, what would you identify as shifts in power - might they have to do with identity politics of gender, race, culture, orientation? might they have to do with political and economic consequences of their philosophies being taken to the extreme? might they have to do with a lack of resources (both amount and distribution)? might they have to do with a fear that we are going to fall, after all, and so our task is to live well with reality rather our denial of it in favor of one religious insight or another.?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/08/jeremiah-14-10.html