Ezekiel 2:1-5
Proper 22 (27) - Year C
Ezekiel 2:1-5 or 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48 or Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
To keep us from being too inflated or elated we are given a thorn - hometown. Here people changed our diapers. Here people saw the bad haircut we gave ourself. Here errors in judgment as we moved through the stages of life are laughed about every holiday. Here people join in expecting to honor a conquering hero to return home.
Out of his own experience at Nazareth, Jesus sends out the twelve and ourselves. They and we find places as humbling as a hometown and new places that become our hometown.
Whether needing refuge and defense or providing such (opportunity for repentance), we stretch our walk with G*D to include folks for whom we are a thorn and folks who are a thorn for ourselves. Mutuality is not just support, but also correction.
- - -
in season or out
learning is in order
learning to live
without surprises
we will receive
hometown adulation
along with
hometown rejection
both are unrealistic
no surprise here
caught up to seventh heaven
or caught on a thorn
in season or out
teaching is in order