Luke 2:41-52
Christmas 1 - Year C
Jesus listened to and asked questions of.
Suppose that Jesus listened to you, really listened to you. What question would Jesus ask you that would reveal yourself to yourself, would reveal you to the rest of the world?
Is it any wonder that we hide from being real with Jesus behind holy words and constructs? If we didn't it would be one-on-one with GOD. We would need to wrestle much more closely with GOD because Jesus would hear our fantasies and ask us why they were so powerful in our life that we couldn't stand for GOD anywhere and anytime we were.
Can we live as though the Holy were really listening to our deep heart's core? Yes, but it takes all we have and all our supportive community has to open our hearts, our minds, our doors to the marvel of having been heard, really heard, and being able, in turn, to ask questions of one another and the culture we swim in.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/december2003.html
What of yourself are you most searching for?
Been looking in all the wrong places? (see lyrics by Waylon Jennings)
Try this interview with Sam Keen in the magazine Spirituality and Health . You do get the magazine regularly, don't you? How does this help you to grow in wisdom?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/december2003.html
In the midst of the usual there are opportunities to find something more than we ever expected. To begin to appreciate the presence of the unusual there are some games to be played - games of listening and games of asking and games of responding from a new home in the midst of an old house.
Starting with Jesus' parents (Mary/Spirit or Mary/Joseph - it may be interesting to play it both ways in regard to a lost-in-plain-sight Jesus) we begin with that which we don't know - we sense something has gone on outside our ability to see it, something has been covered over by an assumption and is on the edge of being noticed.
When something begins to niggle at us we begin to check our usual haunts to see if everything is really in order and it just felt like there might be a crack somewhere in our cosmic egg that could possibly bring a bit more light into our lives. We check with our usual perception guides - family, friends, church/congregation. If that doesn't get us back to stasis we up the ante a bit and look to Jerusalem - to our culture, denomination, wider religious tradition to find some explanation.
Finally we find ourselves again face-to-face with the ancient model of listening and asking to find a new understanding. Some of this is going on these days in terms of creation myths and sexuality (the general-relativity and quantum poles of our current lives wherein current theories of consciousness recognize the need to adjust to a new way of thinking and feeling based on new realities).
Anxiety is not a fruitful mode in which to listen and ask. When anxiously asked about his whereabouts (the result of his listening and asking), Jesus talks about being at home or having come home to himself, to his particular experience.
But anxiety gets in the way and his parents (still dealing with both options) did not understand a home different than the one they had carried on and developed.
Since they couldn't join him in a new place he went on with them. Mary treasured and pondered this over time. Eventually Mary could get past asking Jesus to come away from the consequences of his listening and asking and be able to stand by him at the last.
What is niggling at you these days that would benefit from some time to listen to, to ask about?
- - -
increase
a revolutionary concept
pushing us out of one home
pulling us into another home
increase
leads those not increasing
to a sense of diminishment
only resolved by lynching
increase
leads to compassion
for those still stuck
in an old home
increase
listening and asking
increase
resistance to new vision
increase
increase
is a dangerous
prayer
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
Note the change between verse 46 and 47.
In verse 46 Jesus is listening and asking questions. In verse 47 he evidences some understanding and is answering questions.
There is a sense in which every question contains and idea, an answer, and so there isn't much difference here. We could be looking at an example of parallelism.
We may also be looking at teaching to the test - all that matters is getting a certain percentage of currently correct answers. One way around this is to focus on responses, not answers. Responses help set a context and keep an openness to new information.
However, this is more likely to be the beginning of Jesus' loyal opposition to the state of affairs within the religious community of his time and space. As such, the questions of verse 46 have a definite priority over the answers of verse 47.
Those questions of Jesus are not restricted to a religious sphere. They expand to his parents and by extension will go to the political rulers as well. They even extend to your life and mine. "Why would you search for me?", asks Jesus. "Where have you looked and to what avail?"
More and more folks are searching for G*D stuff anywhere but in church. This is probably attributable to the church's reliance upon verse 47 and the giving of answers that no longer meet up with the questions being put to it by its loyal opposition or outsiders. May we get back to Jesus and ask questions of today's religious bodies. If they can't take it, they will fade while the questioners will increase in wisdom and in years.
- - -
Speaking of loyal opposition, a book by that title is still a valuable read.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
an absent gift
Christmas 1 - Year C
every year we look to be
returned to Jerusalem
every year we go
to Jerusalem
expecting something new
expecting no change
expecting to be surprised
by no surprise
returning home
no change
but then
absence
in such absence
we return to Jerusalem
with intent
and in tension
no longer caught
on dilemma's horns
we listen
we question
and we find
larger questions
deeper listening
new searching
binding us together
in wisdom
years
favor
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009/12/absent-gift.html
Here is another creation story, birth story. Instead of going for registration, Jesus goes for Festivities and finds in them a larger story than they knew they carried.
Wherever you search for someone dear to you, you will find them searching for themselves even as you search for them. Of course you return the favor while being searched for.
No wonder searchers don’t understand, even as they draw near.
Now to carry this insight into the rest of a new year. We all search for and are searched for. Remarkably in these infinite searches, what is found has more in common than in difference. Here then is our covenant for the year: that we will treasure one another. Blessings in letting your treasure show and the treasure of others be honored by you.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/12/luke-241-52.html