Ephesians 3:14-21
Proper 12 (17) - Year B
Are you still praying for others that they will have a beginning comprehension of multi-dimensioned love filling them to overflowing?
Are you still praying this for yourself?
I find I am not consistent in this relatively simple task.
To modify The Message a bit -- G*D is more than we can ever imagine or guess or request in our wildest dreams. Yet G*D does not push us around but works within, deeply and gently within. [3:20]
Isn't it fun when we can experience such multi-dimensioned fullness flowing forth from the deep and gentle places within!
This is Christ work and it is our joy to be on the receiving and giving ends of this way of life.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/july2003.html
St. Teresa, not satisfied with thinking about or talking about G*D as if about an object, says, "I carry the heart of my God and the God of my heart everywhere."
What would that be like for you?
One way to get at this is through the matryoshka nested doll, a symbol of motherhood and fertility. Our heart within G*D's heart and our neighbor's heart within our heart and our heart within our neighbor's heart and our neighbor's heart within G*D's heart. Through such multiple nestings is the gift of community solidified. Through such mysterious nestings is the gift of Messiah/Christ evidenced.
Pray for Christ to be within hearts. It makes a difference to the prayer and the prayee. The matryoshka nested doll -- a symbol of a spiritual artisan. Try it out. Herein lies the fullness of G*D.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/july2003.html
Ephesians 3:14-21
2 Samuel 11:1-15 or 2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 14 or Psalm 145:10-18
John 6:1-21
Bathsheba and Jesus were both faced with being taken by force. Their circumstances and options were different. Male and Female, Subject and Master, are significant variations.
Both Bathsheba and Jesus were strengthened that they could live through their respective situations.
Bathsheba acquiesced to force; Jesus withdrew from it. There probably isn't one right response to a test.
Of interest is the use of intermediaries by David and Jesus. There were those who responded to inquiries about Bathsheba and Uriah carrying his own death warrant to Joab, who undertook it. There was Philip who didn't play along, Andrew who did, and the disciples who facilitated a feast.
Questions of how we respond to force come at us every day. Likewise, choices of how we are going to respond to requests from authorities. So, how's today for you? Whose intermediary have you been so far and whose do you anticipate being later today?
- - -
evil requires
accessories
before and after
the fact
under this spreading net
a village smithy stands
strong of arm
stronger of heart
rooted elsewhere
bringing solidarity of port
to those adrift
on the sea
an adult
remembering their child
rich in fish and bread
richer in sharing
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
Fullness of G*D. To know “love” is to experience this fullness. Rooted and grounded saints that your are, may you know fullness as the breadth and length and height and depth of “love”.
In our Hebrew heritage, fullness connects with plants ready for the harvest, that have reached maturity, and is the basis on which tithes and offerings are made - out of what we have not what we don’t have access to. Abundance overflows and we are to let it flow, not store it in a larger barn. We respond to fullness with thanks and sharing.
From our Greek tradition, fullness also speaks of the quality of gifts given or yearnings arrived at. So questions arise about what it is we are putting in as fill. Is it empty calories or sand instead of top-soil? What is the vision you have been working on for years that carries sufficient hope beyond your lifetime? Being thus filled is satisfying and engaging.
Whether thankful or satisfied do note how far you have come toward being a filling presence, mature in nutrients for a next generation. Also note how that was not just hard work and perseverance, but growth within soil prepared by those who have gone before. Fullness is fullness for all and by all - when in the course of human events it becomes possible for people to reconnect what had been dissolved by will for strict independence, declare the cause for being bound together: great fullness received and shared.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/07/ephesians-314-21.html