No Looking Back...

The Expulsion by George Segal 1978

No Looking back...

What does it mean to commit to a course of action, to a course of belief...to put our hands to the plow and not look back?

In our lectionary passages from the gospel of Luke 9:51-62 for the 27th June, we see the admonition of Jesus to his followers to not look back.

As humans, how does this relate to our spiritual and relational development? From our very early stories we have often been told not to look back. As if once you have attained a certain level of maturity and experience you are to remain so, to use that awareness to both the benefit of one's self and others.  

What does it mean to be human and follow God? Where is God in these passages? Where is the human?

Luke 9:51-62



9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.


9:52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him;


9:53 but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.


9:54 When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"


9:55 But he turned and rebuked them.


9:56 Then they went on to another village.


9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."


9:58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."


9:59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."


9:60 But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."


9:61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."


9:62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."


Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

Where is the Devil?

"It always makes it easier to fight a
war if you demonize people so that
you're not killing human beings, you're killing the devil."

________

Retired Army Col. Harry Summers

1. What is the problem here?
Where is the devil? Are we created in his image? Or is he created in ours?

2. In what way are we participants?
How do we demonize others?
Our Western religious history is replete with the demonization of other persons or peoples.
In nearly all occasions this was purported to be "God's will."
Whose responsibility is this?

3. How do we turn this to resolution?
For those who have been demonized, how do we return them to the proper relationship in light of our shared faith and humanity?

In today's choice from the lectionary, Luke: 8:26-39, we look at the healing of the Demonaic by Jesus.
Where is the human being in this story?
How does this healing get "fleshed out" in the end?

Luke 8:26-39



8:26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.


8:27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.

8:28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"--


8:29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)


8:30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him.


8:31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.


8:32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.


8:33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.


8:34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country.


8:35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.


8:36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.


8:37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.


8:38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying,


8:39 "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What is a Metamorphosis?

Metamorphosis of Narcissus
by Gala Salvador / Salvador Dali 1937

What is a Metamorphosis?

In today's Lectioary lesson, we look at the taking of Uriah's wife by King David from the book of II Samuel.

An event that could be easily interpreted as narcissistic of David, it is Nathan that confronts David's self-absorbtion and turns it into transforming self-awareness for the King.

In true metamorphic fashion, David repents and is forgiven. But his actions have lasting consequences for his family.

How does true metamorphosis come to our lives? Where does it start? How does it affect our relationships with others? These are the questions we will look at in our lesson today. We will also relate the image by Gala Salvador above in our discussion.

The scripture is from II Samuel
11:26-12:10, 13-15



11:26 When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him.


11:27 When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD,


12:1 and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

12:2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds;


12:3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.


12:4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him."


12:5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;


12:6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."


12:7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;


12:8 I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.


12:9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.


12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.


12:13 David said to Nathan, "I have sinned aginst the LORD." Nathan said to David,"Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die.


12:14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die."


12:15 Then Nathan went to his house. The LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

Are We Truly Living?

Are We Truly Living? Or are you a part of the living dead?

What does it mean to sustain our lives? Are there things in our lives that must die for us to truly live? What are those things? How do we discover or uncover them and sufficiently rid them so that we may live more fully in the promises of God for our lives?

For our lectionary lesson this Sunday, the 6th of June, we look at a passage regarding Elijah's participation in the healing of a young man who is considered dead. How can we participate in the resurrection of our own lives and those of others?

Our passage is from 1 Kings 17:17-24

17:17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.


17:18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!"


17:19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.


17:20 He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?"


17:21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again."


17:22 The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.


17:23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."


17:24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line