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

What is Wisdom?

What is Wisdom?

We look this Sunday at the quality and character of wisdom. Described with a feminie personality, and said to have been established before the creation of the world, she is greatly admired in much ancient literature. But what is wisdom? 

Our readings are from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is the most characteristic of Wisdom literature from the Hebrew scriptures. Along with the book of Job it relates instruction on how to live life "wisely."

So is wisdom merely common sense writ large? Is this conventional wisdom? How do we compare or contrast this with the teachings of how we are to live out the Gospel?


Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31



8:1 Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?


8:2 On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;


8:3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:


8:4 "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.




8:22 The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.


8:23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

8:24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.


8:25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth--


8:26 when he had not yet made earth and fields, or the world's first bits of soil.


8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,


8:28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,


8:29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,


8:30 then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,


8:31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

Imagio Dei: Pentecost and the Image of God

Michaelangelo's Creation of Man from Sistine Chapel

Lewis Lavoies' "One Blood, Many Nations" mural of Adam at the United Nations

The Sunday of Pentecost and the Tower of Babel:

Today's lectionary study comes from two passages, one from

Genesis recounting the story of the Tower of Babel and the other

from the book of Acts giving the account of Pentecost.

These lessons bring forth a great deal of possibilities regarding

our expression in both language and image

regarding who we are and who God is in our lives.

For the expression of image, as we look at Levoies' art,

we will discuss the phrase "imagio dei" (image of God) and

what that means in our present day world.

How does this affect our mission to others?

For language, what does it mean to speak with the same tongue?

What does it mean to appreciate diversity of language and people?

How has language shaped our belief?

How can we communicate with a world so multilingual?

Our readings are below:

The Tower of Babel: Genesis 11:1-9

11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

11:2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain

in the land of Shinar and settled there.

11:3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks,

and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and

bitumen for mortar.

11:4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and

a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name

for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon

the face of the whole earth."

11:5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower,

which mortals had built.

11:6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and

they have all one language; and this is only the beginning

of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will

now be impossible for them.

11:7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language

there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over

the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

11:9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the

LORD confused the language of all the earth; and

from there the LORD scattered them abroad over

the face of all the earth.

Pentecost: Acts 2:1-21

2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they

were all together in one place.

2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound

like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire

house where they were sitting.

2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,

and a tongue rested on each of them.

2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and

began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit

gave them ability.

2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every

nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.

2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was

bewildered, because each one heard them speaking

in the native language of each.

2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not

all these who are speaking Galileans?

2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our

own native language?

2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of

Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of

Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

both Jews and proselytes,

2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we

hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one

another, "What does this mean?"

2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled

with new wine."

2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised

his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and

all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you,

and listen to what I say.

2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose,

for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the

prophet Joel:

2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that

I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your

sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your

young men shall see visions, and your old men shall

dream dreams.

2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they

shall prophesy.

2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and

smoky mist.

2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the

moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's

great and glorious day.

2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the

Lord shall be saved.'

What can set you free?

Harry Houdini

What chains bind us in our lives?

How are we set free from them?


In this weeks lectionary lesson from Acts 16: 16-34, we look at the narrative of Paul's night in prison where he is set free from the chains that bind. This narrative is an interesting association of characters and setting.

Paul and his fellow sojourners are first confronted by the female oracle or fortune teller. They then come in conflict with the economic and political values of the city square or forum once they have performed their "Christain duty" as they see it.
Punished and imprisoned for their duty, Paul and his fellows find themselves bound in chains.

But the quaking earth removes the shackles. The miracle is that both they and the prison guard find a hospitality of peace as households joined together in compassion and grace.


Acts 16:16-34


16:16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

16:17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."

16:18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.

16:19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

16:20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews

16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."

16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

16:23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

16:24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

16:26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.

16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

16:28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."

16:29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

16:30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

16:31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

16:33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

16:34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

What chains bind us in our lives?



How are we set free from them?