Wednesday, April 05, 2006
From AscensionNYC
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Psalm 128, 129, 130
Exodus 7:8-24
2 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:6
Mark 10:1-16
Theme: Hostility versus Faith in the equality of us all. Faith ultimately seizes the day. Peace.
In the Exodus excerpt, God faces off against Pharaoh, through his agents Moses and Aaron. Moses urges: my people are your equals, not your slaves: let them go.
In Mark, it's Jesus versus the Pharisees. Jesus proclaims the equality of male and female. In marriage, "the two shall become one; so they are no longer two but one." Then, he admonishes the Disciples for shooing away the kids -- who were regarded by that society as the lowest among non-equals.
No one has the right to "lord" it over anyone else. We assume the disciples took on this Faith; and eventually societies began to pay attention to children's rights.
The Pharisees and Pharaoh probably never got the message...but where are they now??
St Paul was beset by hostility, whether from Romans or from Christian communities carping over details, much as we still do. The notion, raised by some Corinthians, that Paul should present "letters of recommendation" is bizarre. He soothes them with loving word-play, redirecting them to their own faith in God, to whom we are all equal and "commendable."
When our Faith in the value and equality of everyone routs Hostility, the result must be ....Peace! That Peace is so evanescent and hard for us to achieve, it "passeth understanding." We catch sight of it "through a glass, darkly." Christ lived and died "to leave it with" us; but the World still doesn't get it, to our peril.
Thank God, we do get glimpses; A driver in St Lucia bewails the turbulence and animosity he sees among people (even there); particularly among the young, "all the shouting and abuse." He told a story about a older married couple. The woman set a pot of tea on the doorstep, to stay warm in the sun. Her husband came home from work, and kicked it over (natch!). The woman: "Oh, it's my fault, leaving it in the passageway." The man: "No, it's my fault for not looking where I was going! I'll go get water to make more tea."
O Wow! No fight...respect for equality...lovely Peace.
Amen.
Exodus 7:8-24
2 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:6
Mark 10:1-16
Theme: Hostility versus Faith in the equality of us all. Faith ultimately seizes the day. Peace.
In the Exodus excerpt, God faces off against Pharaoh, through his agents Moses and Aaron. Moses urges: my people are your equals, not your slaves: let them go.
In Mark, it's Jesus versus the Pharisees. Jesus proclaims the equality of male and female. In marriage, "the two shall become one; so they are no longer two but one." Then, he admonishes the Disciples for shooing away the kids -- who were regarded by that society as the lowest among non-equals.
No one has the right to "lord" it over anyone else. We assume the disciples took on this Faith; and eventually societies began to pay attention to children's rights.
The Pharisees and Pharaoh probably never got the message...but where are they now??
St Paul was beset by hostility, whether from Romans or from Christian communities carping over details, much as we still do. The notion, raised by some Corinthians, that Paul should present "letters of recommendation" is bizarre. He soothes them with loving word-play, redirecting them to their own faith in God, to whom we are all equal and "commendable."
When our Faith in the value and equality of everyone routs Hostility, the result must be ....Peace! That Peace is so evanescent and hard for us to achieve, it "passeth understanding." We catch sight of it "through a glass, darkly." Christ lived and died "to leave it with" us; but the World still doesn't get it, to our peril.
Thank God, we do get glimpses; A driver in St Lucia bewails the turbulence and animosity he sees among people (even there); particularly among the young, "all the shouting and abuse." He told a story about a older married couple. The woman set a pot of tea on the doorstep, to stay warm in the sun. Her husband came home from work, and kicked it over (natch!). The woman: "Oh, it's my fault, leaving it in the passageway." The man: "No, it's my fault for not looking where I was going! I'll go get water to make more tea."
O Wow! No fight...respect for equality...lovely Peace.
Amen.
Gretchen Dumler
