7/1/2023 0 Comments Lazarus isaac![]() Jesus is grieving that goodbye, while also anticipating a joyful return to his Abba in heaven. These friends are saying goodbye to each other while also scrambling for ways to stay together. Unsurprisingly, a sense of longing permeates the whole address. There’s a lot that Jesus wants to accomplish without fully tipping his hand. He’s preparing them for who he is becoming, as well as how he’ll continue to be among them - and, by extension, among us. Or, at least, it’s time for him to say goodbye from the perspective of who they’ve known him to be thus far. Now it’s time for Jesus’ final words to the remaining 11. MOST OF OUR gospel readings in May move through sections in John’s gospel commonly referred to as the “farewell discourse.” In this long goodbye, Jesus and his disciples have finished eating their last supper together. How is the Spirit calling you to partner with divine practices of renewal, with everyday resurrections? The slower pace to which (in some places) the warm summer sun calls us can inspire us to seek out everyday resurrection wherever God hides it. ![]() And, just as importantly, we are called to participate in God’s divine practices of continuous creation, in God’s own divine practice of everyday resurrection.Īs we exit a series of some of the higher holy seasons in the liturgical year - Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost - June quiets down from such intensity. God is always making a way where there was no way before. God is always creating, re-creating, and reimagining our world. But the fact is, once we’re looking for it, all of scripture tells these stories of renewal. This month’s lectionary readings make God’s continuous creation - as well as God’s continual renewal of creation - explicit. ![]() And God turns death to life through the mysteries of resurrection (Romans 6:1-11). God “calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17). A well appears from nowhere to quench the thirst of a dying woman and her child (Genesis 21:19). In the story of Sarah and Abraham, a child is conceived in a womb so postmenopausal that the now-pregnant woman can’t help but laugh (Genesis 18). In the opening chapters of Genesis, we see creation birthed from God’s imagination and curiosity. WE HAVE SEVERAL readings this month where God creates something out of nothing - or at least out of pretty limited materials. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |