7th Trinity III, 2021, Here is Everywhere

7^th Trinity III

Luke 10:25-37 

On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this, and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

 In reply, Jesus said, "A man was going

Van Gogh

down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

"But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

7th August Trinity

September 5, 2021

Luke 10:25-37

Christ affirms that to love God with one's whole being and to love one's fellow human beings as well as oneself is the path to eternal life. Love directed outward, beyond oneself, overcomes the deadening effects of mere self-love. Yet there comes our somewhat defensive next question: which of my fellow human beings am I supposed to love? Christ's answer in story form is— Not just my family, not just my own tribe or those with whom I can identify. Any fellow human being whom I happen upon along the way can be the recipient of a love that expresses itself in concrete action. For it is our deeds, not our feelings, that live beyond the boundaries of this life.
The key here is to regard others with an attitude of mercy, of loving-kindness. And then we give and do what we can.

Corrine Vonaesch

It may be that in the story of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite felt that they could not touch the unclean man because they were on their way to do work that required their ritual cleanliness. The Samaritan, though despised by the Jews, was truly free to help (or not). He helps a stranger in both a personal, hands-on way and also by deputizing and paying the innkeeper to complete the work involved with the man's healing. He is thereby pulling in others to help. And he thus also maintains his own freedom to help the next victim he finds, to further practice his love for his fellow human beings.

Christ is saying that our neighbor is not necessarily one whom we know, the one who lives next door. It is also the stranger whom we meet along the way. It is we who are to act neighborly. The poet Wislawa Szymborska expresses the universality of this:

Some fishermen pulled a bottle from the deep. It held a piece of paper, with these words: "Somebody save me! I'm here. The ocean cast me on this desert island.

I am standing on the shore waiting for help. Hurry! I'm here!" 

"There's no date. I bet it's already too late anyway.

It could have been floating for years," the first fisherman said. 

"And he doesn't say where. It's not even clear which ocean," the second fisherman said. 

"It's not too late, or too far. The island Here is everywhere," the third fisherman said.*

 

* "Parable," in Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh

 

5th Trinity III, 2021, Unthinkable

5th Trinity III

Luke 18:35-43 

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of

Brian Jekel

Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want that I should do for you?" 

He said to him, "Lord, that I may look up and see again." 

And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you." [or, your faith has healed you.] 

At that moment, his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being—and all who saw it praised God.

 5^th August Trinity

August 22, 2021

Luke 18:35-43 

Imagine only being able to look downward, to only see the ground under your feet. Certainly there are small miracles there—the beauty of sand grains or green grass. But looking up, elevating our gaze, opens up whole worlds. We can take in the majesty of mountains, the ever-transforming sky, the magnificence of the stars. We can perceive the wonders of all our fellow creatures. Whole levels of meaning emerge.

Jorge Coco Santangelo

The blind man asks Christ to help him look up and see again. He wants to elevate his gaze, to take in the expanse of the universe, to experience new levels of meaning. And Christ tells him that because he trusts that this is possible, the power to enlarge his vision is already operating in him, is already elevating his gaze. His openness allows him to receive his sight.

In a sense, we are all blind. Yet the ability to see, the power of vision, is not merely given to us from without. It is an indwelling capacity given to us by God, a capacity we can further cultivate. It is partly a matter of ignoring those inner and outer voices which would squelch our attempts to elevate our gaze. And it is a matter of trusting that it is possible, and listening for the Voice that says that we have the power to heal our own inner blindness, to raise our gaze upward.

And ultimately, when our eyes open and our gaze rises, we encounter the One speaking to us, the One who helps us heal, the One who gave us our sight.

And in the words of the poet, He tells us to look at the true yet commonplace miracles:

…a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.

...

 A miracle, just take a look around:
the inescapable earth.

 An extra miracle, extra and ordinary:
the unthinkable can be thought.*

---

*Wislawa Szymborska, "Miracle Fair"

 

6th Trinity III 2020, No Non-Being

6th Trinity 

Mark 7:31-37

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre, he went through the country around Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and who spoke with difficulty and asked him to lay his hands on him.

Julia Stankova

 

And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphata, be opened.” His hearing was opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he could speak properly. And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more they widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event, and said, “He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak.

6^th Trinity

August 30, 2020

Mark 7:31–37

As we get older, our hearing often declines. It is as though our ears close a bit. We fail to accurately pick up what was spoken to us. And so we may get a false message. And to others, our response may seem inappropriate, even humorously. Yet even if our hearing is perfect, it can be that our hearts are closed, so we don’t pick up what is really being said.

In a sense, we are all deaf. Our hearts are sometimes closed, often in self-defense, against the overwhelming voices of pain and suffering around us. We rarely hear the inspirations our angels are whispering to us.

We speak with difficulty. Yet our words wield enormous creative power, for good or for ill. The poet Wislawa Szymborska makes us aware of their power; she says,

Tissot

When I pronounce the word Future,

the first syllable already belongs to the past.

 

When I pronounce the word Silence,

I destroy it.

 

When I pronounce the word Nothing,

I make something no nonbeing can hold.*

 

Christ came to open our hearing, to open our hearts so that our words have the power to create. ‘Be opened,’ he says.  ‘Hear my voice in your heart.’  When you break your silence with love, you create a future which no non-being can destroy.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

*Wislawa Szymborska, “Three Oddest Words”. 

6th August/September Trinity 2019, HERE

August Trinity

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Charalambos Epaminonda

In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

6^th August Trinity

Sep 1, 2019

Luke 10:25-37

Van Gogh

One of the scripture experts asks Christ how to attain eternal life. Christ asks him how the scripture reads and the expert answers: to love God with one’s whole being and to love one’s fellow human beings as well as oneself will lead to eternal life. And Christ affirms this; love directed outward, beyond oneself, overcomes the deadening effects of mere self- love.

Yet there comes the man’s somewhat defensive next question: which of my fellow human beings am I supposed to love? Christ’s answer in story form is: Not just my family, not just my own tribe or those with whom I can identify. Any fellow human being in need whom I happen upon along the way can be the recipient of a love that expresses itself in concrete action. For it is our deeds, not our feelings, that live beyond the boundaries of this life. The key here is to regard others with an attitude of mercy, of loving-kindness. And then we give and do what we can.

Corrine Vonaesch

It may be that the priest and the Levite felt that they could not touch the unclean man because they were on their way to a work that required their ritual cleanliness. The Samaritan, however, though despised by the Jews, was truly free to help (or not). He helps a stranger, a potential enemy, in a personal, hands-on way. And he also helps by deputizing and paying the innkeeper to complete the work of healing. He is thereby encouraging others to help. And in this way he, therefore, maintains his own freedom to help the next victim he finds, to further practice his love for his fellow human beings. 

Christ is saying that our neighbor is not necessarily one whom we know, the one who lives next door. It is the stranger whom we meet along the way. It is we who are to act neighborly. A poet expresses the universality of this in a little parable:

Some fishermen pulled a bottle from the deep. It held a piece of paper,

with these words: "Somebody save me! I'm here. The ocean cast me on this desert island.

I am standing on the shore waiting for help. Hurry! I'm here!"

"There's no date. I bet it's already too late anyway.

It could have been floating for years," the first fisherman said.

"And he doesn't say where. It's not even clear which ocean," the second fisherman said.

"It's not too late, or too far. The island Here is everywhere," the third fisherman said.

They all felt awkward. No one spoke. That's how it goes with universal truths.*

  

*Wislawa Szymborska,  “ Parable” Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh)

Visit and bookmark our website! www.thechristiancommunity.org 

4th August Trinity 2019, Unthinkable Can Be Thought

August Trinity 

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God. 

4^th August Trinity 2019

Luke 18: 35 – 43

Imagine only being able to look downward, to see only the ground under your feet. Certainly, there are small miracles there—the beauty of sand grains or green grass. But looking up, elevating our gaze, opens up whole worlds. We can take in the majesty of mountains, the ever-transforming sky, the magnificence of the stars. We can perceive the wonders of all our fellow creatures.

Whole levels of meaning emerge.

Brian Jekel

The blind man asks Christ to help him look up and see again. He wants to elevate his gaze, to take in the expanse of the universe, to experience new levels of meaning. And Christ tells him that because he trusts that this is possible, the power to enlarge his vision is already operating in him, is already elevating his gaze. His openness allows him to receive his sight.

In a sense, we are all blind. Yet the ability to see is an indwelling capacity given to us by God, a capacity we can further cultivate. It is partly a matter of ignoring those inner and outer voices which would squelch our attempts to elevate our gaze. And it is a matter of trusting that it is possible, and listening for the Voice that says to trust the power to heal our inner blindness, to raise our gaze upward.

And ultimately, when our eyes open and our gaze rises, we encounter the One speaking to us, the One who helps us heal, the One who gave us our sight.

And in the words of the poet He tells us to look at the true yet commonplace miracles:

…a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.

...

 A miracle, just take a look around:
the inescapable earth.

 An extra miracle, extra and ordinary:
the unthinkable can be thought.*

* Wislawa Szymborska, "Miracle Fair"

Visit our website!

7th August Trinity 2015, Message in a Bottle

7th August Trinity

Good Samaritan, Corinne Vonaesch

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

7th August Trinity

September 6, 2015

Luke 10:25-37

Someone well-read in scripture asks Christ how to attain eternal life.The man’s answers that to love God with one’s whole being and to love one’s fellow human beings as well as oneself  is to attain eternal life. And Christ affirms this; love directed outward, beyond oneself, overcomes the deadening effects of mere self- love. Yet there comes the man’s somewhat defensive next question: which of my fellow human beings am I supposed to love? Christ’s answer in story form is: Not just my family, not just my own tribe or those with whom I can identify. Any fellow human being whom I happen upon along the way can be the recipient of a love that expresses itself in concrete action. For it is our deeds, not our feelings, that live beyond the boundaries of this life. The key here is to regard others with an attitude of mercy, of loving kindness. And then we give and do what we can.

It may be that the priest and the Levite felt that they could touch the unclean man because they were on their way to a work that required their ritual cleanliness. The Samaritan, though despised by the Jews, was truly free to help (or not). He helps a stranger, in both a personal, hands-on way, and also by deputizing and paying the innkeeper to complete the work of healing. He is thereby encouraging others to help. And he thus also maintains his own freedom to help the next victim he finds, to further practice his love for his fellow human beings. Christ is saying that our neighbor is not necessarily one whom we know, the one who lives next door. It is the stranger whom we meet along the way. It is we who are to act neighborly. A poet expresses the universality of this:

Some fishermen pulled a bottle from the deep. It held a piece of paper,

with these words: "Somebody save me! I'm here. The ocean cast me on this desert island.

I am standing on the shore waiting for help. Hurry! I'm here!"

"There's no date. I bet it's already too late anyway.

It could have been floating for years," the first fisherman said.

"And he doesn't say where. It's not even clear which ocean," the second fisherman said.

"It's not too late, or too far. The island Here is everywhere," the third fisherman said.

They all felt awkward. No one spoke. That's how it goes with universal truths.*

*Wislawa Szymborska,  “ Parable” Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh)

Visit our website!