One More Wake-up Call

Tags

creation, defense, Genesis, hear, Herod, Jesus, Mark Divine, Noah, Pharisees, see, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understand, voice

The lectionary readings for today are a little scary. In the first (from Genesis 6&7) God is lamenting that he created humans at all because of how wicked they have become. The only solution, God thinks, is destruction of all humans. animals and birds. “For I am sorry that I made them,” God says. Thank heaven that Noah showed up as the one shining creation, enough to save the world because “he did what God commanded him.”

In the gospel the disciples misinterpret a warning from Jesus to watch out for the leaven of Herod and the Pharisees. Because he used the word “leaven” to describe their wickedness, the disciples thought that Jesus was upset because they had forgotten to bring enough bread for all of them to eat. (MK 8:14-21) When Jesus realized their conclusion, he reacted with what sounds like uncharacteristic vehemence and frustration in a torrent of questions: Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? Do you still not understand?

Most of the time I do not consider God to depend on our strength or weakness, wickedness or upright behavior, perceptiveness or lack of understanding. I consider God (and Jesus while he lived among us) to be all knowing and loving, forgiving us everything. These readings have not changed my opinion but they do seem to have the effect this morning of making me want us to do better. It isn’t enough today for me to wring my hands at the political climate in our country and the world. And how many more “active shooters” will it take before I add my voice – not just in my home but to my Congressional representatives – about gun control? What is the purpose of reading these texts every morning if I simply put them aside and go on with my day? I don’t think it’s just up to me to save the world but if I’m not willing to make a little noise in God’s defense, how can I expect anything to change?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God Calling

Tags

calling, God, graciousness, Jonah, mercy, Nineveh, Noah, second chance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

It has been raining all night. I was awake only twice – and briefly – but my wide-awake housemate affirmed that although some of the rain came more seriously and some was just drip-like, we are in for a full day of it in any case. No storm, I hope, as our Wisdom School ends today and some people have a long way to drive…

I could have expected that the first reading for this morning would serendipitously be about Noah building the ark or some such similar event. Well, not exactly…but it was the story of Jonah and his attempt to get away from God by going in the totally opposite direction from where God had directed him to go. Not only was he found out, but he was determined to be the cause a huge storm and of the eventual deaths of all the people on the ship he had boarded to escape God’s call to Nineveh. Thus, Jonah agreed to have himself thrown overboard, into the angry sea, to save everyone else. Of course, God saved him in the end (Praise God for that large fish!) Good news! Jonah fulfilled his mission of going to Nineveh where, surprisingly, the people repented and returned to God – at least for a hundred years or more.

The moral of this story, we might say, is : if God calls you to something specific you’d better listen and accept the challenge! Or we could look at it as God’s willingness to give us a second chance – in a big way! Commentaries focus on God’s mercy and graciousness…

Whatever aspect of the story catches our fancy, it is surely a great and “fanciful” story for a very rainy day.

Be My Valentine

Tags

Genesis, heart, John, Lord, love, Mark, Noah, St. Valentine, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Valentine

I find the juxtaposition of today’s readings rather ironic given the wildly popular “lovefest” that we in the United States celebrate on this day. It is the day loved by card companies, florists and candy companies. Not too many people advert to the existence of the saint for whom it is named. (Even the Catholic Bishops Conference website ignores St. Valentine in favor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius today!)

So what is it in the readings that engenders my tiny rant? To begin we have the first installment of the flood story in Genesis (GN 6 & 7). God is regretting his creation of humanity because of their wickedness and says, “I will wipe out from earth the people whom I have created, and not only the people, but all the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” Luckily, the next line says, But Noah found favor with the Lord. Then in the gospel (MK 8: 14-21) we have an uncharacteristic scene of Jesus barraging the disciples with questions like: Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember…? They think he’s angry because they forgot to bring bread with them on the boat while he’s telling them to “watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.”

What saves the day is the gospel acclamation that promises: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love them and we will come to them…” (JN 14:23) Now that sounds like the God that I know…Even when disappointed at our foolishness – or our downright obstinate behavior – God is just waiting for our response to the most consistent and sincere question God continues to ask each of us: Won’t you please be my Valentine?