Jonah 3:10 - 4:11
Proper 20 (25) - Year A
What does it mean for "G*D to change," to do something other than get stuck in unrelenting destruction?
What is our response when this reality sets in for us?
For Jonah it brought forth fury and anger. One might almost say, G*D-sized fury and anger.
May we find a G*D-sized compassion for folks who don't have an experience of the gentleness of moving toward communal living without demanding perfection in the moment. May this G*D-sized compassion move from sheer quantity to quality in our lives that we might also have a G*D-shaped hospitality.
So what makes you angry these days? What beckons forth your compassion? How do these interact in your life? Is anger occluding compassion? Is compassion inclusive of your anger?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/september2002.html
Jonah 3:10 - 4:11 or Exodus 16:2-15
In the morning, when some were chosen to work and receive payment, those left behind, unemployed, muttered. No, it doesn't say that, so this is projection. "If only"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the morning, when some were not chosen to work and receive payment, those proceeding to the vineyard, employed, rejoiced. Again, projection. "Whew"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the evening, when payment was made to the last hired, the one-hour workers, there was rejoicing. "Wow"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
In the evening, when payment was made to the first hired, the twelve-hour workers, there was consternation. "Unfair"s were thought and some were spoken aloud.
What comes around, actually came around.
This same shifting ground is going on right now with refugees from hurricane Katrina and an "administration". It went on with the folks just starting a trek toward a "promised land" (Exodus) and those who saw their dream of being on the right side of a widening gap between peoples (Jonah). It is going on with you and with me if we pause to reflect rather than just react from one moment to the next.
A part of the prophetic nature is to be curmudgeonly. We, too, see great value in returning to a previous value system (it is just that ours, when we are at our best, goes back further). We, too, talk about consequences of present behavior and preach change to avoid it (it is just that we, at our best, expect change to happen and rejoice when it periodically does).
We can identify with the desert travelers and the reluctant warners. Hopefully, we are also able to move beyond simple identity to care for drowned charioteers and foreign citizens and others in need. This takes some preaching to the choir to keep one another alert to the compromises we make and to lift our eyes beyond our present situation, to lift our eyes all the way to the shift from first to last and back again.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/september2005.html
Jonah 3:10-4:11 or Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 or Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
Sitting on the shore of a great lake, with a state forest behind, it is easy to note that the context of our viewing/participating in life affects much. Here it is easy to note that when the Israelites of old heard G*D was coming they turned toward the wilderness. From whence else might G*D come? Everything else is too close to the usual sources of our complaining - inconveniences that don't match our projected desires.
For the preacher types it might be worth an intentional relocation of your reflection/writing/preparation time to meet G*D in your nearest wilderness. Yes, that might be a city as wide as Ninevah.
Jesus' story of a landlord hiring city folk to work a day or an hour brings together the rural and urban at a point of tension - the harvesting and consuming of food. At this point it is easy to find a dissatisfaction with life and a need to turn toward that strange wilderness of generosity beyond comprehension. Doesn't real generosity challenge all the structures we have put up around ourselves? In doing such we are again faced with a survival question - to protect ourselves from economic wildness do we need to give up radical generosity that comes with G*D from that same wilderness we have turned away from?
- - -
from the white breakers
methodically rolling on shore
to the indigo line
of the wide horizon
a circle wider than a rainbow
wraps a circle
around my eyes
there is no room
for personal ipod sounds
as giga-billions of rock washings
bring more sand to shore
slowing a stride to a stroll
until a next step
is taken in silence
with sight and sound
rhythmically cared for
doors to a wilderness within
crack open a bit
and with attention elsewhere
being a dance
to give themselves away