James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a
Proper 20 (25) - Year B
Confession/Assurance [based on The Message]
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again.
They come about because we want our own way, and fight for it deep inside ourselves. We lust for what we don't have and are willing to kill to get it. We want what isn't ours and will risk violence to get our hands on it.
You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not?
Because we know we'd be asking for what we have no right to. We're spoiled children, each wanting our own way.
So let God's intention work in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch the scampering. Say a quiet yes to God and in no time you'll live together.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/september2003.html
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Proverbs 31:10-31 or Wisdom of Solomon 1:16-2:1, 12-22
Psalm 1 or Jeremiah 11:18-20 or Psalm 54
Mark 9:30-37
A gentleness born of wisdom beckons us closer and closer that, with its small hands, our large desires might be unbuttoned and left to drop as a marker of a holy place - a burden was dropped here.
Those places where many burdens drop become our cathedrals, temples, churches in wildwoods, thin places. They are rightly revered. But no more so than where a single burden was laid to rest. Even as disciples have argued as to who was the greatest, so we struggle within and between various spiritual traditions as to loci of holiness.
Wisdom gentles us to appreciate the smallest of new beginnings as equal with the largest of sacraments. This goes beyond issues of right and wrong to a center-spot welcoming. Whether forgiven much or little we honor each forgiveness, each release.
- - -
flames signify
a release
a solid lets go
a puff of gas
upon an airy eddy
adds to an unpredictable
rising up
wavering light
strong enough
to attract moths
and hold bears at baywe add our bodies
to the kindling
of a funeral pyre
honoring a past
past its time
in anticipation
of a new phoenix
for its moment
strong enough
to call us back
and send us forth
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
Wisdom literature tends to have simplistic and dualistic rules. James' community is persecuted and it is to be expected that wisdom's black-and-white, this-and-that choices will be attractive. The same is true today when a sense of persecution is internal rather than external. [You may be interested in an online study of James.]
A broader approach is that of an on-going relationship with G*D and Neighbor, rather than generalized moralities that are always open to interpretation in any given circumstance - "You weren't being kind." "Was too!" and around and around.
Draw nearer to G*D and Neighbor. In that interplay there will be life and confusion and error, but always growth. Without such risky interplay there is deadly stasis, prelude for a violent revolution. Keep growing toward an embrace of G*D, Neighbor, and Yourself, even without a guaranteed clarity of either/or.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html
Interesting how inversions cast an important light on on-going realities.
It is one thing to suggest that envy and selfish ambition come from within and purity and gentility are from some far off place.
It is quite another to posit that creation is good and that when we lose track of the elements of everyday life by fantasizing power, plotting wealth, and competing unfairly we are dealing with external idolatries.
If we were to stand this apology for external goodness on its head we may be able to end on a different note — Draw near to your created intention and gift and you draw near to G*D as well.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/09/james-313-43-7-8a.html