Monday, July 27, 2020 (today’s lectionary)
Let us break bread together
I feel much better today. Did a little shopping, got some bubbles to blow at Jasper’s one-year blow-out sugar-cake birthday party. He’ll be one year old on July 31. The last day of his first year is July 30, 2020. Andi remembers that day better than anyone, right?
How long is a year?
After a long interval the Lord said to Jeremiah,
Go and fetch what I told you to hide there.
But when I found it and shook it out,
It was rotted and good for nothing!
Not so for Andi, Jasper and Miles. Their life during the last 360+ days has grown more and more rich. The months since Andi’s school closed, and the school where Miles and Jasper attended also closed, have been months of relationship! Miles and Andi have cooked, walked, written Bible verses in colored chalk all over the sidewalk, and made art after art after art. Miles loves it all, whileJasper watches every minute and loves it too. His smiles are peaceful and his eyes are wide.
The Lord must be pleased as much as he was disturbed by Israel. Jeremiah the Prophet had his work cut out for him.
Could you not just cling to me, says the Lord,
You coulda been a contender!
You are my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.
But you would not listen.
Andi is diligent in her remembering.
You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
But we will not forget! The fruit of the spirit are written out on the bathroom mirror where Miles brushes his teeth more and more confidently.
There is a dignity offered to us humans. And with that dignity comes responsibility and privilege.
The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth
That WE might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
What harvest comes from this “birthing by the word of truth?”
Like a mustard seed, the smallest seed of all, becomes the largest of all plants,
This harvest starts small and grows until
Even the birds of the sky come down and sing in all the branches.
In the midst of their song, God calls out to us:
Sing with me, children,
Come with me to the night kitchen
Let us knead bread till dawn, and taste the living water
While we will sing together, waking up all who sleep.
We will announce what has been hidden
From the foundation of the world!
(Jeremiah 13, Deuteronomy 32, James 1, Matthew 13)
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