Monday, October 12, 2020 (today’s lectionary)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free
Stand firm then, and do not …
Do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
This freedom is the great gift of being human. We are made in the imago dei, and that image of God means freedom. Freedom TO love, and freedom FROM fear. We simply need to step into it. It’s the free gift, always there a blink away, and God expects us to accept it.
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
We are driving south today through forests and towns, and autumn leaves fall around us. In this block of Toyota-Prius-white steel we are sheltered, from the leaves of course but mostly from the storms of people living all around the highway. Their joys and sorrows belong to them alone, not at all to us except as we imagine.
Or if not a car, then I’m probably in my own locked house, unavailable and uninviting. I’m free to love, but then I put armor around to protect myself (from what?) and fight back that freedom. There is something to be said for the journeys of Johnny Appleseed, who sought shelter every evening at a different farm, getting to know the people, singing with them, and praying for each other.
“Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseed.”
From the rising to the setting of the sun
Is the name of the Lord to be praised.
Who is like the Lord our God?
He raises up the lowly from the dust.
Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.
If you’ve seen the movie Deliverance, what do you remember? For me the scenes of wonderful river wild are blocked by the cynicism and ignorance of the travelers, and the vicious carelessness of those who lived beside the banks. Even the communion of banjo and guitar, driven by a blind boy’s rhythm, barely got started before some ancient distrust rose up and stopped it cold.
Confusion is the best you can say about these characters’ state of mind. Even their offers, and expectations, of grace and mercy were manipulative. No wonder so many of us give up on God. There is little fruit for lovers outside the garden of Eden. If all we have is the apples from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that’s sustenance only for a moment. Soon we will be starving.
Jesus’s words today point to something.
There is something greater than Solomon here.
There is something greater than Jonah here.
What is there here that is so great? We seek a sign, Jesus says, and turn away from what the signs have been pointing to all along. “Follow me, and I will teach you to be lovers. You CAN, as I show you how, love God and love your neighbor.
“Won’t you let ME love YOU?” he asks. “In my love comes the teaching, and you will learn to pass it on. You will learn the art of loving from the inside out.”
There is something greater here. Greater here. Greater here. And in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, it’s for you.
(Galatians 4-5, Psalm 113, Psalm 95, Luke 11)
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