the adventures of retirement
From Sunday’s lectionary, “They came to Jericho…”.
God help me to break down the walls
that separate me from others;
the walls of hatred or suspicion,
the walls of difference,
the walls that keep me comfortable.
God break once again the wall between you and me,
help me to know Jesus more closely,
and walk with him more eagerly.
In the gospel reading from Sunday’s lectionary, Bartimaeus, who cannot see, wants to meet Jesus. The crowd try to prevent him – maybe because their logic says he must be a sinner, or because they consider him unclean, or because they want Jesus for themselves, or because they are annoyed that arranging for him to go to Jesus might be an inconvenience.
Sometimes it is frustrating or inconvenient dealing with people who have disabilities. Well, just think how frustrating life is for them! By the arrangements we all make though, we can can make life work for everyone, and affirm everyone’s humanity. I would like to think that when Jesus taught about a Kingdom of God in which the last would be first, and love was above all, he was pointing us to the ways we can take a step towards putting that Kingdom into practice. And one step towards it, I think, is by making life work for everyone – this too is a kind of healing – of broken community.
I seem to make more mistakes when I am tired. Apologies for getting the name of Old House Farm wrong yesterday.
Meanwhile, with Sunday’s lectionary, I find it hard to integrate the ending of the Job story into my worldview. After all the suffering and heartache and pleading and … stuff, there’s a happy ending in which Job has his wealth restored and more (he has to concede that God’s the boss first). It’s just that in my experience there’s a lot of people who just don’t get a happy ending of that kind. It’s been suggested that the beginning and end of Job belong together, maybe as an even more ancient story, and the middle bit, the meat, the part to which I can relate, was authored separately. Anyway, there you go – a work in progress in my head.
The Jeremiah reading speaks of an emotional homecoming. It may not have to be a literal homecoming. I recall the feeling of worshipping for the first time in retirement at a new church. It wasn’t even the same denomination – but for some reason it felt like a homecoming.
Lectionary later
In today’s Lectionary, Hebrews chapter 5 compares Jesus to a high priest in the (then) Jewish tradition. It’s not a part of the Bible I find particularly helpful, because that’s not where I’m coming from. But I wonder what comparisons a 21st century person might make?
We thank you God,
for the abundant green earth,
for the cycle of life,
for the trees that, as they die,
feed the earth,
for food, for minerals, for water,
for Jesus and your goodness to us.
From Sunday’s Lectionary (Mark 10:42ff) – “So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognise as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”– a bit different, eh?
