Month: June 2022

Rejoice! Old days are
coming back: you’ll be lucky
to find a doctor.

A mother sobbing,
a child in fear of the gun;
these voices of God.

Enumerating
small sins is daft: there’s nothing
subtle anymore.

In Sunday’s lectionary, Paul writes to the Galatians…
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” (verse 6:2),
and…
“For all must carry their own loads.” (verse 6:5).

Now I can make some kind of sense of these separately. The first seems to be about love, caring for your brothers and sisters in Christ. The second is about not judging others, but making an honest assessment of your own performance. They don’t seem to agree with each other, though. Even a simple metaphor for the Christian life, like load-carrying, is so full of meanings that we must interpret it with care.

Paul also writes (verse 10), “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.” As God cares about everyone, Christian or otherwise, so must we. For instance, people of all faiths with a well-founded fear of persecution are entitled to be treated justly (and more) at our hands. There’s an extra bit in Galatians too, “…especially for those of the family of faith.” I guess that this comes from Paul’s care for the cohesion of the Christian community, and for this to be a witness to what human life could be like. He doesn’t want the dream to become a nightmare, as it so often can.

The branches bending
under the weight of the rain,
a blessing of tears.

 

In next Sunday’s Lectionary, Jesus sends his followers out to do the work of the Kingdom. He sends them in pairs – they will sometimes meet opposition – it could be a lonely and dispiriting task – the people will need to work in pairs for mutual support. This is a recognition of the practical human needs Jesus’ followers will have.

We are small people
with a big task: God help us
help one another.

A surprise when I zoomed in on this picture of the valley side…

Heavy masonry
crushing out the life in a
land already crushed.

In the latter to the Galatians in Sunday’s Lectionary, Paul declares, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” He then goes on to specify how the Christians must live! It just goes to show what a slippery concept freedom is. In the name of freedom, some people put others in chains.

As soon as someone says ‘ freedom’, just watch out.

Freedom is good for those who are oppressed, less good for those who are already powerful or privileged. Yet we human beings are so good at inventing stories to say why we are the oppressed people and we need a better chance than what we have – even when we are in fact powerful.

What lies behind Paul’s description of freedom is the notion that we are also constrained by love. So we must treat people right (and the planet FWIW).

‘Freedom of choice’ used to be a widely used mantra, and the underlying ideas haven’t gone away – far from it. But remember freedom of choice often depends on having plenty of money. People with little money also have very little freedom.

In the steamy air,
a mild glowing sweaty sun
brightens fleetingly.

Where has justice gone?
Where is honesty, the right?
The stream is dried up.

So here’s a picture of a squirrel instead…

…is that all there is now?

Birds are singing, sun
is making the leaves glow; and
still a world suffers.

Walking, and walking
under the midsummer sun;
it’s good when you stop.

Read the Bible and
know again how precious is
cool, running water.