Saturday, July 31, 2010
Again there is such connection between the two readings. The sentence of death meted out to Jeremiah is challenged and changed by the people, standing over against the priests and prophets.
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Friday, July 30, 2010
Prophets comfort or confront the people and the powerful. Today we hear the Lord’s promise of disaster unless the people listen to Jeremiah.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Jeremiah watches the potter make, and then re-make a vessel. God reminds us that we are clay. God can form and re-form us.
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Poor Jeremiah is on an emotional rollercoaster, and all because of his relationship with his Lord. From joy to pain, and an indictment of God’s own fickleness: “Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook, whose waters fail."
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Tuesday, July 27, 2010
It seems that in the first part of our Jeremiah reading that God is speaking, weeping over the destruction of God’s people. Then we speak, with Jeremiah: “Have you struck us down?…we look for peace…for a time of healing…we set all our hope on you.”
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Monday, July 26, 2010
Today we celebrate grandparents, ancestors, the elderly. We are offered a chance to contemplate the foremothers and forefathers of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010
Abraham models a reverent insistence in his begging God. “Far be it from you,” he dares to tell God, to allow any unjust destruction. On the day Abraham called, God responded; “on the day I called,” we pray in the psalm, “you answered me."
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Saturday, July 24, 2010
On July 12, Isaiah announced the same message as Jeremiah does today: “act justly, do not oppress the alien, the orphan and the widow, do not shed innocent blood…” If the people of Israel didn't "get it", have we?
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Friday, July 23, 2010
After describing a farmer sowing seed hither and yon, describing how much is lost, finally Jesus proclaims that what was sown on good soil, “this is the one who hears the word and understands it.”
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Thursday, July 22, 2010
Magdalene is not her last name, this dear friend and disciple of Jesus. She comes from the town of Magdala, clinging to the barren ground just above Capernaum and overlooking the sea of Galilee
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Today we are told of God’s call to Jeremiah. He protests, “I am only a boy!” but God protests more effectively, promising to deliver him.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
As we know, prophets usually speak God’s word to the people, but today we hear Micah praying on behalf of the people, asking for shepherding and food.
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Monday, July 19, 2010
So frequently this spring and summer we have heard God say through the psalmist, I don’t want your bloody sacrifices. “Those honor me who bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Today’s theme is hospitality, so evident in the vivid description of Abraham, ancient dignitary that he was, running hither and yon to be sure his guests were refreshed and well fed. The psalm describes who may enjoy the hospitality of God’s tent. As we move through Luke’s gospel, we meet Martha and Mary of Bethany.
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Saturday, July 17, 2010
God is so angry and punishing according to Micah, and again double-speak in the antiphon: “Do not forget the poor!”
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Friday, July 16, 2010
On July 2, we heard Matthew’s good news in the context of his own call to discipleship, repeated here, Jesus quoting God’s word: “’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”
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Thursday, July 15, 2010
Isaiah is quietly waiting for God, yearning in the night. “You will ordain peace for us.”
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Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Double-speak can make us crazy, and that is what we get today from God’s rage against the people, “sending wasting sickness against the stout warriors.” We are to respond: Thanks be to God, and go right into the antiphon: “God will not abandon God’s people.” Can you believe it? Jesus moves us to more calm, thanking God for revealing “these things to infants; yes, Father, for such is your gracious will.” What are “these things”? Probably that “no one knows the Father except the Son and the ones whom the Son chooses to reveal God.”
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Tuesday, July 13, 2010
More warfare, but Isaiah’s message to the king is one of hope. Trust God. And the psalm repeats: God alone rules the great city of Zion, God is its defense.
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Monday, July 12, 2010
Isaiah announces how fed up God is with sacrifices, blood and smoke, and concludes today with: “Learn to do good. Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
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Sunday, July 11, 2010
An alternate psalm is suggested, Psalm 19 which praises the Law. Perhaps it is a response to the “commandment” which Moses hands on to the people in the first reading.
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Saturday, July 10, 2010
“Here I am! Send me!” cries Isaiah, overwhelmed by the beauty and holiness of God.
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Friday, July 9, 2010
Today it is God who is gentle and Jesus who promises persecution. Hosea continues the theme of turning and returning.
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Thursday, July 8, 2010
Jesus offers more and quite specific instruction to the Twelve, repeating some of Luke’s Sunday gospel: “Let your peace come upon that house…shake off the dust from your feet.”
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Now the people insult God, crying: “We do not fear the Lord.” But the psalmist opposes this: “Seek the God’s presence continually.”
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The laughing at Jesus turns more vicious today; his enemies claim that his power comes from demons. In Hosea, God is furious with the people’s idolatry and threatens to return them to slavery in Egypt.
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Monday, July 5, 2010
According to Hosea, God lures us, God’s people, into the wilderness, far from distraction, to speak to our hearts of love.
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Sunday, July 4, 2010
May pastors and choir directors in the United States spare us the patriotic hymns. The message Jesus sends us out with is “Peace to this house.” If peace is not welcomed, “we wipe the dust off our feet in protest against you.”
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Saturday, July 3, 2010
Good news! We are no longer strangers and aliens. We are built on the cornerstone of Christ
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Friday, July 2, 2010
God is very angry and threatening a famine “of hearing the words of the Lord.” People shall rush about looking for God, but Jesus knows just where to find God: in Matthew sitting in his tax collector’s booth. The Pharisees do not know where to find God. They go behind Jesus’ back to question his disciples. Jesus says (and in Matthew’s gospel this saying is repeated): “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, do. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
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Thursday, July 1, 2010
These special readings for Canada Day celebrate the welcome to foreigners in Jerusalem, where those who live in God’s house sing God’s praise, and where everyone is blessed. Jesus “teaches” them, but more:
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