26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Numbers 11: 25-39
2. Psalms 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14
3. James 5: 1-6
4. Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48

• Membership criteria
• Confirmation retreats are often a time of bonding teenagers into community.  But the question is, is it the music that they share that weekend, the experiences, the talks, their common community at Church, their commonality of culture and age, ... that made them a community?
• Think of some of the communities that you belong to.  What single thing do you all have in common that really binds you together, really makes a cohesive whole out of you?
• Do you think that everyone in the community has that same thing in mind?
• What do you thing should bind you together as a community?

• Curing my blind spots
• Each of us has a blind spot or two in our lives, particularly about ourselves.
• How have you become aware of some of those blind spots?
• How was your life changed by that new knowledge?
• How can we be more objective about ourselves? 

• Prophetic in humility
• Gandhi stands as as the 21st century's emblem of non-violent protest, and the power that can have to make changes happen in our world.  No one would ever accuse Gandhi of weakness or cowardice.
• Most likely, none of us feels that we have much influence over others, but we do have some "pull" with some people, sometimes more than we know.
• Is there anyone in your life who need someone to stand up for them, someone to help them through something in life.
• Why aren't you that someone?

• How big is your tent?
• A joke that I heard once is here.  I think that it's worth a read.
• What things have to be true about someone before they can show you something of Jesus?
• When was the last time that you experienced God from an unexpected source?
• How was it that you knew God was there?
• Why did you not expect to find Him there?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What have I done to build community this week?
2. Do I humbly seek God's insight into my life, my motivations, my limitations, or would I just as soon not hear about that in my prayer life?
3. Who in my life am I willing to go to bat for?
4. Who am I excluding from those that God can use to minister to me?

Shalom!