Weekly Readings Reflections: January 2019

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

I wish that someone had taken notes when Ezra the scribe interpreted the word for the Israelites that day.
If Ezra had done that reading some other time, some other circumstance, how do you think that interpretation would have been different?
Who is it in our day, who interprets God's Word for us?
How do they qualify for that role?
How do we?

Just how does the Word of God guide you?
What practice(s) do you use to allow that Word to speak to you?
What would you say is the distinction between knowledge of God's Word, and wisdom?
Is that Word static, that is never changing, or dynamic in your life?
How does that Word come to you?

Reader's Digest used to publish an occasional article titled "I'm Joe's <fill in the organ here> as a way of personalizing the various organs of the body. The article would then give you a first-person account of what it's like to be that part of Joe's body, and often, how that organ would prefer to be treated, if only Joe would listen.
How did you get into the ministry/ministries that you are in today?
Are you still giving life in that calling, or are you doing it just because that's what you have always done?
How do you know when it's time to move on?
Who does that moving, you, the Spirit, those around you in ministry ...?

You have to wonder what made Jesus announce Himself in Nazareth. Certainly that was not any sort of a media hub or place of note. Those who knew Him growing up doubtless expected Him to settle down, and live out a normal life.
What sort of expectations did you grow up with?
Did you end up fulfilling all of those expectations?
Did your parents ever tell you that you were, in some way, special?
How did you discern what "special" meant?
Is that destiny still unfolding?

Shalom!

Our readings for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

Think back to some point in time when your parents were really proud of you. Maybe so much so that they included you in the family Christmas letter, or told other relatives about what you had done, or pointed out that athletic trophy that you had won to anyone who would listen to them.
What was it that made them so enthusiastic about that accomplishment?
Do you think that your achievement made them love you any more?
What things that we do will make God rejoice over us?
Do you think that He loves us any more for doing those things?
They why bother?

God rules over all of the earth, every ruler on earth only exercises authority that God has given them.
If that's so, how do you explain truly crummy government officials, countries whose entire government is rife with corruption, politicians who are corrupt?
What is our obligation as God's citizens?
How do we tell if/when civil disobedience is called for?

A promising high school student takes a battery of tests, and if they are lucky, those tests validate that the student in question is gifted.
Do you ever wish that you could take some sort of standardized test to find out what your spiritual gifts are (assuming that there is even a name for what you have)?
If you did know what those gifts are, how would that change things for you?

I Joshua 3: 1-17 the Israelites crossed the Jordan river even though it was in flood at the time. To do so, they had to follow the Ark of the Covenant. The waters did not part until the sandals of the priests carrying the Ark touched the waters' edge.
What are some miracles in your life that occurred because you were willing to do some part in the process?
What do you think would have happened if you had not picked up and done your part?
Why do you think that God asks us to participate in miracles so often?

Shalom!

Our readings for the Baptism of the Lord are:

The word victory conjures up military, or at best athletic images in our minds. But other victories at at least possible: trust victorious over fear, justice victorious over oppression, kindness victorious over hatred.
Have you witnessed any of that latter sort of victories in your own life?
In a military setting, once the conflict is over, the combatants negotiate a treaty which hopefully safeguards the new order, and prevents a recurrence of battle. In these other victories, are there treaties signed?
Why or why not?

Kings and queens go to some lengths to assert their awesomeness. Grand palaces give testimony to the wealth of their nation, standing armies are a tribute to their might, some of the more enlightened might point to the arts as testimony of their culture.
If you wanted to prove to someone that our God is awesome, what would you point out to them?
Why do you think it is that God demonstrates His awesomeness the way that He does?
What does that say about God's values?
Where do your values/instincts differ from Gods?

In liturgical theology the Church speaks of symbols and signs. Symbols merely serve to remind us of spiritual realities. The crucifix, icons, the stations of the cross all point to deeper realities beyond the physical. Signs go deeper. They convey what they signify. The sacraments and their material aspects are signs. For instance, matrimony, properly celebrated, merely starts at the wedding. The ongoing celebration of that sacrament in the love between the couple shared with the community conveys what it signifies, the very love of God for all of humankind.
John is an icon of humility, emphatically telling the crowds that he was just a means to an end, and so it is with the rest of us.
Have you ever had to remind someone that it is not you, but Christ within you accomplishing something?
How can we practice humility more deliberately?

Shalom!