Weekly Readings Reflections: 7th Sunday of Easter

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Our readings for the 7th Sunday of Easter are:

No one likes a meeting without an agenda. Without clear goals a group of folks can conversationally wander the Sinai Peninsula for a long time and accomplish nothing. We used to term that "death by meeting."
But sometimes, agendas fall short. When you pray, do you always have an agenda, a list of things to pray about?
Does your prayer ever change along the way?
Do you ever change in the course of prayer?

All of us want to have a sense of belonging, a sure knowledge that we are exactly where we can do the most good, be the most fulfilled, in short, find holiness.
Where do you belong? Is that a place, a community, an activity, a time?
How did you find that house of belonging?
How are you helping others to belong there as well?

In a way, Jesus was an ambitious activist. Rather than try to bring about justice through reform in social structures, governments, even culture, He went to the heart of things, our hearts. He suffered, not so much because others didn't understand Him, but because they didn't have the courage to see the growth opportunities that Jesus offered.
What are the great causes in your life? Where are you trying to make a difference?
How have those causes challenged, and changed you?

The context for this prayer of Jesus' is set just before His betrayal. He knows that His time here is just about over. Perhaps Jesus knows that His passion is the only way to complete His work.
When have you had to leave something behind for something else?
How did you find that the time had come for that transition? Maybe it was getting married, or moving to a new city, taking on a new ministry and leaving an old, familiar one behind.
If you could have had it all, that is you could somehow step into that new opportunity as well as hang on to the old and familiar, would you?
Why?

Shalom!

Weekly Readings Reflections