30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Exodus 22: 20-26
   
2. Psalm 18: 2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
   
3. I Thessalonians 1: 5c-10
   
4. Matthew 22: 34-40
   

• Learning compassion
  
• Marginalized, disenfranchised, silenced all describe those who have no voice, no champion, and often no hope.  God looks for those among His people who can champion those who would otherwise have none.
• Have you ever stood up for someone, even though you were unsure or had reason to be afraid of what would happen?
• What made you take that stance?
• How did the person receive your support?
• Would you do it again?
  

• Our God is an awesome God
  
• In our culture, strength comes in many forms.  There's the body-builder sort of strength, which, while impressive seldom inspires.  There strength of purpose that gives one the ability to persevere in spite of overwhelming odds and opposition.  From that strength can spring leadership.
  
• Have you ever had to pray for perseverance?
• How did you come to that point that you needed to make that prayer?
• What made you think that God would answer you?
• What might the difference be between perseverance and triumph?
  

• Finding joy
  
• Joy in life is something that God calls all of us to.  Joy is not so much something that happens to us, but our response to life.
• What brings you joy?
• Would you say that is a gift, something that you earned, something that you achieved?
• How has that joy changed your life?
• Would it weaken your relationship with God if that joy were to suddenly vanish, for whatever reason?
  

• Finding context
  
• Our image of God is often the sum total of everything that we have come to attribute to God, good and bad alike.  Sometimes, that image of God needs to be challenged.
• Do you see God as someone watching you, taking notes of your responses to life, in some sort of clinically detached way?
• Or is God more like a companion on the way who is with you in all things, no matter what?
• Have you ever felt abandoned by God?
• What made you doubt that He was there for you?
• Do you think that there can be healing, even in the midst of that hurt, even now?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God inviting me to be more like Him in compassion?
   
2. Where is God calling me to celebrate the perseverance that He has gifted me with?
   
3. Where is God revealing Himself to me in joy?
   
4. Where is God calling me to healing and a deeper love?

What I don't know yet

Would fill a vast library floor to ceiling, wall to wall.
I doubt that things will be much different by the time that I die.

I don't know why innocent children are born with defects,
Or why it seems as though new diseases are always emerging.

I don't know why there is never enough time in the day
To get to all of the things that I want to get done.

I don't know why the golden years of life don't seem so golden.
And I don't know why I didn't learn more when I was younger.

I don't know why I seem to have more or less the same sins
That I've been struggling with for years on end.

I don't know why I have so little to say in the face of grief.
But at least I've learned not to try to come up with a pat answer.

I don't know why wisdom seems so elusive to me at my age
But at least I know enough to seek wisdom, knowing its quiet value.

I don't know why we cannot get the occasional vacation from life - just relax, enjoy, indulge.

But I've learned to find comfort in life's steady, and yet chaotic rhythms.

But I do know that God, somehow, is present in all these things.
His love never failing in its intimate presence.

His arm around my waist supporting me.

His heart beating next to mine.

And I know that the best that He has to offer me -

Is for me to learn to do the same to those He brings into my life.

Shalom!