Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Adventurous Lectionary – Ninth Sunday of Pentecost – July 21

Adventurous Lectionary – Ninth Sunday of Pentecost – July 21

Last updated on: July 13, 2024 at 5:22 pm by Bruce Epperly

0 Comments

Adventurous Lectionary – Ninth Sunday of Pentecost – July 21 2024-07-13T17:22:45-04:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – July 21, 2024

2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Psalm 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

God’s covenant embraces all of us, promising more than we can ask or imagine. How do we best align ourselves with God’s vision of abundant life for us and those we love? How do we open to the sacredness of the present moment and also for the long haul? How do we find peace and healing, calm and contemplation, in a frantic and busy world? Those are some of the questions, this week’s lectionary provokes.

In today’s scripture, God is looking for a home. God is tired of being a wanderer and wants a house to dwell in. While God is universal and unconfined by human buildings or doctrines, certain spots become sacred to us; they are “thin places” where heaven and earth meet and humanity can experience holiness. The passage from Samuel explores the quest for such a sacred spot. The passage explores the nature of God’s covenant with David and his descendants. It affirms that although God travels with us, and is the source of David’s successes, God also seeks a permanent dwelling. God is never abstract, but always concrete and that means God is in this place and we know it!

The locality of God does not to suggest that God is limited to one place, the Jerusalem Temple or our own congregations, but that certain places can be focal points of our faith and of God’s presence. Every religion claims to have holy places where heaven is transparent to human experience. These holy spots suggest that in certain spots there is a greater sense of the holy and quite possibly a greater manifestation of divine energy and inspiration. Samuel sees these as covenantal spots, revelatory of God’s special relationship to certain people, such as David, and nations, such as Israel.

The passage from Samuel begs the questions: Can God choose to be more fully present in some places than others? Is there a synergy between divine call and human response that makes certain times and places unique? What about the rest of the world – is it merely opaque and secular?

Where is your sacred space? Where have you experienced the “thin places” of divine revelation?

It is good to have a Temple for the Holy One. But, is the erection of a temple or any other sacred space a potential impediment to experiencing God in the everyday and domestic moments of life? In locating God primarily in one place, do we freeze God, thus creating the dichotomy of sacred and profane? It is imperative in this rapidly changing time in which more and more people declare themselves as “nones” or “spiritual but not religious” that we do not restrict our faith to our sanctuaries, but create sanctuaries without walls. Wherever we are God is with us, revealing Godself, even if some places more dynamically speak God’s presence to us.

The words of Psalm 89 speak of an eternal covenant with David and his descendants. Despite their waywardness, God will not forsake David’s children. God is faithful even when we are unfaithful. There are consequences to turning away from God, and these include loss and destruction, national upheaval, and economic catastrophe. Yet God will remain faithful over the long haul. Our waywardness is not an impediment to God’s covenantal love. This passage also begs the questions: What is God’s role in the consequences of our waywardness? Are these consequences a matter of divine blessing or punishment, focusing on God’s initiative or primarily a result of our closedness to divine energy? Does God directly punish us or let nature take its course? When we turn away, do we block the fullness of divine power and love and thus lose blessings we might otherwise receive?

The words of Ephesians affirm that in Christ, God has made peace with all peoples, insiders and outsiders alike. Although the laws of Moses have been relativized, the covenant with David has not been nullified. God’s covenant with Israel has been expanded to include all humanity. The law is no longer a dividing line, creating a chasm between the clean and unclean, but has been transformed to inspire and shape all humanity. Ephesians affirms that Christ is our peace, our unity, joining diverse and otherwise divided people into one community of love. Gentiles, representative of the whole earth, are no longer aliens but God’s beloved. There are no aliens anymore; all persons are encompassed by God’s covenant of grace. Does the affirmation “aliens and strangers no longer” pertain to our current political situation? If God has no aliens, should we? While this cannot entirely determine public policy, it certainly shapes our response to undocumented residents, refugees, and aliens on the borderlands? Compassion, not demonization, is demanded among those who have experienced God’s grace?

Mark’s Gospel portrays the interplay of compassion and action in ministry and everyday life. The disciples are so busy doing good works that they barely have time to eat. This is a curious observation by Mark, but I would suggest an important one: the busyness of ministry can lead to burnout. We can wear ourselves out by the tasks of ministry and find ourselves emotionally, spiritually, and relationally drained. Jesus recognizes their needs, and perhaps his own, and gives them time to recover their wholeness. They go on a brief retreat to a deserted place. This retreat may be as much for Jesus as his followers, for the demands of ministry are great and in Mark’s chronology Jesus’ spiritual friend John the Baptist has just been murdered by Herod. Perhaps, Jesus needs to recuperate and regain his own spiritual centeredness in the midst of grief and the demands of ministry. The benefits of retreat for Jesus are obvious. He returns to work with compassion and empathy. His heart goes out to those seeking his care; they are not nuisances but sheep without a shepherd, to be cared for and led to discover their own wholeness.

This passage is directed to our congregants as well as ourselves. Busyness is the name of the came in the 21st century. Some is imposed on us and some is chosen. We scroll incessantly. Phone calls and e-mail are always urgent and demand immediate response. We overbook ourselves with children’s and youth activities and are too tired to make it to church. Finding an hour for confirmation class is a near impossibility!

Our work and Jesus’ work as well is never completed. The work of healing is life-long. In the wake of feeding five thousand, the demands become even greater. The needs are immense and so are the calls for compassion and energy, and peace. Yet, Jesus the healer is with us and when we reach out to him, we receive grace and healing.

This week’s scriptures invite us to awaken to God’s “covenant of wholeness.” God wants us to have abundant life and provides practices to nurture well-being in the midst of our busy lives. Congregants as well as laypeople need to make a commitment to intentional times of retreat on daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The interplay of action and contemplation, work and rest, commitment and retreat, are necessities for busy pastors and parents, retired boomers and active millennials. Pause awhile and know that God is with us. Experience Sabbath.

The “so what” in this passage is the recognition that although the demands of our professional and personal lives will continue, we can find wholeness by remembering to pause and rest and open to God’s sustaining presence. The adventurous pastor needs to develop her or his own spiritual practices and provide guidance and opportunities to congregants. Hurry sickness can be transformed into time spaciousness when we open to “thin places” of God’s everlasting grace and holy infinity.

If you focus on the gospel passage, you may choose to provide an opportunity following worship for congregants to reflect on ways they can find spiritual refreshment. A basic course in contemplative prayer, meditation, or stress reduction would be an appropriate response to the gospel.

(For more on practices of wholeness in ministry that can be translated for lay folk, see Bruce Epperly, A Center in the Cyclone: 21st Century Clergy Self-Care and Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry; Kirk Byron Jones, Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers.)

+++

Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, and author of over eighty books, “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet,” “Process and Politics,” Spirituality, Simplicity, and Service: The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure,” and “The Elephant is Running: Process and Open and Relational Theology and Religious Pluralism.” His most recent books are “The God of Tomorrow: Whitehead and Teilhard on Metaphysics, Mysticism, and Mission” and “Head, Heart, and Hands: An Introduction to St. Bonaventure.”

Previous Post

July 7, 2024

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 14, 2024

Next Post

July 22, 2024 Adventurous Lectionary - Tenth Sunday of Pentecost - July 28

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... siz siz olun gelin"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Caesar or Jesus: A Palm Sunday ..."

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... harikalar diyarı"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Power of love is far more beautiful and effective than the love of power. "The ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Ash Wednesday, 2026The 40 Days and Three Tests of Jesus in the DesertThe joy these ..."

Joris Heise

The First Sunday in Lent – ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz