What does this week's lectionary tell us about what Jesus will do for our lives?
What changes, from God and from my own self, do I need to open myself up to?
What fearful and wonderful things about who you are has God been waiting, on the edge of Xyr seat with joy, for you to grow into?
What in our past can we now seek to make amends for? To whom can we reach out for reparation and reconciliation?
What things must we let go of in order to build a better life that honors ourselves, our community, and our God?
-----
River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Becoming One:
“Go down to the house of a potter, and there I will impart My words to you.”
So I went down to the house of a potter, and found her working at the wheel.
And if the vessel she was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter’s
hands, she would make it into another vessel, such as the potter saw fit to make.
Then the word of the Becoming One came to me:
O House of Israel, can I not deal with you like this potter?—says the Becoming One. Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands, O House of Israel!
At one moment I may decree that a nation or a state shall be uprooted and pulled down and destroyed; but if that nation against which I made the decree turns back from its wickedness, I change My mind concerning the punishment I planned to bring on it.
At another moment I may decree that a nation or a state shall be built and planted;
but if it does what is displeasing to Me and does not obey Me, then I change My mind concerning the good I planned to bestow upon it.
And now, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus said the Becoming One:
I am devising disaster for you and laying plans against you. Turn back, each of you,
from your wicked ways, and mend your ways and your actions!
Queeries for the text:
What do potters make today?
How can we make something new out of mistakes?
How have people mistreated the earth?
What hope is there to avoid disaster?
-----
While many of these are the same as were accidentally queeried last week, there are a few different queeries and a different translation to explore.
Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.
25Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, 26“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when you have laid a foundation and are not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule you, 30saying, ‘This one began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what ruler, going out to wage war against another ruler, will not sit down first and consider whether they are able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against them with twenty thousand? 32If they cannot, then, while the other is still far away, they send a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33So therefore, none of you can become my chosen family if you do not give up all your possessions.
Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Who hates family?
How are nonbinary people uniquely lovable?
Who hates life?
How do humans hate life?
How are building cost estimates inaccurate?
Who actually builds towers?
How is peace negotiated?
What harm does war cause?
What are your queeries?
No comments:
Post a Comment