Thursday, November 24, 2022

Queerying Narative Lectionary 113

ID: a scene from the 2007 film "Sunshine" where a character stands in silhouette against the backdrop of the brightness of the sun. The following text is in a box to the right of the image: "Narrative Lectionary/Year 1 - November 27, 2022/Faith as a Way of Life/Habakkuk 1:1-7; 2:1-4; 3:[3b-6], 17-19" followed by the diakonia.faith logo
Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary reading.

Habakkuk 1:1-7; 2:1-4; 3:[3b-6], 17-19
1:1The message that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

Habakkuk's request to God:
2Hey Becoming One, how long shall I beg for help,
and you won't listen to me?
Or like cry out to you "Look at this violence!"
and you will not bring salvation?
3Why do you make me see all these awful things, all this suffering
and make me look at trouble?
Destruction, devastation, and violence are all before me;
turmoil, violent divisions, keep arising.
4So the laws meant to protect people are ignored
and justice never prevails.
The wicked, the oppressors, the evil surround the righteous–
therefore judgment, what little there is, comes forth broken and incomplete.
God's response to the prophet:
5Look at all of the nations and see what is happening!
Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done right now in your very lifetime
that you would not believe is happening even if you were told.
6For I am rousing the Chaldeans from their slumber,
that fierce and anxious nation,
who march through the entirety of the known earth
to seize and colonize lands that are not their own.
7Indeed, they bring dread and fear wherever they go;
they put the law into their own hands and bring honor only to themselves.
[…]

Habakkuk responded:
2:1I will stand at my watch-post,
and keep watch on the ramparts;
I will keep watch to see what Shee will say to me,
and what She will answer concerning my complaint.
2Then the Becoming One answered me and said:
Write this vision down,
meme-ify it and post it to the socials
so that anyone even scrolling through their feeds will be able to read it.
3For there is still a vision for the time to come that I have appointed
it speaks of the end of all things and it does not lie.
Even if it seems like the appointed time is forever away, wait for it anyway;
it will surely come, I promise. It will not be delayed.
4Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right within them,
but the righteous live by their faith.
[…]

[3:3bGod's glory covered the cosmos,
and the ground beneath us was full of Her praise.
4The brightness was so bright, it was like the surface of the sun;
rays of sunlight came forth from the Becoming One's hand,
where Her power lay hidden behind the light.
5Before the Becoming One went out a plague,
and in Her footsteps was left a pandemic.
6She stopped and Her stopping shook the entire earth;
with one look all the peoples of all the nations trembled in fear.
The tallest mountains were shattered;
along the ancient pathways,
the everlasting hills sank to the ground.]
[…]

17Though the fig tree is not in bloom,
and there are no fruit on the vines;
though the olive trees aren't bringing forth olives
and the fields aren't giving forth food;
though the flock appears lost and cut off from the herd
and there are no animals in the stalls,
18I will still rejoice in the Becoming one;
I will find joy in the God/ess of my salvation.
19God/ess, the Becoming One, is my strength;
She makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and allows me to tread upon the cliffs with no fear of falling.

To the leader: with stringed instruments.

Queeries for the text: What is this building on?
What is missing from this passage?
What is the companion text?
Where is this headed?
What does it mean to put the law into your own hands?
How does one watch and wait for the divine?
Why does a pandemic follow in the footsteps of the divine?
How bright is the light of the sun?

What are your queeries?




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