Next week is my last opportunity to host the Preachers’ Table. My parish is beginning an exciting journey of exploring the Scriptures that will require more of my attention than I can offer to both. We are looking for another host, or maybe a few hosts to keep the conversation going. If you are interested in joining a joyful and helpful team of volunteers moderators, please contact our online community coordinator.
Summer in the gospel of Luke is always a bit of a challenge. As I’ve been reading this week’s readings, particularly after the themes around money the past few weeks, I am drawn to trust: trusting God in adversity, God trusting us, our relationship with God through Christ and trusting the Holy Spirit to work in us.
God’s word to Jeremiah has always been an encouragement to me, especially in my young adulthood as I was moving through my career and into my vocation. While I am moving further away from my youthful insecurities, the idea of being called by God is still daunting. I am particularly struck this week by vv. 9-10 and the trust and authority God grants to us when we are called. It’s quite unbelievable to me. How do we receive this trust? Do we cower away from it? Do we bury our authority under the guise of good manners and respect? How do we claim this authority that God has granted to us?
In the psalm we read the words of one who has placed their entire trust in God. It is often when we reach rock bottom that we lay ourselves before God. But what if we aren’t? It seems to be our human instinct to rely on our own strength first and, then, when that fails, we then turn to God. As God has but such trust in us, can we turn to rely on God first and allow God to strengthen us?
The passage from Hebrews is a difficult one and can require a lot of unpacking. The beginning speaks of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and offers a chance to speak of God made flesh, that the intangible and vague has become more real to us through Jesus. We can also place our trust in the unshaking Kingdom of God.
When we get anxious, “the law” can become very comfortable. In our gospel reading, we encounter a group who are using the sabbath commandment as a reason to withhold compassion and healing from a woman. Can we trust our own conscience to act out of a relationship with Jesus rather than relying on the letter of the law?
What questions are you pondering this week?
