July 7, 2024
Today’s Readings
Ezekiel 2:2-5
Responsorial Psalm 123:1-4
Second Letter of Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth English
Homily
Up until this week’s readings I never realized that Louis Armstrong and Harry Bellefonte were Prophets. Each recorded and made famous the song “Ezekiel Saw De Wheel”. “Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the sky. The big wheel run by faith. The little wheel run by the Grace of God. A wheel in a wheel way up in the middle of the sky”. Oh, and don’t forget Woody Guthrie, he sang it also.
So why did this passage from Hebrew Scripture cause so much attention? Much attention, it seems, has been given to the Prophet Ezekiel. God spoke directly to Ezekiel in the form of a Spirit. God revealed that He was sending him to Israel to tell the people to repent. And to let the people know that a Prophet had been among them. The visions and prophecies
were written during the Babylonian Exile and shed new understanding on theological and religious constructs.
I get a little uneasy feeling reading the Second reading from Saint Paul, that I am not quite as elevated as he. My thorns hurt. I try to put balm on the irritation. I am not sure that I have welcomed them. So, what can I take and learn from Saint Paul? First, he has an enviable grip on his ego. God gives, he receives with humility. Where I need to grow is truly believing that God’s grace is sufficient for me. To Win, I must Lose my Self Will. Second, I can continue to look to Scripture for lessons and learning.
This week’s readings really speak to me. However, Mark's Gospel has a bullseye on me. I can get all puffy and criticize Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. He, Jesus, was teaching…and so OK, maybe doing a little healing on the Sabbath. Outside of that, what was their problem? After all, they knew Him all his life. And therein lies the problem They KNEW him. He was a Carpenter. He was the son of Mary. He was their neighbor. Never mind that He was accompanied by some of His Disciples. He ran in the right crowd. So where is their rub? The same place as mine is. I beg of you, how many times have we been in the company of folks that we know, but in the back of our mind, we criticize them because they don’t have our education, or they really look different, or they come from Bad Stock…the list could go on and on.
All of them, and I mean all of them are Jesus. What am I looking for in a Teacher? The clothes the Teacher wears or the Love and Message that is being shared by the Teacher. The Good People of Nazareth were looking through a fogged lens. My job is to keep my Lens clear, I must always see Jesus in every person I meet regardless of any of my preconceived ideas. So, I ask of you, hear the words, never mind that the person does not wear a guilted robe or am a Carpenter.
God Bless,
Mother Elizabeth
June 1, 2024
A BLESSING FROM THE FUTURE CHURCH - AN LGBTIQA BLESSING
Blessed be God.
R/ Blessed be God’s many names and faces.
Blessed be God in the whispering breeze and the blazing flame.
R/ Blessed be God the mother, who gave birth to the world, and who never fails to listen to the cries of her children.
Blessed be God the father, who adorns himself in glory and radiance.
R/ Blessed be God beyond all genders: God the mother, father, and parent, whose name is simply “I am who I am.”
Blessed be our father Jacob, who wrestles with an angel all night for a blessing.
R/ Blessed be our mother Hagar, who sees God in the desert in times of desperation.
Blessed be the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who swore to one another the oath of love, “as long as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
R/ Blessed be Mary and Martha, partners and sisters, who rested by one another, loving one another from death to resurrection.
Blessed be Jesus in the poor, in the marginalized, and in the forgotten queer names and faces.
R/ Blessed be the queer spirits, the queer angels, the queer saints, and the queer ancestors, whose intercessions and blessings instill a love within us that transgresses all and consumes all.
Blessed are you:
R/ You who resist, you who love, you who desire, you who struggle.
R/ And blessed am I,
and blessed are we, children of God, now and forever,
Amen.
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