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Known by God

10/25/2017

Exodus 33:12-23; Matthew 22:15-22

Me too. So declares countless women who took to social media last Monday in response to a request from actor, Alyssa Milano. Milano, a survivor of sexual assault from powerful Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein. She asked women who had similar experiences to step forward. To use the hashtag “#Me Too.” By Monday evening, “me too” was used 500,000 times on twitter, and generated over 6 million responses on Facebook.

Sadly, this is not the first time the “me too” phenomenon has surfaced. It began with the Black activist, Tarana Burke. Burke began the “me too” movement of empathy ten years ago, she said, to support “survivors of sexual abuse, assault, exploitation, and harassment in underprivileged communities who typically don’t have access to rape crisis centers or counselors.” Many women have come forward to denounce sexual misconduct not just in the film industry, but in politics, sports, media, academia, the military and law enforcement, healthcare within families and friendship circles, by strangers, even in the church. It seems no corner of human society is free of this sin. To seek to dominate and control other people, to treat them as objects for one’s selfish purposes and pleasure.

#Metoo is a movement to restore true identity. #Metoo is about self-disclosure in order bring healing, and ultimately restoration of community.

Today’s lesson, while not quite a #metoo moment, is about restoration and ongoing self-disclosure to bring healing and wholeness to the people of Israel. Last week if you recall, the new and growing relationship between God and God’s people was seriously breached as the people made and worshiped a golden calf.

This sort of behavior, idol worship, is viewed as a violation of the covenant that God created when God set down the commandment: “You shall not have any gods before me.”   In the verses right before today’s lesson, God reacts to that Golden Calf moment. God is troubled. God is angry that the people have dismissed their covenant so readily. God calls them stiff-necked, or stubborn. God refers to them as Moses’ people. God says Moses led this people out of the land of Egypt. God declares that he can no longer accompany them, but will send an angel to guide them in place of God’s presence. The people then mourn and repent, and return back to the worship of the one, true God.

When this happens, we see in today’s passage that Moses and God enter into a deep conversation about restoration through a process of mutual self-revelation. This conversation reestablishes a personal relationship through knowing through naming, finding favor, presence, to go with, the experience of glory, where the goodness, graciousness and mercy of God is revealed. God forgives, and an intimate, sacred relationship is restored. An intimate, alive, developing relationship with God is the foundation for authentic, loving relationships between people and in communities.
Let’s step back a minute. We have been following the book of Exodus for a number of weeks in our lectionary readings. From the saga of slavery, to leaving, to journey into the wilderness, we see over and over that God initiates relationship. Each step of the way, we see God self-reveals in an ongoing fashion. Through God’s self-revelation, the sacred texts teach us to authentically self-reveal to relate freely and lovingly with each other. So, let us review the story.

Do you remember the powerful story when God first calls Moses in the Burning Bush? God seeks out Moses. God discloses Godself as “I am the God of your ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah and Rachel” (Ex. 3:6, 15). God reveals that God is in our past, calling us to enter history. Without history as our context, we would be adrift. Remember George Santayana’s observation that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?” The first step to freedom and intimacy is knowledge of our past.   So, God seeks to reconnect us, to the good and not so good, to history. Moses too is able to face his past and return to Egypt to declare God’s message: “Let my people go!”

         As Moses prepares to encounter Pharaoh in the mission of freedom, God self-reveals once more and gives his name: Yahweh – which translates “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be.” This name reveals God is not just a relic of the past, but also a God of our present, and will continue always to be present as we journey to the unknown future. Moses carries out his dangerous task because God self-reveals as a Opposer of Slavery and Restorer of Freedom. If we want to find where God is, we look where there is bondage and enslavement in ourselves, and around the world. There God seeks to bring forth freedom.

God frees the people of Israel and leads the people to Mount Horeb in the wilderness. There God gives the Law in order for them to enter into right relationship with God. This enables them to be in right relationship with each other. As the ten commandments are revealed as a foundation of a caring community, God gives a new name: God says, “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:2). God self-reveals God-self and seeks to be known by God’s ongoing deeds to liberate the people. As God opposes slavery, God choses to be known by freeing people.   So God declares, “I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order that I might live among them” (Ex. 29.46). In addition to being a God who hears the cries of the enslaved, God frees so that God can live with God’s people. God gives the laws and the sanctuary in the wilderness in order to be intimately connected, through daily living and ritual to forge a mutual covenant that creates freedom.

So, in today’s lesson, God seeks restoration after rupture of relationship from the golden calf experience. To do this, Moses asks God to know God’s ways for deeply (Ex.33:13). Moses seeks to experience God glory (Ex. 33:18) once more. Moses wants to hear God’s name (Ex.33:19). Moses calls for assurance of God’s goodness (Ex. 33:19). Israel can only be healed through coming into deeper connect with God – the God who will be who God will be, declares “I Will be gracious to Whom I will Be Gracious, and I will Show Mercy on Whom I will Show Mercy” (Ex.33:19). God is gracious and merciful, but will not be pinned down, cannot be fully known. The passage teaches us that healing of our brokenness comes seeking to know God’s ways more deeply, entering God’s glory, and by pursuing the goodness, gracious and mercy of God.

God reveals God’s self in the midst of the people’s journey. They get to see, as time goes on that God is responsive to the changes of life. We see God reveals God self in the most connecting way possible, through Jesus, who teaches us to give first to God what is God’s. God calls to our past, our present, and to our future to establish connection with us, and within us.

What if we had a similar Church version of a “me too” movement to share our strengths and woundedness? What if church community was a safe community to share and recover? Could we be a movement to build a whole, caring, intimate faith community? A community that stands with each other and affirm the goodness of one another?

Let us seek out the sacred path of self-revelation, so God’s presence with us deepens as we strive to live authentically with one another. In this way, God challenges us to a life of “metoo”: to make our lives reflect this God of our past, our present, our future. Our God, Freer from all slavery, Covenant bringer, Self-Revealer, Jesus Immanuel, who lives with us, walks with us, face to face, in favor, in glory, in graciousness and mercy. Amen
http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1012
http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3445
https://qz.com/1105615/metoo-the-movement-was-actually-launched-10-years-ago-by-a-black-activist/

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Banquet Living

10/18/2017

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Exodus 32:1-14, Matt. 22: 1-14

Dr. Bill Michaelis, a retired professor of leisure studies at San Francisco State University, and consultant in the area of play and its applications to creativity, learning, development, and leadership; used to give his students the following assignment: go somewhere; take off your watch, turn off the TV, your i-phone, put away your i-pad or laptop – and do nothing.

Students were asked to sit for one hour and do nothing without distractions. No texting, no instagramming, no snapchatting, no selfies, no web-surfing. Nothing. You think they would welcome the respite. However, Michaelis estimates that about one-third of his students don’t last more than ten minutes before giving in. “People say, ‘when I started to sit still, all the checklists in my mind go off and I can’t stop.’” Michaelis surmises that “It’s a problem because we’re valued by being efficient and we’re valued by crossing things off the list” – we’re not valued for cultivating solitude. We’re not encouraged to spend time alone—to cultivate sacred time—to connect with our inner being and to connect with God.

The people of Israel would have failed Professor Michaelis’ experiment in the worse way. Left to themselves while Moses was delayed on the mountain, they turn to Aaron and command him to make a god for them to worship. All of them; men, women and children take the gold rings from their ears they got from Egypt. They melt all that gold down. Aaron fashions a golden calf idol. “These are your gods, O Israel—that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Aaron proclaims.

How could an idol, forged by the gold jewelry that was a remnant of their centuries of slavery in Egypt, possibly represent liberation?   Yet they made sacrifices and worshiped the golden calf.   They began to eat, drink and have a party. They relapse back to their not so distant past. They couldn’t just be with each other, or be in the solitude of the wilderness. It was too hard. They were physically free, but in their minds and hearts they responded like slaves.

Jesus comes at the problem of priorities of time and relationship from a slightly different angle. What is the kingdom of God like, he asks.   The kingdom of God is like a marriage feast a King throws for his son. In Jesus’ time, a wedding banquet was the highlight event for the village. It often lasted for days. It was special time. It was not only a time of celebration for the couple and their families, but it often provided the only break in a grueling, monotonous life of the entire village. The King sends out several invitations —staggered over time – so people could plan their schedules around the event.

So, what happens with the amazing sumptuous wedding feast the King throws for his son?   The guests refuse to come! They have been invited and reminded not once but three times. The invitees act disdainfully. They give excuses; “I have to attend my farm” or “I have to attend my business.” They couldn’t make any time for the royal celebration. They were enslaved to old, monotonous routines of life. Work became an idol for them. It was a way to avoid a community celebration.

    These people were so enslaved to the mundane that they lost the ability to comprehend what they were rejecting – a royal wedding feast! It was shocking -- aside from the perks of attending a royal feast – great free food and entertainment – people simply would not dare disobey and disrespect their sovereign in such a manner. Such disobedience would be tantamount to treason.

         Despite being rebuffed in such an outrageous manner; the King is determined to hold the wedding banquet. Everyone is invited, the good and the bad. The hall must be full. The King even provides special wedding robes on the day of the feast. There is no excuse for not being fully present and dressing appropriately. The unbelievable happens again. There is a man who didn’t care enough to wear the right robes. Again, scandalous!

     New clothing is a common New Testament metaphor for spiritual change, transformation, holiness and righteousness. Paul reminds us in Romans to “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ….” (Rom.13:14).    To the Colossians Paul advised: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Col. 3:12).”   Changing clothes is an act of discipleship – the old habits and attitudes come off—new habits and attitudes put on. So, the man in the parable who didn’t wear a wedding robe-who showed up in ordinary street wear really didn’t care. Like the Israelites he wore old clothes unbefitting to the new circumstances. His actions insulted the wedding and mocked the king.

Following the prophets Isaiah and Hosea, Jesus chose the symbol of the marriage feast to represent God’s pledge to remain in relationship with us – despite our numerous infidelities. For better or for worse. For richer or poorer. No matter what. This relationship takes dedication. We need to make it a priority to take the time away from distractions of daily living to listen and experience God’s presence in us and around us.
That’s why Jesus calls us the wedding banquet – to enjoy our presence, to enjoy each other’s company free from daily cares. Wedding banquet living shows us how to find Christ in each other, to escape the mundane and find the good.

We have the choice between the party of the golden calf and the prophetic wedding banquet life. Jesus reminds us that we are all treasured guests of the Almighty Sovereign. The King doesn’t discriminate. “Invite everyone you find,” he says. Just put on the wedding robe of Christ and let the feasting begin.

     For many people in the LGBTQ community, they were called to banquet living last Wednesday On National Coming Out Day, day to celebrate identity and dignity. One person who tasted the banquet, Ashlyn Smith of Utah, had unintentionally outed her bisexual orientation to her religious parents last Monday.

After a tense phone call, Ashlyn’s Mormon father gave her support. He said he loved her no matter what. Her roommates then decorated the living room with colorful streamers and balloons, "I hope you know how loved you are," said one of her friends. Ashlyn share: it felt like I am living my truth and letting the people who I care about most know who I am." That is a banquet living moment.
Unfortunately, National Community Out Day fell in the dark shadow of the anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepherd, the young gay man who was a student at the University of Wyoming and was beaten, tortured, and left to die in 1998. He would have been 40 this year. It also fell in the dark shadow of the recent government declarations with the potential to erode the civil rights of transgender-identifying persons. The party of the golden calf is very alive and well.

In the face of the golden calf, what if we accepted the invitation to banquet living? What if we discovered our true work on this good earth was to make sure everyone knew they were loved, cared for, that everyone knew they could come to the wedding banquet regardless if they were gay or straight, rich or poor, young or old, abled or differently abled – even as Jesus says, good or bad? What if everyone had the opportunity to laugh, dance, eat and drink, and have new clothes?

In the shadow of the golden calf, it’s banquet time. God has a personal invitation just for us. We are invited to the table. We have been clothed with Christ. So, come, put aside all distractions. Banish all idols and golden calves. Join the faithful of all the ages, singing that ancient wedding song echoed down through the centuries: “Christ our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the Feast!” Amen

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/us/national-coming-out-day-friends-throw-party-trnd/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/us/national-coming-out-day-friends-throw-party rnd/index.htmlttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/10/11/democrats-national-coming-out-day-trump-openly-hostile-lgbtq/754198001/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/the-department-of-justice-takes-a-stand-against-transgender-rights-in-the-workplace/542154/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

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Other Tenants

10/11/2017

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Ex. 20:1-20; Phil. 3:4b-14; Matt .21:33-46

He had everything meticulously planned.

A room on the 32nd floor at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas that offered optimum shooting range.

A cache of 23 weapons.

Thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Cameras set up inside his hotel suite and in the hallway.

12 rifles outfitted with a device called a bump-fire stock, which enables the shooter to fire bullets similar to an automatic rifle.

He had purchased 33 weapons this past year, raising no red flags, as he planned for this nefarious day.

How did a retired accountant, a wealthy property owner, an avid gambler, turn mass murderer – Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 people and injured 500 last Sunday.

We turn to the gospel of Matthew today which poses a similar question: How do law-abiding religious leaders become agents of death? How do obnoxious tenants cross the line and also become mass murderers?

Jesus also lived in a violent world, and today’s passage reflects that violence. This is the second of three parables that Jesus tells in the Temple, in the presence of the scribes and Pharisees, in the last week before he is killed in Jerusalem. During this time, the leaders questioned Jesus’s authority, trying to trap him so they can kill him as we heard in the passage last week. Today’s parable describes a Father who sends his Son to the vineyard, with dire consequences. In this parable, Jesus predicts his death at the hands of the wicked tenants, who represent the Jewish leaders.

          Jesus describes a state-of-the art vineyard. It has a protective fence around it, its own winepress and a Watchtower. A newly planted vineyard typically bears fruit in three years. When the fruit is ready, it is time for the tenants to pay the landowner his portion of the harvest. This is what the landowner, who lives in another land, assumes. This is how it is done. However, the wicked tenants have other things in mind.

      The wicked tenants plot to take over the vineyard. They beat, stone and kill the first set of slaves sent to gather the landowner’s portion. They do the same to the second group of even more slaves sent to gather the portion. The tenants don’t attempt to communicate with the landowner. They don’t show the expected deference or obedience. We don’t even know the motives until the son of the landowner comes and the tenants first speak in this parable: ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.”

Greed leads the tenants down this dark path, believing they can claim what isn’t theirs. Ironically, the Father doesn’t send armed soldiers in with the Son to protect him, even though he knows the fate of all the slaves he sent. The Son himself doesn’t carry a weapon. The Father still wants to trust in the good will of these renegade tenants. Yet the worst happens. The tenants grab the son, throw him out of the vineyard, and kill him.

The scribes and Pharisees would have understood perfectly the allusions Jesus made in the parable. Often in the Hebrew scriptures, the vineyard depicts the people of Israel, and the Landowner characterizes God. Listen to the prophet Isaiah:

He (God) dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. (Isa. 5:2)

The ancient morning prayers included these verses from Psalm 80: "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land."(vv 8-9)

The Prophet Hosea taught that "Israel was a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit" (10:1). But Israel's prosperity unfortunately led to increased idolatry: "The more his fruit increased the more altars he built."

The prophet Ezekiel spoke this condemnation against the nation for its wickedness: "Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem" 15:6).
So, the ordinary Jew, as well as the teachers of the law, listening to Jesus, would understand the imagery of the vineyard as the people of Israel who beat, stoned and killed the prophets Down through the ages, God sent to restore them to faithfulness. Finally, God sent God’s own Son, but the people even reject him. The listeners of this parable would have known all this: thus they responded correctly to Jesus’s question about what the landowner shall do: “he will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants.”

Who are these other tenants? They are people who believe in the Son, follow him faithfully, and therefore are able to produce the fruits of the kingdom of God in the vineyard.

Remember Jesus said, as John records, “If someone remains in me and I in him, she will bear much fruit;” (John 15:5). God wants us to “bear fruit…that will last.” (v.16). Jesus instructs his disciples, “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser” (Jn 15:1).
In this fashion, Jesus calls us to be the Other Tenants called to work the vineyard, as we live in the Spirit of Christ and the Word, and do the good works that grow out of our faith in Christ. The Other Tenants are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection, conforms to the Old Testament pattern of God always seeking to free people from the oppression of sin, disease and injustice.

Who are Other tenants? We think of Dean McAuley, a firefighter from Seattle who in the middle of the Las Vegas shooting, stayed in harm’s way and managed to save three women, including a frightened 17 year-old Natalia, whom he saw safely to the hospital.
Who are Other Tenants? Jonathan Smith, who last Sunday led 30 people to safety before he was shot in the neck. The bullet could not be removed so it will be a reminder to him how close he came to death in the duty of protecting others. Who are Other Tenants? Dawn-Marie Gray and Kevin Gray were among the many stayed behind and acted as paramedics while bullets rained overhead. Who are Other Tenants? We think of the people of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, who won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize this past week.

Who are Other Tenants? The many people who are getting supplies to Puerto Rico, or the many Puerto Ricans who without fanfare, are helping their neighbors through the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. We think of the daily acts that don’t make the headlines, the sacrifices caregivers make. Teachers who make a difference in the lives of their students. The aid and care we give to strangers and friends. Other Tenants –who choose to be humble and let go of self-centeredness. They are forbearing and compassionate, tending the vineyard with patience and reverence.

Look to the helpers, Rev. Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, would encourage the children who listened to him. Look to the helpers in the midst of the turmoil swirling around us. If we want to see the hand of God, Look to the Other Tenants, the helpers. More importantly be a helper. Who knows whose life you will change by your faithful service? Let us be those who help at all levels in the midst of crisis. Those who toil in the vineyard with all dedication. Let us be among the Other Tenants who bear the abundant, Christ-like fruit that our justice, and love-starved world clamors for – a vineyard for all, where we can live in safety and peace. Amen

http://time.com/4965022/deadliest-mass-shooting-us-history/
http://www.saintmarkpresby.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Its-not-up-to-us-Matt.-21-33-46.pdf

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Guessing Games

10/4/2017

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Exodus 17:1-7; Matthew 21:23-32

         Riddles, questions and guessing games seem to dominate our passage in Matthew and even in Exodus today. Here are a few more to wet the appetite and get us in the spirit:

What kind of car does Jesus drive? A Christler.

What kind of motor vehicle is in the Bible? A HONDA...because the apostles were all in one Accord!

OK, one last guessing game. When asked this one, it is said that 80% of kindergarten kids got the correct answer, compared to 17% of Stanford University college seniors.   Here goes:

     “What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you’ll die?” Can you guess the answer? (It’s nothing).

         For most people, guessing games, solving riddles, figuring out word games like sudoku, crossword puzzles, or word search puzzles is fun. Listening to a cleverly crafted riddle or joke is a wonderful experience. These kind of games force us to use our cognitive skills, the best of them help us to see things from a new perspective.

         Jesus, like many teachers, used riddles and guessing games as a method of teaching. He often cloaked profound messages in stories, parables, riddles and questions. He did this to get people to wake up spiritually, to pay attention, and open their hearts to the good news God sent him to preach.

         The temple leaders in today’s text were not in the mood for riddles. They didn’t want to hear what Jesus had to say. To them Jesus was just a trouble maker. Matthew tells us that before this heated debate, Jesus had just overturned the tables of the money changers and drove out of the temple those who were buying and selling – the people who made it difficult for the ordinary person and the poor to afford their sacrifices. Jesus challenged their authority and their deeds. The leaders challenged him back. In doing so they wanted to trap Jesus so they could arrest him. So, they ask Jesus this question, “By whose authority do you do these things?”   Who said you can turn the tables, Jesus?

         Jesus could have answered them easily. His authority came from God, the Father. However, Jesus knew these leader’s motives were not sincere. They only cared about their lost of revenue, power and their pride. They didn’t care about the good news of God in Jesus Christ.   Their hearts were hardened and closed, just like the people of Israel in the desert.   So, Jesus played a guessing game with them with this riddle:

“Does the baptism of John come from God or people?”

         The Temple leaders found themselves in a corner. Either response would get them in trouble: “If we say John’s authority came from God, then he’ll ask us why we don’t believe him. But if we say John’s authority is of human origin, we’ll get in trouble with the crowd, because they believe John was a prophet.” These leaders weren’t interested in truth. They weren’t interested in engaging a holy riddle. So, in their answer they played it safe, stayed on the fence. “We don’t know” was their reply.

         These leaders were playing games, but games not to grow in truth but to keep their heart closed to God. They couldn’t see the divine acting in Jesus.   Jesus gave them another guessing game, scandalous to their ears: how sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, who responded to the message of repentance and mercy, were more righteous before God then these religious leaders.

         Not all riddles and guessing games are fun to grapple with. Not all riddles can be solved so easily. Consider the life riddles we grapple with today:

Is a football player kneeling before the American flag during the national anthem disrespectful or prophetic?

Why do the poor and vulnerable seem to suffer the most in earthquakes and hurricanes and other natural disasters?
Why is it difficult for people respect others different than ourselves?

Today on World Communion Sunday, why is the church more divided than ever, with at least 33,000 different denominations in the world?

         If only we could come to fast and easy conclusions. If only we could answer like that the hard questions of the world. No wonder the Hebrew word for riddle can also be translated a “dark saying,” or “difficult question.”

         No doubt the people of Israel wandering in the desert, encamped at Rephidim, thought God was posing them with a cruel riddle. Why would God lead them out of slavery in Egypt to test them with hunger, thirst and a lack of direction? Why didn’t God just lead them straight to the Promised Land without all this discomfort and pain? It didn’t make sense. But in the end, God provided water, and the passage concludes with this riddle-question, “Is God among us or not?”

The problems with the riddles that Jesus gives us forces us to think, pray and step out in faith.   Where is the will of God calling us? It’s hard, especially since God’s will is cloaked in a riddle, we might even change our minds, like the sons in Jesus’ riddle at the end of today’s passage. Which one did the will of his father? The one who says yes then doesn’t go to the vineyard, or the one who says no but changes his mind and goes to the vineyard? Jesus shows us that grace plays a role in changing our minds to aligning our actions to the Father’s will.

         What a riddle Jesus was to his followers and to the religious establishment.

Here he was a great authority, but had no “official authority to speak of.” Here was someone who did great things, taught, healed, performed miracles, and had table fellowship with the outcasts. Jesus went to the cross and died, and rose again on the third day. Figure that riddle out.

         Our Christian faith is a holy riddle. We confess Jesus, son of God, human and divine. We confess Jesus both crucified and risen.   We confess a Triune God, one being, as the revelation of who God is with us. Figure that riddle out.

         The question for us is: do we allow the riddles of our faith, in our complex and contradictory world, lead us to follow Jesus more closely and accept people more fully? We’ve all been in the desert. We know what it’s like to be in dire straights and not know where to find help.   We’ve all known dangerous, powerful people like those Temple leaders who seem out to thwart others.   Our task is to live into the riddle, to let our lives be changed by living the guessing games we face.

We are called to live, like the poet Rainer Maria Rilke suggests:

“Be patient with all that is unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves.   Do not seek for the answers that cannot be given, for you wouldn’t be able to live with them, and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now, and perhaps without knowing it, you will live along someday into the answers.”

So guess these riddles:

What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats? A river
What is it that we often return but never borrow? (Thanks)
Every dawn begins with me
At dusk I’ll be the first you see
And daybreak couldn’t come without
What midday centers all about
Daises grow from me, I’m told
And when I come, I end all cold
But in the sun I won’t be found
Yet still, each day I’ll be around. (The letter d).

Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers. The point of guessing games is to live the question. Let us follow our riddle made flesh, Jesus. And perhaps, just perhaps, the answer we seek will reveal itself, over time, in our faithful living. Amen.

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Known by God

Banquet Living

Other Tenants

Guessing Games

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