26^th Sunday of the Year

Migrant and Refugee Sunday

It seems that even in the wilderness, the people fleeing slavery for a land that is unknown, there is a call for Moses and the people to share power and curb their desire for excess that only results in division. The Psalmist declares that God’s laws guide the people in ways that mirror God’s justice towards them. In the gospel, Jesus calls his disciples to align themselves with his most vulnerable followers and make extreme choices to ensure communal well-being. It is often said that what one sees depends on where one stands whether it be colonised, occupied, outcasts in society, poor or among the powerful. It also depends on remembering what we have experienced, who we are and where we want to be as humans. Often texts of people who have been oppressed or dominated become texts of domination when used by powerful interests or when oppressed people forget that it was in their vulnerability, not their strength, that God was near them.

25th Sunday of the Year

Today we are summoned to probe our emotions and convictions to understand the values that really motivate our behavior and reactions. Today’s gospel breaks up into two sections: Jesus words about his imminent betrayal, death and resurrection which confuses the disciples; and the argument among the disciples about who will be the greatest with trappings of ego and greed. It is something that can be very real for many of us.

24th Sunday of the Year

The gospel began with a discussion on Jesus’ identity and the disciples seem to be caught up in their own comfortable relationship with him. We might ask to what extent they, or we ourselves, understand the consequences of following Jesus. The disciples walk with Jesus towards Caesarea Philippi a city considered to be notorious, scandalous, shocking, and decadent.

23rd Sunday of the Year

Some years ago, I was facilitating a gathering, a young man, who was deaf, shared his experience of being invisible, not listened to or noticed in church. He said that if any medication were available to cure deafness, he would refuse it. He had always been deaf, and was at home in that community and culture. He did not feel he needed to be ‘fixed’ or cured. 

Twentieth Sunday of the Year

‘God is like … mama, who doesn’t think supper is over until the last child is seated and fed’.

Your God is too small.. and so is our notion of what God expects…. What is God thinking about in these times of war, when the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening and our rulers have abandoned the ideals of equality and justice? In such times God’s heart aches and it is a sin to be silent.’

Janes A Forbes Jr, Whose Gospel?