Tuesday, August 9, 2016

A Poem a Sunday
Pentecost 13 – C
August 14, 2016

St. Luke 12:49-56 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Commentary:  A challenging text from the Prince of Peace.  How can Christ be the source of division?  Answer – the call to a cruciform life -where one dies to old norms and is born again into a new family.  If you are a follower of Christ you better look good on wood!

Jesus the Cause of Division

49 “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided:
father against son
    and son against father,
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Interpreting the Time

54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

A Poem a Sunday
Pentecost 13 – C

Stormy Weather

When clouds rise in the west,
rain is a sure thing,
and when the south winds blow
it will be hot again.

Everyone can read
these ominous weather signs;
yet you cannot heed
judgment in present time.

Baptism by fire
and changes that transform.
Division because of Christ.
Do not be alarmed.

Luke-warm believers,
neither hot nor cold.
Seduced by deceivers
their souls are sold.

Fire from the Prophet,
the hammer of God
breaks rocks in pieces
crumbling into sod.

Out of the ground
God forms a new people,
a community of justice
where everyone is equal.

Beyond family ties,
beyond hierarchies,
God calls passionate partners
with deeper loyalties.


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