A Poem a Sunday

Pentecost 18 – A

September 10, 2017

Matthew 18:15-20 - NRSV

Reproving Another Who Sins

15 “If another member of the church[a] sins against you,[b] go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.[c] 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Footnotes:

Matthew 18:15 Gk If your brother

Matthew 18:15 Other ancient authorities lack against you

Matthew 18:15 Gk the brother

A Poem a Sunday

Pentecost 18 – A

I found God at work on Bourbon Street:

(“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”)

~ a woman in rags with bags

        in her two wheel cart

        giving out grocery packages

        to men in gray suits

~ an old man at the bubbler

        lifting children for a drink

~ a sister singing soulfully

        right there on the street

~ a couple speaking tenderly

        seated on an old park bench

~ two ladies holding hands

        walking the tree lined path

But was it just a dream?

~ for the men in gray suits

        never see the woman in rags

~ and the children at the bubbler

        scorn the old man who is weak

~ the sister now rejected

        silently mourns on the street

~ and the couple argue endlessly

        on the hot part bench

~ and the ladies holding hands

        askance eyes upon their path

Life goes on

oft with no change of hearts.

Yet the Divine in the midst

of daily disfavors

provokes dreams of care, reversal,

and justice seeping through the fissures

of rejection and hurt.

And I dreamed that I found God at work on Bourbon Street.

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