Pentecost II
A word about the text from the Gospel according to Matthew, which we seriously delve into again, now that we re-enter 'ordinary time' in the Church's calendar, after the Lent/Easter/Pentecost 'moveable feasts.' After this preparation for the Paschal mystery observed at Easter, a basking in its warmth and challenge, and giving thanks for the unifying, enlivening gift of God's spirit within us all... now we get back to daily life, and what it means to attempt to follow Jesus. To be a follower of his template for Being, and being in community with others, and loving this world.
This week's reading positions us at the beginning of what can be called the 'public ministry' of Jesus. He empowers his disciples to go and do the same work he is doing: casting out that which possesses people unhealthily, healing diseases, restoring that which is dead and dying to new life. He gives them power, and he also gives them lengthy instructions about how to come and go among people... and assumes that not everyone will receive their news that, '...the kingdom of God is at hand,' with joy and welcome. If so, in famous words, simply shake the dust of that street or town from your sandals, and be on your way. You have lost nothing; no need to condemn. Go and preach the abundant life of the world as God creates and orders it - the kingdom of God - and do not worry what you should say when you get into arguments. Speak truth; speak peace.
But, speaking truth and healing others - or yourself - can sometimes cause division and dissent. Strife. No surprise to us. Do not work according to a script, though, Jesus says, as contemporary politics would often have us do; trust that if you are centered in Love in your speaking and acting, then it will be the Spirit itself that will give you words and actions in measure, in time.
So, how to live increasingly rooted in this cosmic love of God? So that words and action - living - may be given to us daily, to proclaim the kingdom of Love even today, without worrying about how we, by ourselves alone, are to undue centuries of harmful words and action, paralyzing us from doing anything?
Learn to pray. Basic rhythms. Always begin again, learn again. The heart of God is a mystery, always welcoming us and never exhausted, and full of infinite respite and healing. (as well as the challenge of truth). Simple prayers aligned with your breath can remind you, body and soul, that your very being lives, and moves, and has its being in this larger pool of God in which you constantly swim, and which unites you to all created things, the living and the dead, across time and space.
And, if that's too cosmic a spot to begin, then start again with your breath. Start small, again. Take care of a plant. Pray for someone you don't know at all. Repent and return to the Lord, to the way of truth-speaking and truth-telling. It will be a source of life for you and all those you come into contact with. As Paul writes to the little community in the city of Philippi: rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say: rejoice! Let your gentleness be made known to all.
(Or, listen to Henry Purcell's setting from the 17th c... "Rejoyce in the Lord Alway..." Listen. It will cheer you up.) "The Lord is at Hand." Amen.
As the rabbis say, it is not your responsibility to finish the task of perfecting the world, but neither are you free to desist from it.
Amen?