endurance

“Some people were talking about the temple and the beauty of its fine stones and ornaments. He said, ‘These things you are gazing at–the time will come when not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.’ (Luke 21:5-6, Revised English Bible)

Twenty-three years ago I slapped my hand on the Romanesque wall, exposed by renovations, of Chester Cathedral and said to my host, this is the church Anselm knew. There has been a church on the site since the eighth century. The building now is Gothic in style, but that is wrapped around an earlier Romanesque structure. And so I knew that back when “Cur Deus Homo” (Why a God-Man?) was hot off the copying desk, its author, Anselm the Archbishop of Canterbury, was visiting, the wall he would have touched was the wall I touched. Ten years ago I placed my palm against a large well-worked stone in Jerusalem. It was part of the Western Wall, foundation stone of the third Temple, built under the direction (and the lash) of Herod the Great, just before Jesus was born. Despite our Savior’s words of prophecy, not every stone fell away from every other. The Romans, when they came in destructive fury, left a few standing, just a few. They are the largest and oldest and best-fashioned of the stones in the wall. Though I doubt the soldiers of Titus spared them out of respect for the stone masons. Stones last. Sometimes they are repurposed: they become spolia, salvaged or stolen from an old ruined (mostly) building and put to new use. Churches in Rome have pillars from pagan bath houses. Churches in Spain have stones that were once in mosques that were once churches. Sometimes they stay where they were put, for a very long time. Sometimes they are in ruins, evocative of earlier, lost ages, and forgotten rituals. Stones last. But not forever. And they don’t matter anyway. That is what Jesus tells us. “The Lord is faithful” - the steadfast love of God : that is what endures. ***

By your endurance you will gain your souls (NRSV) Or– By standing firm, you will win yourselves life (REB) Or– By holding fast, you will gain your lives (CEB) Or– By your perseverance, you shall gain salvation. (Luke 21:19) Do you remember the persistent widow from a gospel a week or two ago, how she persisted? And in persisting, she demanded justice against her opponent, or as the King James would say, to be avenged against her adversary. (Luke 18:1-8) Jesus calls his followers to endure and hold on in the midst of persecutions and says that by so doing they will save their souls and their lives. Early in the passage, he talks about what to do when someone says to you follow me because I am the one. I am the one who can save you and the time is near. He says don’t go after them, don’t follow that leader, that false leader. That is part of saving your soul, not to be seduced by false messiahs, false leaders. Today’s psalm ends with this verse: ‘In righteousness shall he judge the world, and the peoples with equity.’ (98.10) What does that mean? Are there other ways to say it? You can also say, he will judge with saving righteousness. You can say, he will establish justice; you can say, he will bring salvation and that that is his victory. And all of these other ways of saying it remind us that it is the Lord who is our king. Christ, the king. In the early days of Christianity within the pagan Roman empire, all you had to do to be convicted of treason was to say that Jesus is Lord —that Christ is King, not the emperor. And that is who we turn to, as our judge for the people who receive this message. It is joy to the world for the Lord to win himself the victory, for the Lord to win salvation. For him to come and judge the Earth means that we will be vindicated, that he will establish a saving righteousness with equity and justice. That is a pretty different sense of judgment from that of the persistent widow’s unjust judge who seemed simply to be awarding the victory to one side or another in a dispute. In the justice of God, salvation and righteousness are established for the world among all people. But it is for us to step out of that tight frame of jurisprudence that simply chooses a winner between opponents in a lawsuit and it is for us to step into a larger world in which justice rolls down like waters and the day of salvation is at hand. (Amos 5:24)

***

“But before all this occurs, they will take you into custody and harass you because of your faith. They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will provide you with an opportunity to testify. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance. I’ll give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to counter or contradict.” (Luke 21:12-15, Common English Bible)

What would I say if I were hauled up before the magistrate to defend my religion? First of all, it doesn’t seem likely; after all I’m not a Christian in Baghdad or Bahá’í in Tehran or Muslim in western China or Buddhist in Tibet.

And what would I have done that might make them think they could convict me of being a Christian? Have I been comforting the bereaved, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or standing up for justice? Have I been doing those things? Have I been encouraging other people to do those things? Or is it guilt by association with people who do those things?

After all, I did sign that “Bear Witness Now” letter along with 100 other pastors that said, this is what Christianity is about, and included three main points.

And those points were about compassion and justice and charity. About God’s love for all people, God’s love for creation, God’s particular love for the poor.

● “For God so loved the whole world” ● “God created the world and called it good” ● "For the least of these”

(John 3.16. Genesis 1.4,10,12, 18, 21, 25, 31. Matthew 25.40, 45._

Maybe that's enough to get me busted. I hope so, cause I haven’t done a whole lot else. Nothing to stand out. Then again, what does stand up? How would we know?

There’s a story about an old Scottish pastor reflecting back on his life who worried that he’d never really had his words or his ministry turn someone’s life around; except maybe, he thought aloud, maybe that little Davy Livingstone. David Livingstone, you may know, devoted his life to a very dramatic ministry in Africa, missionary, physician, explorer, and anti-slavery crusader.

Maybe we won’t know what would stand up in court, if we were brought before kings and governors. Maybe we would slide by because of the modest nature of our commitments. Maybe we would. Maybe some of us will have to stand up and stand out, because of the nature of the gospel. Of the gospel, not our own bravery or detachment or internal virtue. Because he calls.

He calls us. As he called Nicodemus, and Andrew and Peter, and Matthew. And a blind beggar no one knows the name of. Of Mary and Martha. And of that saint we sang of, on All Saints, that we met at shops or at tea. (Love that.) Because the saints of God are just folks like we—

May the Lord direct your hearts towards God’s love and the steadfastness of Christ. 

(2 Th 3.5, REB)

JRL+

https://chestercathedral.com/about/heritage-culture/the-building-and-its-history

https://www.mezquita-cordoba.com/en

Lesbia Scott, “I sing a song of the saints of God”, Hymn #293, The Hymnal 1982, ‎page 515. [https://hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/page/515]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Livingstone]

https://www.bearwitnessnow.org/

November 16th, 2025

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
CProper 28

Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

words and deeds

 “Some people were talking about the temple and the beauty of its fine stones and ornaments. He said, ‘These things you are gazing at–the time will come when not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.’ (Luke 21:5-6, REB)

Twenty-three years ago I slapped my hand on the Romanesque wall, exposed by renovations, of Chester Cathedral and said to my host, this is the church Anselm knew. There has been a church on the site since the eighth century. The building now is Gothic in style, but that is wrapped around an earlier Romanesque structure. And so I knew that back when “Cur Deus Homo” (Why a God-Man?) was hot off the copying desk, its author, Anselm the Archbishop of Canterbury, was visiting, the wall he would have touched was the wall I touched.

Ten years ago I placed my palm against a large well-worked stone in Jerusalem. It was the Western Wall, foundation stone of the third Temple, built under the direction (and the lash) of Herod the Great, just before Jesus was born. Despite our Savior’s words of prophecy, not every stone fell away from every other. The Romans, when they came in destructive fury, left a few standing, just a few. They are the largest and oldest and best-fashioned of the stones in the wall. Though I doubt the soldiers of Titus spared them out of respect for the stone masons.

Stones last. Sometimes they are repurposed: they become spolia, salvaged or stolen from an old ruined (mostly) building and put to new use. Churches in Rome have pillars from pagan bath houses. Churches in Spain have stones that were once in mosques that were once churches. 

Sometimes they stay where they were put, for a very long time. Sometimes they are in ruins, evocative of earlier, lost ages, and forgotten rituals.

Stones last. But not forever. And they don’t matter anyway. That is what Jesus tells us. “The Lord is faithful” - the steadfast love of God : that is what endures. 

By your endurance you will gain your souls (NRSV)

Or– By standing firm, you will win yourselves life (REB)

Or– By holding fast, you will gain your lives (CEB)

Or– By your perseverance, you shall gain salvation.

(Luke 21:19)

Do you remember the persistent widow from a gospel a week or two ago, how she persisted? And in persisting, she demanded justice against her opponent, or as the King James would say, to be avenged against her adversary. (Luke 18:1-8)

Jesus calls his followers to endure and hold on in the midst of persecutions and says that by so doing they will save their souls and their lives.

Early in the passage, he talks about what to do when someone says to you follow me because I am the one. I am the one who can save you and the time is near. He says don’t go after them, don’t follow that leader, that false leader. 

That is part of saving your soul, not to be seduced by false messiahs, false leaders.

Today’s psalm ends with this verse: ‘In righteousness shall he judge the world, and the peoples with equity.’ (98.10)

What does that mean? Are there other ways to say it? You can also say, he will judge with saving righteousness.

You can say, he will establish justice; you can say, he will bring salvation and that that is his victory.

And all of these other ways of saying it remind us that it is the Lord who is our king. Christ, the king.

In the early days of Christianity within the pagan Roman empire, all you had to do to be convicted of treason was to say that Jesus is Lord —that Christ is King, not the emperor.

And that is who we turn to, as our judge for the people who receive this message. It is joy to the world for the Lord to win himself the victory, for the Lord to win salvation. For him to come and judge the Earth means that we will be vindicated, that he will establish a saving righteousness with equity and justice.

That is a pretty different sense of judgment from that of the persistent widow’s unjust judge who seemed simply to be awarding the victory to one side or another in a dispute.

In the justice of God, salvation and righteousness are established for the world among all people.

But it is for us to step out of that tight frame of jurisprudence that simply chooses a winner between opponents in a lawsuit and it is for us to step into a larger world in which justice rolls down like waters and the day of salvation is at hand. (Amos 5:24) 

“But before all this occurs, they will take you into custody and harass you because of your faith. They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will provide you with an opportunity to testify. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance. I’ll give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to counter or contradict.” (Luke 21:12-15, Common English Bible)

What would I say if I were hauled up before the magistrate to defend my religion? First of all, it doesn’t seem likely; after all I’m not a Christian in Baghdad or Bahá’í in Tehran or Muslim in western China or Buddhist in Tibet. 

And what would I have done that might make them think they could convict me of being a Christian? Have I been comforting the bereaved, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or standing up for justice? Have I been doing those things? Have I been encouraging other people to do those things? Or is it guilt by association with people who do those things? 

After all, I did sign that “Bear Witness Now” letter along with 100 other pastors that said, this is what Christianity is about, and included three main points. 

And those points were about compassion and justice and charity. About God’s love for all people, God’s love for creation, God’s particular love for the poor.

● “For God so loved the whole world” 

● “God created the world and called it good”

● "For the least of these”

John 3.16. Genesis 1.4,10,12, 18, 21, 25, 31. Matthew 25.40, 45.

Maybe that's enough to get me busted. I hope so, cause I haven’t done a whole lot else. Nothing to stand out. Then again, what does stand up? How would we know? 

There’s a story about an old Scottish pastor reflecting back on his life who worried that he’d never really had his words or his ministry turn someone’s life around; except maybe, he thought aloud, maybe that little Davy Livingstone. David Livingstone, you may know, devoted his life to a very dramatic ministry in Africa, missionary, physician, explorer, and  anti-slavery crusader. 

Maybe we won’t know what would stand up in court, if we were brought before kings and governors. Maybe we would slide by because of the modest nature of our commitments. Maybe we would. Maybe some of us will have to stand up and stand out, because of the nature of the gospel. Of the gospel, not our own bravery or detachment or internal virtue. Because he calls. 

He calls us. As he called Nicodemus, and Andrew and Peter, and Matthew. And a blind beggar no one knows the name of. Of Mary and Martha. And of that saint we sang of, on All Saints, that we met at shops or at tea. (Love that.) Because the saints of God are just folks like we—

https://chestercathedral.com/about/heritage-culture/the-building-and-its-history

https://www.mezquita-cordoba.com/en

Lesbia Scott, “I sing a song of the saints of God”, Hymn #293, The Hymnal 1982, ‎page 515. [https://hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/page/515]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Livingstone]

https://www.bearwitnessnow.org/

Malachi 4:1-2a Psalm 98 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19

May the Lord direct your hearts towards God’s love and the steadfastness of Christ. 

(2 Th 3.5, REB)

JRL+

standfast

By your endurance you will gain your souls (NRSV)

Or–

By standing firm, you will win yourselves life (REB)

Or–

By holding fast, you will gain your lives (CEB)

Or–

By your perseverance, you shall gain salvation.

(Luke 21:19)

Do you remember the persistent widow from a gospel a week or two ago, how she persisted? And in persisting, she demanded justice against her opponent, or as the King James would say, to be avenged against her adversary. (Luke 18:1-8)

Jesus calls his followers to endure and hold on in the midst of persecutions and says that by so doing they will save their souls and their lives.

Early in the passage, he talks about what to do when someone says to you follow me because I am the one. I am the one who can save you and the time is near. He says don’t go after them, don’t follow that leader, that false leader. 

That is part of saving your soul, not to be seduced by false messiahs, false leaders.

Today’s psalm ends with this verse: ‘In righteousness shall he judge the world, and the peoples with equity.’ (98.10)

What does that mean? Are there other ways to say it? You can also say, he will judge with saving righteousness.

You can say, he will establish justice; you can say, he will bring salvation and that that is his victory.

And all of these other ways of saying it remind us that it is the Lord who is our king. Christ, the king.

In the early days of Christianity within the pagan Roman empire, all you had to do to be convicted of treason was to say that Jesus is Lord —that Christ is King, not the emperor.

And that is who we turn to, as our judge for the people who receive this message. It is joy to the world for the Lord to win himself the victory, for the Lord to win salvation. For him to come and judge the Earth means that we will be vindicated, that he will establish a saving righteousness with equity and justice.

That is a pretty different sense of judgment from that of the persistent widow’s unjust judge who seemed simply to be awarding the victory to one side or another in a dispute.

In the justice of God, salvation and righteousness are established for the world among all people.

But it is for us to step out of that tight frame of jurisprudence that simply chooses a winner between opponents in a lawsuit and it is for us to step into a larger world in which justice rolls down like waters and the day of salvation is at hand.

(Amos 5:24) 

 

Sunday 16 November 2025. JRL+

spolia

“Some people were talking about the temple and the beauty of its fine stones and ornaments. He said, ‘These things you are gazing at–the time will come when not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.’ (Luke 21:5-6, REB)

Twenty-three years ago I slapped my hand on the Romanesque wall, exposed by renovations, of Chester Cathedral and said to my host, this is the church Anselm knew. There has been a church on the site since the eighth century. The building now is Gothic in style, but that is wrapped around an earlier Romanesque structure. And so I knew that back when “Cur Deus Homo” (Why a God-Man?) was hot off the copying desk, its author, Anselm the Archbishop of Canterbury, was visiting, the wall he would have touched was the wall I touched.

Ten years ago in Jerusalem I placed my palm against a large well-worked stone. It was set in the Western Wall, foundation stone of the third Temple, built under the direction (and the lash) of Herod the Great, just before Jesus was born. Despite our Savior’s words of prophecy, not every stone fell away from every other. The Romans, when they came in destructive fury, left a few standing, just a few. They are the largest and oldest and best-fashioned of the stones in the wall. Though I doubt the soldiers of Titus spared them out of respect for the stone masons.

Stones last. Sometimes they are repurposed: they become spolia, salvaged or stolen from an old ruined (mostly) building and put to new use. Churches in Rome have pillars from pagan bath houses. Churches in Spain have stones that were once in mosques that were once churches. 

Sometimes they stay where they were put, for a very long time. Sometimes they are in ruins, evocative of earlier, lost ages, and forgotten rituals.

Stones last. But not forever. And they don’t matter anyway. That is what Jesus tells us. “The Lord is faithful” - the steadfast love of God : that is what endures. 

JRL+

https://chestercathedral.com/about/heritage-culture/the-building-and-its-history

https://www.mezquita-cordoba.com/en

not proven

Are you now or have you ever been?

“But before all this occurs, they will take you into custody and harass you because of your faith. They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will provide you with an opportunity to testify. Make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance. I’ll give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to counter or contradict.” (Luke 21:12-15, Common English Bible)

What would I say if I were hauled up before the magistrate to defend my religion? First of all, it doesn’t seem likely; after all I’m not a Christian in Baghdad or Bahá’í in Tehran or Muslim in western China or Buddhist in Tibet. 

And what would I have done that might make them think they could convict me of being a Christian? Have I been comforting the bereaved, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or standing up for justice? Have I been doing those things? Have I been encouraging other people to do those things? Or is it guilt by association with people who do those things? 

After all, I did sign that “Bear Witness Now” letter along with 100 other pastors that said, this is what Christianity is about, and included three main points. 

And those points were about compassion and justice and charity. About God’s love for all people, God’s love for creation, God’s particular love for the poor.

• “For God so loved the whole world” 
• “God created the world and called it good”
• "For the least of these”

John 3.16. Genesis 1.4,10,12, 18, 21, 25, 31. Matthew 25.40, 45.

Maybe that's enough to get me busted. I hope so, cause I haven’t done a whole lot else. Nothing to stand out. Then again, what does stand up? How would we know? 

There’s a story about an old Scottish pastor reflecting back on his life who worried that he’d never really had his words or his ministry turn someone’s life around; except maybe, he thought aloud, maybe that little Davy Livingstone. David Livingstone, you may know, devoted his life to a very dramatic ministry in Africa, missionary, physician, explorer, and  anti-slavery crusader. 

Maybe we won’t know what would stand up in court, if we were brought before kings and governors. Maybe we would slide by because of the modest nature of our commitments. Maybe we would. Maybe some of us will have to stand up and stand out, because of the nature of the gospel. Of the gospel, not our own bravery or detachment or internal virtue. Because he calls. 

He calls us. As he called Nicodemus, and Andrew and Peter, and Matthew. And a blind beggar no one knows the name of. Of Mary and Martha. And of that saint we sang of, on All Saints, that we met at shops or at tea. (Love that.) Because the saints of God are just folks like we—

Lesbia Scott, “I sing a song of the saints of God”, Hymn #293, The Hymnal 1982, ‎page 515. [https://hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/page/515]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Livingstone]

https://www.bearwitnessnow.org/

All Saints

Remember me when you come into your kingdom... we sing, in deep Russophile voices. But the Beatitudes for this year C in our three-year calendar are those of Luke, not Matthew, and include woes as well as blessings, and a final admonition : Do to others as you would have them do to you.

The hardest of all, the easiest of all. . . if we could treat others with the empathy we treat ourselves but without identifying them, their needs and wants and aspirations and fears and regrets and evils, with ours. 

That is blessing indeed: for them, and, leaving it to God, perhaps to ourselves.

 

Daniel 7:1-3,15-18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31

1 November 2025
All Saints' Day

Year C

https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/HolyDays/AllSaintsC_RCL.html

In year A we will encounter the more familiar Beatitudes from the gospel of Matthew (5:1-12):

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

balance

Are you a Mary or a Martha?

Yes or no?

A night in Madrid, two years ago: before the rain we made our way into a restaurant with singing waiters, opera-singing waiters. We were all crowded into a large room where they served the meal and also sang to us. We listened as we sat at our tables. Or in my case, as I tried to capture in a photo the scene before me, to the point where I was distracted from what was happening right around me. 

Suddenly I found myself being addressed in song, by the soprano singing the aria right in my ear. I looked up, cast aside my phone and gave her my attention. I did not sing the tenor’s response. But I did look, listen, and pay attention. So if you want an image of that moment you will have to listen to me. There is nothing on my phone to capture, share, or post it.

What would it have been like if both sisters had missed the moment, that moment when the son of God, the source of all being, the one in whom and through whom all things are made and all redeemed, was in their home, at their table. Right there.

Martha was still trapped in ordinary time. Mary was transforming into a disciple. Sitting at the feet of the rabbi like a rapt pupil she was becoming a teacher herself. An apostle, a messenger, a bearer of the word.

Am I a Mary or a Martha? Yes and no. Sometimes, there is work to be done.

Sometimes, there he is, right in front of me, with something to teach me.

Can I hear it? Am I paying attention, ready? If the Messiah comes to dinner tonight, how will I treat him? As an extra guest, at a place at the table set aside for a stranger, or the center of the celebration? The one who in fact feeds us.

Amos talks about a day of hunger, a day of famine, that is not a day without bread, but a day without hearing the Lord’s word, the word of life. The feast of the Word is on the table before us, today, as it was for Mary and Martha.

Whatever our righteous occupations are, there comes a moment when we need to see what is really before us, to hear the word of life, and to take in our true sustenance.

************

Am I saying that a Madrid opera singer was the Christ? No, but I am saying that you can see in the moment the image of God in the stranger and in the strangest moments if you are ready for them

It may be that to meet Christ in the present moment will involve someone greeting you or you helping someone unexpectedly.

Or it may be greeting each other in peace, and recognizing in each other, the image of God in which you are both made,

And also enjoying and receiving and acknowledging the presence of God in communion with each other, in the sharing of the communion bread and the communion wine.

Have you seen Jesus my Lord? And were you paying attention?

None of this is to imply that we should all become contemplatives, or all activists. Indeed one of the most famous monks of the twentieth century, a member of an intensely contemplative order, was also a well-known activist, although his work with other activists tended to take place in writing or in meetings. 

And a well-known activist, indeed more than one, was deeply contemplative. I was thinking of Thomas Merton and Daniel Berrigan. Who are you thinking of? 

Indeed that is what the Benedictine way, the way of balance, is all about: ora et labora, work and prayer. Daily sustenance, maintenance, fixing the plumbing, doing the dishes, yes, and, yes, singing praise to God and becoming lost in wonder.

Indeed we do not need to choose between two routes or poles in our spiritual and religious life. We may find ourselves oscillating between them, or favoring the wrong approach at the right time. It is easy to hide from action in false contemplative behavior, as easy as it is to hide in action when we need to sit ourselves down and listen to what the Lord is saying.

Will l listen to what the Lord is saying? The psalmist invites us to join the song:

Psalm 85.8-13

8 I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, *

    for he is speaking peace to his faithful people

    and to those who turn their hearts to him. 

10 Mercy and truth have met together; *

    righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *

    and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

These are words of comfort. Much more than the psalm appointed for today. Today the psalm appointed as a response to the words of the prophet Amos is a denunciation of wrongdoing and a contrasting call to truth, and to trust where trust belongs, and to thanksgiving and praise.  

Psalm 52

Why, O man of power, do you boast all the day long :

 of mischief done to him that is faithful to God?

You have loved evil, and not good :

 to tell lies, rather than to speak the truth.

But God will destroy you utterly :

 he will snatch you away and pluck you out of your dwelling,

   he will uproot you from the land of the living.

As for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God :

 I will trust in the goodness of God for ever and ever.

I will always give you thanks, for this was your doing :

 I will glorify your name before the faithful,

   for it is good to praise you.

Those first verses are pretty harsh, denouncing wrong behavior and slanderous words. The psalm is comparing the proud tyrant who trusts in wealth and wickedness to a wayward plant. In the garden of God there are upstarts that he will uproot like so many weeds. And then there are those like green trees, verdant and robust, who listen to what the Lord is saying and do what he commands.

Listen and do. Both contemplate and act. Sit at the feet of Jesus and learn. And when the time is right, speak out, do justice, love mercy, and always, always, walk humbly with our God.

O God, heavenly Father, your Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and refreshment in the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany: Give us the will to love you, open our hearts to hear you, and strengthen our hands to serve you in others for his sake; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

(Collect for the Feast of Mary and Martha of Bethany.)

© 2025 John Leech

July 20th 2025, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11 Year C

Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42