‘Repeated listening’
HOMILY: To really love a literary work – a poem, story or philosophical text – is to revisit it. We may not understand them fully, but the words vibrate with potential or promise … there is a “not yet” in the “now” …
‘Slow time … start again’
HOMILY: The Christian challenge (and it is a theological and practical challenge) is to hold these two symbols, “slow time” and “start again”, to acknowledge covenants/promises in the Spirit of Torah and Gospel. A certain imaginative space is required.
‘A fire that divides …’
HOMILY: This week’s gospel presents the paradox of divine fire – both divisive and curative. As poetic device it enables the drawing of fine and far-reaching distinctions. Sooner or later, says Jesus, you’ll have to decide. There’s a fire that divides …
‘Steal our hearts away’
HOMILY: The idiom, “steal one’s heart”, seems apt. Online search results list hundreds of hearts stolen – by beauty, mercy, justice, faithfulness … home cities, strange countries, tribal lands and waters … artistic or spiritual visions … muses, music …
‘Hidden with Christ’
HOMILY: Jesus says, “Avoid greed in all its forms.” Imagine these words whispered, between the lines that follow, in some sense hidden. Subversive, slowly revealed. The gospel heralds radical social change …
‘Good eggs’
HOMILY: Orient yourselves to God. Affirm God’s goodness and otherness. Express openness and desire for God’s future. Petition for basic, collective needs – ask to receive and commit to give. Acknowledge human frailty and finitude.
‘Perhaps Lazarus sees the big picture’
HOMILY: And now we see the full measure of wisdom in the house of Martha and Mary, who, with their (mute) brother Lazarus, offer hospitality (safety, nourishment) to Jesus …
‘A steep way’
HOMILY: YHWH says, “I am going to measure my people Israel by plumb line. I will no longer excuse their atrocities.” The plumb line, the vertical measure, is social and ecological justice, equity … safety, freedom for one another … true love.
‘Two by two’
HOMILY: The word “mission” is fraught with danger (beware ravenous wolves!). Depending on the context, on lived experience, “mission” can mean purpose, good intentions, control, colonialism, fear and trauma … as well as the mission of Christ … vulnerable openness … the mission of God to make and to mend …
‘Hold on, hold on’
HOMILY: “Well, I got my hand on the gospel plough / And I ain’t got nothin’ for my journey now // Keep your hand on that plough, hold on / Hold on, hold on / Keep your hand on that plough, hold on …”