Month: December 2022

Sunday 1 JAN 2023 (’02) • SOLEMNITY OF MARY MOTHER OF GOD

1 NUM6·22-27

• Read 6 1-27!A strange relic from the past? Or a clue to some of our obsessions?
• ‘Yahweh&Moses&Aaron&Sons-of-Israel!’. What is this channel-of-power?
• Is it arguable that ‘true-blessing’ must ultimately derive from the mother?
• Can I create an appropriate ‘MaryMotherBlessing’ for contemporary children?
• Why is ‘Yahweh’ imagined as a ‘ShiningFace’? Again, is this actually ‘TheMother’?
• Especially, the claim that faces of Brides&Mothers-in-Birth shine-with-light!
• How is Yahweh ‘UncoveringHisFace’&’BringingPeace’ into my local church?

2 THE PSALM:66 2-3, 5, 6, 8 (Why those ‘scraps’ thrown-away?)

• A modest&decorous song to ‘God’, TheTempleDivinity, ‘Praise&Blessing’!
• What about ‘TheCult-of-TheFace’ in modern secular&religious iconography?
• Especially church leaders&saints&gurus! &market&political&media icons¹
• How is TheShining of God’s or Yahweh’s Face relevant to this festival?
• Why is ‘God’ generally portrayed Without BrotherSisterDaughterFatherMotherUncle?
• What is TheGreatBlessing yearned-for in my local church?

3. GAL4·4-7
   • Read 3:1 – 5.1!The tangled relations of Law&Promise&Redemption!
   • The insistence on ‘Sons’ in this excerpt, how is it affected by the solitary ‘Woman’?
   • Is there a hint that ‘Adoption/Redemption’ is deeply connected with ‘Woman’?
   • In what ways are contemporary women called to the ‘healing of men’?
   • Is ‘biblical revelation’ as a whole, truly capable of valuing ‘woman-as-healer’?
   • &Has TheChurch managed to combine ‘Honour-of-Mary’ & ‘Disvaluation-of-Women’?
   • But are ‘christians’ increasingly prone to ‘enslavement’ by ‘the modern world’?
4. LK2·16-21

• In which other biblical stories do ‘angels’ speak to ‘shepherds’? (Say, GEN18)
• What in the shepherds’ words would have ‘astonished’ people?

• ‘Treasure&Ponder” Is this a reference to a mother’s-wisdom? Or, for-all?
• What did the shepherds think or do, about the ‘baby lying in the manger’?
• ‘Circumcision!’: Read GEN17! Men, sure! but how were women included?
• How is the naming of children different from naming pets or boats or storms?
• ‘PraisingGod!’· How is this ‘God’ connected With Mary as ‘Mother-of-God’?

5 The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

WE SING THE MOTHER OF ALL
Lady' You set your throne in the pillar of cloud!
Lady' You smile in sun&moon&stars!
Lady' You brighten every soul you touch! 
Lady' You breathe into our eyes at birth! 
Lady! You gladden families, flocks, &fields!
Lady' You shepherd all who stumble or stray! 
Lady' You handsel artist, player, &poet!
Lady! You gather us into the realm at death! 
Lady! Your heart&breasts&womb, the-all!

6. RIDDLE

Mary Mother of God! A 15000year-old dogma, now passe?

A strong declaration of the dignity of all women? A statement

of the importance of woman for Jesus, &a fortiori, for TheChurch?

Sunday 25th DECEMBER 2022 (’01) : THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD

1. ISAIAH 52:7-10

• Read 51:1-52:12. ‘TheMovement&Restoration &Healing of ThePeople’
• Apart from tinges of chauvinism&triumphalism in this extract,

Who is announcing&consolidating ‘goodness for-now’

What ‘ruins’ of my local church are looking for attention?

If I met Yahweh ‘face-to-face, would each know the other

2. THE PSALM 97:1-16

• Read 97(98)1-9! Celebration of Yahweh’s ‘Victory’ &’JusticeMaking’
• How important in my local church is the entitling of Yahweh&Jesus as ‘king’?
• ‘RightHand&HolyArm!’. Hints to a militant ‘HolyWar’mentality
• What if ‘salvation’ in this psalm, &in christian imagining, are totally different?
• &Jesus, ‘TheSaviour’, what was He ‘saving’ His contemporaries for, or from?
• How important is song&music&dance in ‘christian ritual’ nowadays?

3. HEB 1:1-6

• Read 1:1-2:18! The web of relations between ‘TheSon’ & ‘TheAngels’!
• Where does this exalted language enter into my contemporary experience?
• In what ways is it relevant (or not) to the celebration of ‘Christmas’?
• ‘Father&Son!’. The benefit&cost of the prevalence of this relationship in TheBible?

4. JOHN 1:1-8

• Why was this (TheLastGospel) often read over the sick, for healing?
• This cultic song (with some interpolations, say, about TheBaptist),

What is its central&irreducible affirmation?

‘TheWord’? TheExodusSymbol? TheSpeakingBreath? TheFeminineWisdom

The WordEmbodied, what palpable power has It in my life&times

How is ‘Christ’ actually making ‘God’ part of my adult experience?

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

‘Sir’ A question that’s long waited patiently for the asking! How did you perceived&take-to-yourself Heaven’s breathing&speaking?! Always, perhaps, I was cradled in Heaven’s paternal embrace! But it was when I was twelve, &took on the burdensome blessing of covenant, then it was friend, that I began to be nourished by the breasts of angels’ ‘Sir, your words inspire me greatly’ &Make me bold to ask you about TheWord! What is that, &what is your relation to it?’ ‘Friend, this truth-of-Heaven has been trampled by hooves-of-bulls, as it became gossiped-about by ever-new people in ever-new languages!’ ‘Sir, I fear we will not comprehend each other about this!’ ‘TheWord, friend, flows between us in our deepening friendship! It is the deepest darkest fire-of-Heaven! Every other depth &deepness is born from that well-of-narrative, &that heart of action, &that tree-of-yearning!’ ‘Why, sir, do some assert that in your living&dying TheWord has truly come amongst us?’ ‘Friend! What came upon me before&during&after! What entered with breath&light&blood! Nazareth Bethlehem Jerusalem! That rich fullness of love’s myriad extravagance is barely hinted by stammering ‘TheWord’! But may this friendship touch you, so that you too may suffer the unfathomable grace of Heaven’sKiss!’ ‘Sir, my thanks! &May our friendship ever be soul’s bearing-up in the storm!’

6. RIDDLE

WhichJesus must be Born-for-our-Darkness?

TheOne who ensures our victory over others?

TheOne who empowers our struggle for truth?

TheOne who deepens our awareness into love?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

Sunday 18th December 2022 (’01) : 4th Sunday of Advent Cycle A

1. ISAIAH 7: 10-14

• Read 7:1-8:22! Is ‘National Disaster’ inevitable? Or ‘Yahweh’s Retribution’?

Or the play of ‘PoliticalSelfInterest’?

Or ‘TheAssertionOfTranscendentFactors’?

• How do I discern TheWill-Of-Yahweh’ for my local church? Or for myself?
• In what situations does the leadership of TheIrishChristian Churches ask Yahweh for a sign, in the immanent ‘crisis’? Or, is this part of the ‘strategy’ at all?
• ‘Test/TemptYahweh!’ Why (&whence) was it prohibited to ‘testYahweh’?
• ‘Son!’ TheQueen giving-birth to a male heir symbolises Yahweh’s gracious favour towards the dynasty! Has my local church any comparable ‘sign-of-favour’?

2. THE PSALM 23:1-6

• Read 23(24): 1-10 ‘Yahweh-the-King’ Creator-of-All! Who-are-his-chohorts?

How will He Enter-His-Temple? & Where is all this in IrishSociety?

• Who are the favoured ‘OutRiders-of-Yahweh’ in my local church?

Is this excerpt’s fantasy, that they must all be men, still the norm in spite of everything?

• The self-reassured ’TempleAuthority’ in this excerpt, to what extent has it been recapitulated in TheChurches’ management of Difference&Dissent?
• Must the claim that ‘Yahweh-Owns-All be stringently contested?

3. ROM1:1-7

• Can I express the marrow of this excerpt in 30words of current English?
• ‘Apostle/SentOut!’. Is he ‘One-of-the-Twelve’? Or a sort of ‘Bishop’? Or just ‘Awake’?
• What is inhibiting me from expressing ‘MyTrueFaith’ by speeches&letters

Or did Paul have to get special permission to ‘minister’? (Read GAL1:1-2:21!)

• Have I discovered that ‘Belonging-to-JesusChrist is ‘goodnews’ in any way?
• Could ‘TheRomanChurch’ learn from us, as it presumably learned from Paul?

4. MT1:18-24 (And v25?)

• Read1:1-25! What if TheGeneology is as significant as TheBirthStory?
• ‘ThroughTheHolySpirit!’. In what aspects of Jesus’Unfolding, in its complexity, was ‘TheHolyBreath’ active? Which OTNaratives&Psalms give a clue to this?
• What if ‘TheHolyBreath’is significantly involved in TheEmergence of each child?
• Did Joseph know of ‘TheBreath’ both before&during&after that dream

&Was he more concerned about ThePregnancy, or ThePresence of ‘TheHolyBreath’?

• What are The7Ways in which the storyteller explores Jesus’ complex origins?

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

THE CHILD HIS SHOUTS-OF-REALISATION!

Yes, TheMother! Attended with love TheWhisperer!

Yes, TheAngel!’ Weaver sweet&bitter

Yes,TheFather! Gathered the threads-of knowing!

Yes, TheFriendship! Mix&melt&mould!

Yes, TheDreamer! Arrowing beyong the moment

Yes, TheFamily! Dance of many&one

Yes, TheEagle! Carried us there&back!

Yes, TheBreath! Before&during&always

6. RIDDLE Jesus, whoseSon-for-Now?

TheQueen’s?Yahweh’s?

God’s? Joseph’s? TheHolyBreath’s?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie

Sunday 11 December 2022 (’01) : 3rdSUNofADVENT : A

1. 1S35 1-6, 10

• Read 34 1- 35:10! Doom for the oppressor, vengeance&joy for the oppressed!
• Has the biblical thirst-for-vengeance, ‘eye-for-eye’, survived into ‘christianity’?
• ‘BlindDeafLameDumbUnransomed•”Physicar? Or ‘spiritual’? Or ‘politicall
• ‘Flowers!’. Is this a hint to the necessary presence of ‘Wisdom’, She-of-TheGarden?
• ‘Vengeance&Retribution!: Where is this in ‘IrishCatholicSpiritualitys?
• ‘Joy!’• In which 20Circumstances of my world do I experience ‘Joy&Gladness’ ?
• ‘TheComing-of-TheLord. Has this phrase an inevitable ‘militaristic’ overtone?

2. THE PSALM . 145:6-10 (But not overlooking vv3-4!)

• Read 145(146):1-10′ Who is a trustworthy protector like ‘Yahweh’ is?
• Another carefully-trimmed excerpt! Is it like poking sleeping dogs, to leave in the ‘revolutionary’ reference to the untrustworthiness of ‘princes’, whoever?
• ‘Come, Lord, &Save-us!’: Presumably a shout-to-the-ImminentJesus!
• But, can I say in 35words what ‘salvation’ I need or want or envisage?
• What is ‘ThePath-of-TheWicked’? &How is it being thwarted in IrishSociety?

3. JAM5:7-10

• In what 20Ways do I see our times as expecting InstantGratification’?
• What opportunities are provided for adultChristians to train in discipline’
• Any connections between ‘disciple’ & ‘discipline’ & ‘disciplinary’?
• Have I discovered the importance of ‘attentive breathing’ as a root of ‘patience’?
• What other essential ingredients of ‘patience’ may be unacknowledged in ferverinos?
• ‘TheLord’sComing!’: Have I 5Non-Literal-Imaginings of this biblical commonplace?
• Can I name 10Women&Men in the local church who ‘Speak-in-TheName-of-TheLord’?

4. MT11.2-11

• What ‘prisoners’ in IrishSociety are enquiring, ‘Has Christ really come yet, at-all!’?
• If I were John, how would I understand&deal-withChrist/Jesus’ declaration?
• Jesus’ monologue about John, does it seem to culminate on a negative note?
• Jesus’ riddle-of-John?

What have Moses&John in-common?

How was John born-of-Woman, but not-born-of-Heaven?

If John is not in TheKingdom, how could anyone else be?

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

Yochanaan entered TheHeavenlyJerusalem as the butcher’s cleaver severed his blessed head’ Appropriately, the first to greet&embrace him was Mosheh, peace-be-upon-him! ‘Welcome, child of Aaron-my-brother!’ Greetings to you, my father-in-faith” Did vou take up TheGreatWork of fitting the people for freedom?’ ‘Surely I did!’ What was your

way?” ‘Like yourself, my father-in-faith, I endured the wilderness for many years!’ ‘Truly grace for one who can grasp it!’ &As time was near its fullness, TheVoice bade me approach TheRiver-of-Memory, &stand in the midst of TheWaters as reminder for all, of TheNewArk-of-Covenant!’&did you shout?’ Surely I did!!’ &Did they listen” ‘Some did” ‘&What of them?’ They embraced Death-in-TheWaters to all their past! &The struggle ToSwim-at-AllTimes-in-TheVoice!”So, TheGreatWork is near completion?’ It is hardly beginning!’ but it has begun!’ &Who will carry it forward?’ There is another, who bridges wilderness&city’ But who-knows-what, as-yet!! ‘

6. RIDDLE TheLord’sComing! SuccouringThePoor? CleansingTheTemple?AntagonisingThePowerful ? EmbracingTheOutcast ?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie