Month: January 2023

5^th.Sunday in Ordinary A Sunday 5^th.Feb 2023 (’02)

1. IS58 7-10

• Read 58 1-14! True&false religious practice! & Why embody one, not the other?
• Why are readings like this consistently offered-out, consistently ignored?
• Which of these ‘works of mercy’ do I pursue, even in a modest fashion?
• Apart from SVdP, how is my local church organised to succour our own needy?
• Why is Food&Shelter&Clothing&Non-Violence reckoned to be so fundamental? Yet, Worship&Devotion&Obedience is sanctioned with reward&punishment as the ideal?

2. THE PSALM: 111 4-9

• Read 111(112). 1-10 The rewards promised for Righteousness& Fear-of-Yahweh!
• Who in their right mind wouldn’t inconvenience themselves for them! & Yet.
• Is there a tacit wink in institutional religion that TheYahwisticStuff is optional?
• Good/Just/Man,’ Does the yahwehistic golden-handshake apply also to women?
• Read Job 23-24. Job’s Bone-to-Pick with ‘God’ & the traditional ‘theodicy’!
• In what ways are AdultChristians ‘Light-in-the-Darkness for IrishSociety?

3. 1COR2, 1-5

• How is Paul (or anyone) able to declare ‘what God has guaranteed’?
• ‘Jesus-as-CrucifiedMessiah!’ What is the impact now, of this Biblical language?
• Nowadays, from what do preachers&missionaries derive their ‘power’?
• ‘Fear&Trembling.’ Is not this an unusual side of Paul? How is it compatible with his assertion that his speaking demonstrated ‘ThePower-of-TheHolyBreath’?
• ‘TheHolySpirit!’ What was dynamic in Paul, how might it awaken in me?

4. MT5.13-16

• In what circumstances does the earth require salt? Or is it that the disciples of Jesus
• will be a preservative a flavouring for the people of the earth?
• Are disciples who have become insipid&irrelevant, threatened with being trampled?
• ‘Light.’ Apart from ‘Mass-attendance,’ how ‘visible’ are Christians in Ireland?
• What 7Sorts-of-‘ChristianPresence’ are urgently needed in the contemporary situation?
• But aren’t Christians currently encouraged to be ‘low-profile dummies?

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

‘Is it possible, sir, & I say it with due regard to the proprieties, that some of your most challenging words to disciples have been watered-down & spiritualised? And what was once flame is no longer even ash? ‘Friend, it is true, & where truth is being hidden, what are proprieties but pious fraud? ‘It grieves me, sir. To find all that solicitude to quote you & refer to you, that it is yet little more than lip-service.’ Let me mention one particular word?’ ‘Friend, please do!’ When you encouraged disciples to be salt-of-the-earth, & if salt-of-the-earth lost its aliveness, it would be thrown out & trampled?’ ‘Yes…’ ‘I remember, it was near TheSea-of-salt! & some felt offended by being associated with the inhabitants of Sodom, while others were displeased with the hint that useless salt, that is disciples, would be thrown out & trampled!’ ‘Was it on that occasion that many left your company & walked no more with you?’ ‘That occasion, friend, was but one of many!’ ‘& What did you reply to the complainers?’ ‘Very little, friend! I said, if you find it difficult to carry the full burden of my words, how will you fare when the burden of others’ hatred for me, falls fully on you?’

RIDDLE What to do? Struggle for the corporal works of mercy?

Depend not on eloquence but on TheHolyBreath?

Seek to be a visibly-dynamic presence of society?

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

SUN 29th JAN 2023 (’02): 4th SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. ZEPH 2:3; 3:12-13

• Read 1:2-3:20! A most enraged&violent outpouring of ‘Yahwistic Vitriol’ against Jew&Gentile! Barely mitigated by one or two phrases, &the end-song!
• In light of such ‘prophecies’, it must be asked if ‘Yahweh’ is at all ‘balanced’? Or how we in the ‘modern world’ can comprehend these dramatic mood-swings?
• To what extent is TheWrath-of-God still legal tender among ‘Christians’. Is it sometimes a projection of ‘authority figures’’, or a means of keeping ‘order’?
• Can I discern any ambivalence in the call to people to be ‘humble&lowly’?
• Unless it is supported&deeply-rooted by the most excellent ‘adult-education’?

2. THE PSALM 145:7-10 (Note again the subversive vv3-4!)

• Read 145(146) 1-10 Whatever about ‘princes’, can ‘YahwehHimself’ be trusted?
• As Job would ask ironically, how much of this excerpt is actually happening?
• Unless to the extent that contemporary ‘Embodiers-of-Yahweh’ are doing it!
• How is my local church enabling me to actualise any of this ‘wishful thinking’?
• ‘OppressedHungryPrisonersBlindBowedDown StrangerWidowOrphan!’ Is this list a mere rhetorical flourish? Or ‘spiritual chores’? Or serious reality still being avoided?

4. MT 5:1-12

How could God be actively-salvific in those with one foot in the grave?

How could the non-violent ever come to own this earth?

All the loss&death, when has God actually comforted a mourner?

Those who longed for justice like for food&drink, when have they found it?

When were the tolerant&compassonate folk not just taken advantage of?

Sure, many are single-minded & utterly-focussed, but is it God they gaze on?

Maybe loyalty-to-religion & wholeness-for-all are incompatible?

Persecuted for justice? Who can say is it truly virtuous, or something else?

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

Confidential memorandum to TheMost ExcellentHighPriest Caiaphas!

Dispatched by trusted messenger from ‘BarShemayâ’, Stalker of TheNazerene!

Greetings ‘May Heaven’sBlessings adorn YourExcellency’

Unworthy though I am, by any standards, I continue the work you entrusted to me, as Stalker-of-TheNazerene! I regret to say that the crowds are still flocking after him, in spite of the feeble efforts of certain parties (no names, Excellency) to discredit him! &in spite of the strangeness of his own words&behaviour! Much of the time, he merely offers riddles, no attempt to clarify anything, sometimes I wonder if these are coded messages to followers planted among the crowds! Yesterday for example, the first day of the week, TheNazerene climbed a low hill & sat there (rather pompously&mawkishly, I thought) teaching the hungry sheep, he calls it! Riddle after riddle, I just lost count! Here’s a few I recall (too dangerous to be seen writing on the spot)! ‘Why does Heaven favour only the wretched&resourceless’? TheBlessedOne will bestow all authority only on the meek of the land! If you hunger&thirst for justice, how could Heaven reject your cause? Why is TheBlessedOne more interested in those who mourn than those who laff? As he spoke these nonsenses, I could see people nodding, &at the end of the rigmarole they all cheered & threw their cloaks in the air! I fear he was speaking subversion&revolution, in coded language! I urge you once again, Excellency, let us be ready to slaughter him, &soon!’

6. RIDDLE

Who can I say are truly called? TheLowly&Oppressed? TheFoolish?

The SingleMinded? Or those who just say their prayers?

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

Sunday 22nd JAN 2023 (’02): 3rd SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. IS 8:23-9:3

• Read 8:1-9:7! Prophetic weaving of personal&communal&national destinies
• How do we hear now, ‘Yahweh’s Pronouncements’ about various Tribes&Peoples?
• Do isolated extracts like this tend to make me uncritical of the widespread ‘darkness’ &’shadow’&’humbleness, sociological& psychological, that oppress our society?
• ‘Darkness&Shadow!’ : How will I describe this aspect of our contemporary experience?
• How is it affected by our fulsome celebration, religious&secular, of ‘Christmas’?
• On balance, am I more, or less, ‘oppressed&enslaved’, than before ‘VaticanTwo’?

2. THE PSALM. 26:1,4,13-14 (what of the crucial omitted verses?)

• Read 26(27):1-14! Will Yahweh protect me in fear&anger&dereliction&illness?
• What 10Personal&CommunalResources are empowering me to deal with ‘fear’?
• In 60words, my best expression of my unfolding adult ‘worldview’?
• What ‘viruses’ may be hidden there, that ‘dispose’ me to fear&selfrejection &defeatism
• ‘TheHouse-of-Yahweh!’ TheTemple? Arguably TheWilderness? Or TheFreeSpirit?
• But what if ‘TheReality-of-Yahweh is only gradually nowadays-being-unfolded?

3. 1Cor1:10-13,17

• Read 1:4-2:6. ‘The Goodnews’ What is it? Who is it for? Are there varieties of it?
• What are The10Principal’Differences’, acknowledged or hidden, in my local church
• What is being done to enable adultChristians to value&explore&benefit from them?
• What are ‘TheSevenActivePowerFactions’? &How do these affect ‘TheBody’?
• How do I distinguish Philosophy&Theology? Faith&Reason? Authority&Conscience?
• How did Paul reckon the Corinthians would move from ‘disagreement’ to ‘unity’?
• What if ‘TheChurches-in-NorthernIreland’ is ‘TheCorinthianCommunity’ writ-large?

4. MT 4:12-23

• Why did He ‘call’ fishermen, rather than shepherds or carpenters? &Why does He appear, in the narratives, not to have ‘called’ women, on a par with men?
• What is the role of the cited ‘prophecies’, which are especially prevalent in MT?
• In ‘composing a gospel’, what ‘resources’ would an early community draw on
• The image of ‘casting a net to catch people’.

In my world, what are the attractive, &the off-putting, aspects of it?

In what ways are ‘people’ &’fish’ comparable

For a ‘fish’, how would being in the ‘boat’ excel being in the ‘water’

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

SONG OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES
He appeared in Zabulon&Naphthah, to us who waited!
He walked along the shore & looked in our eyes!
He opened our eyes to the wonder close at hand!
He touched our lives with words that kindled our soul!
He shouted, Abandon boat&bed&hearth!
He netted Simon&Andrew, James&John!
He promised a life&death fishing on land!
He taught us the breath that quickens, the touch that heals!
He called us from our darkness into His light!

6. RIDDLE

Which ‘GoodNews’? Light-in-Darkness? Protection-from-Fear?

Unity-in-Difference? Gatheredness-in-Lostness

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

SUN 15th JAN 2023 (’02) : 2nd SUN IN ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A

1. IS 49:3,5-6 (Shreds of TheSecondServantSong)

• Read 49:1-6. ‘The training of TheServant for an unheard-of mission’
• What insights are offered here, into the nitty-gritty of ‘Friendship-with-Yahweh’?
• ‘TheNations/TheEnds-of-the-Earth!’ Apart from the experience of Exile-in-Babylon, what other factors may have broadened&deepened the prophetic imagination?
• In what ways is ‘the conventional Christian worldview’ over-narrow&over cautious?
• Express in 60 words the content of this ‘worldview’? &Whence its ‘authority’?
• What if ‘TheOtherGods’ claim to have ‘formed me in the womb as their slaves’?

2. THE PSALM 39:2-4:7-10

• Read 39(40):1-17 ‘DeliveranceSong of a faithful Follower-of-Yahweh’!
• Which Friend or Parent or Teacher is ‘stooping down’ to ‘make my steps secure’?
• Is a ‘listening presence’ better than ‘sacrifice&offering &holocaust&victim’?
• What is ‘TheWill-of-Yahweh’ for my local church
• How would I know if ‘TheOtherGods’ were ‘imposing their will on me’? &Which-one?
• ‘SealedLips’!: In myChurch, is this a non-speaking of ‘praise’ or ‘critique’ or ‘debate’

3. 1COR 1:1-3

• In 60words, compose a relevant&incisive introduction of myself to my local church?
• ‘Appointed-by-God!’ For any ministry, how is such a claim understood&verified?
• In what ways is my local church similar or dissimilar to that of ‘Corinth’?
• What is the ‘Vocation/Call’ directed to my local church, as a whole?
• Judging by this ‘introduction’, what ‘power-structure’, if any, obtained in Corinth?

4. JOHN 1: 29-34

• As TheBaptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he spoke a series of riddles!

How would even God’sPaschalRam free TheWorld from its ownEnslavements?

One I never met nor know, Him I reveal-to-all through death-by-water!

The one after me is also before me! The one under me is also over me!

What I didn’t know, TheVoice knew! What I couldn’t, TheBreath would!

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

‘What I can’t understand is this’ ‘ThePractisingSceptic was characteristically pro-active’!’ Yes.? ‘TheOfficialBeliever’s dry intervention carried a tone of authoritative cheveux-de-frise!’ ‘how the narrator of TheFourthGospel’ ‘JohnTheMysticEagle!’ could say that JohnTheBaptiser saw Jesus coming towards him’. Yes, TheLamb-of-God!’ ‘&called him ‘TheLamb-of-God’ ‘So, what’s your problem?’ ‘&then?’ ‘&then, on the heels of this declaration..’ ‘Public act of faith in the..’ ‘..twice admitted he didn’t know him.’ ‘According to the flesh, perhaps! but in the realms of TheHolySpirit, everything including sin is serenely&beautifully transfigured by the action of.. ‘Hold it, Lacordaire’ ‘Mind if I utter one full sentence uninterrupted?’ ‘Not at all! Just that you spend so long plodding to the dénouement, I’ve forgotten how the weary string of clichés started out.’ ‘Is the fact that JohnTheBaptist is made to contradict himself.’ ‘How dare you, tête-de-choux’ Oh, you sneezed, milord?’ say in that barefaced way.’ ‘..that TheBible’s inspiration needs to be carefully scrutinised?’ ‘No! That TheHolySpirit could be party to such an’ ‘But look at it, it’s there in your own Douay, even .’ After a long long silence, TheOfficial Believer spoke, ‘The Tradition says, When you think you’ve found an error, take it that you are mistaken, not the sacred author…..’

6. RIDDLE

Which God is now-for-me?

Friend, Whisperer, Appointer, Chooser, Teacher?

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

Sunday 8 January 2023 (’02) . THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD : A

1. 1S42.1-4, 6-7 (Not ignoring v5, surely?)
   • Read 42.1-25! The manyMoods&Turnings-of-Yahweh! Who would be HisSlave?
   • ‘Servant” Name 5People in my local church whose deportment is like this?
   • What criteria indicate that someone or something in my local church has been pointed to, either with approval or disapproval, by ‘TheHeavenlyVoice’?
   • What sorts of rituals&disciplines&asceticisms would be called for, so as to bring about in a ‘Servant-of-Yahweh’ this combination of gentleness&f1dehty&healing?
   • ‘OpenEyes, FreeCaptives”· For-whom, by-whom, is this happening in my local church?

2 THE PSALM • 28.1-4, 9-10

• Read 28(29)•1-11! Yahweh imagined or disguised as Semitic StormGod! But what is going on here, that Ba’al or Hadad wouldn’t be doing anyway?
• Are some of God’s, Yahweh’s or Jesus’ Titles&Rituals borrowed from TheOtherGods?
• Can I imagine a TempleRitual (dance etc) that may have accompanied this psalm?

3 AAlO 34-38

• Read 10:1-48!Surely an archetypal ‘example-story’ for all ‘missionaries’!
• ‘FearGod&DoWhatIsRight” Even outside ‘church structures’?
• ‘Cornelius!’ The ‘conversion’ of this pagan offtcer ‘certainly a good propaganda’
• How can he assert to TheEmperor’sMan, that ‘JesusChrist is Lord of all men’?
• If each child is ‘anointed with TheHolyBreath&Power’, why the religious crisis?
• Do we spend too much time talking-about-Jesus, but not doing-now what He did-then?

4. MT3 13-17
   • Read 3·1-25! TheBeginnings ofTheGreatWork! Jesus takes TheBaton from John!
   • What are The10Disputes (hidden or overt) in my local church? Who are involved?
   • What are the mam problematics around the contemporary practice of ‘Baptism’?
   • ‘TheHeavensTheBreathTheDoveTheVoice” How did all this take place for me?
   • Why is a general conferring of ‘AdultBaptism’being resisted in TheChurch?
   • How fitting would it be, that ChristianParents baptise their own child?
5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

‘Gertie, listen!A’m nearly breathless wi’ this one’ This bates th’ whole bangjang I ever…’ ‘God, Cissie, has lover-boy poppt a.. ‘ ‘Wait til y’ hear! He really had us out on stalks this mornin’ ”Oh ” John th’ Baptist wouldn’t let OmDivineLord inta th’ water.”. th’ Sheridan, wasn’t it?’ ‘ t’ get baptised” ‘H’l on, now..’ ‘He pushed him back onta th’ bank, “Y’re too holy t’ be comm’ in here wi’ them other sinners’ What’d God be doin’, down here confessin’ wi’ prostitutes an’ godknows..”…’ ‘Oh..’ ‘So what did OurDivineLord do?’ ‘Well, I guess he coulda baptised hisself…’ ‘As my fella says when he. ‘ ‘Or he coulda assed someone else.. ‘ Th’ sinners?’ ‘Or one a’ them, what d’ ya call them?’ ‘Anyway, they fixed it up .’ ‘What?’ ‘..A’m not sure, someone’s child started. ‘ ‘Aw th’ usual here’s-me-granny” ‘I think they agreed, “You baptise me, then I’ll baptise you'” ‘ ‘As th’ fella in th’ soap ‘ ‘Th’ main thing is, he got baptised! I don’t care who did it, th’ butcher th’ baker! ‘Cos otherwise, what use ‘d our own baptisms be?’ ‘I don’t know, now ‘ ‘No, they were right to agree, for all our sakes’ Yes, that’s what he said, “If he hadn’t, would I a’ been up here, talkin’ t’ yous?” .’ ‘Well now, that’s definitely another kettla fish”‘

6. RIDDLE ChristianBaptism! PiusFormality? InitatoryOrdeal? Imitation-of-Jesus?

Opportunity-for-a-Day’sCrack?

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