SUN 2nd APRIL 2023(’02): PASSION SUNDAY (formerly called PALMS). A

THE HOLY WEEK OF THE NAZARENE BEGINS

1. PROCESSION OF THE PALMS: MT 21:1-11

• In my local church, what is the equivalent of ‘TheEntrance-of-the-King’?
• ‘YourKing/Humble!’ Read ZECH 9:9-17! But is He not also vengeful&manic?
• ‘Donkey!’ Abigail came to David on a donkey, with bread&wine! (1SAM25)

2. THE MASS OF PASSION SUNDAY. IS50:4-7 (What about vv8-9?)

• Read TheFourServantSongs! 42:1-9, 49:1-7, 50:4-9, 52:13-53:12
• In my local church, how are ‘disciples’ speaking&listening&suffering?
• To judge by these ‘songs’, what are the ingredients of ‘true discipleship’?
• The attacks on TheServant, anything like that going on in my local church?
• In what 10Ways does ‘Yahweh’ aid past&contemporary ‘servants’?

3. THE PSALM 21:8-9, 17-20, 23-24 (Mere shreds of this great song!)

• Read 21(22):1-31! Dramatic&moving song of a beleaguered Yahwist!
• Isn’t it imaginable that Jesus sang all of this as He ‘died-a-servant’?
• Which ‘Friends-of-Yahweh’ are being derided in my local church?
• Are those who suffer-for-faith nowadays, encouraged to be so graphic in church?
• &If they had the opportunity to ‘witness-publicly’, would they be heard&heeded?
• But what if it’s the lot of a ‘servant/disciple’ to be mocked&torn&strippt?

4. PHIL 2:6-11.

• Read 2:1-18! ‘Mind-of-Christ’! Paul’s-imagining? Or the rale-Christ
  • In 45 words can I imagine how he’d explain ‘Christ’-Equality-with-God’?
  • What biblical or philosophical precedent (or model) did he have for ‘TheEmptying’?
  • ‘All-Beings!’ Does this include God&Angels
  • &Spirits&Animals, as well as Humanity?

5. THE PASSION FROM MATTHEW. 26:14-27:66

• How is ‘TheBetrayal-of-Jesus’ experientially-nuanced in my local church
• ‘Peter&Judas!’. One wept, one sacrificed himself! One is canonised, the other
• What was the alleged ‘blasphemy’? &Is ‘blasphemy’ a likelihood nowadays?
• Why did the storyteller make Jews say, ‘HisBlood be upon us’?
• Is it significant that Jesus died utterly alone, utterly devalued&unwanted?
• But what of the ‘many women, watching from a distance’?
• ‘Son-of-God!’ One who is totally committed to embodying ‘TheInterests-of-God’!

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

‘One of the saddest reflections for me in Holy Week, How many of those who shouted for TheKing on Palm Sunday shouted against Him on GoodFriday?’ &TheOfficialBeliever sighed as he spoke! ‘Maybe they saw the light’ ThePracticingSceptic’s response was casual but rapier-like ‘Oh, don’t take refuge in such a cynical ’ Listen’ Say, in 13th century Rome, if TheVatican fingered some peasant form the Abruzzi who’d shouted against the religious authorities, &kicked up a symbolic rumpus in St. Peter’s, would even you.’ ‘Nego paritatem’ You’re comparing chalk&cheese! OurLord was divine, whereas your peasant.’ ‘Who’s to say? &Hasn’t each one a spark of the divine.’ ‘Not at all’ That’s another of your sentimental half chewed existentialist lucubrations! Not even OurDivineMother! ‘Only the Godman from Nazareth was divine’ ‘That’s a much later dogma.’ ‘Pardon me, Schleiermacher! Both the words&works of TheWord-Made-Flesh sufficed to prove HisDivinity beyond shadow, to any reasonable’ ‘catholic apologist’, yes! but ‘They didn’t see the light, they sinned against it’ ‘That’s that’ ‘Leave it there.’

7. RIDDLE Which Jesus, as HisHolyWeek begins? AnointedKing? Son-of-God? The Shepherd? Son-of-Man? Lord? The Prophet? TheMaster? Yehweh’sServant? TheImposter? TheDesertedOne?Passion Sunday

Sunday 26 March 2023 (’02) • 5thSUNofLENT: A

1. EZEK37·12-14

• Read 37:1-14!TheValley-of-Bones that stood-again in TheBreath! But will this interest those who bring ‘Death-to-TheLiving’, rather than ‘Life-to-TheDead’?
• ‘TheGrave!’. The situation of being in religio-political exile in Babylon!
• ‘I-am” ‘Yahweh’ is the one who brings ThePeople out of every Exile!
• In which 5Respects are WesternChristians ‘in exile’, & ‘in the grave’?
• How did Patricius’ ‘exile’ in Ireland bring him to fuller realisation?
• Which modern Irish Literature/Drama explores our exile from ‘soul’s-truth’?
• ‘MySpirit”· Which DivineBreaths (other than Yahweh’s) are inhabiting TheIrish?

2. THE PSALM 129 1-8

• Another very beloved biblical song’ even in Latin! What’s the empathy?
• AttentionForgivenessArrivalMercyRedemption’ • How important are these ‘attributes’ (credited to a divinity 2500years ago), in our own cynical&ironic society?
• ‘TheDepths” In what ways is TheUnderworld, TheWorld-of-Death, significant now?
• &What 20 Situations would I sum up as my experience of ‘TheDepths’?
• ‘Redemption”· Variously individual&collective, political&juridical&spiritual’
• How does Patricius in ‘TheConfessio’ mirror the sentiments of this psalm?
• ‘Soul!’· More elusive & more neglected & more needed than ever, is she not?

3 ROM8 8-11

• Am I struck in this, once again, by Paul’s strange&wayward ‘line-of-argument’?
• ‘Spirit” My understanding&experience of this? &Its links with my actual ‘breath’?
• ‘Spiritual&Unspiritual” How helpful or useful to english speakers is this terminology?
• What are the indications that ‘TheBreath-of-God/Christ’ is ‘in me’, or anyone else?
• Why is there apparently a negative prejudice about ‘Body’ in this extract?

4 JNll.1-45 (What sense, offering a ‘shorter form’ of a great story?)

• What can I glimpse here, of the ‘intimate relations’ between Jesus&The3Siblings?
• What character-differences can I glimpse between Martha&Mary? (Cf LK10:38ff)
• How do I take the unusual emphasis in this story on Jesus’ ‘Feelings&Susceptibilities’?
• ‘If You had been here” Is Jesus’ Absence actually a blessing, if strongly-worked-with?

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

PATRICIUS HIS SHOUTS OF GRACE
Yes! TheYouth imprisoned in Egypt'sDryWell!
Yes! TheSlave tested in TheDesert! Great-the-Fruit' Yes! TheLover'sEmbrace in prayer of Day&Night!
Yes! TheFriend, Hawk-in-Chariot, Salmon-in-Curragh!
 Yes! TheMaster, steadied the novice in contrary winds! 
Yes! TheGrace TheUnsurpassed, to preach to TheIrish! 
Yes! TheSower Seed &Ground, &Lord-of-TheHarvest!
 Yes! TheGreenness of Body&Soul, the many years!
Yes! TheValley-of-DryBones filled with Breath!

6. RIDDLE Which ‘Patrick-for-Now’?

TheRefugee-among-Strangers-whom-he-CameToLove?

TheExile who mined-his-hardship for a PreciousGold?

TheBreathFi1led who learned how to CallBackTheDead?

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

Sunday 19 March 2023 (’02) • 4thSUNofLENT: A

1 1SAM16:1, 6-7, 10-13

• Read 15.1-16.23!The dark violent king-making charism of Samuel!
• How did Samuel (or the others around) know that it was ‘Yahweh’ who moved him?
• When Yahweh/Samuel ‘looked at David’s heart’, what did they see?
• On balance, is my local church ruled by intuition, caprice, custom, or dialogue?
• Is 1it noteworthy that there are no women visible in this important narrative?

2 THE PSALM: 22:1-6

• What makes this song such a favourite of so many adults?

• Do I experience ‘Yahweh’ as ¹SolicitousShepherd’ or ‘GenerousHost’?
• ‘Yahweh’sHouse!’: TheTemple? Heaven? Or arguably, wherever ThePoor are?
• Isn’t this more likely to be a song sung by the king? Or do all expect such privilege?
• If Yahweh were my ‘provider’, what else would I ‘want’, not mentioned here?
• ‘Cos Yahweh may be an ‘undeveloped divinity’, not resourceful-enuff for now’

3 EPH5·8-14

• Read 4 1- 5.20! Some ramifications&corollaries of the new ‘christian’ lifestyle?
• Which ‘secret aspects’ of the local church should be uncovered&shaken-out?
• In a ‘christian perspective’, what ‘works’ of IrishSociety must be deemed ‘futile’?
• What of the claim that ‘ModernSociety’ is more dynamic than ‘TheChurch’?
• Far from ‘waking up’, will any of us acknowledge, even realise, that we’re asleep?

4 JN9:1-41

• Isn’t this one of the most picaresque narratives m TheTotalB1ble?
• As regards a ‘spu1tual meaning’, whom TheChurch seriously thinks they’re ‘blind’?
• Isn’t it still a widespread thought, that ‘misfortune’ is due to ‘sin’?
• How did the man (&his parents) survive the officious questioning of ‘authority’?
• “What is the equivalent in my local church of ‘KeepingTheSabbath’?
• In what ways are ‘disciples’ being trained to ‘see’ more-truly&more-deeply?

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

How is seeing different from blindness, if the one with sight is yet blind to pattern&hue&nuance? How is blindness different from seeing, if one born-blind has yet become unimaginably skilled like a hunter & a dowser, sensitive to every tremor, every ripple, in the accompanying web? Sha’ul my name, after the first & greatest of all the kings! Speak not to me of David&Solomon, for all their boastful exploits, they saw nothing of Heaven’sTruth’ Sha’ul my Master, for all that the storytellers have devalued his greatness, saw clearly Heaven’sTruth, but was pulled down by envy of Samuel-the Begrudger’ Sight of the eyes, sight of the heart, sight of the breath’ As with myMaster, all of these have ebbed&flowed for me m the accompanying web! Yet with this difference I was never king, nor called, nor aspired to be!But I was never overwhelmed by my darkness-of-the-eyes, nor was I inflated With boastfulness because of my many skills & many threads-of-power! Rather, I ruled my dark scintillant world by the harvesting of aptitudes sown by Heaven in my humble soul&body!I was truly agreeable to live&die in this way, moving modestly&invulnerably among the myriad sons&daughters of David (peace be upon him).. Until the blessed day I was approached by another who also was unmistakeably of the lineage of Sha’ul’ Now my life is utterly ablaze, praise-TheMaster!!

6 RIDDLE What is it most important to see?

The limitations of the professional zealots?

The presence of Yahweh/Jesus in the oppressed?

The new opportunities being provided by the modern world?

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

Sunday 12 March 2023 (’02) : 3rdSUNofLENT : A

1. EXOD 17·3-7

• What 15Sorts-of-‘Freedom’ are on offer in my religio-socio-political menu?
• Which of these ‘freedoms’ approximate to ‘being-freed-from-egypt’?
• ‘Freedom” Insofar as I’m struggling for this, what are the benefits? what are the costs?
• ‘Stone”: Nowadays, what 5Dangers threaten the leadership of my local church?
• Why shouldn’t people ‘test’, whether ‘Yahweh’ is with them or not’
• ‘Water-from-Rock” What is the seemingly-most-hopeless problem in the local church?

2. THE PSALM 94.1-2, 6-9 (This psalm’s seemly aspect!)

• Read 94(95):1-11! A great shout for Yahweh! But what dark voice, there in the tail?
• ‘BendBowLowKneel”· Outside Islam, what is the status of these gestures nowadays’
• Which image of ‘Yahweh’ is more congeinal to myChurch, Warrior or Shepherd?
• Why is ‘Yahweh’ so loathe to be ‘put to the test’? Who else am I reminded of?
• &Is His’Work’ in contemporary society sufficient to ensure He won’t be ‘tried&tested”
• Perhaps there is a widespread sentiment that ‘authority’ shouldn’t be questioned.

3 ROMS 1-2, 5-8 (Somewhat eviscerated?)

• Am I comfortable, &even blas, with this familiar language, or might I explore into it?
• ‘ThroughJesus!’: What sort of relationship? What sort of change? What cost ensues?
• Faith&Hope&Love’ Rhetoric? Attitudes&Skills’ PopsongStuff? UnimaginableChange?
• Where did the idea derive from, that someone could efficaciously ‘die for sinners’?
• In what ways does ‘Christ’sDeath’ prove ‘God’sLove’?

4. JN4:5-42

• Which OT stones (of WellsJacobSamaritansMountainsHarvest) are evoked here?
• Is there an elusive quality, nearly cat&mouse, about the ‘conversation’ of Jesus&her?
• Say, what each understands by ‘water’&’husband’&’worship’&’messiah’&’truth’?
• What about His subversive suggestions,

Whoever drinks Jesus’ ‘water’ will never thirst again!

Whoever worships ‘TheFather’ must do so ‘in spirit&truth’!

Traditional enemies will love when they look-beyond their ‘bone-of-contention”

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

‘Quick Gertie, call us a wee ball a’ malt’ I never heard such a drim an’ drew! Y’r man took th’ biscuit this mornin’, goin’ on an’ on like a tinker’s trimmins ‘ ‘Oh ”,,,thirst an’ women an’ wells an’ droot ‘ ‘Here, peg that inta y’r gob” ‘Then suddenly he started on th’ Samaritans .’ ‘Them boys that marches f’r Jesus?’ ‘Seems they’re a small crowda rummies from OurLord’s time, who lives in th’ past..’ ‘Oh ‘ ‘. an’ does nothin’ like no one else! includin’, they’d never take a sippa y’r Powers.’ ‘Begod, I’ve no squawk about that” ‘But worse, th’ think they’re the really real people a’ God, an’ we’re Just…’ ‘Cissie, th’ sound th’ spittin’ image a’ my fella! His latest is, “A’d let nobody, but nobody, inta Ireland’ Ireland’s our holy ground’ Bought be th’ blood of our own martyrs, Connolly an’ Pearse’ No dirt in Ireland, never””· .Aw he’s such a. ‘ ‘I know’ but y’ can’t blame ‘im, neither’ Before y’d blink, them rummies, an’ worse, ‘d have th’ emerald isle overrun’ Like th’ other crowd already” ‘So, did head a’ wit.. ‘ ‘Oh yes, this Samaritan women, one a’ th’ rummies, was sittin’ at Jacob’s Well.. ‘ ‘Ha-ha!!’ ‘ an’ asked Jesus f’r a drink! No, he asked her’ No, she ..’ ‘Typical rummy’ I know what a’d a’ done If I was him ‘!’

6. RIDDLE Where will I hear ‘TheVoice-of-Yahweh’? ChurchPrescriptions?

TheCry-of-ThePoor? TbeArgybargy-of-Militants? TheSelfPresentation-of-TheAhen?

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