Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Mark 2:23-28

One Sabbath [Jesus] was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Under a Sabbath sun

I love the freedom in Jesus and the freedom to which he invites me. He walks through the fields, picking grain, knowing all the earth is gift, a pleasure of God, flowing from the fullness of the Maker’s joy.

The grain plucked from ripe stems are for him, for his friends, for all the people of earth, to be received with thanks and shared in community with others.

Communion happens as they walk under a Sabbath sun receiving the goodness of creation, communion with God’s giving heart and with each other. They taste the joy of God, the love that overflows the divine heart and are joined in a common humanity, needing and receiving together the life God alone can give.

Seeing the scene, I want to walk with Jesus through those fields, picking that grain, enjoying communion with him under the Sabbath sun as clouds play tag across a summer sky. Being with him is freedom and peace.

I am free from rules that tell me what I am to do and how I should live. I am released from anxieties about success and failure, from judgments of who I am or what I do.

I know … all that matters is being with Jesus, receiving and sharing the goodness of what is, the wonder of what God gives, the love that can be found everywhere and in all things, the love that fills the heart with a great, wordless ‘thank you’ for life and love, truest worship of God.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, June 1, 2015

Mark 2:23-28

One Sabbath [Jesus] was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Splendor in the grass

The highlight of my week often comes as I distribute communion. I get lost in the repetitive motion of breaking off a piece of bread and putting it in the hands of each person—or stooping to bless small children who do not yet commune.

The simple act carries me into awareness that life is a sharing of blessing, an extension of grace. God is not complicated or far but as simple as placing a piece of bread in human hands and just as close.

The mystery of our lives finds an answer in the gentle rhythm of breaking and giving, blessing each person who comes along. Nothing all that complicated about it.

There is joy in this, real as the joy I feel and see as I meet each person in the communion line. Eyes meet, bread is placed in open hands and we are lifted into ecstatic awareness of the blessing of life, the nearness of God and the simple goodness of sharing an intimate moment that touches and fills the heart’s reservoir.

Same, too, I suspect as Jesus walked with friends through those grains fields, picking the heads of grain. They knew the earth as a blessing, the sun as grace and each other’s company as blessed communion in the gift of being human … together.

Perhaps when they got tired they laid down in the grass at the field’s edge and basked in the goodness of being alive and savoring each moment for the grace it is.

Human souls are made for this. We need this splendor in the grass to be reminded of the gift life is, knowing, too, the heart of the Giver, losing ourselves in the goodness of breaking open  and sharing each day as it comes.

Jesus invites us to walk with him into this world of grace and pluck the grain that fills your emptiness.

Pr. David L. Miller