thanksgiving eve...

After Bible study is done - and prayer is shared - there are still week's

when I wonder what should be shared on Sunday morning. The appointed texts are among my favorites - Isaiah 51, Romans 12 and Matthew 16 - and I have come to this conclusion: there is a clear but overlooked connection between being a living sacrifice (Romans) and becoming the rock upon which a new way of being is made flesh (Matthew.)

On THIS rock we build a community that embraces one another, cares for one another, refuses to let another drift into needless anguish or alienation. And what is this rock?  It is life shared from within the heart of our living God. This is the narrow gate that takes practice, time and commitment to embody. It is the way of being that celebrates, creates and treasures life rather than death. Some Biblical scholars are clear that the rock (petras) Jesus refers to in Matthew 16 is not Peter (Petros.) Petras is feminine and petros is masculine. On this we differ profoundly from our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers noting that Jesus was not claiming Peter to be the rock, but rather the community of faith (ekklesia) a word that is, indeed, feminine. It is the new community, inspired and filled with God's Spirit, that makes the life, love, compassion, justice and ethics of Jesus visible and flesh in the world not the Pope (no matter how much I cherish Francis.)

All week long I have pondered what musical expression best summarizes this truth?  After waking this morning at 5:30 am, it hit me: it has to be Bob Franke's Thanksgiving Eve.  And so it is.



NOTE:  We're off to the Eastern Townships in the morning and without Internet.  See you after Labor Day.