Sunday, July 29, 2018
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10th Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 12)
The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
First Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-15, Psalm 14
Second Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21
Gospel Reading: John 6:1-21
The liturgical color for the day is: Green
To be grounded isn’t to be punished (it’s never really worked all that well with teenagers anyway). To be grounded is more about understanding what the ground is, or foundation, or firm place of stance that we are to take.
When we are grounded we remember who we truly are and how we are to live. Grounded in Christ, we live with love as our primary aim and with reconciliation as the dynamic in our movement. Our purpose has more to do with building community with each other than it does with begin self-focused.
To be grounded is to know and understand your purpose. We see this issue in the church all the time. In the church, we tend to lose our ground when we start to think that it is about the church’s survival rather than about reaching people with and for Christ. It is so easy for us, well-intentioned folks that we are, to lose our way.
David lost his way. He lost his ground. He really, really messed up. Not only did he mess up with Bathsheba, but also in sending Urriah to the front of the battle lines to be killed. He was not remembering who he was, he was focused on saving his own skin. He needed to remember who he really was and how it is that he really was supposed to behave.
Those disciples with Jesus, they were at risk of losing their ground. When Jesus told them to give the people something to eat, they reacted by freaking out and going right to the impossibility of the request. To have their ground would have meant that they knew with Jesus that the seemingly impossible was possible. All they needed was faith. It was their ground.
They were called to faith.
We are still called to that faith. It becomes the ground upon which we walk and move. It is that which grounds us in our relationship with God and calls us to believe that this God of ours has possibilities that we cannot even imagine.
Be grounded in your faith. Let it be the earth upon which you move and make decisions. Being grounded in Christ—it checks us into our reality and gives us the courage to always find our way.
Be grounded.
Daris Bultena
General Presbyter