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