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3rd Sunday of Easter Cycle B 2021 (’00)

Sunday 18th April 2021(’00): 3rd  SUN of EASTER. B

1    AA3:13-15, 17-19 (What’s the problem with v16?)

  • Read 3:1-4:31! A set piece to exalt the words&actions of the early leadership!
  • What is the equivalent in mySociety&Church of these ‘propaganda’ set-pieces?
  • The ‘adversarial fashion’ of blaming ‘Jews/Israelites’ in  AA (&elsewhere in NT), while ‘justifying’ oneself, in what ways is this still endemic in our ‘Churches &Society’?
  • Why does Peter appear to say, ‘Yes, you’re guilty! No, it was God’sWork through-you’?
  • What if everything can be deemed ‘God’sWork’, provided I-also ‘work-with-it’?

2     THE PSALM  42: 4, 7, 9

  • Read 4:1-8(9)! The complex experience of one-who-struggles-to-embody-Yahweh!
  • From the psalm, what are the FoundationalAttributesOfYahweh’?
  • Can I name 5Political or religious leaders who incarnate & inculcate these?
  • In what ways is the local church of Armagh an opportunity to-actualise-Yahweh?
  • What if the verses omitted in this excerpt have a special, but avoided, significance?
  • ‘Face! With so many ‘faces’ on magazine covers, advertisements&TVscreens, what enables me to recognise ‘Yahweh’sFace’ in this flattering&deceptiveAvalanche? (MT25;31-46)

3    1JN2:1-5

  • ‘This!’ Read 1:5-10! How would this ‘testimony’ fit-me as my ‘basic credo’?
  • In what ways do ‘Catholic’ & ‘Anglican’ & ‘Presbyterian” ‘basic credos’ differ?
  • What are the contemporary disguises&excusations for what used to be called ‘sin’?
  • But surely ‘KnowledgeOfHim’ doesn’t also entail ‘EmbodimentOfHim’? Oh boo-hoo-hoo!’

4    LK24:35-48

  • Read 24:1-49! Which of these many witnesses was truly embraced?
  • What if the gospel-acclamation were ‘LordJesus, explain our hearts to us! Make the scriptures burn within us as you talk-to-us!’? Or is the tide too-far-ebbed?
  • But also, if set-pieces like this have encouraged a mindset of merely ‘quoting proof texts’?
  • Will ‘authoritative teaching’ & ‘dab-it-on scripture’ compensate for ‘biblical narrative’?

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

‘Sir! What is the great struggle of faith?’ ‘Friend! The struggle of faith is to embrace, amen! the truth of my coming&going among you!’ ‘Sir! How will disciples recognise your coming&going?’ ‘Friend! In the listening of the book I am always arriving! In the sustaining of the poor I am always departing!’ ‘Sir! With respect! I find your words obscure, the truth you mention too far from my comprehension! Perhaps this is a riddle you offer?’ ‘Perhaps’ Strive, Friend, at all events, to explore its bitter sweetness! “in the faithful marriage of the book & the poor is consummated all my life&death! is constituted all my presence in weakness, all my absence in power!” ‘Sir! I thank you, though reluctantly, for this enigma!& be sure I shall pursue it as a viaticum in my struggle for animated faith! Amen! Amen!

RIDDLE

Which is preferable? Continue to trot-out the dessicated ‘dogmatic familiarities’ about Him!

Or risk also encountering Him in new offensive manifestations? Or cautiously&resentfully endure my ‘stress’?

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

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