Tag: ADBI

SUN 24th OCT 2021(‘03): 30^th SUN in ORDINARY: B

1. JER31:7-9

• Read 30:1-31:40! Carefully, so as to glimpse TheWarmth-of-Yahweh! Ambivalent as it is, as fire is! As mediated through a male prophet’s imagination, c600BC!
• What are The5Channels through which ‘YahwehSpoke-to-the-People’?
• What 3Criteria were to-hand, to determine a true from a false ‘prophet-of-Yahweh’?
• How to discern TheReligious, TheSpiritual, ThePolitical, TheSelfSeeking, ThePurelyFlamboyant, ThePsychotic, in a ‘prophet’? ‘Cos SpeakingForAGod’s perilous-enuff!
• ‘TheLand-of-TheNorth!’: TheAssyrianExile c725BC cleared Samaria! These were TheTenTribes! TheSurvivors of this were TheRemnant! Who could save them?

2. THE PSALM:125:1-6

• How did ‘Yahweh’ deliver ‘Sion’ (TheTwoTribes)from Babylon c540BC, so as to Return-to-Jerusalem, &commence TheRefurbishment-of-TheTemple!?
• What is the equivalent in ‘IrishChristianSociety’ &Has ‘Yahweh’ any longer a part in it?
• Are any ‘heathens’ looking at our local church, &exclaiming with astonishment, even envy,’Yahweh-in-Christ is greatly at-work-among-them!’? If not, why is this?
• ‘SowInTears, ReapInJoy!’: Simplistic&fuddy-duddy? Or a well of ancient wisdom?
• For true gratitude, must I not only know-about, but experience, Exile&Restoration?

3. HEB5:1-6

• Read 5:1-14! A nutshell on TheOriginNatureComprehensibility of Christ’sPriesthood! In 25 words, this author’s understanding of ‘ChristHighPriest’?
• Does this knowledge derive from priestly/temple, or from prophetic circles?
• Why does he presume that ThePsalms are ‘addressed to Jesus by God’?
• JesusOfferedPrayers&Cries/WasHeard/LearnedObedienceThroughSuffering/ MadePerfect/BecameTheSourceOfEtgernalSalvationForAllTheObedient! A great soteriology’!
• But, is this ‘knowledge’ only for TheFew(like the author)? How’d they imbibe it?
• So, Today! Who&where are TheTeachers? Who is initiating into TrueSoteriology?

4. MK10:46-52

• In 35words, can I imagine the day-to-day experience of BarTimaeus?
• In a special way, what place his ‘faith’ had in this? Let him tell it his way!
• ‘Son-of-David!’: A hint about ‘TheOneWhoWasToCome, ToAchieveTheVictory!’
• Who are shouting out in my church, blind&hapless, to Jesus? (that is, to-me!)
• ‘Mercy!’: He looked to be included in the many benefits flowing from TheCovenant!
• ‘Cloak!’: The little he had, he threw it away, & followed Him on TheRoad, naked& singing! (Did his faith overcome, not only the illness, but the ‘permission’ to ‘go’?)
• Why is our ‘faith’ so weak, that we fail to heal ourself & each other (even physically)?

5. RIDDLE        What is  most needed at present?

                                      Great prophets?

                                      Great Priests?

                                      Great wounded healers?

                                      Great initiators& nourishers?

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

                         Sunday 17^thOctober 2021 (’00): 29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time :

1. IS 53:10-11 (But what’s the context of this scrap?)

• Read 52:13 – 53:12! Ironic&opaque Lament for-a-SlaveOfYahweh!
• Is this dark excerpt made too bright by casually importing ‘Jesus’ into it?
• What a struggle it is to explore one’s experience of Yahweh’s impossible intimacy!
• Is a Slave-of-Yahweh ever without-suffering? Or ever actually-vindicated?
• Currently, my best word on the Origin&Nature&Purpose of my-own-suffering?
• ‘TakingTheirFaultsOnHimself!’ Read that most influential LEV 16!

2. THE PSALM : 32:4-5, 18-20, 22 (what?)

• Read 32(33): 1-22 Mythical hymn, imaging ‘Yahweh’ as all-powerful-king! This relatively bland excerpt! But is something dangerous lurking in it?
• All of these banal ‘wishful-thinkings,’ will they prevent me from realising the extent to which ‘spiritualisation of Yahweh’ is impeding ‘practical justice?’
• So, what if ‘Yahweh’ will only rescue-from-death & keep-alive in-famine to the extent that His ‘Slaves’ bite-the-bullet & do-it-themselves!
• What are the implications-for-mission of this way of ‘realisingYahweh?’

3. AA10:34, 37-43

• Read 10: 1-48, like a hawk! Another influential archetype! & Why?
• In 35 words, how do I (whatever about Cornelius&Co!) understand the term ‘God?’
• If I were raised as a follower of Dionysus or TheDagda, how do I hear all this?
• What’s going on for & in me, when I recite The/Apostles/Creed in liturgy or prayer?
• What?‘BeliefInJesus’=’MySinsForgiven’=’InHisName/Power?’ How does this ‘equation’ push-against lackadaisical/hesitancies about ‘Rites 1&2&3?’
• Why does LK picture Peter going-about as if he was full-of-ginseng?

4. JN3: 16-18

• Read 3:1-21! Again like a hawk! What are these two men actually controverting?
• ‘BornAgainFromAbove!’ : but are all myCommunity’s ritual- of- initiation being planned&performed&followed-through most-excellently? Or what?
• Who in the local church of Armagh is urgently monitoring ‘TheBaptisms?’
• ‘Cos after all, what is more ‘mission territory’ than this local church?
• World!: Pope John 23’s real anxiety, that ‘aggiornamento’ wouldn’t occur! Bla!-bla!
• What are 5EssentialWays of ‘LovingTheWorld?’
• But is ‘TheWorld’ still being condemned in favour of ‘Heaven?’

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

He told us above this mornin’, it’s mission Sunday…’

‘What?’ …an’ t’ pray f’r  th’ conversion a’ China!’

‘Our teacher has us collectin’ f’r th’ black babies!’ ‘Yeah, he told us they’re OK now, they have th’ faith! It’s China we should be…’ ‘Remember th’ oul’ Canon! Aw he was before ‘is time! “Food in bellies, that’s God’s love f’r th’ world! Otherwise th’ craythurs is still in Egypt, no matter if ya baptised them ev’ry hour!” ‘Tha’ was one spunky man married ‘is socialism an’ ‘is religion!’ ‘God, isn’t it him they should be canonisin’, an’ not them…’ ‘A’ll say it f’r ya, them plaster statchas!’ ‘How’d he manage it I often as’ meself! A Christian socialist missionary, an’ him a canon too!’ ‘Ha, can y’ imagine it these days!’

‘Aw houl’ y’r whisht, man! They don’t make them like that any more!’ ‘An’ more’s the pity! But they’re y’are…!’

6. Riddle             Mission? Struggle-with-AllSuffering?

Actualise-Yahweh-wherever-I-am? Embrace-the invitation-to-love-TheWorld?

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

Sunday 10^thOctober 2021 (’00): 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time:B

1. Wis7:7-11

• Read6 :1-9 18! Impressive encomium of Wisdom! Both ecstatic&calculating!
• The ‘Her’ so movingly celebrated in this excerpt, what is She in my experience?
• Will women hear this troubadoring of ‘Wisdom’ differently from men?
• Who&what in my actual world  do I intentionally esteem&embrace, as of greater worth than Titles&Power&Riches&PreciousMetals&Health&Beauty&Light?
• If this Reality were comprehended by adultChristians into praxix,wow!

2. THE PSALM: 89:12-17 (What? A mere thimbleful?)

• Read 89(90): 1-17 A poignant exploration of the dicey&unguaranteed nature of human life, vis-a-vis the smokey&moody vindictiveness of Yahweh?
• But even nowadays, will the realisation of life’s iffiness actually achieve anything?
• In practice, how is the ‘anger’ & ‘favour’ of Yahweh concretely experienced?
• And is it possible if only for a moment, to deprecate all this grovelling?
• ‘Cos where are we, if we’re dependent on the vagaries of a moody satrap?

3. HEB4: 12-13

• So it’s only a sentence or two! But, listen like a hawk to this ‘word-of-god!’ If it’s a really-dangerous scalpel, who is wielding it? &On-whom? How well trained, if at all, are readers expounders secreters of It?
• If it can slip-through and insinuate, am I utterly too innocent about it?
• &If it’s judging even my unconscious, why amn’t I myself more in-there-too?
• This all-seeing (& possibly all-devouring) eye, must I forever endure?
• Has this writer inadvertently alerted me to an anomalous oppression? ‘Cos, if this ‘word-of-god & my-own-free-wholeness are incompatible!’

4. MARK10:17-30

• Eternal/TheKingdomOfGod/TheWorld ToCome!’ The long-awaited LivingOut of Yahweh’sPriorities that is beginning now in the Words&Actions of Jesus!
• Why&how do Riches&Wealth frustrate the ‘KingdomOfGod’ in this sense?
• Was the emphasis on SellingAll&LeavingEverything&Giving TheLotToThePoor only a vagary&aberration of ‘TheEarlyChurch? Or is it wa-wa now?
• Listen! All this defeatist stuff’s anti-initiative! & undermines TheCelticTiger!!
• Unless it’s meant to be spiritualised! Or done by martyrs like oul’ Talbot…?
• Why was I never told ‘KeepingAllTheCommandments’ was only ‘ThePassPaper?’

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

Shame! & somewhat frustrated Piety! & billows upon billows of purest Relief! My father heard about my botched conversion only this morning, & immediately lit up with rage! ‘Ha! Bad enough turning our home into another Temple! But then consorting with those itinerant madmen beyond Jezreel! What luck for my hard-won goods that your touch-of-Saul was speedily aborted by actually meeting yon witless Balaam!’ TheMaster’s burning words however shimmered in the memory! ‘GiveToThePoor!’ Oh! TheShame! ‘MoreThanTheDecalogue!’ Oh, thePiety! ‘FollowMe!’ Oh, TheRelief! My father ranted unabated unremembering his age, his dignity, his weakness! But I held my peace, as Azazel&Raphael wrestled in the dawning of realisation… Who will be punished for this, TheMaster or TheFather?

6. Riddle   What is the one thing necessary? EmbraceWisdom? WieldTheWord? GiveAllToThePoor?

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

Sunday 3^rd Oct 2021(‘03): 27^th SUN in ORDINARY B

1.GEN2: 18-24

• Read again, slowly&alertly, 2:4b-3:24
• What is the overall impression?What moods&questions does it engender?
• Name the principal characters, & how they relate to each other?
• In what way is it hinted that TheWoman is inferior, or Superior, to TheMan?
• What is the central concern of TheStoryteller?
• To what extent is this story being embodied in my local church?
• What is TheDoctrineOfOriginalSin? Is it still important?
• Why is the impression given that only TheMan is expelled from TheGarden?

2.THE PSALM: 127

• Which of the imaginings of ‘marriage’, GEN 2 or PS127, rings more true to me?
• What are the biblical underpinnings, &the theological raison d’etre, &the liturgical appropriateness, of contemporary ‘marriage’? What is its main priority?
• ‘Fear-of-Yahweh’!: In 30 words, sketch this, & its importance for ‘marriage’!
• Handlabourer/Vine/Olive!: Was ‘TheFearOfYahweh’ used as a socialiser?                        To keep people simple, no ulterior desires, no footbanging from the pews?
• In our contemporary concern for family/values, is an imagining that is socio-theological being imposed (if-so, who?) on a reality that is quite other….

3.HEB2:9-11

• Read 1:1-2:18! Insistence on the distinction between God, TheSon, TheAngels, HumanBeings! So that it is to be clear TheSon came to redeem Humans not Angels…
• How, &Why, did this ‘Temple Theology” become attached to Jesus-of-Nazareth?
• Thge perennial emphasis on Jesus’ ‘Death’, how has this marked ‘TheChristianPsyche’?
• ‘Sons&Brothers!’: Just a generalisation for ‘all of us’? Easily rectified by ‘inclusive language’? Or a declaration that all this is a masculine worldview for males?
• In the present ‘return-of-the-angels’, will Jesus be trampled or embraced?

4.MK10:2-16(&A shorter form also! Like a choice of dress or skirt?)

• What is the connection between marriage&divorce&emigration?
• What was the ‘test’ contained in ThePharisees’ question to Jesus, & its format?
• What is to see if he would follow Moses? Or if He carried a ‘higher prescription’?
• ‘Unteachable!’;(Hardness-of-Heart/NRSV) Stupidity? Recalcitrance? Lack-of-Empathy-with-Yahwism? Or was ‘divorce’ given credence ‘through Moses’?
• In TheGardenStory, isn’t it arguable that the situation was ‘virtual divorce’?
• Which is preferable? ChaoticMarriage, or CoordinatedDivorce?
• What is the ‘officIal position’ with regard to divorced people with regard to The Eucharist?

5. RIDDLE What’s the best arrangement for contemporary Christian Marriage?

                 Build up from TheBible a rationale for indissoluble wedlock!

                 Create the very best socio-theology of sexuality&marriage&earth?

                 Choose a committee in each diocese of women&men to oversee marriage?

                 ‘Continue in the present medieval rut! ‘cos God looks after His-own!

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

Sunday 26^st Sept 2021(‘03): 26^h SUN in ORDINARY B

1.NUM11:25-29

• Read 11.1-35! Another notorious Yahweh-narrative, as it seems! Much of the negotiation is between Yahweh&Moses! But Yahweh keeps HisOptions always!
• In terms of the storyteller’s agenda, is it significant ThePeople ultimately blamed?
• The choice of excerpt, does it make all seem benign&genial? But wouldn’t it change everything totally, if Moses’ wish was fulfilled?
• Whatever about ‘ConfirmationRhetoric’,  where is the evidence that Yahweh has actually ‘GivenHisBreath’ to all the adult disciples in my local church?
• Even ‘TheElders’ in the excerpt! They ‘spoke once in ‘TheSpirit’, &then, mum…

2.THE PSALM: 18:8, 10, 112-14 (Tho’ the whole psalm is worth a bar!)

• Read 18(19):1-14! A devotional exchange for Yahweh’s Work&Law&Redemption!
• ‘TheLaw-of-Yahweh!’: ‘LoveMe! By loving each other, &everyone, unselfishly’!!
• Have I found that my struggle to embody this ‘Biggie’ truly revives my soul?
• What are The7Evidences of ‘TheRevival-of-MySoul’?
• What are The7Evidences that it’s ‘ImbuedMeWithWisdom’?
• Has this total psalm come from a WisdomEnvironment, unlike NUM above? ‘Cos it represents a very different ‘Yahweh-in-Action’, less ‘bi-polar’!
• How prevalent in my local church is anxiety about hidden or forgotten ‘sin’?

3.JAM5:1-6

• Read 5:1-19! Warning to TheRich(who-them?), Exhortation-to-Patience, Prayer-is-Powerfull-in-ManyWays, Care-for-OneWhoFallsAway! Anything that touches me?
• Will this excerpt be condescendingly shrugged-off? As if we were not very ‘rich’?
• If I read it slowly&carefully, does it assume for itself more ‘actuality”?
• To what extent is our indulgent lifestyle ‘corroding’ our ‘total health’?
• Is a sort of ‘karma’ being accumulated by unselfaware life-in-the-world’?
• My ‘first-world’ consumption of food&energy, at whose expense is this?
• TheInnocent? In IraqCroatiaWestAfrica? Children&Media? Threadbare Catechesis?

4, MK9:38-43, 45, 47-48

• Read 9:2-49! The disciples inability to comprehend HisImpendingDeath!
• Why are ‘disciples’ forever trying to redeem Jesus from HisOwnDifficultChoices?
• ‘NotOneOfUs’: Has this criterion been over-invoked, despite what Jesus says?
• &Has ‘OneOfUs’ been uncritically used, so as to condone all sorts of ‘falsity’?
• Can I adequately value the passion that underlies all these Jesus-Sayings’?

           Anyone who is not against us, is for us!

           Even a cup of water, for Chrissake, is rewarded!

           Whatever causes you to sin, recognise it, & take resolute action!

5. RIDDLE      Why isn’t my local church struggling,

                                       That all adults receive TheBreath-of-Yahweh?

                                       That all souls are revived, &imbued-with-Wisdom?

                                       That our wealthy lifestyle is seen in-context?

                                       That our chauvinistic self-righteousness be rooted out?

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

Sunday 19 September 2021 (’00): 25thSUNin ORDINARY : B

1.WIS2;12, 17-20

• Read 1·1 –  2:24! Measured thoughts from the moral heights! But do they convince?
• Can I name I0VirtuousWomen&Men in IrishSociety?      

In what ways are they being opposed&stalked&ambushed by TheGodless’?

In what ways are they being rescued&looked–after by ‘God’?

In what ways are they being realistically supported by ‘adultChristians’?

• Is the veneration of ‘martyrs’ partly an admission that ‘God couldn’t save them’?
• Is the paucity of ‘virtuous speaking-out’ a hint that ‘support is not anticipated’?

2. THE PSALM : 53:3–6, 8 ·

• Read S3(54):1-7(8)! A very familiar formula of ‘wishful thinking” &Will it always  be so, as long as ‘divine power’ is thought of as ‘out-there’, not ‘in-here’?
• If someone is imbued with one of ‘TheOther-Gods’, say Dionysus or Hermes or Artemis, how would such a one perceive any  need to ‘have regard for God’?
• Especially if ‘God’ is inculcated in casual, even unworthy, ways!
• For ‘adultChristians’ nowadays, what is the equivalent of ‘adultJews’ sacefice?
• What rituals have I & others found to be most supportive?        

3. JAM3:16– 4:3

• Read 3.1 – 4:17! Who could tolerate such gadfly! So many stings near the bone!
• What excuses will I find, to shred&scatter these strangely-contemporarybarbs?
• What attitudes&skills are being offered in my local church. first to recognise &deal-with our own bigotry&conflict&power–hunger! Then those of others!
• What if ‘bleating prayer’ is being substituted for ‘christian initiative’?   

4. MK9:30-37          

• Did the ‘disciples’, even ‘TheTwelve’, ever transcend their confused impotence?
• What important clues here, to the huge Potentials&Pitfalls&Fears of ‘disciples’?
• Will ‘ adultChristians’ negotiate the seductiveness–cum–innocence of ‘TheChild’?
• If Christians in Northern Ireland are secretly&selfrighteously arguing about ‘who is the greatest?’, but unable to acknowledge this, how can there ever be ‘true peace’?
• Is that about ‘TheSonOfMan’ (oneself?) ‘GoodNews’ or ‘RottenNews’?
• ‘ First&Last‘. But what price ‘christian humility         in our own  ‘celtic tigger’?
• Currently, who is able&courageous&indiscreet-enuff to ‘instruct-disciples’?

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

‘Gertie, y’know, th’ way everyone thought th’ disciples was men… ‘ ‘Who?’ ‘Well, our curate, th’ fella wi’ th’ stack a’ waterford cryst’I, started up again about it, can’t lave well–enuff alone, “Our Lord pickt on‘y men for t’ be His disciples, that’s –that, end of story!’“ Then  some bitta Hewbrew, “roamila cootila cowsila feetila!” I wanted t‘  go up an   scratch ‘is  eyes.. . ‘   ‘Cissie!’  ‘God’s  truth,  Gertie!  or  shout  o ut,  “What  about OurDivineMother? Wasn’t She ordained by HerSon at th’ marriage feast a’  Cana?”‘ ‘Oh ..?’  ‘But,  as  my  aunt  Doris  usedta say, I  refrained  for  thiS  bout!  Anyway   ‘ ‘Your aunt Doris knew ‘er onions!’ ‘ … I wouldn’t want t’ gave my fella th’ suck! I c’n imagine ‘ is oul’ whine, “God y’ll want t’ be Pope a’ Rome next, an’ rune us altogether!”‘ ‘Y’re right, Cissie that’s tactics! let’s bade our time! Th’ way things is goin’, th’ll be comm’ before long on their bended knees, you’ll see!!’

6. RIDDLE          Which ‘discipleship’ have I actually chosen?

Dynamic, titular, rhetorical, ha-ha, or  twist-my–a rm?

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

Sunday 12 September 2021 (’00): 24thSUNinORDINARY : B

1. IS50:5-9

• Read 50.4-9! TheThirdSong ofYahweh’sSlave!
• Why was Yahweh’sSlave maltreated? (Read TheFirst&SecondSongs’ 42.1-4; 49:1-6)
• Which ‘help’ is more crucial to TheSlave? that in ‘Torture’, or that in ‘Court’?
• In my own struggle, what resources do I count as ‘Yahweh’sHelp’?
• What ‘case’ is being brought-against contemporary ‘YahwehSlaves’?
• How would I discern If someone belonged to ‘Yahweh’ or ‘TheOtherGods’?

2. THE PSALM : 114;1-6, 8-9

• Read 114(115):1–19! Public thanks of one delivered from distress by ‘Yahweh”
• ‘Death/TheTomb/Sorrow&Distress!’: Some biblical terms for physical or mental suffering, rejection, failure, aloneness, depression etc! Summed-up as ‘Sheôl’!
• What remedies are offered now, for the manifestation of Sheôl, ‘depression’?
• In 50words, what is the origin&nature&endurance&healing of ‘suffering’?
• What substance in the rhetorical wishthink that ‘Yahweh Protects TheSimple!’?
• Glimpse how this total psalm is a hypothetical source of ‘ThePassionNarrattve’!

3. JAMl:14-18         ‘

• Which important ‘goodworks’ are being ignored or condemned in myChurch?
• Is ‘faith’ about ‘language’ ‘allegiance’ ‘powerstructure’ ’embodiment’ or what?
• Is there a tendency to ‘pray for&about things’, rather than ‘do-them’?

&To keep ‘faith’ infantile&fuddyduddy, rather than risk a dangerous adult praxis?

• Which is more urgent, to-venerate–Jesus, or to-actively–be–Him–in–every–way?

4. MKS:27-35           ,

• Read TheGreatThreefoldArgyBargy! 8:22–10 52! FramedByBlindStories!
• ‘TheChrist!’: Very familiar, OK! As Title&Prayer&Blessing&Curse&CasualWord! But what of Peter? Hid he mean ‘The powerfulBreathof Yahweh’sCallToFreedom’?
• ‘Jesus’Death!’: Was it planned necessarry inevitable unforeseen accidental or what?
• My best biblical Image&Title&Story through which to understand&embody-Him?
• How would ‘Peter’ have shown a ‘divine’ rather than a ‘human’ way-of-thinking?
• Is myCommunity is trying to prevent ‘Jesus’ from speaking or behaving rashly?
• Has the danger of being a ‘disciple’  been made sufficiently clear to adultChristians?

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

‘In every page of the Gospels, there seems to be a desire to conceal or deny the fact that Jesus’ ministry ended in utter failure! instead of accepting  this, all sorts of  .. ‘ ‘That’ll do now! I won’t tolerate meretricious slanders on the inspired truth of TheHolyWritings!’   ‘Surely it’s obvious to anyone who has given up  fuddyduddy&infantile ways of thought…’ ‘This is what comes from marinating your addled ,walnut of a so-called brain in Nietzsche’s bloated ravings! A dip in the Angelic Doctor’s limpid stream would serve you better!’ TheOfficialBeliever pursed his lips & nodded smiling, pleased that this latest attack on inspired truth had been decisively

repulsed! All the more devastating therefore ThePractisingSceptic’s shocking riposte!

‘If your own  faculties  weren’t  poisoned  by  Aquinas’  pseudoAristotle, you’d  have

recognised long since the derivative&tendentious nature of the Gospel! But, at your

age, to begin the quest for real faith…?‘        

6. RIDDLE   ‘ Suffering! Which is preferable?

Avoid Endure Embrace Remove or Process it?

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

Sunday 5^th September 2021 (’00): 23rdSUNinORDINARY : B

1. IS 35:4-7

• Read 34:1- 35:10! The unsated revengefulRageOfYahweh,against the traditional aggressors (eg Edom etc), in favour of the oppressed (eg blind etc)!
• If  this ‘Yahweh’ hasn’t been ‘superseded by the god-of-love’, as some naively claim!

But is still more active than ever, though perhaps in other guises!

• Apart from ‘wishful thinking’, what evidence is there, of a ‘ god-of-love’?
• Who are The20CategoriesOf the Oppressed in Irish Society?
• In what ways are these, ‘as-Yahweh’, preparing ‘vengeance&retribution’?
• Would ‘wrestling with biblical narrative’ make me more dangerous&endangered?
• After all, what did Jesus have&do, but wrestle-for-His-life with ‘TheJewishBible’?

2. THE PSALM : 145:7-10     1

• 145(146).1 -10! Read very carefully the combination of Wisdom&fantasy!
• What realistic ‘song’ can I offer to ‘Yahweh’?
• What ‘trust’ am I credibly (or not) placing in ‘princes&mortals’?
• Who, if not me & my cohort, is ‘,theFreeing&HealingYahweh’?

How will I overcome Shame&Fear&Gullt, so as to speak-up in TheAssembly?  

• Why am I allowing men&women of straw to keep me in diminishment?

3. JAM2:l-5

• Read 2.l-26! Which, myCommunity or James’s, is the convincing hypocrite?
• But is the convention of ‘TheTwoStandards’ so prevalent as to be totally invisible?
• Of course it’s alluded to, but why are  christians soaisy-oisy about it?
• James’ ‘synagogue scenario’, how is it being incarnated in ‘my Church?
• Or, are there sound practical reasons for perpetuating such ‘ aristocratisms’ ?
• ‘Poor according to theWorld’&’Rich in Faith’&’Heirs to TheKingdom’! Spiffing  how these phrases can slip by, in the current poor state of ‘Liturgy of theWord’!

4. MK7:31-37 

• ‘ TyreSidonGalileeDecapois’”  Just a geographical antimacassar? or, wow..  ?
• Does this story hint about His actual techniques as-healer?
• Why oh why are all adult Christians not thoroughly trained-as-healers?
• Which raises a deeper question, Who could hold such a ministry?
• If this story was deeply-imbibed as my local church’s FirstCommandment, what . .

5. The presence&action of the Blessed One, is it like this?

‘Sir! Your healing of the deaf&dumb! How did you make those unfortunate wretches whole again?’ ‘Friend! In all my coming&going, everything I did was accomplished by Heaven’sBreath!’ ‘Heaven’sBreath, sir! &How did you manage to possess the surpassing prize, which bestowed such power in every realm?’ ‘Not a prize nor a possession, friend! But sheerest gift of The One who sent me to offer TheGoodnewsOfFreedom to all!’ ‘Not only the deaf&dumb . .?’  ‘Friend!  In Heaven’sEyes all are deaf&dumb, all arestill entombed in Egypt!’  All, sir ? How can you say that all..’ ‘Friend’ Not only TheTemple&itsSlaves-of-Power, not only the wretched sick&infirm, but my ownFamlly, my ownDisciples” ‘Sir! What are you saying? Is no one free… ‘ ‘Everyone is deaf&dumb&blind! Only a new creation will satisfy Heaven’s Yearning! Yourself too, friend! Cease this chattering, &once-for-all be filled with HolyBreath! Nothing else is life ..!!’                 1

6. RIDDLE Yahweh’sHealing! Which? Literal Symbolic Ecclesial Cosmic?

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

Sunday 29 August 2021 (’00) 22ndSUNinORDINARY : B

1. DEUT4:l-2, 6-8

• Read 3:23- 4.40! A Moses Homily to instill fear in ‘The Yahweh People’!
• ‘Deuteronomy!’: A theological fiction, woven of law&homily, draped on Moses.

Embodying an ethic of reward&puinshment around ‘KeepingTheLaw’!

Legitimating the conquest of Canaan by the ‘ChosenPeople’!

Sanctifying TheJerusalemTemple&itsCult’

• Is calling Yahweh ‘our god’ sufficient justification for invading others’ land?
• Or for suggesting that the religion&morality of other peoples are inferior?
• But is any ‘ChristianChurch’ able to own its-own ‘Jingoistic bigotry’?
• What is being claimed or concealed when I boldly call this rhetoric ‘word-of-god’?

2. THE PSALM : 14:2-5

• Is this about priests&worshippers(males only?) in TheJerusalemTemple?
• ‘Walk!’. Moral/Behaviour! Especially in matters of ‘Justice’ & ‘truth’ (what?)!
• Nowadays, how to distinguish ‘neighbour’ & ‘godless’? How to keep our heads, in the quagmire of financial (or other!)’Pledges&Interests&Loans&Bribes!
• Is ‘ truth’ kept alive by parroting catechism answers? Or ‘Justice’ by ferverinos?

3. JAM l:17-18, 21-22, 27

• Read 1.1-27 of this traditionally undervalued letter (why is this?)! Is it maybe because of its nittygritty approach to ‘morality’? &That final assertion in 1:27!
• How do I know I’m ‘doing the word’? not just ‘listening to it, &deceiving myself’!
• In my Church, which aspect of ‘christianity’ is more important in practice? TbeDogmatic TheMoral TheDevotional TheMystical or TheMinimalisticPassive?
• In 30words, what ‘salvific word’ has been planted in me? &when&by-whom/what?

4. MK7:1-8, 14-15 21-23 (Why the omissions?)

• Read 7.1-30! But if heart is the truth of religion, what of myChurch?
• Indeed, would HisWords not be eminently appropriate to myChurch&Community?
• Why are we still encouraged, to imagine that He’s addressing ‘perfidious Jews’?
• Isn’t there a hint here that, while myChurch may be rhetorically inflated, it is becoming less&less a moral dynamism in IrishSociety!
• How’d I respond if He quoted that ‘Isaiah’ to my local church of Armagh?
• What if ‘human traditions’ are masquerading as ‘commandments-of-god’?  Say, republican or loyalist or economic or other ideological imperatives?

5. The presence&action of the Blessed One, is it like this?

‘Ha-ha’ “lip-service”! that’s a good one… ‘ ‘I suppose y’ were above this mornin’! f’r the usual..”No, looka” I got myself wedged nicely alongside th’ SacredHeart statcha, an’  suddenly I  remembers th’  oul’ Canon shoutin’ down at  us from th’  altar, “Don’t be there like sacks a’ turnips! Up on yer hunkers now an’ stretch out yer ears for th’ word a’ god!” So begod .. ‘ ‘ Aw, don’t be talkin’.  ‘ ‘ … didn’t I decide t’ give yer man all me attention!’ ‘Tell us, whatja. ‘ ‘Nothin’, nothin’ but one  quare  bit, “lip­ service”.. ‘ ‘Lip service? Sounds like… ‘ ‘All I could think a’ was a ball o’ malt! John Jameson if ya please!’ ‘ Ha’  Lip-service! Up on yer hunkers alright! Aw, th’  oul’ Canon ‘d love ya!’ “Deed he would! On yer hunkers an’ ears stretched out! I must try that oftener!’ ‘Do, begod! An’ y’ll be as inspired yerself in th’ heel o’ th’ hunt!”

6. RIDDLE Which is the priority? Preserve the churcby front? Wrestle with biblical obscurantism? Accept that He’s criticising my-church?

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

                             Sunday 22 August 2021(’00)   21^stSunday in Ordinary Time: B

1. Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18

• Read 24:1-28! The ScechemCovenantRitual narrative! That defined TheGod! ‘Yahweh TheOneWho BringsTheSlaveOutFromEgyptForFreedom!’ The Leadership! ‘TheJoshuaGroup, who publicly Declare-for Yahweh!’ TheFirstCommandment! ‘PutAwayotherGods! Cling Totally To YahwehAlone!’
• ‘Covenant!’ Ritual structure that celebrated&confirmed in specific places & ways & times, the mutual obligation that underpin the realities of religion and politics!
• What 9 ‘Riruals are definitive of my social&religious&political&personal web?
• In my complex world, what, above all, does ‘Serving Yahweh’ imply&demand?

2. THE PSALM 33:2-3, 16-23

• Read 33(34) 1-22 What is ‘Evil?’ & Why is’ Yahweh’ so against it?
• What if ‘Evil,’ biblically is behaviour that represents and promotes TheotherGods (as reflected in the ten commandments), and ‘Justice’what represents Yahweh?
• But is Yahweh powerful enuff to ‘protect  HisOppressedFaithful,’ or to ‘ destroy EvilDoers &theirRemembrance?’
• What gives reality to ‘Yahweh?’ except what Jesus did :Dangerously Embody Him!

3. EPH 21-32

• What is the cumulative affect of receiving these important biblical writings pick ‘n’ mix piecemeal, often in a lah-di-dah delivery, & usually fatuously glossed?
• What is he drawing on (anthropologically philosophically etc) for his opinions here?
• Would an adequate extended imaginative collaborative properly-resourced holistic exploration among married people make any difference to them?

4. JHN 6: 60-69

• Read 6: 1-71! Glimpse how this grows out of a preoccupation with bread?
• Why does the language of Jesus’ Teaching seem more tolerable to us? Phrases like, ‘eating
• HisFlesh,’ drinking HisBlood?’ Were those who objected then, just stupid?
• What if the truly-scandelous core of HisTeaching is hidden or concealed from me?
• In what ways does Peter’s ‘Confession-ofFaith’ mitigate the problem, if at all?
• ‘Belief/Faith!’:  My total existence rooted in ThePriorities&Behaviours of Jesus!
• Having ‘ offeredHisFlesh,’ why does He then turn & emphasise ‘TheSpirit!’
• What, above anything else, either seems to undermine, or to deepen, my’ Faith?’

5. The presence and action of TheBlessedOne, is it like this?

‘Simon, I continually wonder about you, your faith in TheLord…’

 ‘You mean you envy me, Yochanaan, the honour bestowed on a fisherman from Capernaum!’

‘The honour you refer to, Simon, was as much a snare, or at least a testing-of- faith, as anything else! & In my seeing-of-it, you deluded yourself, & tried to delude TheMaster, that your protestations of faith were truth!’ & You of course,Ii say it again! Fawning on Themaster, trying to push me aside, worming into HisBosom! Embarrassing really to all of us!’

‘Simon! Your own words betray your heart’s dark intent like Haman&Achitophel!’ & How can I not compare your own heart’s churnings with the squalid contrivances of Jezebel (I spit) against Elijah the Tishbite?’ ‘Simon! Have we faithfully endured TheRitual-of-PurgatedMind?’

‘Yes! &Have we, Yochanaan?’

‘Yes!’ ‘Peace then!’ ‘Yes, peace, peace!!’

6. THE RIDDLE   

                          Regarding the ‘realJesus,’ which do I seem to do?

                          TotalEmbrace, HedgeMyBets, ThrowSandIn TheAir, WalkAway?

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