Since April 2020, I have been jointly hosting a shared Lectio group on Tuesday evenings. The following are my reflections only, during the prayer session and as I wrote them up. Please see my separate commentary and leaflet for more information about shared Lectio.
Reflections for 1 June | 8 June | 15 June | 22 June | 29 June | the whole collection…
1 June
Gospel reading: Mark 12.13-17
Words: sincere
Reflections:
Clearly the Pharisees weren’t sincere – seeking to trap Jesus, and later he called them hypocrites. Nevertheless, there are elements of sincerity and truth in their address to him, and they can at least recognise them.
What a wonderful thing it would be to be that sort of sincere person, seeking after truth and showing no partiality. And then to have someone else to recognise and mirror it and experience a momentary meeting of souls! We are all a mix of sincerity and hypocrisy, me as much as anyone. But I hope I am sincere in my desire for God, in following my path and in my dealing with the world. According to James Finley, Thomas Merton once said: “A little sincerity goes a long, long way.”
8 June
Gospel reading: Matthew 5.13-16
Another week off, spending time with family.
15 June
Gospel reading: Matthew 5.43-end
Words: You have heard that it was said
Reflections:
Jesus is assuming his hearers knew Torah; were steeped in it as he was; would recite Psalm 119.97 with sincerity and understanding: ‘Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day long.’
Now he is saying something new, that stands alongside Torah, of at least equal status. I can’t claim that the Gospels are my meditation all the day long, but there is always something new whenever I approach them that is rain for the thirsty ground, or sun providing energy, or a reward, or a challenge, or a call to go deeper deeper into the perfection of God, that is as I become fully me.
Note that ‘perfect’ is Greek teleios, complete in all its parts, full grown. It is not sinless. The root is telos, consummation, end goal.
22 June
Gospel reading: Matthew 7.6,12-14
Words: what is holy
Reflections:
The first strand was the need to be very careful re sharing what is holy to me with others. It is precious, fragile, intensely personal, my core, and needs protecting and cherishing. No one else will care for it as I do, or if I don’t, and it is between me and God.
The second was that everyone needs to be able to rest in God. This is therefore what I can (should?) share with others: the possibility of such a deep encounter and the benefits of nurturing a precious core within themselves. Who am I, therefore, to say who are dogs or swine and will or will not receive what I might share about this possibility, this reality… if I can just be open to those chinks of light within them.
29 June
Gospel reading: Matthew 16.13-19
Words: will not prevail
Reflections:
I found myself reflecting backwards through the passage from this phrase!
The church in the UK – the Church of England and Christian faith generally – feels pretty ricketty at the moment. Yet Hades will still not prevail against it.
That is because it is Jesus who says: ‘I will build my church.’ It is my church, not Peter’s, and I will build it, not Peter.
Peter petros is a rock, a stone. He is not lithos, the sort of bedrock you might actually be confident to build on. Peter is only one of a number in the Gospels to confess Jesus as the Messiah or similar. See also Nathanael’s confession in John 1.49, and Martha in John 11.27, and Thomas in John 20.28.
So Jesus could say ‘on you Nathanael I will build my church, on you Martha, on you Thomas, on you Clare, on you and you and you, and on anyone who confesses me. It is my church, and I will build it on you. It may be a bit rocky – you may feel a bit rocky – but it will stand and prevail, because we’re in this together.’
