A reflection on the Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 12th Sunday after Trinity and Proper 23 and for some Anglicans the beginning of the Season of Creation.
Ian, you’ve named what most pulpits won’t touch: Jesus wasn’t offering a cozy family-values devotional, he was detonating loyalty to empire and possessions. Hate father and mother wasn’t about hating—it was about breaking the chokehold of inherited scripts.
The desert monks understood this. They fled the marketplace of Rome’s soul and let their hunger teach them freedom. We may not move to the wilderness, but we still have to face our own malls and mortgages. Materialism is just Caesar with better branding.
I like how you weave in the Season of Creation. The cross today isn’t only about refusing violence. It’s about refusing convenience when it comes at the earth’s expense. Every drive-thru coffee cup is a catechism. Every plastic bottle a liturgy. We’re discipled by what we consume unless we learn to break the spell.
Brilliant essay! I've just sent it to out to our church group. Just yesterday I was searching and searching for exactly what you've written. Thank you!!
"Perhaps the answer begins with the contemplative shift Jesus calls for — reordering our loves, loosening our grip on convenience and comfort, and embracing a way of life that honours the Creator by living gently within creation." And this is such a very hard shift. As you rightly observe we are entirely entangled with the materialist machine and to totally disentangle is verging on impossible so loosening the knots and freeing the spirit a little is a step we can, however hesitantly, take. (Apologies for mixed metaphors!)
Thanks Steve - I agree with you, I think it starts with intention to hold things less tightly and to prioritise the relational and the relational presence and to be aware of the choices we make that make this distance to other people, other animals and the planet/environment to resist convenience.
Ian, you’ve named what most pulpits won’t touch: Jesus wasn’t offering a cozy family-values devotional, he was detonating loyalty to empire and possessions. Hate father and mother wasn’t about hating—it was about breaking the chokehold of inherited scripts.
The desert monks understood this. They fled the marketplace of Rome’s soul and let their hunger teach them freedom. We may not move to the wilderness, but we still have to face our own malls and mortgages. Materialism is just Caesar with better branding.
I like how you weave in the Season of Creation. The cross today isn’t only about refusing violence. It’s about refusing convenience when it comes at the earth’s expense. Every drive-thru coffee cup is a catechism. Every plastic bottle a liturgy. We’re discipled by what we consume unless we learn to break the spell.
Brilliant essay! I've just sent it to out to our church group. Just yesterday I was searching and searching for exactly what you've written. Thank you!!
Thanks Craig, really pleased that this writing has helped you and your church. Keep walking the walk!
Ian, I value what you add to Substack. It always blesses me. Thank you.
"Perhaps the answer begins with the contemplative shift Jesus calls for — reordering our loves, loosening our grip on convenience and comfort, and embracing a way of life that honours the Creator by living gently within creation." And this is such a very hard shift. As you rightly observe we are entirely entangled with the materialist machine and to totally disentangle is verging on impossible so loosening the knots and freeing the spirit a little is a step we can, however hesitantly, take. (Apologies for mixed metaphors!)
Thanks Steve - I agree with you, I think it starts with intention to hold things less tightly and to prioritise the relational and the relational presence and to be aware of the choices we make that make this distance to other people, other animals and the planet/environment to resist convenience.