Ordinary 17C

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In his book An Unsettling God, the biblical scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann argues that the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures describes the relationship between God and humanity as one of “dialogical partnership”.[1] That is to say, that what we learn from the Hebrew Scriptures is that God and humanity are engaged in a constant, two-way, and mutual conversation, in which God speaks to humanity and humanity responds. And the way this dialogue occurs, its character and nature, takes various forms and is described in various ways in the different texts that make up the Hebrew Scriptures. The upshot, however, is that God and humanity are in constant communication. God speaks; we respond; and God speaks again.

In God Without Being, Jean-Luc Marion ponders how the memory of God’s goodness in the past enables an appeal today for hope for the future. Marion writes: “It is a question of making an appeal, in the name of a past event, to GxD [in the original text, Marion puts an “X” through the “o”], in order that he recall an engagement (a covenant) that determines the instant presently given to the believing community. Whether it be a question of crossing the Red sea or of the conquest of the Promised Land, ‘the memorial of the Messiah’… the event remains less a past fact than a pledge given in the past in order, today still, to appeal to a future– an advent, that of the Messiah– that does not cease to given this day from beginning to end.”

("A three year old goes with his mother to the grocery store. As they started in the door, Mom says to son, "Now, you're not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don't even ask." She puts him in the child's seat and off they go up and down the aisles. He's doing just fine until they get to the cookie section. When he saw the familiar packages, he says, 'Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?' Mom replies, 'I told you not to ask.'...")

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(" In his book Jesus: A Biography from a Believer, the British historian Paul Johnson suggests that Jesus had read the literary classics of ancient Greece and Rome. That's conjecture on his part, and impossible to prove. But what is clear is that Jesus described God in ways that contrast sharply with the violent, jealous, and conniving gods of Homer...")

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("Hear the Prayer Jesus said we can pray... hear it as an example - audacious and bold and so intimate it is almost beyond words... Daddy you are so wonderful - I wish that everybody could have a Daddy like you, and that everyone would do the things you tell them to do - because what you say is so good... ")

The knocker in the picture above, currently on the door at Durham Cathedral (England), is a reproduction. The 12th-century original is currently on display in the cathedral's museum/treasury. It was more than decorative. Originally on the cathedral's north door, the knocker was available 24/7 for anyone in need of sanctuary within the cloister.