Collect – “Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure;”
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 takes us through the problems of leading a badly-informed, traumatised people, the virtues of delegation and the liberation of letting others get on with what we cannot manage!
These verses stand near the beginning of part II of Israel’s time of wandering in the wilderness, having just departed from Mt. Sina. A lively exchange between God and Moses follows. God replies to Moses’ complaint in two respects: (1) God will share the spirit given to Moses with others, who will help to bear the burden (see verses 16-17, 24-30); (2) God will provide the meat for which the people have asked (see verses 18-23, 31-35). God works in and through the natural world to provide for his people
The entire book of Numbers is set in a journey through the wilderness. For us is may be a wilderness due to climate change. We are taken from the securities of life to the unknowns
Psalm 124 recalls God’s intervention through Creation, on the side of justice
2 If the Lord had not been on our side, *
when enemies rose up against us;
3 Then would they have swallowed us up alive *
in their fierce anger toward us;
4 Then would the waters have overwhelmed us *
and the torrent gone over us;
5 Then would the raging waters *
have gone right over us.
Focus: “No one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”
This Sunday Mark considers the church’s boundaries and internal responsibilities. The contrast established in 9:39-41 and 9:42-50 is that between nurturance of Christian believers and infliction of injuries that cause them to lose their faithful footing.
Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
What decisions are (or should be) outside our faith? We are called to do all things for Christ and in Christ’s name. What does that mean for how and what we eat? Where we shop and what we purchase? Where we set our thermostats? What we plant in our yards?
James 5:13-20 – James veers into hopeful mode in a consideration of the great benefits of Christian community.
Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
Focus: “Are any among you suffering (sick)?” “Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
- How are people suffering because of climate change? How is creation suffering because of climate change? Prayer must be active, not passive. How do we pray in action for the healing of the earth?
- Children’s Moment: Ask the children if any of them have a dog or cat or other pet. Ask them how they care for the animals. Then expand the circle ever wider to other animals like birds, opossums, squirrels – to elephants, bears, whales. How do we care for animals that are not our pets? What do they need to live happy lives? Affirm that picking up litter from the land and waterways helps all animals to have clean water.