Family and Choices

 

 

 

20... and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” — 30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:20-35

 

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Family of Man / The Brotherhood of Mankind

ARMENGOL, Mario

1967

Calgary, Canada

Seeing as how this sculpture is a Calgary landmark, it may surprise many people to know that this piece by Mario Armengol was not originally intended to be a work of public art. In fact, these characters were initially created as props for the British Pavilion at Expo'67 in Montreal. 

The British pavilion was shaped like a huge cone and had a very high ceiling and these figures were actually inside the lobby of the building. Each figure represents gifts that Britain gave to its colonies, like justice and law.

At the end of the exposition, Britain did not want to keep the props. A Calgary construction company, Maxwell Cummings & Sons, bought them and donated them to the City of Calgary. They decided that the figures would be placed on Calgary Board of Education land located between 4th and 5th Avenue on Macleod Trail SE. But it was the parks department crew that unloaded the shipment made the decision to arrange the figures in a circle, and they have remained in that configuration ever since. 

In 1967 Calgarians were outraged! These elongated, abstract, and notably naked figures were seen as offensive but over the years they have endured and are now one of Calgary’s better known landmarks. Its silhouette has been adopted as the logo of the Calgary Board of Education.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_Board_of_Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life is a matter of choices,

and every choice you make makes you.

~ John C. Maxwell

 

 

 

 

 

No one forces a person to be negative,

and no one forces anyone to be positive.

The choice is up to an individual and that person alone.

~ Byron Pulsifer

 

 

 

 

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Peace Team meeting for Rotary

 

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Vicki Kyle and Donna Bucholz at Bunco

 

 

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Red Cross Disaster Relief was our topic at Rotary.

 

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Adrian Stone, Cindy Latham

 

 

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 Artists’ Reception for Center for the Arts Evergreen Sculpture Walk

June 7, 2024

 

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Ann Simpson, Artist Jeanne from Salt Lake City, and friend Connie

Ann was the juror for selecting the recipient of the

Barbara Sternberg Award of Excellence!

 

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Gail Riley, Marsha Manning

 

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Dine Around with Roger Fertig and Rita Carver

 

 

 

 

 

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

~ Marcus Aurelius

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 9, 2024  Third Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 5B]

Previous OPQs may be found at: 

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

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Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

Henri Nouwen on 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

 

Henri Nouwen also went deep on the way momentary affliction prepares for glory in his story about fraternal twins chatting in the womb. The sister announces to her brother, ‘I believe there is life after birth.’ He protested: ‘No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing to do but cling to the cord that feeds us.’ But she insisted: ‘There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light, where there is freedom to move.’ She couldn’t convince him. Later, she added, ‘I have something else to say, and I’m afraid you won’t like that either, but I think there is a Mother.’ Her brother became furious. ‘A Mother!?’ he shouted. ‘What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place, after all. We have all we need, so let’s be content.’ Hurt deeply, she didn’t say anything for a long time. But she couldn’t let go of her thoughts, and with no one else to talk to, finally she said, ‘Don’t you feel those squeezes once in a while? They’re quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful.’ ‘So?’ he replied. ‘Well,’ the sister said, ‘I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our Mother face to face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?’ The brother didn’t answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk.

 

 

 

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Psalm 138:8 Illustrated: "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for..." — Heartlight® Gallery.jpeg

 

 

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LECTIONARY

1 Samuel 8:4–11 (12–15) 16–20 (11:14–15) 

Psalm 138 

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1 

Mark 3:20–35

 

Summary

https://www.preachingtoday.com/lectionary/

 

THE WORD:

Jesus the “lunatic” comes to heal us of what is, in fact, our own “lunacy” – the lunacy of allowing pettiness, pride, anger, prejudice, and self-centeredness to alienate us from one another, the lunacy” of exalting “me” at the expense of others’ basic necessities, the lunacy of constantly grabbing as much as we can as fast as we can while many on this planet have nothing.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#june9

 

First Reading 1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15) 16-20 (11:14-15)

8:4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, 7and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9Now then, listen to their voice; only — you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

10So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

11:14Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly. 

Psalm 138:1-8

1   I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; 
          before the gods I sing your praise; 
2   I bow down toward your holy temple 
          and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; 
          for you have exalted your name and your word 
          above everything. 
3   On the day I called, you answered me, 
          you increased my strength of soul.

4   All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD, 
          for they have heard the words of your mouth. 
5   They shall sing of the ways of the LORD, 
          for great is the glory of the LORD. 
6   For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly; 
          but the haughty he perceives from far away.

7   Though I walk in the midst of trouble, 
          you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; 
     you stretch out your hand, 
          and your right hand delivers me. 
8   The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; 
          your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. 
          Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Second Reading 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

4:13But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture — “I believed, and so I spoke” — we also believe, and so we speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. 15Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

5:1For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Gospel Mark 3:20-35

20... and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” — 30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."