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 Enjoy the gifts of text that come this Sunday in our three lessons. The first lesson reminds us of the sheer joy of the pursuit and the happiness of being pursued. The second lesson begins the first of five weeks in the epistle of James while the gospel lesson takes us into conflict over the tradition of the elders and the Words of God.

Song of Songs 2:8-13-A Gambol of Love

What a tender passage for courting lovers! The passage opens with "The Pursuit" (vs. 8-9); a love-stricken youth bounds and leaps gazelle-like in hot pursuit of his beloved. The dialogue which follows expresses the same joy and hope as the pursuit: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" (v. 10). As if to ensure every possibility for a "yes" response, the youth paints an idyllic countryside: The flowers appear . . . the time of singing has come .. . the fig tree is figging, and the vines blossoming. The lesson ends before we know what the beloved’s response will be, but we have a good idea! The final line alludes to the divine romance and dance that God offers toward us: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

James 1:17-27-Potpourri of Wisdom

We begin a new epistle lesson today with James 1 and immediately encounter a potpourri of proverb-like topics concerning teaching about our true Source and the divine will that births people through the Word, instructions about good communication and control of emotions, an exhortation to resist wickedness but embrace "the implanted word" that brings salvation. Next in the lesson is the first nuance of a theme that will recur throughout the epistle: the role of faith to works. The closing piece returns to a communication theme that warns about loose tongues and instruction that admonishes true religion.

Mark 7:1-8; 14-15, 21-23-Keeping or Trashing Tradition?

Chapter 7 of the gospel reading will spread over two weeks. This section of gospel includes selected parts of a larger conflict narrative between Jerusalemite Pharisees and scribes and Jesus. The chapter opens with conflict erupting over the disciples’ non-kosher eating-before-washing practice which apparently ritually defiles the eater and the food being eaten. Looming large behind this immediate peccadillo is the issue of custom vis-à-vis sacred Tradition and the interior life vis-à-vis exterior performance of religion. Such is not always easy to discern within one’s own faith-journey. Jesus charges his opponents with hypocrisy, and uses the conflict as a teaching opportunity concerning tradition v. God’s commandment.