When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:51-62
We all carry hurts and betrayals from our past and it can be helpful to examine where things went wrong. And it can be dangerous if we dwell there, recounting every snub and slight, every firing and dismissal. As Episcopalians we love to say, "we've never done it that way!" We like the familiar, the safe, the things we cling to that give us a sense of grounding. Yet some seasons require us, as it did the followers of Christ, to keep going forward, choosing joy and hope, rather than wallow in the fumes of our past. This is not a season to be nostalgic and rigid, but the season we are called to keep following Jesus, so the world might receive God's love and hope through us.
A Litany for Sunday June 29th, 2025
Loving Creator, source of all joy and hope
you call us in times of world crisis and war
to follow you so the world might be healed.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
You give us new joy every new morning
despite our limitations, pains and sorrow
you lead us beyond the places we are stuck.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
Our world is in turmoil and on high alert
we do not love our neighbors or trust leaders.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
We stumble through our days in panic
and cry out to you in the darkness and pain.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
Yet you are our Creator, the heart of love
and you will implant us with your strength.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
For you have called us and will see us through
for the people here need to know your love.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love.
Help us not to look back on our sorrow
but follow you to the land of light and love.
Precious Savior, guide our feet in your way of love. Amen.
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