Ordinary Time

Pause

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans...”

from "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1939)

Today we pause to discern how God might be interrupting our lives to break us out of our comfort zone, inviting us into a deeper walk of faith.

Listen

From there Jesus and his followers went through Galilee, but he didn’t want anyone to know it. This was because he was teaching his disciples, “The Human One will be delivered into human hands. They will kill him. Three days after he is killed he will rise up.” But they didn’t understand this kind of talk, and they were afraid to ask him.

Mark 9:30-32

Think

It’s easy to get caught up in the crowd. We’re all looking for a place to fit in, a group or community that helps to define our identity. It’s part of our human nature to seek out harmony and conformity and to gather with likeminded people. There’s nothing inherently bad or evil about our desire for community. But when the community becomes hostile to outsiders for the sake of conformity, we fall short of God’s hope for us. This is usually a result of fear, which results in irrational decision-making that can lead to suffering and violence.

Before he is to become the target of this “groupthink” mentality, Jesus tells his disciples just how powerful a community can be; especially when they are united in their thoughts and actions. But with this statement Jesus also offers the disciples and us hope that God’s love for us can overcome the darkness of our hearts. Through the resurrection, Jesus is offering each of us an invitation to be part of his community, a community that seeks to serve others in love.

Rob Schoeck

Pray

God of the cross and of the empty tomb, break into my heart so that if I am caught up in the crowd then I might pause and be an agent of change. Help me to see your image in all people and welcome them as if they were you. Amen.

Go

Be prepared. Whatever your plans are for today, or however you imagined your day going, be prepared.

God may be reaching out to you in the most surprising and unexpected way. God wants to be in relationship with you and is trying to break into your life. It is up to you to be open to that invitation, no matter what guise it might take.

Be prepared, because God loves you and will show you this through the people and the world around you.