Dear friend,

I don’t usually comment on the weekly lectionary readings after hearing my husband preach them.

I most often express my opinions through the subtle work of offering edits to those sermons: listening to what is said and offering a perspective of what is heard… before you do.

But as I heard the readings and the sermon again today, I needed to record this moment and share these two realizations, mostly just so that I don’t forget:

1. When the weeds of the enemy are burned in the fire, when the evil doers are done in by the end of the age–oh, let me tell you how I have wept and gnashed my teeth to see those past selves, and parts of self, go down. I don’t like knowing that what I have grown in my garden has been a waste. I am grateful to the Gardener who promises that the pain of pulling up is on purpose.
2. Adoption is initiated by parents—a power structure that flows from the strong to the weak—but it is made real when the smaller party adopts the larger. Ask any stepfamily or foster family member, any in-law, any “aunt” or “uncle” and they can tell you that adoption happens along a continuum of acceptance, and power sharing. There is pain and suffering in every imperfect step, but discipleship demands it.

You are not alone,

Malee