This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Ezekiel 37:1-14

1 The hand of the Lord was on me; he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley, a valley full of bones.

2 He made me walk up and down and all around among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the floor of the valley; and they were completely dry.

3 He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord God.’

4 He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

5 The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make breath enter you, and you will live.

6 I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will know that I am the Lord.” ‘

7 I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a clattering sound; it was the bones coming together.

8 And as I looked, they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, yet there was no breath in them.

9 He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead, so that they come to life!” ‘

10 I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

11 Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dry, our hope has gone; we are done for.”

12 So, prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord God says this: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.

13 And you will know that I am God, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people,

14 and put my spirit in you, and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done this — declares the Lord.” ‘

This is a promise of national resurrection-the return of the exiled people to their homeland-but the terms of the vision outstrip their application, and provide an extraordinary image of the re-creative power of God, which has appealed to despairing people of every place and time. In this dialogue, the designation of the prophet as “son of man” gains a new pathos in face of the fact of death and the question of new life. Like many of the “spirit journeys” of Ezekiel, this one has power to arouse the hope of which it speaks, and so vindicates the prophet’s calling.

The death of Edwin Morgan, the Scottish poet, yesterday, and of Jimmy Reid, Scottish socialist, last week, reminds me how much of my own sense of life has been fostered by the voices of imagination, criticism and hopefulness, in my own society. I record here my gratitude to both.

Gospel, Matthew 22:34-40

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to put him to the test, one of them put a further question, 36 ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’

37 Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.

39 The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.’

About TPUMC

Established in 1846, Travis Park United Methodist Church is grounded in history and vision. Today, we continue seeking to make the world a better place through transformation of self and community.

We are a “roll up your sleeves” congregation. We serve and learn with brothers and sisters from all walks of life: rich and poor, housed and homeless, gay and straight, black and brown and white, secular and sacred, PhD and GED.

The people of Travis Park Church seek to live and love as God does: passionately and unconditionally. God calls us on a journey forward, to break down the walls of predudice, and to embrace all our brothers and sisters.  We are committed to our mission of unconditional love and justice in action.

Jesus didn’t fail the test by selecting one of the many commandments, but offered instead the commands which sum up all the others and provide a test of whether a person’s religion is healthy or not. It remains a useful test of Christianity itself. If anything calling itself Christianity does not obey these great commands, it fails this test. The ridiculous sub-Christian hysteria in the USA, which inculcates the belief that their president is a Moslem, is condemned in this way.

It is also Jesus’ standard of interpretation of the scriptures: the Torah and the prophets mean nothing other than this. Other interpretations are not Christian. All zealous haters, of other races, other religions, other sexual orientations, should take note: only love is commanded.