Fire and Integrity and Justice

 

49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

54He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Luke 12:49-56

 

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The Burning of the Houses of Parliament

TURNER, Joseph Mallord William

1835

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, Ohio

United States

Notes:

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" How Jesus' words in the twelfth chapter of Luke disturb us -- and the Jeremiad accompanying these words deepen the strength of God's wrath. The Psalmist follows with further reminders: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." 

In this painting by JMW Turner, it is not fruit orchards or grape vines laid to waste, but an urban structure that was the seat of power in 19th century London. The fire began as a result of using older, worm-eaten logs of wood, stuffed into the fire that fed the heated comfort enjoyed by the Parliamentarians. Rather than give the less desirable wood to the indigent, underpaid workers and their families who lived in the recesses of the London streets, the employees at Parliament were told to dispose of it otherwise, for fear that Parliament would be criticized for their own extravagant use of fuel. The disposal resulted in an overheating of the Parliament systems, the resulting firestorm burning not only the Houses of Parliament but the very sections of the city that gave quarter to the poor.

The words of scripture for this week represent the prophetic call to right ourselves, to be alert, to understand what really matters and act upon it.

Turner witnessed the fire that burned down most of the Palace of Westminster on 16 October, 1834. He made a watercolour sketch at the time, which he then used as the basis for several larger paintings including those hanging at the Tate Gallery and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20220811193674526&code=act&RC=54219&Row=23

 

 

 

 

 

Every decision you make …

every decision that you make every second …

is not a decision about what to do, 

it is a decision about who you are.

Every act is an act of self-definition.

~ Neale Donal Walsch

 

 

 

Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you;

be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.

~ W. Clement Stone

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner at Union 240 - Thank You, JOYCE!

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Carolyn, Cousin Dr. Joyce Herrold, Dottie and Jack Alexander

 

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Reina and Shuto Sakakibara

 

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Reina Sakakibara, Junna and Abby Yoshioka

 

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Jack and William Alexander with Aunt Carolyn

 

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Mary and John Alexander with their children, Jack and Will and Aunt Carolyn

 

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John Alexander and his sister, Robin Sakamoto, with their children and Dottie Alexander and Aunt Carolyn 

 

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Tina Yoshioka

 

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Cousins: Kent Alexander and John Alexander

 

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Robin Sakamoto with her three children, Reina, Kei, and Junna

 

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The BIG 90th Birthday Party!

 

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Brother Keith Alexander’s family

 

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Ray showing his loose tooth to Kimra Perkins.

 

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Tina, Shuto, Ray, and Meishi

 

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Meishi, Shuto, and Reina Sakakibara, Ray Yoshioka, Robin Sakamoto, Junna Yoshioka, Carolyn Alexander

 

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Pizza time!

 

Tokyo - Narita Airport

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Meishi and Shuto Sakakibara greet their baby brother, Kaito.

 

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Ray lost his second baby tooth on his first day of kindergarten!

 

 

Celebrating Her Life

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Kay Cecilia Owen

April 19, 1939 ~ July 11, 2025

 

 

 

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.

~ Anne Lamott

 

 

August 17, 2025  Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - Year C - [Prop. 15C] 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

32And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented-38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Agnus Day, by James Weinstein

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Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

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LECTIONARY

Isaiah 5:1–7 

Psalm 80:1–2, 8–19 

Hebrews 11:29—12:2 

Luke 12:49–56

 

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already ablaze . . . Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Luke 12: 49-56

THE WORD:

When Luke wrote these few lines of his Gospel, Christians were living through difficult times and circumstances.  In many places they were treated with ridicule, disdain and intolerance.  Jesus’ words are addressed to them and to all Christians who have paid dearly for living their faith in their time and place.

Fire is a Scriptural symbol of judgment.  The Lord will judge the hearts of all men and women in the light of the Gospel's “blaze.”

The word used in the original text that reads here as baptism actually means a “plunging,” a total submersion.  Jesus continues on to Jerusalem where he will be “plunged” into the Passover of the new covenant into which, through baptism, we will all be “plunged,” as well.

The Gospel is not a soft, easy message to embrace. Jesus does not sugarcoat his message:  Families and households will be divided over the hard demands of the Gospel of reconciliation, justice and servanthood.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#aug14

 

 

First Reading Isaiah 5:1-7

1Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Stir up your might,

and come to save us!

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;

you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it;

it took deep root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade,

the mighty cedars with its branches;

11 it sent out its branches to the sea,

and its shoots to the River.

12 Why then have you broken down its walls,

so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?

13 The boar from the forest ravages it,

and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts;

look down from heaven, and see;

have regard for this vine,

15 the stock that your right hand planted.

16 They have burned it with fire, they

may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,

the one whom you made strong for yourself.

18 Then we will never turn back from you;

give us life, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Second Reading Hebrews 11:29-12:2

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

32And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented-38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Gospel Luke 12:49-56

49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

54He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?