Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Back in April or so, I signed up for the bell choir at my parish. I’ve never played bells, and I have no formal training in music, but it sounded like fun and like a challenge. I intended to do it, really I did. But the summer came and went and I made a lot of commitments for the fall and winter. By the time I got the email about weekly bell choir practice beginning in
Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army, Photographer Joyce Costello [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
October, I decided it just wasn’t among my priorities right now, and bowed out. Maybe next year, I told myself.
It’s easy to be that way about our faith too. Hearing the word of God is kind of like signing up for the bell choir. When we hear the readings or study our spiritual resources, it seems like a good idea to spread the Good News to those who have little interest in hearing it, to reflect Christ to the homeless, the sick, the people in our family or neighborhood or workplace we find challenging. So we pass up one opportunity, then another each day. Maybe next time, we tell ourselves.
It’s an important verse, Luke 8:21:
But he said to them, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (NRSVCE)
Essays and probably books have been written about the earlier parts of the passage: Who were Jesus’s brothers? Was the reaction of Mary to the statement? Are we truly to disregard those we love in the way we put God first? Fine questions, all. Great discussion topics. But when we focus on them, we lose track of the challenge Jesus throws down to those who hear the Word: Do it. Make it a priority right now.
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