Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat - a Studebaker.

Usually the hero journey is described in terms of the hero encountering and then overcoming (or not) a series of challenges.  It's no accident that so many rpgs use language like "encounters" and "challenges" for the battles and puzzles their players experience.

But it recently hit me that there's another way to see that journey, with it's string of challenge after challenge.  It's true of many stories, but it recently hit me particularly hard about The Lord of the Rings--there's simply no rest.  Every time Frodo reaches a place of sanctuary, a place where he can take a breath and take stock--something propels him forward again.  Sometimes it's an attack that breaks the sanctuary of a place, sometimes it's the knowledge that he's the only one who can bear the ring and destroy it's evil, but something always keeps him moving.



The Gospel writer of Mark paints a picture of Jesus's ministry that's like that.  Every time Jesus finishes preaching and seeks out some time away, he ends up healing someone.  And his fame increases.  And with fame, the crowds arrive.  Only they aren't there to hear the message.  They're there for the miracles.  And so Jesus keeps moving from place to place.  Preaching.  Healing.  Helping and subsequently escaping the crowds.

No rest.



There is another way to look at this dynamic, though.  Katherine Matthews Huey recently wrote a reflection over this aspect of Jesus's ministry in which she repeated the phrase "moving right along."

Which of course made me think of The Muppet Movie.



Maybe there's a positive side to being constantly on the move like that.  After all, Kermit wouldn't have met all the many, many good friends he'd gathered around him by the end of the story if he's stayed in the swamp or had a smooth journey from there to Hollywood.

I wonder how many friends Jesus had by the time he made it to the end of his story?

Be good to each other,
RevJosh
020315

The scripture lessons for February 8th—The 5th Sunday After Epiphany—are:


Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Praise God! How good it is
  to sing praises to our God;
for God is gracious,
  and a song of praise is fitting.

God builds up Jerusalem;
  God gathers the outcasts of Israel.

God heals the brokenhearted,
  and binds up their wounds.

God determines the number of the stars;
  God gives to all of them their names.

Great is our God, and abundant in power;
  whose understanding is beyond measure.

God lifts up the downtrodden;
  God casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to God with thanksgiving;
  make melody to our God on the lyre.

God covers the heavens with clouds,
  prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.

God gives to the animals their food,
  and to the young ravens when they cry.

God has no delight in the strength of the horse,
  nor pleasure in the speed of a runner;

but God takes pleasure in those who fear God,
  in those who hope in God's steadfast love.

Praise be to God!

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1: 29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.