{"id":25101,"date":"2025-04-22T10:17:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25101"},"modified":"2025-04-22T10:54:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:54:31","slug":"25101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25101","title":{"rendered":"Called by Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Am Not Alone - Kari Jobe - with Lyrics\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MbbCGqK6uNc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Mary [of Magdala] stood weeping outside the tomb\u2026. Jesus said to her, \u201cWoman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?\u201d Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, \u201cSir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cMary.\u201d She turned and said to him in Hebrew, \u201cRabbouni,\u201d which means Teacher. \u2014John 20:11, 15\u201316&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In her homily at the 2019 CAC Universal Christ conference, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis reminds us that we are<strong> each called by the resurrected Christ who knows us by name:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mary is the first preacher in the gospel .<\/strong>.. not because she recognizes Jesus, but because he knows her, and what she can do, and what she\u2019s got to give. Amen. In the moment of speaking and seeing, in the moment of revelation and connection, there is a passing on, an apostolic succession, that goes to this woman on the outside of her society, who has no status, no stature, except that Jesus sees&nbsp;<em>her<\/em>, and knows who she is, and whose she is.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, my friends, <strong>Jesus sees you. The Christ knows you. The Christ knows you even when you don\u2019t know the Christ<\/strong>. Do you understand what I mean? You are known. You are seen. You are loved. You are baptized into the work of the Living God, and <strong>you are catechized into the work of the Holy [Spirit], which is no less than the healing of the world. <\/strong>This is your job, too. You\u2019re not preaching the first sermon. That\u2019s happened already, but you\u2019ve got sermons to preach. I have seen the Lord, because you have.\u2026&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have seen the crucified Body of Christ in all those places: in Indigenous people, in the broken heart of Mama Earth, in the brown bodies on the border, in the Black bodies languishing in prisons, I have seen the Lord in the struggling transwoman coming out\u2026. I have seen the Lord in the teen who doesn\u2019t know how to tell his pastor he\u2019s queer. I have seen the Lord in the woman wrestling with the decisions about her body. I\u2019ve seen the Lord in divorcing couples. I\u2019ve seen the Lord in the troubled ones all over my life. I\u2019ve seen the Lord, and I\u2019m going to tell you about it. My job is to speak the truth to power. That\u2019s your calling and mine: To listen deeply to the hearts of those who are languishing, to listen for their hopes, dreams, passions, fears, to love the hell out of them and to speak the truth.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Christ is everywhere. Christ is in all things. We are all one. When you\u2019re hungry, my stomach growls. <\/strong>When someone chops down a tree, I\u2019m cut. When the oceans are being poisoned, I feel thirsty for something different. This is our calling, because we\u2019ve been ordained, just like Mary, by the One who knows all about us. I\u2019m inviting you to look in the mirror and see yourself. <strong>Recognize yourself as deputized by the Living God. <\/strong>Amen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8230;&#8230; from Chuck DeGroat   author of Healing What&#8217;s Within<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/app-link\/post?publication_id=3367802&amp;post_id=161795935&amp;utm_source=post-email-title&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=2dkj2&amp;token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTkyMzY2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoxNjE3OTU5MzUsImlhdCI6MTc0NTI0MTYxOSwiZXhwIjoxNzQ3ODMzNjE5LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMzM2NzgwMiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.FtgwRYmmM4yvdK7HCbpyLIp0ImIvzbFjSdK37yXB6rg\">Longing for Hope<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How I&#8217;m Straining To See Easter Light Amidst The Darkness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@chuckdegroat\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The older I get, the more I experience much of the talk about hope as cheap.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The promises of politicians with their visions of greatness feel vacuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The motivational pep talks of many preachers ring hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The older I get, the more my eyes must strain toward a glimpse of hope &#8211; not the kind peddled in slogans or applause lines, but a hope that rises, quietly, from the compost of loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A hope born not in bypassing death, but in walking through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A hope that pulses from deeper soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gerard Manley Hopkins is a poet who I return to in times like this. His&nbsp;<em>God\u2019s Grandeur&nbsp;<\/em>stings with its honest account of (late 19th century) modern life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><strong>Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And wears man\u2019s smudge and shares man\u2019s smell: the soil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Life\u2019s monotony is felt-through in his repetition of \u201ctrod\u201d<em>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<\/em>the lifeless routine, the pervading automaticity of so of much what we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His prophetic musing of a life \u201cseared with trade\u201d speaks of an earth desecrated by human exploitation. Our feet insulated from the soil of God\u2019s green earth, where we might even spot (or feel with our toes!) life springing anew.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Humans dulled by utility and noise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a cry from the heart for ecological and spiritual renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet, he continues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><strong>And for all this, nature is never spent;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s the hinge &#8211; the&nbsp;<em>resurrection turn<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite everything, creation is not exhausted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even beneath the scars, there is an abiding freshness, a sacred resilience. Places of refugia, as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/7c9b03b8-fe3b-484b-96a0-882b316ce419?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\">author Deb Rienstra reminds us<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; <strong>sacred sanctuaries where life abides, even when death surro<\/strong>unds it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m straining to bear witness to the light in spring rhythms of Resurrection, even as the first seeds sprout out of death and decomposition, even if my tired eyes can barely see the new, greening tree buds after a long Michigan winter. As St. John says, \u201cUnless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.\u201d (John 12:24)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m allowing myself to pause for a moment when I hear the loud, trumpeting call of a sandhill crane migrating back home again after snow-birding down south for the winter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I\u2019m sitting with counseling clients, I\u2019m remembering that <strong>so much of the work is ultimately a letting go of what no longer serves. <\/strong>A synaptic pruning is afoot &#8211; neural pathways weakening and dying off as new, pathways-of-hope come online. Our brains a testimony to Resurrection life. The tears and fresh smiles of my clients testimonies of renewal and goodness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m reminding myself that <strong>this is the pattern &#8211; the ancient way of ego death, the dark night before the dawn. The spiritual life is cruciform, inviting us to die to illusions so that we may rise in love.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m recalling the biblical politics of death-to-life &#8211; how Ezekiel 26-28 and Isa. 23 describe Tyre and Sidon as powerful cities, symbols of wealth and imperial arrogance, ultimately worshipping the gods of economic and spiritual self-sufficiency. The fall of these kingdoms represent the vacuousness of a particular vision of human flourishing, one we\u2019re too-familiar with today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I\u2019m bearing witness to John-the-Revelator\u2019s apocalytic vision of Babylon-fallen in Rev. 18 &#8211; a vision that ultimately indicts Rome amidst its injustices, too &#8211; reminding us that empires that exploit the weak and seduce human beings with promises of wealth and power will be revealed as empty and powerless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m straining to see what Isaiah sees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cSee, I will create<br>new heavens and a new earth.<br>The former things will not be remembered,<br>nor will they come to mind.<br><strong><sup>18&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>But be glad and rejoice forever<br>in what I will create,<br>for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight<br>and its people a joy.<br><strong><sup>19&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>I will rejoice over Jerusalem<br>and take delight in my people;<br>the sound of weeping and of crying<br>will be heard in it no more.<br><strong><sup>21&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>They will build houses and dwell in them;<br>they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.<br>For as the days of a tree,<br>so will be the days of my people;<br>my chosen ones will long enjoy<br>the work of their hands.<br><strong><sup>23&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>They will not labor in vain,<br>nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;<br>for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,<br>they and their descendants with them.<br><strong><sup>24&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>Before they call I will answer;<br>while they are still speaking I will hear.<br><strong><sup>25&nbsp;<\/sup><\/strong>The wolf and the lamb will feed together,<br>and the lion will eat straw like the ox,<br>and dust will be the serpent\u2019s food.<br>They will neither harm nor destroy<br>on all my holy mountain,\u201d<br>says the Lord.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;(portions of Isa. 65)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t you, like me, long to see?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td><\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And so we look and listen, with Hopkins:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>And for all this, nature is never spent;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mary [of Magdala] stood weeping outside the tomb\u2026. Jesus said to her, \u201cWoman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?\u201d Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, \u201cSir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.\u201d Jesus said to her, \u201cMary.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25101"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25101"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25106,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25101\/revisions\/25106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}