Mark 1:9

Now about that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

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acknowledged or not
a next generation
builds on
past gains/losses

none of us are
our own strength

we call to vocation
each to their part
in common choices
and overarching journey

heartily sorry
for ancestral choices

we gather to see
what’s left
what’s surplus
what’s needed

heartily sorry
for relational choices

we gather to hear
a lament
a dance
a stillness

from no-town
to river of consequence

we drop our sorrow
claim our everyday
within and beyond
hospitality’s restraints

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From promises of old we begin an urgent journey with a retreat to the wilderness.

Jesus “happened” to come from the hills of Nazareth in the north to a river, probably South Jordan near Jericho. In a sense Jesus is preparing his own way just as all of us do. Lots of things “happen”, so how do we come to be at all the important events of our life?

These simple location points say much about how revolutions take place. They take place when there is nothing left to lose. Nothing good is expected from those in Nazareth. The experience of Nazareth will be critical, but the shift will not take place there first. One needs the experience of being so close to seats of power and seeing what it does before gathering an insight as to where its failure point lies.

So we move from being at a loss, wandering without understandable direction, to a place where previous wilderness times have ended. Here we pause to let the waters flow around us as it does a rock.

A picture comes to mind of rocks lifted from the Jordan to be an enduring memorial of moving from wilderness to realized promises. (Joshua 4).

Jesus arises ready to be a living stone that wherever he wanders hopes will be raised and self-captivity will no longer rule.

This is spare language for an event which shifts seismic plates within intentionality.