Today s gospel story can similarly help us create and sharpen other interesting questions when we think of Jesus as teacher or radical, when we think of Jesus as prophet, priest and king, when we think about Jesus through the lenses of atonement or the apocalyptic end of the world. But the serious Seekers question I want to lift up today is the question posed by the unresponsive Nazareans. How is familiarity with each other within Seekers blocking us from appreciating what may be of God in each other, what may be of God in our common life. I have come to believe that the worst hurts I give to others come not from my bad intentions or my ignorance, but from misapplying my strengths. For example, I want to figure out and explain things at times when I should be standing with or appreciating.
Seekers is proud of itself as a community.
We have the word community in our official naming of ourselves. It is a word I love and fight for as a focus for interpreting our life. But, since Jesus had to escape from his community to follow his calling, I feel moved to ask how our strong sense of community might be killing us and hurting those we most want to help. Nazareth was a little village set on a modest hill in a fertile valley. In such a small village people would know each other very well.