Readings for Week of July 6th
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Naaman is healed of leprosy
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease.
5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.
5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease."
5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go, then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his skin disease."
5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."
5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel."
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house.
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."
5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease!
5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
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You restored me to health
30:1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
30:2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
30:3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
30:4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
30:5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
30:6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved."
30:7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
30:8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
30:9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
30:10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!"
30:11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
30:12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
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Jerusalem, a nursing mother
66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her--
66:11 that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast, that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom.
66:12 For thus says the LORD: I will extend prosperity to her like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream, and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm and bounced on her knees.
66:13 As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
66:14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass, and it shall be known that the power of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies.
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Jesus sends out seventy disciples
10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.
10:2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
10:3 Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.
10:4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
10:5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!'
10:6 And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you.
10:7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.
10:8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;
10:9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'
10:10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,
10:11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
10:16 "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!"
10:18 He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.
10:19 Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.
10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
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Do what is right now
6:1 My brothers and sisters, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.
6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
6:3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves.
6:4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride.
6:5 For all must carry their own loads.
6:6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.
6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
6:8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh, but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
6:9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up.
6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.
6:11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!
6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who try to compel you to be circumcised--only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
6:13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.
6:14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything!
6:16 As for those who will follow this rule--peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
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Disability Pride Month is observed annually in July. It commemorates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990.
Our first highlighted individual this month is Dr. Amy Kenny (she/her). Dr. Kenny is a disabled scholar-practitioner, writer, and advocate, and serves as the inaugural director of the Disability Cultural Center, at Georgetown University. Her work on disability has been featured in Teen Vogue, Huff Post, The Mighty, Sojourners, and Shondaland. Dr. Kenny’s award-winning book, My Body is Not A Prayer Request, mixes humor, personal narrative, and theology to invite faith communities to rethink their ableism and learn from the embodied wisdom of disabled people.
The quote today is taken from this book, which I encourage everyone to read in its entirety. It felt impossible to choose just one quote, and I believe that we can each benefit from spending intentional time with Dr Kenny.
The quote I ended up selecting holds a specific challenge for people who want to follow the way of Jesus:
“This is what neighbor love looks like in practice: Realizing that you might not understand my pain but committing to taking it seriously. Listening instead of gaslighting. Believing instead of doubting. Perhaps then, love can cast out our fears of getting it wrong and stretch us enough to be in community with one another.”
― Amy Kenny, My Body Is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church
