Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, June 17th

Although they share little in common, there is one important similarity between lectoring and advertising.  In both cases, the hope is that people will hear and respond to the message.

Peter did not go out into the streets after Pentecost proclaiming the risen Lord believing that people would forget everything he said in two minutes.  He had faith that the Holy Spirit stood behind his work.  Although some of the people in the street may have turned away, enough listened so that the new church grew exponentially.

There is no reason to think that your work as a lector has any less support from the Holy Spirit.

Every time you serve as lector, you proclaim the most important words ever written.  You have an assembly of people who need to hear those words.  And you can have a genuine expectation that the words you say will have the power to move and inspire.

Lectoring is not manipulation.  It is not selling a product.  It is, however, a personal, three-way conversation between God, the people and the lector. It is the kind of conversation that does not fade away without effect. 

Just as he did at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit continues to guide his church today.  Just as he supports all those who witness God’s presence, the Holy Spirit supports you as you proclaim the Scriptures

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"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

                                                                                                -  Acts 1:8

First Reading  - Ezekiel 17:22-24

Saying and Doing

Failed geopolitics in the year 597 B.C. and a failure to heed the prophets are the backdrop to this Scripture passage. Things get even worse ten years later when the Babylonian King Nabuchadnezzar strongly objects to Judah’s King Zedekiah making a deal with Psammetichus II of Egypt.  After that, the whole roof caves in.

Obtaining meaning from today’s first reading would be a real challenge if the assembly had to be familiar with ancient kings and their hard-to-pronounce names.  So, if a story of foreign intrigue should fail to resonate with the people, what message will move and inspire them?

The answer rests, in part, with the hearer, on his or her life experiences, and in the way the Holy Spirit moves in his or her heart.  The answer also rests with the lector and with his or her genuine appreciation for the power of the words and their meaning.

There are many words and phrases in this reading that have the power to inspire.  If lectors discover what genuinely moves them, they can have confidence that the Holy Spirit will help their hearers do the same.

Perhaps God’s ancient promise about his spoken word taken from today’s first reading still applies, “As I, the Lord, have spoken so will I do.”

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Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Home

Home is a place of comfort, a place of security, a place to which we are drawn.

In today’s second Scripture passage, home is found in two places: “at home in the body,” and “leave the body and go home to the Lord.”  For most of us, making the transition from one home to the next is a scary thing.

Children leave home to start their own homes, knowing that the move is inevitable and proper.  Christians know that their earthly lives inevitably lead to their heavenly home, while still striving to make the most of their home on earth. 

Courage is required whenever we move from one home to the next.  Although we can make all sorts of preparations to ease the transition and lower our fears, the most important source of courage is faith.  As Paul wisely says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.