A Message from Pastor Kaji
Sunday June 16
Dear Church:
I hear that last Sunday was a true celebration and time for celebration. From the birthday celebration to the Soul Food fellowship, it sounds like worship and community came together so beautifully.
For this Sunday, I ask: What are you craving? — I want to talk about the cravings that keep us stuck in the past. Our text from the Book of Numbers inspires me to imagine craving meat while missing out on the nourishing manna right in front of you. as you prepare for worship, maybe ask yourself:
How have you felt God’s pull to be free from craving what you don’t have, while looking away from God’s blessings before you?
We will explore this and so much more in church. I can’t wait to worship with you!
Pax Christi,
Pastor Kaji
SCRIPTURE
Numbers 11:4–15 (Year B, p. 218):
4 The rabble among them craved a craving, and the women and men of Israel also wept again, and they said, “Who will give us meat? 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 And now our souls are parched, and there is nothing at all but this manna before our eyes.”
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and it was dark and gummy like plant resin. 8 The people—women, children, and men—went around and gleaned it; they ground it in a mill or beat it in a mortar, and they boiled it in a pot and made cakes of it. The taste of it was like the taste of cakes with oil. 9 While the dew was falling on the camp at night, the manna fell upon it.
10 Moses heard the people weeping, each clan apart, each person at the entrance of their tents. Then the HOLY ONE’S rage burned extremely hot, and it was wrong in the sight of Moses. 11 So Moses said to the HOLY ONE, “Why have you done your servant wrong? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you put the burden of this whole people on me? 12 Was it I, did I conceive this whole people? Did I give birth to them myself that you said to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, like a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 From where am I to get meat to give to this whole people when they weep on me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’? 14 I am not able to carry this whole people by myself, for it is too heavy for me. 15 [Mother God] If this is what you are going to do to me, kill me now—if I have found favor in your sight—and let me not see my wrongdoing.”