October: What next?

If September was about how a people is sustained (manna at dawn, water from the rock, a God who keeps showing up when we grumble), October asks what a sustained people does next.

We begin at Sinai, where the freed and fed receive the shape of a new life together. Within a week, they have melted their gold into a calf. Moses pleads for them, then asks to see God’s face, and is given presence instead. By month’s end, he stands on Nebo, looking over a land he will not enter, having served a people to the edge of their promise.

In Matthew, Jesus faces sharper questions in the temple each Sunday:
Whose vineyard is this?
Who is welcome at the banquet?
What belongs to Caesar, and what to God?
Which commandment matters most?

Paul lets go of his credentials and writes to young churches about how a leader serves.
All in all, the month is about Jesus’s greatest commandments: love God, love your neighbour. Everything else hangs on that.

Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-21

At Sinai, Moses is concerned that God go with him, and with his people, into the unknown land where they will discover who they are as no-longer-slaves. Moses seeks the reassurance of God’s face, yet no one can gaze on the face of God and live. Yet, God’s presence goes with him and will be tangible in the Tent of Meeting.

The Psalmist names Moses, Aaron and Samuel as great intercessors who called on the Lord and were answered with forgiveness. Their refrain resounds: “Exalt the Lord our God.”

Paul affirms that faith, hope, and love abound in the Church in Thessalonica. Having turned from idols, their joy in suffering and their “service of the living and true God” has become good news to other Christian communities.

Jesus continues to spar with religious leaders. The Herodians (those most likely to report anything said against the empire to Caesar) try to trap him with flattery. Jesus neatly acknowledges that the coin bearing Caesar’s image is owed to the government – but that all that bears God’s image remains always under God’s authority.

Set side by side, the “face” imagery threaded through these texts asks us: when we intentionally seek the face of God, how does our encounter transform the face we show to the world around us as we reflect God’s glory?

PrayerPoem

This month, the prayerpoem takes a new shape. Each week, instead of one longer poem, you’ll find four haiku, one for each of the appointed readings separated by a simple photo for meditation.

Haiku asks us to look at a text the way we might look at a single stone in a stream. My hope is that each one gives you something small to carry into the week, and that you might try writing your own alongside them.

THE PSALM

Though the earth may shake,
we will exalt the Lord our God
and stand firm in love.

THE OLD TESTAMENT

I seek your face, Lord.
"My presence will go with you."
I'm held in your hand.

THE GOSPEL

"Heads or tails?" you ask.
Where does my allegiance lie?
I belong in Christ.

THE EPISTLE

Be an example:
as God is living and true,
be good news for all.

Feel free to leave a comment below with your reflections or ways this week’s readings and prayer speak to your journey. You’re also invited to subscribe for weekly prayer-poem downloads and deeper reflections.