The Daily: Sunday June 23, 2024

Daily Lectionary Reading: Psalm 9:9-20 (NRSV, The Message); 1 Samuel 17:1, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49 (NRSV, The Message); 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (NRSV, The Message); Mark 4:35-41 (NRSV, The Message)

David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 
1 Samuel 17:49

The stories of scripture, our ancient texts, the tales we teach our children, are often violent. We must talk about the violence to tell the story. We must acknowledge the violence to own our stories (and oh how we nedd to own our stories). And we must transform the violence to change our story.

One way to do that is by enganging with these stories metaphorically and metaphysically. As the letter-writer to the Ephesians reminds us, "Our fight is not against flesh and blood." What is the giant you are called to slay, the target you are yearning to hit, the story you are called to tell?