15 July 07
Proper 10C
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them.
In nominee…
Success. We all want to be successful. I mean, success can come in a lot of forms, but, in general, we tend to want to do well. Today’s first two lessons speak of the word as providing means to success.
In today’s lessons Moses reminded the Jews that the Lord “would make them abundantly prosperous in all their undertakings – in their bodies, and families, and land - as he did to their ancestors – he would make them SUCCSSFUL when they followed the law and turned their hearts and soul over to the Lord.
And Moses reminded them, they knew the word of the Lord,
That it was in their hearts and in their minds already. And that as hard or annoying as following that law may seem, turning our heart and soul to God is dealwithable,
its not too hard, not in heaven, not “over there”, here, we can do it, here, and now.
The second lesson presents the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
Paul writes that hope and prosperity are in the gospel -- that the gospel is bearing fruit for the whole world. As in Deuteronomy this lesson says that following and turning to God leads to success. In Deuteronomy Moses directs the Jews to turn to the law, their covenant with God, Paul reminds us to look towards the gospel in Christ – our new Covenant.
Today’s readings not only serve to remind us to turn fully turn our hearts and souls to the Lord, but also reassure us that although it may not seem easy, It is not too hard. That we are capable. Paul specifically reminds us that we must be patient. We must be open, that we must be filled with God’s will and spiritual understand, strong with his strength and patience.
Lofty thoughts. Sounds hard, I mean, why bother? Filled with God’s will? Strong with God’s strength, and patience, and God’s spiritual understanding? But, God’s God. Man, that sounds hard, and, and annoying.
But taking a look at today’s Gospel, Paul makes a good point. I mean, God really raised the stakes, and his expectations.
In today’s gospel a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Just as Moses reminded the Jews that they knew the law in their hearts, Jesus confirms that the lawyer knew the “correct” answer, and the lawyer responds that you must love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
At this point I’m sure most of us here know the story by heart – the lawyer asks “who is my neighbor” and Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan - its one of those stories that tends to pop-up. Like the Prodigal Son and the Lost Sheep, this story seems to turn up in every Vacation Bible School curriculum and illustrated children’s bible. We learned it as children and though it gives us that warm comfy feeling inside, we can kinda of, click off, when we hear it.
A Jew is hit up by robbers. He’s left for dead. A priest passes by, but doesn’t stop so as to retain ritual purity. A Levite passes by but doesn’t stop either. Then a Samaritan passes the injured Jew - a person with a reason not to stop by – and he stops. He puts the man on his own animal, gets him to an inn, and leaves him with money.
Given the time, it would have made more sense for the Samaritan to pass by. Actually it would have made more sense for him to kick the guy while he was down. Samaritans and Jews at the time held extreme animosity towards each other.
A Jew would not have expected a Samaritan to stop and help him. To be honest, the Jew might not have even wanted the Samaritan to stop. Not only was the Samaritan not expected to stop, but it may have reflected badly upon the Samaritan for doing so. The Jew didn’t live near the Samaritan and it is highly doubtful that he considered the Samaritan to be his neighbor.
But Jesus told us that the Samaritan was a neighbor to the Jew. That if we are to love our neighbor as ourselves we have to be there for those whom we do not want to. Not when it hurts, not when its scary. We have to put ourselves aside for this – far away neighbor?
Sometimes it can be hard enough to put ourselves aside for those whom we love voluntarily. A friend who needs you when you had scheduled a date, sick relative when you are already stretched thin with other tasks. And yet, to “inherit eternal life” we must love those whom we want hate?
We can’t be vengeful. We, we as students can’t stand by children dying every day of curable diseases and not work to fund the MDGs while going out partying every weekend and say we love our neighbor. We can’t not teach our children that Americans put Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II because they looked different, cause it makes us feel embarrassed. We can’t drop bombs on hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and say we are loving our neighbor.
Who is our neighbor? According to Jesus, to a Jew it was all of the priests, the Levites, and the Samaritans. The last of whom had all the reason in the world to be angry, and vengeful, and leave the man, but instead gave him money and lodging, and hope.
It’s hard isn’t it – to not only turn the other cheek, but to turn to a person when everything in us is feeling anger and hatred. When we want to call out against a person because of their clothing, religion, or their believes, or those that we suppose they have when we look at them. Doesn’t it hurt?
Doesn’t it hurt to know that Jesus died on a cross for us to have eternal life – but for us to earn it the gospel says we have to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our minds and that to do that MUST love neighbor as ourselves – that we have to sacrifice our pride, our prejudices, our fears and self-protection to truly see beyond what we want to see and see what is.
That in order to truly inherit that which God has promised, we must turn ourselves over to the Lord our God to be filled with his will, strength, spiritual understanding, and PATIENCE.
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them.
In nominee…
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
10 June 2007
10 June 2007
Proper 5 Year C
1 Kings 17:17-24
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Please be seated.
Once you are dead, you are dead. Right? Well according to today’s lessons, not so fast.
Today’s first lesson recounts the story of the raising of a young man from the dead. Incidentally, the gospel has the same theme, however, lets stick to Kings for now.
When I first read over this lesson I was struck by what seemed to be the apathy of God. In earlier chapters of first Kings we learn that the city where the widow and her son live is going through a drought in part because many there are worshipping false Gods. This poor starving widow agrees to take in Elijah and soon after her son grows ill and dies.
The response of both the widow and Elijah is to get angry at God for bringing this misfortune upon the family, especially after she showed faith in taking in Elijah. Elijah cries “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
The story then recounts Elijah praying three time and God listening to the voice of Elijah and the life returning to the dead son.
When I read that, my first thought was “man, God seems mean. Doesn’t care about the widow or the son. Not my kind of guy.”
(sarcastic pause)
There’s this traditional line of thinking that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is angry while the God of the New Testament is nice. The God of Justice vs. the God of Mercy.
Elijah has to ask God three times before God responds.
In today’s Gospel Jesus approaches the widow’s son and heals him – no request, no questions asked. Nice guy, right?
I’ll be honest, I’ve always been skeptical of the God of Justice vs. the God of Mercy bit. Wasn’t it the God of the Hebrew scriptures who gave the 10 commandments, and who gave the law to the Jews? God so loved his chosen people that he gave to them a set of rubrics that would provide for the most righteous life for them until a later time, the coming of the messiah. It was only when they stopped doing the most basic of these commandments: “have no other Gods before me”, that things weren’t really working out. The law, to the Jews, was an outward and visible sign of Gods love and care for them. When the people in the reading from Kings turned away from this commandment, they turned away from God, and ultimately, their own happiness.
Okay, now a shift.
Paul.
Paul wrote today’s letter from Galatians.
Paul, as we all know, was a Jew. And if we didn’t know this fact before, today’s epistle tells us this. Paul was a Jew who persecuted followers of Christ.
Paul says that he was “called through God’s grace” to have Jesus revealed to him. He left his life of tradition in Judaism and recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of his own scriptures. Which God was it who called him to this new life? As a Jew, was it his God, that many consider to be annoying, almost irresponsible, in the Hebrew Scriptures, or was it the loving, kind God of the New Testament?
While clearly both are the same God, this example blatantly breaks up the assumed dichotomy of Justice vs Mercy.
That just and merciful God that brought Paul to new life in Christ, truly
brought the two boys from today’s lessons to new life.
Imagine what that must be like: Your son, or daughter, or cousin, or best friend who had died, now brought back to life. What a tangible recognition of the power and love of God!
Yet, clearly, this is not a common occurrence. I mean, I can think of very few people who were raised from the dead:
"The boy in Kings was raised from the dead, the man in Luke was raised from the dead, we all know about Lazarus of Bethany. Aslan, the lion in C.S. Lewis's novels "The Chronicles of Narnia was raised" Joe Pendleton in Heaven Can Wait was given another shot and in The Princess Bride the character Westley was raised by Billy Crystal. Albus Dumbledore - oh wait, we don't know that for sure yet – must believe. Anyhow, I feel like we are leaving someone out… oh yeah… Jesus.
Sometimes it really seems as if Jesus’s resurrection is a really good IDEA.
I mean, imagining a deceased close friend or family member alive is so, so tangible, and Christ’s resurrection often seems INtangible – so very far away. We know it happened, we believe it happened, yet, we often forget it happened, it almost seems somehow, irrelevant.
And yet, it is because of Christ’s resurrection that we can, with full hearts repeat from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “O Death where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?”
It is because of Christ being raised from the dead that we, as Christians, no longer need that law as God set it forth in the Hebrew scriptures.
In our heads we know that, as with Paul, in Christ’s resurrection we are given the opportunity for a new life. We are invited to eternal life – something that is a lot better, fulfilling, long lasting than one person being raised, until they die again from natural type reasons.
As always, we are left to wonder, why these two boys, why not another man or girl who was dead. Where is God’s MERCY in letting the other people remain dead. Why that son, why not my best friend.
And yet, what if it was my best friend, and not one of these boys, what if it was my relative and not Jesus.
I keep using the example of my best friend because she was the closest example I can think of. When she died I remember thinking the same thing that Elijah and the widow said “why did you take her away from us, after all she did, all we did.” Praying three times didn’t bring her back. But, I know she is alive in the risen Christ.
There is something to be said for instant gratification. We all love it. Its here, its now, it satisfies us. So of course, for what is best, we have to wait. In the chapter from Kings, the village was being punished because they were worshipping false Gods. Those gods were gods who promised more instant things – rain, fertility, etc.
God wants us to wait.
In Christ’s resurrection we are promised a lot. A lot that is to come later.
That we have to wait around for. Some of what we receive later that will be very tangible, but now seems very intangible.
What we have to remember is that Christ’s resurrection, and the effects thereof are just as real and tangible as the raising of those boys or Joe Peddleton, or Westley. As I questioned at the beginning of the sermon, once we are dead, we are not dead. Only, unlike the movie characters, we have the opportunity to live in Christ’s resurrection, though the justice and mercy of the one true and loving God who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
Proper 5 Year C
1 Kings 17:17-24
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
Please be seated.
Once you are dead, you are dead. Right? Well according to today’s lessons, not so fast.
Today’s first lesson recounts the story of the raising of a young man from the dead. Incidentally, the gospel has the same theme, however, lets stick to Kings for now.
When I first read over this lesson I was struck by what seemed to be the apathy of God. In earlier chapters of first Kings we learn that the city where the widow and her son live is going through a drought in part because many there are worshipping false Gods. This poor starving widow agrees to take in Elijah and soon after her son grows ill and dies.
The response of both the widow and Elijah is to get angry at God for bringing this misfortune upon the family, especially after she showed faith in taking in Elijah. Elijah cries “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
The story then recounts Elijah praying three time and God listening to the voice of Elijah and the life returning to the dead son.
When I read that, my first thought was “man, God seems mean. Doesn’t care about the widow or the son. Not my kind of guy.”
(sarcastic pause)
There’s this traditional line of thinking that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is angry while the God of the New Testament is nice. The God of Justice vs. the God of Mercy.
Elijah has to ask God three times before God responds.
In today’s Gospel Jesus approaches the widow’s son and heals him – no request, no questions asked. Nice guy, right?
I’ll be honest, I’ve always been skeptical of the God of Justice vs. the God of Mercy bit. Wasn’t it the God of the Hebrew scriptures who gave the 10 commandments, and who gave the law to the Jews? God so loved his chosen people that he gave to them a set of rubrics that would provide for the most righteous life for them until a later time, the coming of the messiah. It was only when they stopped doing the most basic of these commandments: “have no other Gods before me”, that things weren’t really working out. The law, to the Jews, was an outward and visible sign of Gods love and care for them. When the people in the reading from Kings turned away from this commandment, they turned away from God, and ultimately, their own happiness.
Okay, now a shift.
Paul.
Paul wrote today’s letter from Galatians.
Paul, as we all know, was a Jew. And if we didn’t know this fact before, today’s epistle tells us this. Paul was a Jew who persecuted followers of Christ.
Paul says that he was “called through God’s grace” to have Jesus revealed to him. He left his life of tradition in Judaism and recognized Jesus as the fulfillment of his own scriptures. Which God was it who called him to this new life? As a Jew, was it his God, that many consider to be annoying, almost irresponsible, in the Hebrew Scriptures, or was it the loving, kind God of the New Testament?
While clearly both are the same God, this example blatantly breaks up the assumed dichotomy of Justice vs Mercy.
That just and merciful God that brought Paul to new life in Christ, truly
brought the two boys from today’s lessons to new life.
Imagine what that must be like: Your son, or daughter, or cousin, or best friend who had died, now brought back to life. What a tangible recognition of the power and love of God!
Yet, clearly, this is not a common occurrence. I mean, I can think of very few people who were raised from the dead:
"The boy in Kings was raised from the dead, the man in Luke was raised from the dead, we all know about Lazarus of Bethany. Aslan, the lion in C.S. Lewis's novels "The Chronicles of Narnia was raised" Joe Pendleton in Heaven Can Wait was given another shot and in The Princess Bride the character Westley was raised by Billy Crystal. Albus Dumbledore - oh wait, we don't know that for sure yet – must believe. Anyhow, I feel like we are leaving someone out… oh yeah… Jesus.
Sometimes it really seems as if Jesus’s resurrection is a really good IDEA.
I mean, imagining a deceased close friend or family member alive is so, so tangible, and Christ’s resurrection often seems INtangible – so very far away. We know it happened, we believe it happened, yet, we often forget it happened, it almost seems somehow, irrelevant.
And yet, it is because of Christ’s resurrection that we can, with full hearts repeat from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “O Death where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory?”
It is because of Christ being raised from the dead that we, as Christians, no longer need that law as God set it forth in the Hebrew scriptures.
In our heads we know that, as with Paul, in Christ’s resurrection we are given the opportunity for a new life. We are invited to eternal life – something that is a lot better, fulfilling, long lasting than one person being raised, until they die again from natural type reasons.
As always, we are left to wonder, why these two boys, why not another man or girl who was dead. Where is God’s MERCY in letting the other people remain dead. Why that son, why not my best friend.
And yet, what if it was my best friend, and not one of these boys, what if it was my relative and not Jesus.
I keep using the example of my best friend because she was the closest example I can think of. When she died I remember thinking the same thing that Elijah and the widow said “why did you take her away from us, after all she did, all we did.” Praying three times didn’t bring her back. But, I know she is alive in the risen Christ.
There is something to be said for instant gratification. We all love it. Its here, its now, it satisfies us. So of course, for what is best, we have to wait. In the chapter from Kings, the village was being punished because they were worshipping false Gods. Those gods were gods who promised more instant things – rain, fertility, etc.
God wants us to wait.
In Christ’s resurrection we are promised a lot. A lot that is to come later.
That we have to wait around for. Some of what we receive later that will be very tangible, but now seems very intangible.
What we have to remember is that Christ’s resurrection, and the effects thereof are just as real and tangible as the raising of those boys or Joe Peddleton, or Westley. As I questioned at the beginning of the sermon, once we are dead, we are not dead. Only, unlike the movie characters, we have the opportunity to live in Christ’s resurrection, though the justice and mercy of the one true and loving God who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Amen.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
3 April 2007
3 April 2007
Evening Prayer
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Wisdom. Wisdom is a goal for which we all strive. To understand. To see things – clearly. Wisdom may be why some of us are here tonight. We hope to gain it … we hope to learn it – or hear it. We want to be all knowing and to understand. To be like, our grandmothers, loved teachers, the omnipotent narrator in stories. To understand ourselves, to understand suffering and love, to understand the world around us.
And yet today’s reading from Corinthians appears to tell us that human wisdom is folly.
“Where is the one who is wise?” We hear from Paul:
“ Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.”
My initial reaction to reading this line was confusion and frustration. Isn’t that why I’m in college – to learn stuff? To become wise? We are taught to shy away from that which is foolish. We watch the Discovery Channel and read the NY Times. We do crossword puzzles and sudoku and play games and make decisions that thrive on logic. As kids we are told to act logically and as we get older, dreams we had – our foolish thoughts-get crushed or morphed into more practical and mundane matters. The logical hold themselves above the foolish and rest tend to agree.
“Has not God made the foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Paul goes on to say that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are…”
As much as I am trying to get away from it, my mind keeps jumping to a line Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella:
“For the world is full of zanies and fools who don’t believe in sensible rules, and won’t believe what sensible people say. Because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes impossible, things are happening everyday.”
Cinderella, a plain country girl, alone and abused believes this woman who appears to her, and she eventually becomes a princess.
While, as Paul points out that we shouldn’t be looking for signs or miracles, there clearly is something to be said to stepping back from the logical – and what’s considered to be the wisdom and logic of the time. There is something to be said for stepping away from logic and believing the improbable.
Paul writers “God has chosen what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are.” He writes “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Maybe it’s the foolish who really know what’s going on.
The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.”
That is really comforting in many ways, but it can also be discouraging. We are raised to want to be smart. To want to get away from foolishness. Children play games to act and dress like adults (and are then told they are being foolish) in hopes of wisdom.
We want to be in control. We want promotions. We want proof. We want to be certain. And here we are being told that we can never be the wisest, we can never be the smartest or be on top, and that quite frankly,
WE SHOULDN’T WANT TO BE!
Add what you want to think
That’s God’s job. God is the wisest, God is the strongest. God is wiser and stronger than anything we can imagine, study, or comprehend.
God is really so much bigger than we are. God is so much wiser and so much stronger and so much our father and mother and grandmother and teachers and storyteller that we can ever imagine.
We can’t control or comprehend or understand or know everything. It is in trying to understand everything that we lose the mystery of the Word Made Flesh – that we lose the comfort God can provide for us – it is in trying to understand everything that we lose understanding.
Cinderella believed the impossible – she believed that a plain yellow pumpkin could be come a golden carriage and that a plain country bumpkin and a prince could join in marriage.
The gospel of Christ crucified – the story that we are walking is very week asks us to believe the foolish. It asks us to believe a 2000 year old story that circumvents many of the rules of medicine and physics. It asks us to put aside what we have studied to consider wisdom and instead believe - and in that believe we have life.
Evening Prayer
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Wisdom. Wisdom is a goal for which we all strive. To understand. To see things – clearly. Wisdom may be why some of us are here tonight. We hope to gain it … we hope to learn it – or hear it. We want to be all knowing and to understand. To be like, our grandmothers, loved teachers, the omnipotent narrator in stories. To understand ourselves, to understand suffering and love, to understand the world around us.
And yet today’s reading from Corinthians appears to tell us that human wisdom is folly.
“Where is the one who is wise?” We hear from Paul:
“ Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.”
My initial reaction to reading this line was confusion and frustration. Isn’t that why I’m in college – to learn stuff? To become wise? We are taught to shy away from that which is foolish. We watch the Discovery Channel and read the NY Times. We do crossword puzzles and sudoku and play games and make decisions that thrive on logic. As kids we are told to act logically and as we get older, dreams we had – our foolish thoughts-get crushed or morphed into more practical and mundane matters. The logical hold themselves above the foolish and rest tend to agree.
“Has not God made the foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Paul goes on to say that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are…”
As much as I am trying to get away from it, my mind keeps jumping to a line Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella:
“For the world is full of zanies and fools who don’t believe in sensible rules, and won’t believe what sensible people say. Because these daft and dewy-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes impossible, things are happening everyday.”
Cinderella, a plain country girl, alone and abused believes this woman who appears to her, and she eventually becomes a princess.
While, as Paul points out that we shouldn’t be looking for signs or miracles, there clearly is something to be said to stepping back from the logical – and what’s considered to be the wisdom and logic of the time. There is something to be said for stepping away from logic and believing the improbable.
Paul writers “God has chosen what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are.” He writes “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
Maybe it’s the foolish who really know what’s going on.
The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.”
That is really comforting in many ways, but it can also be discouraging. We are raised to want to be smart. To want to get away from foolishness. Children play games to act and dress like adults (and are then told they are being foolish) in hopes of wisdom.
We want to be in control. We want promotions. We want proof. We want to be certain. And here we are being told that we can never be the wisest, we can never be the smartest or be on top, and that quite frankly,
WE SHOULDN’T WANT TO BE!
Add what you want to think
That’s God’s job. God is the wisest, God is the strongest. God is wiser and stronger than anything we can imagine, study, or comprehend.
God is really so much bigger than we are. God is so much wiser and so much stronger and so much our father and mother and grandmother and teachers and storyteller that we can ever imagine.
We can’t control or comprehend or understand or know everything. It is in trying to understand everything that we lose the mystery of the Word Made Flesh – that we lose the comfort God can provide for us – it is in trying to understand everything that we lose understanding.
Cinderella believed the impossible – she believed that a plain yellow pumpkin could be come a golden carriage and that a plain country bumpkin and a prince could join in marriage.
The gospel of Christ crucified – the story that we are walking is very week asks us to believe the foolish. It asks us to believe a 2000 year old story that circumvents many of the rules of medicine and physics. It asks us to put aside what we have studied to consider wisdom and instead believe - and in that believe we have life.
20 August 2006
20 August 2006
Proper 15 Year B
Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed. In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit…
Wisdom built a house. It was hewn from seven pillars. Being that a standard house used to have four pillars, Wisdom, a name of God, built a large house. According to our first lesson, she invites the simple to her house to eat her food. This lesson said that Wisdom’s food gives understanding. Jesus draws a parallel. He says that his food gives life. Well, actually, he says that whoever eats the flesh and drinks the blood of he who came down from heaven has eternal life, and that he will raise them up on the last day.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. Strange. We hear this phrase often on Sundays during the preparation of the altar before we receive communion and somehow, it just makes sense. But when thrown back into the gospel, there is so much in these few lines.
Jesus makes it clear that neither the manna God gave during the Exodus nor the food and wine mixed by the Wisdom which gives understanding, none of this is so necessary as eating the flesh and drinking of the blood of Christ. Those who ate the manna died, he says, but those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have eternal life.
Wow. That’s a lot to chew. Eep. But, as we can tell from last week’s lessons, the people who heard Jesus’ words weren’t so thrilled either. What seems interesting though, is that those who heard, those who grew up with him weren’t questioning the body and blood as a means to salvation, but that Jesus came down from heaven.
We all know the Christmas story and are familiar with the doctrine of the Incarnation. It’s a strange thought, but they weren’t. The people who lived near Jesus knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph. Jesus didn’t come from heaven, Jesus came from Mary and Joseph. It must have been quite strange to hear this guy who you grew up with saying that his body and his blood could grant eternal life. That’s like the kind of guy you tell your kids to stay away from.
He’s telling his audience that the hopeful and inspirational story they grew up with – that mortals, stuck in the desert, ate the bread of angels as God gave them manna from heaven - was no longer the – the big wow, that- that he was that wow – that he was the way.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; your forefathers ate manna and died but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Scary words. The promise of eternal life by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of he who was sent by God. .
A son of a carpenter was sent by God for the redemption of the world, and the Father, through body and blood of Jesus grants eternal life. This is a new covenant to supercede prior covenants. A covenant with the promise of eternal life.
There are five great biblical covenants – or agreements with promises on both ends. The first was to Noah: God promised to never destroy the world again by a flood. The second was to Abraham: that his descendants would be blessed and would be God’s special people. Next was Moses: This was a temporary one directed at the people of Israel and giving them the special gift the law. The last of the covenants described in the Old Testament was given to David: this covenant said that David and his descendants were established as the royal heirs to the throne of the nation of Israel.
The scope seems to be getting narrower and narrower. Narrower until it gets to one man. Jesus.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant – that he is that decedent of David. Hence those long genealogies at the beginning of the gospels. But, suddenly the scope widens.
This promise isn’t to the heirs of David, or the people of Israel, or the descendents of Abraham, it is to all of us. Maybe this explains that house hewn from seven pillars. It is there for all of us. This is a large all encompassing covenant. And it isn’t promising (though upholding) not to destroy us by a flood or to make us his special people or even to be royalty over a land, no, we are being promised eternal life. Eternal life. Through the body and blood of Christ we will be raised up and given eternal life with God.
Proper 15 Year B
Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed. In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit…
Wisdom built a house. It was hewn from seven pillars. Being that a standard house used to have four pillars, Wisdom, a name of God, built a large house. According to our first lesson, she invites the simple to her house to eat her food. This lesson said that Wisdom’s food gives understanding. Jesus draws a parallel. He says that his food gives life. Well, actually, he says that whoever eats the flesh and drinks the blood of he who came down from heaven has eternal life, and that he will raise them up on the last day.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him. Strange. We hear this phrase often on Sundays during the preparation of the altar before we receive communion and somehow, it just makes sense. But when thrown back into the gospel, there is so much in these few lines.
Jesus makes it clear that neither the manna God gave during the Exodus nor the food and wine mixed by the Wisdom which gives understanding, none of this is so necessary as eating the flesh and drinking of the blood of Christ. Those who ate the manna died, he says, but those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have eternal life.
Wow. That’s a lot to chew. Eep. But, as we can tell from last week’s lessons, the people who heard Jesus’ words weren’t so thrilled either. What seems interesting though, is that those who heard, those who grew up with him weren’t questioning the body and blood as a means to salvation, but that Jesus came down from heaven.
We all know the Christmas story and are familiar with the doctrine of the Incarnation. It’s a strange thought, but they weren’t. The people who lived near Jesus knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph. Jesus didn’t come from heaven, Jesus came from Mary and Joseph. It must have been quite strange to hear this guy who you grew up with saying that his body and his blood could grant eternal life. That’s like the kind of guy you tell your kids to stay away from.
He’s telling his audience that the hopeful and inspirational story they grew up with – that mortals, stuck in the desert, ate the bread of angels as God gave them manna from heaven - was no longer the – the big wow, that- that he was that wow – that he was the way.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; your forefathers ate manna and died but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Scary words. The promise of eternal life by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of he who was sent by God. .
A son of a carpenter was sent by God for the redemption of the world, and the Father, through body and blood of Jesus grants eternal life. This is a new covenant to supercede prior covenants. A covenant with the promise of eternal life.
There are five great biblical covenants – or agreements with promises on both ends. The first was to Noah: God promised to never destroy the world again by a flood. The second was to Abraham: that his descendants would be blessed and would be God’s special people. Next was Moses: This was a temporary one directed at the people of Israel and giving them the special gift the law. The last of the covenants described in the Old Testament was given to David: this covenant said that David and his descendants were established as the royal heirs to the throne of the nation of Israel.
The scope seems to be getting narrower and narrower. Narrower until it gets to one man. Jesus.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant – that he is that decedent of David. Hence those long genealogies at the beginning of the gospels. But, suddenly the scope widens.
This promise isn’t to the heirs of David, or the people of Israel, or the descendents of Abraham, it is to all of us. Maybe this explains that house hewn from seven pillars. It is there for all of us. This is a large all encompassing covenant. And it isn’t promising (though upholding) not to destroy us by a flood or to make us his special people or even to be royalty over a land, no, we are being promised eternal life. Eternal life. Through the body and blood of Christ we will be raised up and given eternal life with God.
28 May 2006
28 May 2006
Gospel Reading: John 17:6-19
Please be seated.
Jesus prayed – That is how this week’s gospel begins – with these two words. Earlier this week, as I was reading these lessons, I found myself stopping there. Each time I tried to read on I kept going back to these words: Jesus prayed. I was astonished. I was surprised. I was – awed.
He prayed. Prayer. Prayer implies asking and thanking, and hope. I find one of the better ways to describe it is with the somewhat archaic verb “beseeching,” which means asking with humility.
In an earlier part of John’s gospel he makes it clear to us that Jesus is God incarnate – God in flesh. So- in this week’s lesson God in the world is –praying- to God outside the world. Jesus actually makes this clear in today’s gospel. He refers not only to being sent by the heavenly Father, but also, among other things, he prays for his desire for the Christian community to be one, using his and the Father’s oneness as the example.
Mhm.
Prayer. We have spent the morning praying. We will soon continue to do so. Every night before I go to sleep I pray, usually asking God to help sick or troubled friends, ask that my boss stop being psychotic (or that she at least aim at someone else), pray for sustainable and just peace in the world, and thank God for “everything.” I try to remember or find time to say morning devotions out of the Prayer Book, it occasionally happens, and I pray with friends when they ask. Usually, however, I end up feeling like an idiot when at people’s homes who say grace after I’ve started eating. So I guess I have a pretty laid back but I’d say typical prayer life. The Gospels of Matthew and ??? give us the Lord’s prayer. A basic outline of how to pray. Some of us sing, some meditate, some dance, some run, regardless of whether a prayer of petition, thanksgiving, desire, meditation, whatever, its all prayer. We pray.
Jesus prayed, Jesus’ prayer is interesting. It’s very different from his familiar Lord’s prayer. The focus of this prayer appears to be on his Christian community – most prominently his hope that they are protected – and that they can remain safely in this world while remaining not of the world. He asks for their protection from the evil one, who lives distinctly in our solid material world.
As I mentioned earlier, Jesus also prays for the Christian community to experience the same oneness that Jesus and the Father feel. In the gospel Jesus referred to one glorifying the other – God the Father glorifying God the Son. In this way the church glorifying the church
Jesus’ next request is an interesting one – that by hearing his teaching his joy may be made complete in the Christian community. Living in a world that did not approve or believe in the early Christians’ words, teachings or lifestyle – though today we believe them as the truth – must have been painful. As Christians – as a resurrection people we know God’s joy is imperative to the “Christian message.” The realization of the importance of Jesus’ joy as well as its necessity for a long-term Christian experience is remarkable.
Jesus’ final plea is that the church be sanctified. He states that – those in the church belong no more to this world than he does – and asks that the church be made holy, that the holy presence will protect and spread throughout the Christian community.
This is what Jesus prayed.
I think back to my prayers – that friends be made well, here, for peace, here, and thank God for things, here. Jesus’ prayer asks instead that WE be protected, that WE remain joyful, that WE remain in this world and yet not of this world. That we focus not on here, but on there – on God.
By the time Jesus prayed this, he knew his time in this world was drawing to a close. In today’s gospel he again makes that clear, stating that his time here is short and that he did what was expected of him. And yet he prays. While my prayers did at first seem rather trite and superficial next to his, the more I thought about it, I wasn’t so sure. Both prayed for the wellbeing of those we care about as well as for some version of peace. But more than that, we were both praying.
All of us are taking part in an action that was done by God incarnate. Yes, when we participate in the Eucharist we are enacting the events of the last supper, remembering them and thanking God for his sacrifice.
But through prayer we are doing an action, the action that Jesus did.
We have the opportunity to take part in an activity that we can do just as fully as Jesus did it. Jesus is God incarnate – he didn’t need to talk to God the father this way. But he did. Jesus was fully God and fully human – he embraced his humanity and he prayed. Jesus prayed. Allie prayed. Albert prayed. Edie prayed. We pray. Jesus prayed. How amazing is that. We have the opportunity to take connect to God in the way Jesus did. John didn’t write “Jesus talked” or “Jesus asked.” No, John said Jesus prayed – Jesus prayed, we can pray, so let’s go do it.
Gospel Reading: John 17:6-19
Please be seated.
Jesus prayed – That is how this week’s gospel begins – with these two words. Earlier this week, as I was reading these lessons, I found myself stopping there. Each time I tried to read on I kept going back to these words: Jesus prayed. I was astonished. I was surprised. I was – awed.
He prayed. Prayer. Prayer implies asking and thanking, and hope. I find one of the better ways to describe it is with the somewhat archaic verb “beseeching,” which means asking with humility.
In an earlier part of John’s gospel he makes it clear to us that Jesus is God incarnate – God in flesh. So- in this week’s lesson God in the world is –praying- to God outside the world. Jesus actually makes this clear in today’s gospel. He refers not only to being sent by the heavenly Father, but also, among other things, he prays for his desire for the Christian community to be one, using his and the Father’s oneness as the example.
Mhm.
Prayer. We have spent the morning praying. We will soon continue to do so. Every night before I go to sleep I pray, usually asking God to help sick or troubled friends, ask that my boss stop being psychotic (or that she at least aim at someone else), pray for sustainable and just peace in the world, and thank God for “everything.” I try to remember or find time to say morning devotions out of the Prayer Book, it occasionally happens, and I pray with friends when they ask. Usually, however, I end up feeling like an idiot when at people’s homes who say grace after I’ve started eating. So I guess I have a pretty laid back but I’d say typical prayer life. The Gospels of Matthew and ??? give us the Lord’s prayer. A basic outline of how to pray. Some of us sing, some meditate, some dance, some run, regardless of whether a prayer of petition, thanksgiving, desire, meditation, whatever, its all prayer. We pray.
Jesus prayed, Jesus’ prayer is interesting. It’s very different from his familiar Lord’s prayer. The focus of this prayer appears to be on his Christian community – most prominently his hope that they are protected – and that they can remain safely in this world while remaining not of the world. He asks for their protection from the evil one, who lives distinctly in our solid material world.
As I mentioned earlier, Jesus also prays for the Christian community to experience the same oneness that Jesus and the Father feel. In the gospel Jesus referred to one glorifying the other – God the Father glorifying God the Son. In this way the church glorifying the church
Jesus’ next request is an interesting one – that by hearing his teaching his joy may be made complete in the Christian community. Living in a world that did not approve or believe in the early Christians’ words, teachings or lifestyle – though today we believe them as the truth – must have been painful. As Christians – as a resurrection people we know God’s joy is imperative to the “Christian message.” The realization of the importance of Jesus’ joy as well as its necessity for a long-term Christian experience is remarkable.
Jesus’ final plea is that the church be sanctified. He states that – those in the church belong no more to this world than he does – and asks that the church be made holy, that the holy presence will protect and spread throughout the Christian community.
This is what Jesus prayed.
I think back to my prayers – that friends be made well, here, for peace, here, and thank God for things, here. Jesus’ prayer asks instead that WE be protected, that WE remain joyful, that WE remain in this world and yet not of this world. That we focus not on here, but on there – on God.
By the time Jesus prayed this, he knew his time in this world was drawing to a close. In today’s gospel he again makes that clear, stating that his time here is short and that he did what was expected of him. And yet he prays. While my prayers did at first seem rather trite and superficial next to his, the more I thought about it, I wasn’t so sure. Both prayed for the wellbeing of those we care about as well as for some version of peace. But more than that, we were both praying.
All of us are taking part in an action that was done by God incarnate. Yes, when we participate in the Eucharist we are enacting the events of the last supper, remembering them and thanking God for his sacrifice.
But through prayer we are doing an action, the action that Jesus did.
We have the opportunity to take part in an activity that we can do just as fully as Jesus did it. Jesus is God incarnate – he didn’t need to talk to God the father this way. But he did. Jesus was fully God and fully human – he embraced his humanity and he prayed. Jesus prayed. Allie prayed. Albert prayed. Edie prayed. We pray. Jesus prayed. How amazing is that. We have the opportunity to take connect to God in the way Jesus did. John didn’t write “Jesus talked” or “Jesus asked.” No, John said Jesus prayed – Jesus prayed, we can pray, so let’s go do it.
8 January 2006
8 January 2006
Epiphany Sunday
Well, today we celebrate Epiphany, the feast day which recognizes the visit of the wise men to young Jesus. Epiphany is surrounded by far away majesty, mystery, and myth. Indeed, a crèche of poor shepherds and animals are joined today by colorful men in rich robes.
What we read in today’s gospel is almost all that is biblically said about these wise men. So clearly, much of what we “know” and “love” about Epiphany indeed has no biblical reference.
Superficially, I question the term “wise men.” The gospel mentions that these men went to King Herod to ask for direction. What, were they nuts? I’ve yet to meet a man who will ask for directions.
That aside, they asked a power hungry king where they could find a new born king of the Jews. Is there any way that could have been a good idea? As many of you know, a few days after Christmas we observe a feast day called “Holy Innocents.” This day recognizes the babies who were killed by Herod after these so called wise men mentioned Jesus’ birth.
There are still many other aspects of Epiphany which we are ‘sure of’ which do not hold biblical reference. Let me start with the hymn “We three kings.” In all honesty, I’m not really a fan of this hymn. Though the dirge-like tune does have a bit to do with my dislike, I tend to be even more perturbed at the phrases in this hymn which have become common beliefs about this day. Now mind you, this hymn did not begin any of these myths, however it has served to perpetuate them.
From the beginning, this hymn begins “We three kings of Orient -are.” Three… kings. The gospel says nothing about three nor about kings. Three. In the gospel these men knelt down and paid Jesus homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Three gifts. Three gifts, then three kings.
Maybe.
But - my godmother gave me a pair of black socks, a pair of maroon socks, and a gift card for Christmas. Three gifts, one person. Likewise, from a family of three, I received a nice perfume scent. Three people, one gift.
In all reality, these gifts could have been from any number of people. The Venerable Bede (the historical person, not the vicar’s cat) is the first finding of the use of the names Balthazar, Casper, and Melchior, that I could find though I couldn’t exactly where he pulled them from. According to the song, these men were from the Orient. Why? Because the Orient is to the East. And the gospel says they were men from the east. Now as we all know, there is other stuff to the east of Bethlehem. Russia, India, Persia, and other parts of the Middle East. No, they didn’t have those names then, but they still were not called Orient.
Next, kings. Yeah, that’s just weird. Three wise men, who spent their time staring at stars wandered west to Bethlehem. That’s a long walk – ride, whatever. Traveling from the east to the west takes a while. Historically, this isn’t the sort of trip kings made – visiting poor children born in a manger. If they would even respond to such a rumor as the birth of the new king of the Jews, they would have most likely sent lackies.
Similarly, the bible tends to be really good at mentioning kings. Today’s gospel clearly refers to Herod as a King and the gift-bearers as men. Yeah, no title here. These men are actually believed to be astrologers – as they were reading the stars – they “observed Jesus’ star rising”.
If these kings, nay, wise men, nay astrologers were sent to find the one born king of the Jews, and were later saved Herod’s wrath by a warning in the form of a dream, then the celebration of the Epiphany is no longer a sign of glamorous adoration by wealthy kings, but a sign of mercy and promise to sinners.
Through looking for meaning in the stars these astrologers, these heretics, were led to the young Son of God. Now, when we think of astrologers we think of those people who write for the local newspapers or people like Miss Cleo with strange infomercials. It wasn’t much different then. The Magi were quite possibly Zoroastrian astrologers. If you don’t know, Zoroastrianism was an early semi-monotheistic tradition.
Even at Jesus’s time Jews were warned not to consult astrologers. Jewish leaders said that they were idolatrous and deceiving, much as we as Christians are told today.
Yet somehow, these idolatrous deceivers, these quacks and whack jobs were certain enough of what they saw to follow the stars, and were led to the young son of God. God led these astrologers – these men who were blatantly working in direct contrast to God’s will – to Jesus. This really is rather odd.
God welcomed, indeed God brought these men to stand beside the Messiah. These men, along with the shepherds. Not Sadducees or Pharisees, though clearly as a Jew, eight days after Jesus was born he was in the presence of Jewish religious leaders. Not kings. But regular people who just happened to bring clearly odd though awesome gifts.
So where does this leave us? Does the deconstruction of much of the myth and mystery surrounding Epiphany leave it meaningless? Or do we become sad because it’s another beautiful faerie tale gone. Or does the humanization of these so called wise men leave us, relieved?
God chose foreign sinful men to be with Jesus during this holy time. Not the rich or high in statue or moral value, but those who needed it most. Indeed, this trend continues through out the gospels in such cases as Jesus eating with tax collectors and cripples, yet seems to have been most forgotten in the form of a few men who traveled a long distance to find this new born king of the Jews.
PAUSE
We all know on some level – whomever or wherever we are, that God calls to us and that God wants us to follow him and be his. Sometimes, however, this is hard to remember. It is hard to remember that even when we do something that appears to be in contrast to what it seems God would want, he still calls to us. God wants us. We can repent and we can go to the Lord. When ever we fall short, we have to remember God wants us and loves us,
And like the wise men, still desires us to adore and be close to Jesus.
Epiphany Sunday
Well, today we celebrate Epiphany, the feast day which recognizes the visit of the wise men to young Jesus. Epiphany is surrounded by far away majesty, mystery, and myth. Indeed, a crèche of poor shepherds and animals are joined today by colorful men in rich robes.
What we read in today’s gospel is almost all that is biblically said about these wise men. So clearly, much of what we “know” and “love” about Epiphany indeed has no biblical reference.
Superficially, I question the term “wise men.” The gospel mentions that these men went to King Herod to ask for direction. What, were they nuts? I’ve yet to meet a man who will ask for directions.
That aside, they asked a power hungry king where they could find a new born king of the Jews. Is there any way that could have been a good idea? As many of you know, a few days after Christmas we observe a feast day called “Holy Innocents.” This day recognizes the babies who were killed by Herod after these so called wise men mentioned Jesus’ birth.
There are still many other aspects of Epiphany which we are ‘sure of’ which do not hold biblical reference. Let me start with the hymn “We three kings.” In all honesty, I’m not really a fan of this hymn. Though the dirge-like tune does have a bit to do with my dislike, I tend to be even more perturbed at the phrases in this hymn which have become common beliefs about this day. Now mind you, this hymn did not begin any of these myths, however it has served to perpetuate them.
From the beginning, this hymn begins “We three kings of Orient -are.” Three… kings. The gospel says nothing about three nor about kings. Three. In the gospel these men knelt down and paid Jesus homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Three gifts. Three gifts, then three kings.
Maybe.
But - my godmother gave me a pair of black socks, a pair of maroon socks, and a gift card for Christmas. Three gifts, one person. Likewise, from a family of three, I received a nice perfume scent. Three people, one gift.
In all reality, these gifts could have been from any number of people. The Venerable Bede (the historical person, not the vicar’s cat) is the first finding of the use of the names Balthazar, Casper, and Melchior, that I could find though I couldn’t exactly where he pulled them from. According to the song, these men were from the Orient. Why? Because the Orient is to the East. And the gospel says they were men from the east. Now as we all know, there is other stuff to the east of Bethlehem. Russia, India, Persia, and other parts of the Middle East. No, they didn’t have those names then, but they still were not called Orient.
Next, kings. Yeah, that’s just weird. Three wise men, who spent their time staring at stars wandered west to Bethlehem. That’s a long walk – ride, whatever. Traveling from the east to the west takes a while. Historically, this isn’t the sort of trip kings made – visiting poor children born in a manger. If they would even respond to such a rumor as the birth of the new king of the Jews, they would have most likely sent lackies.
Similarly, the bible tends to be really good at mentioning kings. Today’s gospel clearly refers to Herod as a King and the gift-bearers as men. Yeah, no title here. These men are actually believed to be astrologers – as they were reading the stars – they “observed Jesus’ star rising”.
If these kings, nay, wise men, nay astrologers were sent to find the one born king of the Jews, and were later saved Herod’s wrath by a warning in the form of a dream, then the celebration of the Epiphany is no longer a sign of glamorous adoration by wealthy kings, but a sign of mercy and promise to sinners.
Through looking for meaning in the stars these astrologers, these heretics, were led to the young Son of God. Now, when we think of astrologers we think of those people who write for the local newspapers or people like Miss Cleo with strange infomercials. It wasn’t much different then. The Magi were quite possibly Zoroastrian astrologers. If you don’t know, Zoroastrianism was an early semi-monotheistic tradition.
Even at Jesus’s time Jews were warned not to consult astrologers. Jewish leaders said that they were idolatrous and deceiving, much as we as Christians are told today.
Yet somehow, these idolatrous deceivers, these quacks and whack jobs were certain enough of what they saw to follow the stars, and were led to the young son of God. God led these astrologers – these men who were blatantly working in direct contrast to God’s will – to Jesus. This really is rather odd.
God welcomed, indeed God brought these men to stand beside the Messiah. These men, along with the shepherds. Not Sadducees or Pharisees, though clearly as a Jew, eight days after Jesus was born he was in the presence of Jewish religious leaders. Not kings. But regular people who just happened to bring clearly odd though awesome gifts.
So where does this leave us? Does the deconstruction of much of the myth and mystery surrounding Epiphany leave it meaningless? Or do we become sad because it’s another beautiful faerie tale gone. Or does the humanization of these so called wise men leave us, relieved?
God chose foreign sinful men to be with Jesus during this holy time. Not the rich or high in statue or moral value, but those who needed it most. Indeed, this trend continues through out the gospels in such cases as Jesus eating with tax collectors and cripples, yet seems to have been most forgotten in the form of a few men who traveled a long distance to find this new born king of the Jews.
PAUSE
We all know on some level – whomever or wherever we are, that God calls to us and that God wants us to follow him and be his. Sometimes, however, this is hard to remember. It is hard to remember that even when we do something that appears to be in contrast to what it seems God would want, he still calls to us. God wants us. We can repent and we can go to the Lord. When ever we fall short, we have to remember God wants us and loves us,
And like the wise men, still desires us to adore and be close to Jesus.
July 10, 2005
July 10, 2005
Romans 8: 9-17 (NRSV)
In nomine…
There are many misconception people have about various words in the bible. Some of these misconceptions stem from bad translations, some from church legend, and others simply lose part of their meaning as the culture of the word fades away. Somewhere in the middle today’s reading from Paul, Paul speaks of us crying “Abba! Father!” to God. To most of us this may be dismissed as normal, typical, church speak, however, it’s not quite that simple. First, by Paul, who was writing in Greek, specifically using the term Abba followed by the term Father he was making a definite statement. In using these two terms he was using two languages, Abba-Father, was Hebrew followed by Greek. In doing this Paul is making it clear that all people are capable of being heirs to God- not just Jews as many people of his time assumed.
Also, however, the use of the term selected is interesting and important. Abba, is NOT as many people seem to think, exactly the Hebrew word for Father. Its connotation is not FATHER, but is more of, DADDY!! Abba is the word Jewish and Israeli children scream when they want their dad and is who they say goodnight to. Likewise, while many of the words we use for God – like Lord, and master, often referred to as Dominus in Latin, were the same words slaves used to address their masters, the word Abba was forbidden to be used by slaves in this way.
So according to this reading, when we are crying out to Abba, we are crying out to our dad… we are not, in this case, slaves to God, but we are truly God’s children. What it means to be God’s child however, can mean many things. This section of Paul’s letter emphasizes our position as joint heirs in God’s kingdom. This is an interesting idea… I mean, as a child of my parents I’m their heir, well, if we are God’s children – children of God in such a position that we find ourselves being told to refer to God as Daddy, then this heir thing becomes interesting… So, what do we inherit… I mean, what exactly does a child of God, inherit from a Father who is the creator and sanctifier –who is Lord of all?
If, Paul says, we share in Christ’s suffering, then we have the opportunity to, as joint heirs with Christ, be glorified with God. How vague. “We can be joint heirs with him if we suffer that we might be glorified with him? What does that even mean? What was Paul thinking? It sounds good – well, not the suffering part, but the being glorified with God part – I mean, usually its just God who is glorified… this seems kinda cool.
The dictionary defines being glorified as honor, praise or admiration being bestowed, or to elevate to a celestial placement. Hmm, this could sound good –being glorified – but, the passage also says that we have to suffer with Christ. Suffering with Christ doesn’t sound very inviting, but we all know its necessary… in so many places in the bible we are told we have to pick up our cross and follow, that we must turn the other cheek and do all sorts of things which we do not want to do. However, as Paul points out, we have to suffer to be with our Father – to be with Daddy.
God, often seems very far away – being told that we have to suffer to be glorified with him almost seems like it’s not worth it sometimes. But then I have to stop, and think. When I was younger I would do anything for my Daddy. I thought Dad was the coolest and best person in the world – actually, I still do, but that’s beside the point. I would try my hardest to please him and really liked to spend time with him. Sometimes spending time with him would require me to do things that weren’t my favorite – like sitting still in the car- and visiting my mentally ill grandmother, but I didn’t care.
Well, here our other dad- the father who created our fathers – apparently has this opportunity. We can be glorified with him. Cool, I mean, I thought my dad was awesome, but this dad, our dad can create things out of nothing, can cause massive floods, can raise people from the dead - can grant everlasting life and loves us mercifully and eternally. Wow… sounds good to me –and we can be glorified with That.
In an odd sort of way though, thinking of God as Dad seems kinda wrong. It seems almost disrespectful. We use all this flowery language in our prayers and in our thoughts about God, and now, all of the sudden, we are hit with this reality that God is Dad. God really is the grownup to all of us children. The ever watchful parent, rolling their eyes at the children’s misadventures- God is the creator, raising us as his children. Caring about us, wanting us to grow, learn, and love. Like a parent he must watch his children, as we learn to trust and love through receiving love and as we learn strength, perseverance and value through both love and through suffering. Then, it requires our suffering, our learning to live and continue and to not waver in our faith to achieve this – glorification that Paul speaks of.
Abba wants us to cry to him and rejoice in him. To praise him and turn to him – and if it takes us doing some things that aren’t exactly inviting to achieve this, then, well, so be it. If the great feeling I got from spending time with my dad when I was younger is any indication, then this is so worth it. In nomine…
Romans 8: 9-17 (NRSV)
In nomine…
There are many misconception people have about various words in the bible. Some of these misconceptions stem from bad translations, some from church legend, and others simply lose part of their meaning as the culture of the word fades away. Somewhere in the middle today’s reading from Paul, Paul speaks of us crying “Abba! Father!” to God. To most of us this may be dismissed as normal, typical, church speak, however, it’s not quite that simple. First, by Paul, who was writing in Greek, specifically using the term Abba followed by the term Father he was making a definite statement. In using these two terms he was using two languages, Abba-Father, was Hebrew followed by Greek. In doing this Paul is making it clear that all people are capable of being heirs to God- not just Jews as many people of his time assumed.
Also, however, the use of the term selected is interesting and important. Abba, is NOT as many people seem to think, exactly the Hebrew word for Father. Its connotation is not FATHER, but is more of, DADDY!! Abba is the word Jewish and Israeli children scream when they want their dad and is who they say goodnight to. Likewise, while many of the words we use for God – like Lord, and master, often referred to as Dominus in Latin, were the same words slaves used to address their masters, the word Abba was forbidden to be used by slaves in this way.
So according to this reading, when we are crying out to Abba, we are crying out to our dad… we are not, in this case, slaves to God, but we are truly God’s children. What it means to be God’s child however, can mean many things. This section of Paul’s letter emphasizes our position as joint heirs in God’s kingdom. This is an interesting idea… I mean, as a child of my parents I’m their heir, well, if we are God’s children – children of God in such a position that we find ourselves being told to refer to God as Daddy, then this heir thing becomes interesting… So, what do we inherit… I mean, what exactly does a child of God, inherit from a Father who is the creator and sanctifier –who is Lord of all?
If, Paul says, we share in Christ’s suffering, then we have the opportunity to, as joint heirs with Christ, be glorified with God. How vague. “We can be joint heirs with him if we suffer that we might be glorified with him? What does that even mean? What was Paul thinking? It sounds good – well, not the suffering part, but the being glorified with God part – I mean, usually its just God who is glorified… this seems kinda cool.
The dictionary defines being glorified as honor, praise or admiration being bestowed, or to elevate to a celestial placement. Hmm, this could sound good –being glorified – but, the passage also says that we have to suffer with Christ. Suffering with Christ doesn’t sound very inviting, but we all know its necessary… in so many places in the bible we are told we have to pick up our cross and follow, that we must turn the other cheek and do all sorts of things which we do not want to do. However, as Paul points out, we have to suffer to be with our Father – to be with Daddy.
God, often seems very far away – being told that we have to suffer to be glorified with him almost seems like it’s not worth it sometimes. But then I have to stop, and think. When I was younger I would do anything for my Daddy. I thought Dad was the coolest and best person in the world – actually, I still do, but that’s beside the point. I would try my hardest to please him and really liked to spend time with him. Sometimes spending time with him would require me to do things that weren’t my favorite – like sitting still in the car- and visiting my mentally ill grandmother, but I didn’t care.
Well, here our other dad- the father who created our fathers – apparently has this opportunity. We can be glorified with him. Cool, I mean, I thought my dad was awesome, but this dad, our dad can create things out of nothing, can cause massive floods, can raise people from the dead - can grant everlasting life and loves us mercifully and eternally. Wow… sounds good to me –and we can be glorified with That.
In an odd sort of way though, thinking of God as Dad seems kinda wrong. It seems almost disrespectful. We use all this flowery language in our prayers and in our thoughts about God, and now, all of the sudden, we are hit with this reality that God is Dad. God really is the grownup to all of us children. The ever watchful parent, rolling their eyes at the children’s misadventures- God is the creator, raising us as his children. Caring about us, wanting us to grow, learn, and love. Like a parent he must watch his children, as we learn to trust and love through receiving love and as we learn strength, perseverance and value through both love and through suffering. Then, it requires our suffering, our learning to live and continue and to not waver in our faith to achieve this – glorification that Paul speaks of.
Abba wants us to cry to him and rejoice in him. To praise him and turn to him – and if it takes us doing some things that aren’t exactly inviting to achieve this, then, well, so be it. If the great feeling I got from spending time with my dad when I was younger is any indication, then this is so worth it. In nomine…
June 26, 2005
June 26, 2005
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 10:34-42
In nomine…
Today’s gospel seems to have some really strong language – “I have come not to bring peace but a sword.” I mean, this isn’t exactly what we are used to hearing from Jesus. “I’ve come to set son against father, daughter against her mother, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (like we needed Jesus for that last one). Anyhow, normally, we think bible, parents, honor thy father and mother – but this reading seems to be changing that – now don’t get excited - its still honor thy father and mother, but only this now seems to be saying only honor thy father and mother insofar as doing so doesn’t get in the way of honoring God – and Jesus -- God, is asking a lot. God demands that the love we feel, hold for him - God, must be stronger than the love we have for our family. This reading says that if we love our family – our children or our parents more than God, then we are not worthy of God. Indeed, it goes on to say that if we do not take up our cross and follow we are not worthy. Those are some lofty and seemingly controversial things.
Yet looking at today’s second reading from Romans, the theme is rather similar. Those who believe in what God has done through Christ, those who obey, will die and be resurrected with Christ and be freed from death. Obedience then, like love, must be first and foremost to God, and then to everything - everyone else.
As I continued reading the second lesson for today, I started to realize just how it easily it all came together with the gospel, and how well both the reading and gospel pieced together.
The lesson from Romans first starts with the words “do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death,” and later talks about the necessity of being buried in baptism with Christ to rise with Christ. As most of us have experienced, baptism is an important step in the journey of an Episcopalian. It is something in which ones family is usually involved. The Baptismal Covenant which is on page 304 of the Prayer Book, as I’m sure most of you are familiar, poses questions which are asked of the candidate, of the candidate’s family and friends, as well as of the congregation. These questions ask such things of the congregation as resistance from evil, the proclamation of the gospel, and serving Christ in all persons.
As I started to look over these questions, I realized that these questions are really telling us of ways to love God and of ways to take up our cross. Indeed, if we are not loving God more than anything else, more than our family, more than our desires other than God, then we cannot strive fully to resist evil, we cannot truly proclaim the gospel, we cannot fully serve Christ in others, indeed, without God at the top of our list not only do we not have the strength to fulfill the Baptismal Covenant, but we are unable to love our parents, our siblings, our children in the way that we really want to. Indeed, unless we love God first, and in loving God do all those thing which are asked of us in the Baptismal Covenant only then are we able to love our families as fully and truthfully as we so desire.
But how? I mean, there are just so many ways to make this idea not work. I mean, for starters, our families are right here. That makes it easy to love them, well, for the most part. Our parents, children, siblings are close y making demands that upon us, making tangible requests of our love and tangibly reciprocating. God, however, to many of us, is far away and intangible. God’s love for us and God’s demand of our love is less sure. Yes we know God loves us… like in that horrid children’s song “Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so.” But, sometimes, that seems like the only reason we know God loves us if even that. We love God, but sometimes that love is in the back of our minds.
Our families being visibly present is also another key base for Christ “bringing not peace but a sword.” Our families tend to influence our religious belief system and background. I’m sure many of you are “cradle Episcopalians” and that your families have been Anglican for generations. One of my good friends, for example is from an Orthodox Jewish household. His family has always been Jewish, and I mean JEWISH. My friend’s older brother never goes out without a keepah, he wears long pants and shirts made of only one material, sports a full beard and even wears the traditional four corners of fringe. At twenty-two he and his not girl-friend because they don’t date except they are also always wears long skirts and the two go to great lengths to ensure they don’t touch each other as these laws that God gave the Jews, also forbids them to touch members of the opposite sex outside their household. These laws have existed for thousands of years. Not only does the Jewish law influence the way they dress but also what they eat, how they spend their money, and even when they can drive their cars. My friend’s brother and the rest of his family are very sincere in their following of God’s law to the Jews. My friend however, doesn’t particularly buy it all the way. He tends to keep a keepah in his pocket for when his mother is around, but in all honestly, he just doesn’t find that this will lead him to spiritual fulfillment.
When I first read today’s gospel, he was one of the first things that I thought of. My friend is clearly moving away from a religion that just isn’t doing it for him, and it is in this case that I believe we can most clearly see Jesus handing someone the sword. My friend clearly wants to take part in religious exploration, but he feels that he can’t. He would go against his family and his culture and he isn’t willing to do that, but according to the gospel, that means that he isn’t worthy of God. He has a choice between hurting his parents or possibly finding Christ, or spiritual fulfillment, he’s making his now. If my friend, or anyone, is stagnating in their spiritual fulfillment, in their faith, in our love of God, then how they grow internally. And if we don’t grow spiritually, if we don’t love God, if we don’t love Love in the forefront with all our hearts, minds, and souls, how can we expect ourselves to be able to love our family with the truth and blatantness and fullness that they deserve.
So by Christ bringing a sword, he seems to really be bringing the opportunity for peace – the opportunity for love, so only by love God more and first can we love our families in a manner that is stronger, more present, more full and tru
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 10:34-42
In nomine…
Today’s gospel seems to have some really strong language – “I have come not to bring peace but a sword.” I mean, this isn’t exactly what we are used to hearing from Jesus. “I’ve come to set son against father, daughter against her mother, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (like we needed Jesus for that last one). Anyhow, normally, we think bible, parents, honor thy father and mother – but this reading seems to be changing that – now don’t get excited - its still honor thy father and mother, but only this now seems to be saying only honor thy father and mother insofar as doing so doesn’t get in the way of honoring God – and Jesus -- God, is asking a lot. God demands that the love we feel, hold for him - God, must be stronger than the love we have for our family. This reading says that if we love our family – our children or our parents more than God, then we are not worthy of God. Indeed, it goes on to say that if we do not take up our cross and follow we are not worthy. Those are some lofty and seemingly controversial things.
Yet looking at today’s second reading from Romans, the theme is rather similar. Those who believe in what God has done through Christ, those who obey, will die and be resurrected with Christ and be freed from death. Obedience then, like love, must be first and foremost to God, and then to everything - everyone else.
As I continued reading the second lesson for today, I started to realize just how it easily it all came together with the gospel, and how well both the reading and gospel pieced together.
The lesson from Romans first starts with the words “do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death,” and later talks about the necessity of being buried in baptism with Christ to rise with Christ. As most of us have experienced, baptism is an important step in the journey of an Episcopalian. It is something in which ones family is usually involved. The Baptismal Covenant which is on page 304 of the Prayer Book, as I’m sure most of you are familiar, poses questions which are asked of the candidate, of the candidate’s family and friends, as well as of the congregation. These questions ask such things of the congregation as resistance from evil, the proclamation of the gospel, and serving Christ in all persons.
As I started to look over these questions, I realized that these questions are really telling us of ways to love God and of ways to take up our cross. Indeed, if we are not loving God more than anything else, more than our family, more than our desires other than God, then we cannot strive fully to resist evil, we cannot truly proclaim the gospel, we cannot fully serve Christ in others, indeed, without God at the top of our list not only do we not have the strength to fulfill the Baptismal Covenant, but we are unable to love our parents, our siblings, our children in the way that we really want to. Indeed, unless we love God first, and in loving God do all those thing which are asked of us in the Baptismal Covenant only then are we able to love our families as fully and truthfully as we so desire.
But how? I mean, there are just so many ways to make this idea not work. I mean, for starters, our families are right here. That makes it easy to love them, well, for the most part. Our parents, children, siblings are close y making demands that upon us, making tangible requests of our love and tangibly reciprocating. God, however, to many of us, is far away and intangible. God’s love for us and God’s demand of our love is less sure. Yes we know God loves us… like in that horrid children’s song “Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so.” But, sometimes, that seems like the only reason we know God loves us if even that. We love God, but sometimes that love is in the back of our minds.
Our families being visibly present is also another key base for Christ “bringing not peace but a sword.” Our families tend to influence our religious belief system and background. I’m sure many of you are “cradle Episcopalians” and that your families have been Anglican for generations. One of my good friends, for example is from an Orthodox Jewish household. His family has always been Jewish, and I mean JEWISH. My friend’s older brother never goes out without a keepah, he wears long pants and shirts made of only one material, sports a full beard and even wears the traditional four corners of fringe. At twenty-two he and his not girl-friend because they don’t date except they are also always wears long skirts and the two go to great lengths to ensure they don’t touch each other as these laws that God gave the Jews, also forbids them to touch members of the opposite sex outside their household. These laws have existed for thousands of years. Not only does the Jewish law influence the way they dress but also what they eat, how they spend their money, and even when they can drive their cars. My friend’s brother and the rest of his family are very sincere in their following of God’s law to the Jews. My friend however, doesn’t particularly buy it all the way. He tends to keep a keepah in his pocket for when his mother is around, but in all honestly, he just doesn’t find that this will lead him to spiritual fulfillment.
When I first read today’s gospel, he was one of the first things that I thought of. My friend is clearly moving away from a religion that just isn’t doing it for him, and it is in this case that I believe we can most clearly see Jesus handing someone the sword. My friend clearly wants to take part in religious exploration, but he feels that he can’t. He would go against his family and his culture and he isn’t willing to do that, but according to the gospel, that means that he isn’t worthy of God. He has a choice between hurting his parents or possibly finding Christ, or spiritual fulfillment, he’s making his now. If my friend, or anyone, is stagnating in their spiritual fulfillment, in their faith, in our love of God, then how they grow internally. And if we don’t grow spiritually, if we don’t love God, if we don’t love Love in the forefront with all our hearts, minds, and souls, how can we expect ourselves to be able to love our family with the truth and blatantness and fullness that they deserve.
So by Christ bringing a sword, he seems to really be bringing the opportunity for peace – the opportunity for love, so only by love God more and first can we love our families in a manner that is stronger, more present, more full and tru
29 May 2005
29 May 2005
Proper 4
Based on Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28
Matthew 7:21-29
When we were (are) children, we always had our parents telling us what to do – and when it wasn’t our parents, then it was our teachers – and with our teachers, not only did we have to do what the teacher told us to do, but we had to do it her way. Whether it was forming our alphabet letters properly or solving a math problem, it didn’t matter if we thought we understood it, or we thought we had the correct answer, if we didn’t do it Mrs. Whoever’s way, it was still wrong.
Based on today’s second lesson and gospel, God, likewise has given us specific instructions. Today’s gospel comes at the tail end of the well-known Sermon on the Mount. As a quick refresher, the Sermon on the Mount starts in Matthew chapter 5 with the beatitudes. It then goes into such ideals as keeping promises, loving your enemy, letting your light shine, fulfilling God’s law, not murdering, not committing adultery, and turning the other cheek. In this section Jesus also gives the Lord’s Prayer and discuses giving to people who are needy and fasting among other things. These ideals are known as the “new kingdom ethics.” The ethics is a radically new interpretation of law- of God’s will. God’s law had been something very different for Jews, such as his disciples, before this new interpretation through Christ. These new ideals give a high reaching but direct explanation of what is expected of Christians. Indeed, in today’s gospel Jesus points out that it is not those who did extra ordinary things – not those who healed and prophesied in Christ’s name who gained entrance into the Kingdom of God, but those who did the quieter, but much more difficult tasks – those tasks assigned – dictated by God - who were given that blessing – it was given to those who lived the steady and constant life of God’s will – those who continued the law, not the same literal, day by day instructional law that the Jews followed to obtain righteousness, but God’s will as observed through this new lens of Christ.
Like with students in a school classroom, like the school teacher, it is not a matter of getting the answer to a math problem correct once or twice, but of understanding the formula – of understanding what the teacher wants – of understanding what will always give you the correct and sure answer.
Paul’s letter to the Romans, however, brings in a new element: human frailty. Indeed, the ethics – the ideals set forth in the Sermon on the Mount, such as those I mentioned earlier were, and quite frankly are – well, at least for me, for the most part completely unattainable. Indeed, as Paul points out, simply by being human we fall short of the glory of God. And, there isn’t really fully anything we can do about this – I mean, God’s glory is quite high, but God understands this. Indeed, as we cannot reach God’s glory ourselves, it is through God’s merciful gift of grace that we can be made righteous.
Paul speaks of God’s grace being offered to all, both Jews and Gentiles alike. He also speaks of the law of the Jews remaining a law for the Jews. This does not, however, get us off the hook. Paul’s concept of grace becomes alive through faith. Indeed, for Paul, the law by itself doesn’t even cut it anymore; it takes faith in what God has done through Christ to be able to utilize that grace. This grace lets us turn to God; it makes us want to turn to God and makes us want do those things set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Grace as a response makes us want to do these more difficult things – it makes us want to have that house that Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel the one on the rock and not on the sand. True faith turns us to God, and turns us away from ourselves, and allows us to become righteous. Thus, according to Paul, faith, by grace to become righteous.
In both the gospel and the lesson from Paul, we hear of people boasting – in Paul’s letter, those that boasted, boasted that they did some part of the Jewish law and in the gospel those boasting were boasting that they healed and prophesied in Christ’s name. These people, these people are trying to do the right thing, but missing the mark – they have heard the law – indeed, many of those mentioned in the gospel surely heard the law many times, but they did not do the law. Indeed when one truly has faith, we can finally turn past ourselves and turn to God, we can manage to both hear the law, and truly desire to do the law – to do God’s will . Yes, we can never manage to keep God’s will perfectly, but that’s the point of grace. God knows us, and our desires, and makes us righteous ???
You have to realize, I mean, God wants the world redeemed. It isn’t God’s goal to have his creation condemned. Creation has fallen short of God’s glory, and now, through God’s gift of grace, creation is being given a great opportunity. God is offering us the opportunity to become righteous, it is through faith that we can aspire to this righteousness, and through faith that we can desire to do all the things that God told us that he wants us to do. This kind of faith seems hard though… doing all that stuff that Jesus said we should do in the Sermon on the Mount is difficult. I mean, forget about being difficult to execute, quite often, I just don’t want to do some of that stuff, yeah, turning the other cheek sounds like a great thing, but when someone does something mean to me, sometimes, just sometimes, you just want to get them back. Or when you’re fasting, or doing something difficult, say, in Lent, and you see someone, oh I don’t know, eating a big piece of chocolate cake, and they offer you some, or even if they don’t, its like, what you want to say, or at least what I want is say, is “Well, no I can’t have some of your chocolate cake, because I’m fasting.” But, Jesus has clearly told us not to do that. So yeah, while those ideals that he has set forth for us are great and desirable things to do, sometimes, you just don’t want to do them. So where does this leave us?
It leaves us well, in great need of said merciful grace. Like the gospel said, do we want to build our houses on a rock or on sand? Do we want to trust in ourselves, or in God? Do we want personal glory – the glory we get from telling of our accomplishments and loudly proclaiming what we have done, whether asked of us or not, or to quietly do that which we are told? Do we want to get the answer to our school teacher’s question correct one time, or do we want to understand the formula? Don’t we want to know what the teacher expects of us for the long haul – regardless of whether it’s the easier way, the most popular way, or the way we want to live our lives? We have to have faith – faith in what God has done through Christ, and in God and his merciful grace that we can desire to fully turn to him and live God’s way throughout the day.
Proper 4
Based on Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28
Matthew 7:21-29
When we were (are) children, we always had our parents telling us what to do – and when it wasn’t our parents, then it was our teachers – and with our teachers, not only did we have to do what the teacher told us to do, but we had to do it her way. Whether it was forming our alphabet letters properly or solving a math problem, it didn’t matter if we thought we understood it, or we thought we had the correct answer, if we didn’t do it Mrs. Whoever’s way, it was still wrong.
Based on today’s second lesson and gospel, God, likewise has given us specific instructions. Today’s gospel comes at the tail end of the well-known Sermon on the Mount. As a quick refresher, the Sermon on the Mount starts in Matthew chapter 5 with the beatitudes. It then goes into such ideals as keeping promises, loving your enemy, letting your light shine, fulfilling God’s law, not murdering, not committing adultery, and turning the other cheek. In this section Jesus also gives the Lord’s Prayer and discuses giving to people who are needy and fasting among other things. These ideals are known as the “new kingdom ethics.” The ethics is a radically new interpretation of law- of God’s will. God’s law had been something very different for Jews, such as his disciples, before this new interpretation through Christ. These new ideals give a high reaching but direct explanation of what is expected of Christians. Indeed, in today’s gospel Jesus points out that it is not those who did extra ordinary things – not those who healed and prophesied in Christ’s name who gained entrance into the Kingdom of God, but those who did the quieter, but much more difficult tasks – those tasks assigned – dictated by God - who were given that blessing – it was given to those who lived the steady and constant life of God’s will – those who continued the law, not the same literal, day by day instructional law that the Jews followed to obtain righteousness, but God’s will as observed through this new lens of Christ.
Like with students in a school classroom, like the school teacher, it is not a matter of getting the answer to a math problem correct once or twice, but of understanding the formula – of understanding what the teacher wants – of understanding what will always give you the correct and sure answer.
Paul’s letter to the Romans, however, brings in a new element: human frailty. Indeed, the ethics – the ideals set forth in the Sermon on the Mount, such as those I mentioned earlier were, and quite frankly are – well, at least for me, for the most part completely unattainable. Indeed, as Paul points out, simply by being human we fall short of the glory of God. And, there isn’t really fully anything we can do about this – I mean, God’s glory is quite high, but God understands this. Indeed, as we cannot reach God’s glory ourselves, it is through God’s merciful gift of grace that we can be made righteous.
Paul speaks of God’s grace being offered to all, both Jews and Gentiles alike. He also speaks of the law of the Jews remaining a law for the Jews. This does not, however, get us off the hook. Paul’s concept of grace becomes alive through faith. Indeed, for Paul, the law by itself doesn’t even cut it anymore; it takes faith in what God has done through Christ to be able to utilize that grace. This grace lets us turn to God; it makes us want to turn to God and makes us want do those things set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Grace as a response makes us want to do these more difficult things – it makes us want to have that house that Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel the one on the rock and not on the sand. True faith turns us to God, and turns us away from ourselves, and allows us to become righteous. Thus, according to Paul, faith, by grace to become righteous.
In both the gospel and the lesson from Paul, we hear of people boasting – in Paul’s letter, those that boasted, boasted that they did some part of the Jewish law and in the gospel those boasting were boasting that they healed and prophesied in Christ’s name. These people, these people are trying to do the right thing, but missing the mark – they have heard the law – indeed, many of those mentioned in the gospel surely heard the law many times, but they did not do the law. Indeed when one truly has faith, we can finally turn past ourselves and turn to God, we can manage to both hear the law, and truly desire to do the law – to do God’s will . Yes, we can never manage to keep God’s will perfectly, but that’s the point of grace. God knows us, and our desires, and makes us righteous ???
You have to realize, I mean, God wants the world redeemed. It isn’t God’s goal to have his creation condemned. Creation has fallen short of God’s glory, and now, through God’s gift of grace, creation is being given a great opportunity. God is offering us the opportunity to become righteous, it is through faith that we can aspire to this righteousness, and through faith that we can desire to do all the things that God told us that he wants us to do. This kind of faith seems hard though… doing all that stuff that Jesus said we should do in the Sermon on the Mount is difficult. I mean, forget about being difficult to execute, quite often, I just don’t want to do some of that stuff, yeah, turning the other cheek sounds like a great thing, but when someone does something mean to me, sometimes, just sometimes, you just want to get them back. Or when you’re fasting, or doing something difficult, say, in Lent, and you see someone, oh I don’t know, eating a big piece of chocolate cake, and they offer you some, or even if they don’t, its like, what you want to say, or at least what I want is say, is “Well, no I can’t have some of your chocolate cake, because I’m fasting.” But, Jesus has clearly told us not to do that. So yeah, while those ideals that he has set forth for us are great and desirable things to do, sometimes, you just don’t want to do them. So where does this leave us?
It leaves us well, in great need of said merciful grace. Like the gospel said, do we want to build our houses on a rock or on sand? Do we want to trust in ourselves, or in God? Do we want personal glory – the glory we get from telling of our accomplishments and loudly proclaiming what we have done, whether asked of us or not, or to quietly do that which we are told? Do we want to get the answer to our school teacher’s question correct one time, or do we want to understand the formula? Don’t we want to know what the teacher expects of us for the long haul – regardless of whether it’s the easier way, the most popular way, or the way we want to live our lives? We have to have faith – faith in what God has done through Christ, and in God and his merciful grace that we can desire to fully turn to him and live God’s way throughout the day.
22 August 2004
August 22, 2004
Proper 16 Year
In nomine…
The Hebrew leaders scoffed at the Lord. They outright rejected him and his prophet Isaiah. The Hebrew leaders turned instead to
Death (with a capitol D), and to Sheol, the underworld, making a pact with them. The Hebrew leaders claimed this pact would make them safe- that they would be protected from the soon coming “overwhelming scourge.”
There is no basis for this trust in Death however. The Lord offers a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone. He offers justice and righteousness, and promises that those who believe will not panic.
God is clearly stronger than Death as well- God speaks of hail sweeping away the refuge of lies the followers of Death have sought, and says waters will overwhelm their shelter. Their agreement with Death will be annulled and their pact with Sheol will not stand. And, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews puts it: God is a consuming fire… and I want the consuming fire on my side.
However, Death and Sheol do make protection seem easier… cheap ideas and promises still seem like a better deal to them than aligning themselves with God by following God’s laws. You see, for Jews, like those who rejected God in the first reading, or well, actually, not like those Jews, the way to become closer to God is by doing mitzvot- completing commands, or laws put forth by God in various texts, including Torah, Talmud and Mishnah. Indeed, though not all laws apply to everyone, these laws, which number somewhere around 613, discuss everything from the behavior between boys and girls, to the studying of religious texts, to even going to the bathroom in the morning. Orthodox Jews of today still live by these rules.
But Christians believe that the Messiah has come in the form of Christ Jesus- now we have a new covenant- NOW all-we-need-to-do-is believe! Yet, in today’s gospel, when this question is posed to Jesus: Will only a few be saved? the answer is NOT a resounding no! The rules have been ridiculously simplified – Jesus says that all we have to do is love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength --yet we hear of people who are like us, sitting and listening to Jesus’ teachings, and who are still stuck at the doorway.
Because the Hebrew leaders were not aligning themselves with God, they were aligning themselves with “NotGod” or Death. Specifically, in this case they were aligning themselves with the Egyptians in a war against the Assyrians. You see, Isaiah had prophesied earlier that their only safety was in the Lord. BUT, the Hebrew leaders knew better in aligning with Egypt – this seemed like a safer idea – they could rest more easily, rest much more easily than they could only hoping that this faraway god was paying attention.
They were hiding behind their fear, and fear gives bad judgments, as it did in those times, in Jesus’ time, and it does now.
We are taught that all we need to do to be saved is believe, yet, quite often when we are afraid, or insecure, that doesn’t help us. The Jews have their laws to hold onto, physical actions they can know they are doing properly to be close to God – we too want something tangible – so we turn our trust away from God and barricade ourselves in huge houses, expensive gimmicks and attractive cars. We ally ourselves with those whom we feel will help us get where we want to be the most, as we hide in our neatly sided, bricked, stoned homes.
Deep inside, we know that when the scourge, whatever it is, comes, these barricades, whether physical or interpersonal, will seem feeble at best, but somehow, they let us sleep better –, they let us sleep much better then we would if we really trusted in the ultimate protector!
All we have to do is believe, we have to focus on what’s beyond the narrow door.
If we are carrying all these barricades, how can we even dream of fitting through the narrow door?
We also have to wonder, if it’s not God we are following with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul, what are we following with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul? It MUST be something… are we following insecurity, or our desire to “look big,” or does it all really melt down to following our own fear- with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul?
God is our protector, our shepherd, and our leader. He is guiding us to the narrow door- but we have to be willing, ready - trusting enough to feel open, exposed, willing to bes totally naked to the world- dropping our barricade to just squeeze through the narrow door- remembering always to keep God in focus.
I mean, we live in a hard world. These barricades, are, in various forms being thrown at us all the time, and quite often, we don’t even realize we are turning away from God when we embrace these, things.
But, God is there for us. Like I said, we have to keep him in focus- never let ourselves fall too far back—when we think something we want is making us turn away from God, we really have ask ourselves if we are still loving God with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul— or if our heart, or mind, or soul is on something else- on “NotGod.”
It’s not easy, well-meaning friends, neighbors, and all sorts of media advertisements try to overload with these unintentional barricades, but if we are so weighed down with burdens, how can we see over our load to see God- to follow God?
So, we have to keep questioning ourselves, remembering that God is always the protector we should turn to, that if we stumble, he will not forsake us, and lift us up, and that it is he who is leading us through the narrow door, and we mustn’t lose sight of that.
We’ll soon be singing hymn 488 “Be Thou my Vision,” which is truly a prayer to God, expressing our need and desire to have God remain our guide, and asking him to help us to keep him as our vision.
High King of heaven, when victory is won – victory over the Assyrians, over our own fear, the victory of salvation, may I reach heaven’s joys bright heaven’s Sun! Heart of my heart, whatever befall- May we know God is our trust, that God is the ONLY WAY, however exposed we may feel, Lord, Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Amen
Proper 16 Year
In nomine…
The Hebrew leaders scoffed at the Lord. They outright rejected him and his prophet Isaiah. The Hebrew leaders turned instead to
Death (with a capitol D), and to Sheol, the underworld, making a pact with them. The Hebrew leaders claimed this pact would make them safe- that they would be protected from the soon coming “overwhelming scourge.”
There is no basis for this trust in Death however. The Lord offers a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone. He offers justice and righteousness, and promises that those who believe will not panic.
God is clearly stronger than Death as well- God speaks of hail sweeping away the refuge of lies the followers of Death have sought, and says waters will overwhelm their shelter. Their agreement with Death will be annulled and their pact with Sheol will not stand. And, as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews puts it: God is a consuming fire… and I want the consuming fire on my side.
However, Death and Sheol do make protection seem easier… cheap ideas and promises still seem like a better deal to them than aligning themselves with God by following God’s laws. You see, for Jews, like those who rejected God in the first reading, or well, actually, not like those Jews, the way to become closer to God is by doing mitzvot- completing commands, or laws put forth by God in various texts, including Torah, Talmud and Mishnah. Indeed, though not all laws apply to everyone, these laws, which number somewhere around 613, discuss everything from the behavior between boys and girls, to the studying of religious texts, to even going to the bathroom in the morning. Orthodox Jews of today still live by these rules.
But Christians believe that the Messiah has come in the form of Christ Jesus- now we have a new covenant- NOW all-we-need-to-do-is believe! Yet, in today’s gospel, when this question is posed to Jesus: Will only a few be saved? the answer is NOT a resounding no! The rules have been ridiculously simplified – Jesus says that all we have to do is love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength --yet we hear of people who are like us, sitting and listening to Jesus’ teachings, and who are still stuck at the doorway.
Because the Hebrew leaders were not aligning themselves with God, they were aligning themselves with “NotGod” or Death. Specifically, in this case they were aligning themselves with the Egyptians in a war against the Assyrians. You see, Isaiah had prophesied earlier that their only safety was in the Lord. BUT, the Hebrew leaders knew better in aligning with Egypt – this seemed like a safer idea – they could rest more easily, rest much more easily than they could only hoping that this faraway god was paying attention.
They were hiding behind their fear, and fear gives bad judgments, as it did in those times, in Jesus’ time, and it does now.
We are taught that all we need to do to be saved is believe, yet, quite often when we are afraid, or insecure, that doesn’t help us. The Jews have their laws to hold onto, physical actions they can know they are doing properly to be close to God – we too want something tangible – so we turn our trust away from God and barricade ourselves in huge houses, expensive gimmicks and attractive cars. We ally ourselves with those whom we feel will help us get where we want to be the most, as we hide in our neatly sided, bricked, stoned homes.
Deep inside, we know that when the scourge, whatever it is, comes, these barricades, whether physical or interpersonal, will seem feeble at best, but somehow, they let us sleep better –, they let us sleep much better then we would if we really trusted in the ultimate protector!
All we have to do is believe, we have to focus on what’s beyond the narrow door.
If we are carrying all these barricades, how can we even dream of fitting through the narrow door?
We also have to wonder, if it’s not God we are following with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul, what are we following with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul? It MUST be something… are we following insecurity, or our desire to “look big,” or does it all really melt down to following our own fear- with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul?
God is our protector, our shepherd, and our leader. He is guiding us to the narrow door- but we have to be willing, ready - trusting enough to feel open, exposed, willing to bes totally naked to the world- dropping our barricade to just squeeze through the narrow door- remembering always to keep God in focus.
I mean, we live in a hard world. These barricades, are, in various forms being thrown at us all the time, and quite often, we don’t even realize we are turning away from God when we embrace these, things.
But, God is there for us. Like I said, we have to keep him in focus- never let ourselves fall too far back—when we think something we want is making us turn away from God, we really have ask ourselves if we are still loving God with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul— or if our heart, or mind, or soul is on something else- on “NotGod.”
It’s not easy, well-meaning friends, neighbors, and all sorts of media advertisements try to overload with these unintentional barricades, but if we are so weighed down with burdens, how can we see over our load to see God- to follow God?
So, we have to keep questioning ourselves, remembering that God is always the protector we should turn to, that if we stumble, he will not forsake us, and lift us up, and that it is he who is leading us through the narrow door, and we mustn’t lose sight of that.
We’ll soon be singing hymn 488 “Be Thou my Vision,” which is truly a prayer to God, expressing our need and desire to have God remain our guide, and asking him to help us to keep him as our vision.
High King of heaven, when victory is won – victory over the Assyrians, over our own fear, the victory of salvation, may I reach heaven’s joys bright heaven’s Sun! Heart of my heart, whatever befall- May we know God is our trust, that God is the ONLY WAY, however exposed we may feel, Lord, Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Amen
Sunday, April 8, 2007
18 July 2004
Sunday July 18, 2004
Proper 11, Year C
Preached at Trinity Church, Swedesboro
The joys of being an Episcopalian. We are busy fixing the flowers, polishing the brass, muttering of candle styles, bleaching the linens, getting babies baptized ASAP, ordering the procession, and deciding when really is the proper time to stand, sit and kneel, (and making sure one is not the first to do any of the above). The robes are clean, acolytes and LEM’s in attendance, the organ, and organist sound wonderful- yes we are good Episcopalians.
We feel we need to meet THESE expectations, and when we don’t –or when someone else doesn’t, there’s a tendency even amongst the most laid back to get a tad annoyed.
Martha would have made a good Episcopalian. Mary on the other hand, wasn’t checking all the details, finishing the food, puttering about to make these visitors stay as “pretty” as it could be.
No, while Martha was in the kitchen, removed from these important, knowledgeable people, and the amazing teacher, Jesus, Mary instead showed up.
Yes, she showed up to hear Jesus. Jesus was a teacher, and Mary understood that, and was there to learn. She didn’t clutter her head with details and distractions, and she wasn’t satisfied simply knowing that Jesus existed, simply knowing,
and being proud of the fact that he was in her home.
No, she knew she had to experience it, she had to BE there. She was given the opportunity to learn directly from God, and was not about to miss that opportunity or satisfy herself with making sure all the details were in order, missing out on this event, with the reassurance that the teaching was going on.
It’s easy to make excuses for Martha, I know- I make those excuses all the time.
The work had to get done…it was Mary’s responsibility… when things go wrong, people notice… it’s a busy world- there’s so much work and we can’t get it done on time by ourselves.
We try to come to church as much as we can- and we come when we or our children have to acolyte, LEM, or read, the babies got baptized, we know the words to the creed, the flower memorials are in-
but what if we just don’t show up?
We all know showing up doesn’t just mean getting our bodies in a pew every Sunday- showing up is also about being fully present – especially about being fully present when its so much easier not to be.
I’m sure you all know what I mean about not being fully present- like, those times during the readings, or the Eucharistic prayer, or possibly VERY OCCASIONALLY the sermon, when you just stop paying attention- you don’t mean to, it just happens.
You start thinking about-
oh- DISTRACTIONS—whether they be about work, school, sports, the church or nothing in particular, those times when we are physically here, but still not present.
WE are given the same opportunity as Mary and Martha—we are given the opportunity to learn from Jesus- Jesus, whom Paul described earlier today as the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation, him in whom all things on earth were created.
WE are given the opportunity to learn from him—cool, ain’t it?
And to think we could lose this opportunity just by not showing up? This knowledge is freely being given to us- Paul spoke later about Christ in you. This, when read in the Greek, is the plural YOU—us… Christ in community-- in the church…
This is getting pretty cool, isn’t it- so what makes us turn it down? Well, Martha was surrounded by distractions. She wanted everything to be perfect, and expected Mary both to want the same thing, and to assist in achieving Martha’s goal. Mary, however, wanted not to worry about details, but she wanted to grasp the main point…to show up, she wanted to be there, to hear what the Lord had to say to HER- I mean, this absolutely amazing guy-, who I just described, was coming to her house, and she was going to show up. Indeed, what’s the point of having God offered to you if you are too busy, making everything ELSE work if you are too busy making the details surrounding the offer, to have the offer happen properly, if your too busy with the distractions, to accept him?
So Mary, with the disciples and other followers wanted to hear what Jesus had to say—besides if Martha wasn’t working so hard, they all would have coped, it was a bunch of young guys. And Mary understood that- she knew that Christ was being offered to her, and she couldn’t blow this.
Christ is being offered to us on a regular basis all of us, newborn straight on up, - every Sunday, we come together and hear Christ’s word- and we worship God, and thank God for it all. And remembering what Paul said,
how Jesus is the image of God, and created all things, and that he’s the head of the church- don’t you think he should be praised?
Who are we, created by him, not to praise him, or not to let others, whom he as also freely offered himself, praise him. Jesus has also offered himself to the young and others who can’t drive, they too should worship God. It might be difficult, but you really can put them in your car and drive them to church with you. It does work, really... no one will mind.
But really, this reminds me of a line from the 1999 movie Dogma, the character Serendipity, a muse, is talking with the main character.
She says: "I have issues with anyone who treats God like a burden instead of a blessing …You people don't celebrate your faith, you mourn it."
Church shouldn’t be a chore, it’s a celebration… we should want to praise God. Martha was panicking, clearly upset that this important person, that her Lord was here, and everything wasn’t perfect- instead of celebrating the joy that she should have in the Lord visiting her, she mourned she was not making a proper impression, and she quite clearly felt that that the Lord visiting her created too much extra work, the Lord was a burden- and her sister was doing nothing to make anything easier.
Mary didn’t let that bother her; she was joyous at the Lord visiting their home, and recognized how blessed she was that she could be taught by Jesus.
Once a week, for one hour, we come together, robes and flowers, procession and pew aerobics, and praise this amazing creator, redeemer, and sanctifier who has offered himself to us- who loves us, and teaches us, and is omnipresent and omnibenevolent.
Upon Martha asking Jesus to tell Mary to help her, The Lord told Martha that there is need of only one thing, and Mary chosen that. Should we not chose it as well, when all we have to do, is show up?
20 June 2004
Sunday June 20, 2004
Proper 7, Year C
Preached at Trinity Church, Swedesboro
"Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people in the surrounding country asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear."
Yes, they were seized with great fear; that is understandable, Jesus is very good at that, frightening people. Indeed, seeing someone who used to be severely mentally ill calmly and sanely sitting at the feet of Jesus must have frightened them. Guards and chains had not been able to keep this man at bay, yet, a minute with this one Jew left him completely “normal”,
but I don’t think it was only Jesus’ power that frightened the Gerasenes, but also the repercussions of Jesus’ actions on them.
Though he lived among the tombs, this man, Legion, was clearly not abandoned.
The story tells that the people were active in Legion’s life, they tried to tame him, and hold him down with chains, even placing him under guard, so most likely, he didn’t hurt others, and himself, but it was his legion of demons which sent him into the wild.
This implies that many people spent time trying to care for him.
Caring for someone with extreme needs- such as Legion,
---or an aging parent, a physically challenged child, or child or spouse suffering from mental illness, is a huge task.
It takes a lot of time, and it’s common for those of us who are in these situations to neglect ourselves, or to throw ourselves so deeply into this task that it enables them to forget any other problems.
Normally, when a person either dies, or slowly becomes well, their caretakers have time to slowly reintegrate into society,
but because Legion was spontaneously healed, there was no time for that. He was, basically, gone.
This new, normally functioning man was not the “beast” who had previously lived in the tombs. What were they to do? What were they to throw themselves into?
Jesus had already ruined the business of a pig owner in town. The owner’s entire enterprise, which Mark refers to in his account of this story, as 2000 pigs,
was sitting, demon infested at the bottom of the sea.
The locals must have been afraid of what Jesus might to do next. So, they asked him to leave. He did leave, and though Legion begged, Jesus would not allow Legion to come with him.
Legion must have feared for his life-- because the townspeople were afraid, and frightened people do crazy things.
Yes he told Legion to stay because he wanted Legion to tell everyone what God had done for him.
Jesus didn’t give up on Legion,
and he was not about to give up on the Gerasenes.
Here a bit of background: The Gerasenes were not Jews, they were mostly Gentiles, pagans, in fact, they were one of the few groups of Gentiles the Gospels have accounts of Jesus visiting. Theirs was a large city, and an important one in spreading Jesus’ message. Their anger toward him was irrelevant to his helping Legion, as well as to Jesus’s commissioning of Legion, to go out and tell them what this God had done.
Today’s first lesson also speaks of an unwilling commissioning. Elijah is a totally burnt out prophet. As they didn’t want Jesus in the land of the Gerasenes, people didn’t want Elijah. But they weren’t scared, no they were just angry. There’s a death sentence over Elijah’s head, and no one wants to hear about God, because, you see, unlike in the New Testament, God’s sometimes kinda slow to act in the Old Testament, so no one really cares about God. Elijah has ticked off some important people. He’s worked really hard and no one appreciates him. Like your standard workaholic, he is in the midst of some major burnout, and now he wants out of the prophet business!
He sits under the broom tree, asking God to kill him, But, instead of killing him, like Elijah wants, God sends an angel to Elijah who gives him lunch. Elijah carries on, but still wants to die. But, like to the Gerasenes, who also wanted God out of their lives, God has other plans. God sends Elijah out to the wilderness of Damascus, where, if you read on to the end of the chapter, he is to anoint people and meet up with Elisha, so he’s not totally alone.
God just seems to have this annoying tendency to expect people to care, and go out and share that caring- Caring about each other and caring about God-
And this tendency grows even more annoying- God doesn’t have this expectation out of people who already care—no God calls all these people who would rather not care to go around caring. Legion wanted to go with Jesus, but he stuck around to tell about God, and thus making more people who don’t care have to start caring. Elijah was depressed and discouraged, but still, God sent him onward.
God’s tendency to expect people to care obviously did not end 1960 years ago. A close friend of my family, lets call her Sarah, was in a similar position. She had always been a good Christian, trying to do the best she could to follow Gods instructions. Well, she had been battling a horrid case of cancer, was having severe financial problems, had just watched her younger sister die of an illegal drug overdose, and was fighting to get custody of her sister’s adopted child from the sister’s abusive not-quite ex-husband. She and her husband didn’t know where they were going to get any money for their older son’s college tuition,
and she felt totally abandoned.
I recall her at a picnic, saying how she just wanted to quit, she worked so hard, and nothing came of it. She served God and her neighbors, and was still in deeply over her head. “I know blessed are those who suffer,” she said, “but this is ridiculous.”
Well, she was sitting her bedroom one day, and all of the sudden, there was a bright light in her room, and she felt calm. She had been a popular Sunday school teacher for years, but she had stopped that, along with many of her other activities both because of her illness and her feeling of abandonment. I remember her saying that she felt a sense of urgency, a need to get back into teaching, and basically caring- Like, it wasn’t her choice.
Happily, she’s been in remission for 5 years and her son is currently a senior in college.
I’m sure we’ve all had an experience or have known someone who has given up, who has stopped caring-
about God, about themselves, about their old hobbies, about life in general. But as we all know, sometimes what we want, plan, or care about, isn’t what God has in mind.
Like the previously demon inhabited Legion, the fearful, Gerasenes, and the burnt out Elijah, we with all our preoccupations have also been given a commission, in the words of the well-know hymn, to “heal the sick and preach the word.”
And like Legion, the Gerasenes and Elijah, as Christians, no matter how we resist, we must live our commission as well.
Monday, March 26, 2007
7 March 2004
Sunday in Lent, Year C
Opens with ‘what you own” from Rent
We are livin’ in America
We are what we own…
In nominee…
Opens with ‘what you own” from Rent
We are livin’ in America
We are what we own…
In nominee…
Who am I?
I am a girl, I am a daughter, and a child, and a student, a Christian, an Episcopalian, living in New Jersey, in a house, with a car—I- am a female youth living in a suburban neighborhood.
Is this who I am, what I want to be—living in
It’s an interesting question though—what are we? I mean, how do you identify yourself? Say to yourself- I am a ---- like, Fr. Jack would say I, Father Jack am a.. what… What’s your first association? You already heard mine.
PAUSE
In today’s gospel, Jesus laments, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Jesus wept over Jerusalem, the world, because his arms were open, begging people to go to him, to be with him, not to be what they own, not to, as Paul said to the Philippians, have “their god, their belly, and their glory their shame, their minds set on earthly things.”
Jesus is begging them to be children of his, of Gods, BUT GUESS WHAT!! Jesus isn’t dead! He’s still waiting, begging us to come to him, still weeping, still waiting.
Now, I’m not going to stand up here and say “We should act like Jesus.”
That we should throw out all of our associations, and totally act like the children of God that we are to the fullest- I won’t because well, because that expectation is completely unattainable and well- its silly and unproductive.
What I am going to suggest however, is that maybe we could at least try to TURN towards God. Not be like this, but like this… or least, we can try for catty-corner.
Maybe not throw out your associations, but revise them. Look at what you consider yourself first, I am a what? … Second? … Third? … Do any of these need to be reprioritized? What’s not on the list that you think should be? Do any of the things in the beginning of your list make “your belly your God” and put your mind toward earthly things, and not toward God?
But also, how many of our I am’s, are really I haves, like, someone might say “I am a housewife,” is really, I have a house, I have a husband. See, that I am is really an I have. Its lovely to be a housewife, but, that as an initial association gives an interesting idea of how we define ourselves. Indeed, we are living in, at the beginning of a new millennium, with all the opportunities therein, and we don’t have to leave our conscience at the tone.We are living in America, at the beginning of a new millennium, a millennium of possibility, and we are not what we own, but what we strive to be, klutzy children, trying to turn towards God, each of us, an individual child for whom Jesus is weeping.We are living in America, in New Jersey, and in the world, at the beginning of a new millennium, and we belong to Christ. Amen.
And first of all, we are His.
11 January 2004
January 18, 2004
Second Sunday in Epiphany
My hour has not yet come.
In nomine…
My hour has not yet come…Its not yet time...
I have a friend who has a medical disorder.
Its severely affects his daily living,
and as he jumps from specialist to specialist, it remains undiagnosed.
All of us have experienced things like this.
I want my friend to be better. I want everyone to be better. I want everything to be good, I want- I want- I want, but it isn’t about me-but GOSH DARN IT, I want it to be!
But as Jesus says: It’s not yet time.
When we ask God for something, and we don’t get it, it can often make us doubt- doubt the existence of God, or doubt that he’s really out for our good.
We want what we want, when we want it, and though we can wait, sometimes it can seem like an eternity, and sometimes what we want just doesn’t work. In the recent Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey’s character, after complaining about his life to God, is given God’s powers. He grants EVERY prayer, exactly as they are asked… so this should be a good thing… right? Yeah… right… think about it,
if EVERYONE who prays to win the lottery won, how much would everyone get? Well, in the movie, it was about $17.
But anyway, think of people’s places in life, a young boys prayer is granted, and in the future, instead of becoming a world-renown poet, he becomes a wrestler who quickly tests positive for steroids. A woman on welfare wants money and wins a lawsuit. If she hadn’t, she and her sister would have gotten back together; instead, she is rich and alone.
A friend of mine back at school is fond of the quote by St. Augustine that goes something along the lines of “Of his bounty, the Lord often grants not what we seek, so as to bestow something preferable.”
And indeed, in many of these situations something bad WOULD have turned into something even better,
if only people would have waited for God, as painful as that wait can be.
I remember my mom telling me about a time a friend of hers dragged her to this friend’s company dinner party. Mom didn’t want to go, and actually prayed that something would happen to stop it, nothing big… but something. Well, she went to the party and was seated across the table from what she described as a sandy-haired, blue-eyed young attorney— by the name of John Graham.
I’m sure all of us can think of a time something like this has happened,
when we wanted one thing, but the other thing that happened was better. Okay, think of one…. I’ll wait… got it? Good.
I knew you would.
Now, hold on, I’m not saying “don’t pray” I am definitely not saying that! Praying is definitely good!
I mean, without asking, how is God supposed to know what we want, well, aside from the fact that he’s omniscient,
but anyhow, even Mary had to tell Jesus that they needed more wine at the wedding in Cana.
But she had faith in Jesus. She trusted him, well, yes he’s her son, but still, she trusted him, all she told the servants was to do what he told them.
That was her faith in God. God's timing, and God’s ideas.
Wow, and I’m thinking of some of my prayers which are well, rather specific.
Something along the lines of, God, please help me to get an A on my paper, make my friends stop fighting, help my friend feel better, help that girl I baby-sit get that toy she wants, oh yeah, please deposit $15 into my bank account and umm, world peace is good too. Thank you, I love you, Amen?
I mean, as I rethink that, its like, I’m telling God how to make all these things work. Its like the current sign in front of the bible Baptist church on White-Horse Mercerville Road: “Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.” And, we can’t do that. In my above prayer, I’m telling God how to make all these people happy, and I guess there isn’t a big problem with that,
but of course, God still knows what people need better.
Maybe that toy isn’t really what will make the girl I baby-sit happier (though, I’m not sure if I could convince her of that).
That TRUST in God is imperative! The trust that makes us aware that God’s will for us is health and salvation.
When we get what we want, or thinking, as Augustine makes us think, what we need, is such a gift. The -- pain – is -- waiting.
Waiting for healing, for approval, for -- for anything, it can hurt.
But, God knows best, and God is good, and God wants the best for us,as hard, and often painful that is to remember.
We have to have faith, and we have to be willing to make it happen.
As Paul mentioned in his letter, we are all given gifts by the spirit, sometimes God sets things up so we have to use them… and sometimes we just have to wait. We have to wait for the right hour, as Jesus said to his mother at the wedding.
And maybe, hopefully, with faith, and time, we may experience our Lord, turning our own water into wine.
Second Sunday in Epiphany
My hour has not yet come.
In nomine…
My hour has not yet come…Its not yet time...
I have a friend who has a medical disorder.
Its severely affects his daily living,
and as he jumps from specialist to specialist, it remains undiagnosed.
All of us have experienced things like this.
I want my friend to be better. I want everyone to be better. I want everything to be good, I want- I want- I want, but it isn’t about me-but GOSH DARN IT, I want it to be!
But as Jesus says: It’s not yet time.
When we ask God for something, and we don’t get it, it can often make us doubt- doubt the existence of God, or doubt that he’s really out for our good.
We want what we want, when we want it, and though we can wait, sometimes it can seem like an eternity, and sometimes what we want just doesn’t work. In the recent Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey’s character, after complaining about his life to God, is given God’s powers. He grants EVERY prayer, exactly as they are asked… so this should be a good thing… right? Yeah… right… think about it,
if EVERYONE who prays to win the lottery won, how much would everyone get? Well, in the movie, it was about $17.
But anyway, think of people’s places in life, a young boys prayer is granted, and in the future, instead of becoming a world-renown poet, he becomes a wrestler who quickly tests positive for steroids. A woman on welfare wants money and wins a lawsuit. If she hadn’t, she and her sister would have gotten back together; instead, she is rich and alone.
A friend of mine back at school is fond of the quote by St. Augustine that goes something along the lines of “Of his bounty, the Lord often grants not what we seek, so as to bestow something preferable.”
And indeed, in many of these situations something bad WOULD have turned into something even better,
if only people would have waited for God, as painful as that wait can be.
I remember my mom telling me about a time a friend of hers dragged her to this friend’s company dinner party. Mom didn’t want to go, and actually prayed that something would happen to stop it, nothing big… but something. Well, she went to the party and was seated across the table from what she described as a sandy-haired, blue-eyed young attorney— by the name of John Graham.
I’m sure all of us can think of a time something like this has happened,
when we wanted one thing, but the other thing that happened was better. Okay, think of one…. I’ll wait… got it? Good.
I knew you would.
Now, hold on, I’m not saying “don’t pray” I am definitely not saying that! Praying is definitely good!
I mean, without asking, how is God supposed to know what we want, well, aside from the fact that he’s omniscient,
but anyhow, even Mary had to tell Jesus that they needed more wine at the wedding in Cana.
But she had faith in Jesus. She trusted him, well, yes he’s her son, but still, she trusted him, all she told the servants was to do what he told them.
That was her faith in God. God's timing, and God’s ideas.
Wow, and I’m thinking of some of my prayers which are well, rather specific.
Something along the lines of, God, please help me to get an A on my paper, make my friends stop fighting, help my friend feel better, help that girl I baby-sit get that toy she wants, oh yeah, please deposit $15 into my bank account and umm, world peace is good too. Thank you, I love you, Amen?
I mean, as I rethink that, its like, I’m telling God how to make all these things work. Its like the current sign in front of the bible Baptist church on White-Horse Mercerville Road: “Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory position.” And, we can’t do that. In my above prayer, I’m telling God how to make all these people happy, and I guess there isn’t a big problem with that,
but of course, God still knows what people need better.
Maybe that toy isn’t really what will make the girl I baby-sit happier (though, I’m not sure if I could convince her of that).
That TRUST in God is imperative! The trust that makes us aware that God’s will for us is health and salvation.
When we get what we want, or thinking, as Augustine makes us think, what we need, is such a gift. The -- pain – is -- waiting.
Waiting for healing, for approval, for -- for anything, it can hurt.
But, God knows best, and God is good, and God wants the best for us,as hard, and often painful that is to remember.
We have to have faith, and we have to be willing to make it happen.
As Paul mentioned in his letter, we are all given gifts by the spirit, sometimes God sets things up so we have to use them… and sometimes we just have to wait. We have to wait for the right hour, as Jesus said to his mother at the wedding.
And maybe, hopefully, with faith, and time, we may experience our Lord, turning our own water into wine.
9 August 2003 (after GC)
From the primal elements you brought forth the human race, and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill. But we turned against you, and betrayed your trust; and we turned against one another… Have mercy, Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, and don’t know, Father Jack and I have spent the past two weeks in Minneapolis, attending :clears throat: The 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
And for someone watching from the outside, these lines, modified from Eucharistic Prayer C which we will use later today, truly did describe the goings on of convention~ in a polite, reasonable, skillful, Anglican way, there was a lot of tension and grief. But, the more I think about it, we may have turned against one another, but, not one person intentionally turned against God… in every single hearing, people were passionate, because, they were trying to figure out what it is that God wants… no one wanted their own glory, and no one meant to betray God’s trust, and even with the strife, prayer and worship, everyone together, were daily happenings.
Indeed, we celebrated the Eucharist everyday at convention, and this truly showed how close to God we strive to be. Why, The main convention Eucharist on Sunday morning, was amazing! I remember looking around, and seeing over 5,000 Episcopalians in lines, receiving communion, the body and blood of our Lord. All the disagreements and hurt melted away, the fact that bishop-elect Gene Robinson’s fate would be decided in a few short hours didn’t matter. We were all Episcopalians, who for the record, agreed on most pieces of important legislation. Through this mass, there was a present reminder, that, as I said before, all the arguing was about God, about securing what She wants for us. Tears were streaming down my face as I looked with awe at the praise and love for the creator of all of us.
As we sang “I am the bread of life” after communion, a thousand voices rang, truly believing the words, waiting, as the chorus keeps shouting, waiting to be risen up, everyone, many whose voices are mediocre at best, singing, praising our Lord,~~ as the hymn says, thanking him, that we will be risen up, and that we shall live forever, and I realized, that this my friends, this is the church, and quoting The Rev. Michael Hopkins, the president of Integrity, which is the Episcopal organization of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transsexual people of the Episcopal church, quoting the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, right then , and that moment, the church said, Amen!
This past Thursday night Integrity had a mass at a local church to thank their volunteers and in exorbitant jubilation over their victories that were passed, and in sadness for those were not joyful with these pieces of legislation.
Fr. Jack, another priest from the diocese and I, as well as many, many others joined for a night of singing, worship and prayer. The spirit of the night was empowering, as was the sermon, by Integrity president Michael Hopkins. And I have never seen that many people clappin’ and yellin’ and whoopin’ and hollerin’ and screamin' and stompin’ when a white man is preachin’ to a predominantly white congregation. To quote Fr. Hopkins again, when the church says Amen, amen to freedom, amen to loving, amen, it be so! It was glorious!
The spirit that filled those masses, God in action is so evident in the WORKINGS of this parish. People truly going out for other people, and I’ll miss that most about this parish when I leave for college, how the Spirit evidently flows through everyone, and how warm that feels! But when it comes to masses, well, the mass can easily become monotonous- but we must strive to have it not become the Sunday “ordinary”, but the Sunday, and everyday EXTRAORDINARY! The spirit can fill even the tensest moments, God can actively be felt in worship, if we let ourselves go, let ourselves be taken over by the powerful spirit, think of the energy that could be in this church every Sunday, think of the beauty that occurs when the church, not turning away from God, and betraying Her, but turning to God, says Amen. Amen to adequate insurance for church staffs, amen to diversity, amen to medical research, and amen to youth ministries. When the church, when all of US, caring for those who grieve and who are joyous, conservative, or liberal, gay, straight, black, white, purple, blue, yes when the whole church in its debating, disagreeing, caring, loving, God-given glory, says one loud AMEN!
July 6, 2003
“She touched His cloak, and by trusting Jesus, she was healed.”
In nomine…
I’m sure you all remember being little, falling down, and having a mother, or another adult rub it and make whatever hurt “all better.” Or later, after being made fun of by the other kids, or after a pet died, seeking solace in the lap of a parent. Soon, when the world seemed uncomprehendable, dark, and much of the outside humanity seemed to attack, a boyfriend or girlfriend’s arms provided renewal and a reminder that someone understood. Or looking a newborn baby, gently touching its hand, and having it firmly grasp the hand, well finger, of whomever touched it, trusting it implicitly.
Touch, is, in many ways, a healer. It is a part of growing up, indeed, it is IMPOSSIBLE to grow up successfully if deprived of this simple but imperative gesture. This is clearly evident in children –for example: orphans raised in Romanian institutions. These children, deprived of touch, indeed, deprived of any attention and sensation whatsoever, left in cribs for years with nothing but the “physical essentials,” with no stimulation, often die at depressingly young ages. Those who live past babyhood may have been better off dead. They are often devoid of emotions and intelligent thought. Indeed, scientists have discovered that there is a very brief window of time for these to develop, so even if given a chance as young children, it is often too late for many of these necessary “skills” to develop. Their lives become vacant—are vacant, because no one – touched—them.
Many missionaries spend months traveling throughout Africa, using their precious time to travel from orphanage to orphanage, spending all their time doing nothing but holding babies and toddlers who have AIDS and other illnesses, to ensure that these children have some sort of chances.
Touch, when used sincerely and faithfully, is a significant comfort. Indeed, when someone is far away, the reminder of their touch can bring us comfort. Like when a relative signs a card “Hugs, Aunt Sylvia.” Or “Give yourself a pat on the back for me, Grand Pop.” These reminders bring us both a longing and a warmth. They make us feel special, and when we are sad, these reminders make us feel better, or at least, they try too.
But sometimes touch, real touch, truly can make you feel better, and at times, really make you better. Many parishes have services of healing, with the laying on of hands. As hands are laid upon the head, or shoulders of a person, and prayers are said, true healing, with God coming through the mediator or meadiators may take place, if they trust and pray faithfully.
This diocese, and many others, has an INCREDIBLE program for high school age youth called Happening. I have both attended this Youth Event and served on its staff. Over the course of the Happening weekend, numerous talks are given, and before and after every single talk, whether it be by a youth or a member of the clergy, the speaker is “prayed up” and “prayed down.”
By this, I mean a team of people stand around the speaker, with their hand gently upon the speakers head, arms, and back. They go around the circle, praying for numerous things, such as calm for the speaker, and for the listeners to take away a message from God. With everyone’s deep faith, it is a very powerful time. When I was “prayed up” before giving a talk at Happening, I could feel myself grow physically calmer, something that seldom happens before I have to speak before large groups. Through these friends, and fellow Christians, touching me, I could feel the Holy Spirit reaching and surrounding me.
Confirmations are a time when everyone gets touched. The Bishop lays his or her hands on the confirmand’s forehead, again, a person serving as an intermediary for God’s work.
Faith that the touch, when in the name of Jesus Christ, may heal, is almost as important as allowing the touch. You have to believe when you reach out to touch others, God’s belief is stronger than our unbelief.
In today’s gospel, a woman with a debilitating disease crawled through a crowd, hoping, knowing, that Jesus could cure her. Indeed, there was not a doubt in her mind that Jesus would cure her. No, that’s not entirely true, I’m sure she had plenty of doubts, hundreds of doubts, thousands of upon thousands of doubts. Why, she was sick woman, he, a man, surrounded by men, many “bad things” could have happened. But that didn’t matter to her, the doubts were irrelevant, all that was important, all that could be focused on, was that she knew that Jesus would heal her.
When this happened to her, there were not yet gospels written about Jesus’ miraculous deeds, in fact, many of the deeds we think of had yet to happen. He was not looked at as a hero, with Broadway musicals, fiction books, and movies made about His life. The woman had no way to know that Jesus truly was the Son of God. All she knew was that he had helped people, and that by reaching out and touching Jesus and, in turn, having Him touch her, and by not being afraid of His reaction, she would be healed.
Unlike this woman, we have books, musicals, movies, songs, even billboards telling us of Jesus’ wonderful deeds, of His sacrifice, and of His presence. If that woman, who had none of this to rely on could still hope to reach out to Jesus, why can’t we? PAUSE
Why can’t we reach out, and truly be ready to have our lives be touched by Jesus Christ.
Let us pray:
O God, the source of all health: So fill our hearts with faith in your love, that with calm expectancy we may make room for your power to possess us, and gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
In nomine…
I’m sure you all remember being little, falling down, and having a mother, or another adult rub it and make whatever hurt “all better.” Or later, after being made fun of by the other kids, or after a pet died, seeking solace in the lap of a parent. Soon, when the world seemed uncomprehendable, dark, and much of the outside humanity seemed to attack, a boyfriend or girlfriend’s arms provided renewal and a reminder that someone understood. Or looking a newborn baby, gently touching its hand, and having it firmly grasp the hand, well finger, of whomever touched it, trusting it implicitly.
Touch, is, in many ways, a healer. It is a part of growing up, indeed, it is IMPOSSIBLE to grow up successfully if deprived of this simple but imperative gesture. This is clearly evident in children –for example: orphans raised in Romanian institutions. These children, deprived of touch, indeed, deprived of any attention and sensation whatsoever, left in cribs for years with nothing but the “physical essentials,” with no stimulation, often die at depressingly young ages. Those who live past babyhood may have been better off dead. They are often devoid of emotions and intelligent thought. Indeed, scientists have discovered that there is a very brief window of time for these to develop, so even if given a chance as young children, it is often too late for many of these necessary “skills” to develop. Their lives become vacant—are vacant, because no one – touched—them.
Many missionaries spend months traveling throughout Africa, using their precious time to travel from orphanage to orphanage, spending all their time doing nothing but holding babies and toddlers who have AIDS and other illnesses, to ensure that these children have some sort of chances.
Touch, when used sincerely and faithfully, is a significant comfort. Indeed, when someone is far away, the reminder of their touch can bring us comfort. Like when a relative signs a card “Hugs, Aunt Sylvia.” Or “Give yourself a pat on the back for me, Grand Pop.” These reminders bring us both a longing and a warmth. They make us feel special, and when we are sad, these reminders make us feel better, or at least, they try too.
But sometimes touch, real touch, truly can make you feel better, and at times, really make you better. Many parishes have services of healing, with the laying on of hands. As hands are laid upon the head, or shoulders of a person, and prayers are said, true healing, with God coming through the mediator or meadiators may take place, if they trust and pray faithfully.
This diocese, and many others, has an INCREDIBLE program for high school age youth called Happening. I have both attended this Youth Event and served on its staff. Over the course of the Happening weekend, numerous talks are given, and before and after every single talk, whether it be by a youth or a member of the clergy, the speaker is “prayed up” and “prayed down.”
By this, I mean a team of people stand around the speaker, with their hand gently upon the speakers head, arms, and back. They go around the circle, praying for numerous things, such as calm for the speaker, and for the listeners to take away a message from God. With everyone’s deep faith, it is a very powerful time. When I was “prayed up” before giving a talk at Happening, I could feel myself grow physically calmer, something that seldom happens before I have to speak before large groups. Through these friends, and fellow Christians, touching me, I could feel the Holy Spirit reaching and surrounding me.
Confirmations are a time when everyone gets touched. The Bishop lays his or her hands on the confirmand’s forehead, again, a person serving as an intermediary for God’s work.
Faith that the touch, when in the name of Jesus Christ, may heal, is almost as important as allowing the touch. You have to believe when you reach out to touch others, God’s belief is stronger than our unbelief.
In today’s gospel, a woman with a debilitating disease crawled through a crowd, hoping, knowing, that Jesus could cure her. Indeed, there was not a doubt in her mind that Jesus would cure her. No, that’s not entirely true, I’m sure she had plenty of doubts, hundreds of doubts, thousands of upon thousands of doubts. Why, she was sick woman, he, a man, surrounded by men, many “bad things” could have happened. But that didn’t matter to her, the doubts were irrelevant, all that was important, all that could be focused on, was that she knew that Jesus would heal her.
When this happened to her, there were not yet gospels written about Jesus’ miraculous deeds, in fact, many of the deeds we think of had yet to happen. He was not looked at as a hero, with Broadway musicals, fiction books, and movies made about His life. The woman had no way to know that Jesus truly was the Son of God. All she knew was that he had helped people, and that by reaching out and touching Jesus and, in turn, having Him touch her, and by not being afraid of His reaction, she would be healed.
Unlike this woman, we have books, musicals, movies, songs, even billboards telling us of Jesus’ wonderful deeds, of His sacrifice, and of His presence. If that woman, who had none of this to rely on could still hope to reach out to Jesus, why can’t we? PAUSE
Why can’t we reach out, and truly be ready to have our lives be touched by Jesus Christ.
Let us pray:
O God, the source of all health: So fill our hearts with faith in your love, that with calm expectancy we may make room for your power to possess us, and gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
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