The Collect and Gospel text for 4th Sunday of Advent, 20 December 2020

 The Collect        Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 1:26-38         In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Reflection        “Purify our conscience.” This is the work of Advent. This is also the work of Lent. In fact, this is the work of our lifetime; to prepare a room in the mansion of ourselves and welcome the light of Christ to be born again and reign through us. If that sounds like a tall order, it is. That is why we need a daily visitation with Almighty God. That is why today’s opening collect is worth praying every single day.

But what does it mean to purify our conscience? I believe it means cleaning out our proverbial attics and downsizing;  discarding our disappointments, annihilating our affronts, casting out complaints, releasing our losses, banishing blame,  shutting the door on shame,.  A daunting undertaking. No wonder we need a daily visitation with God to purify our conscience. 

Now let me be clear. Not everything we experience and store in our attic belongs in the incinerator. The process of purifying our conscience is meant to reform whatever prevents the innocence of our open, empty, receptivity. I hear you protest, “I am an adult. I have a long and patchy past. My innocence was lost when dad took the training wheels off my bike. As a matter of fact, it is probably a bad idea to be open, empty and receptive. Seems like a sure recipe to be exploited or abused.”

Let me clarify. I believe you are speaking of naive innocence. In the context of the purification of our conscience I refer to what I call “wizened innocence.” Please ponder with me the possibility of the open, empty, receptivity of wizened innocence one word at a time.  What does it mean to be open? It means to be honest, transparent and accessible. What does it mean to be empty? Humble, not full of our self. Being empty we are content, not envious or grasping for more. What does it mean to be receptive? It means being sensitive and open-minded, responsive to others and hospitable. To purify our conscience means to abolish whatever prevents us from being honest and transparent, humble and content, sensitive, open-minded and hospitable. It means purging whatever inhibits our wizened innocence. Why does this matter? Why should we bother?

We welcome this process of purification because the work of Advent, Lent and our entire lifetime is to prepare ourselves to be the hospitable mansion in which the Christ incarnates and through which the Christ Light reigns on earth. Here is the wrinkle.  The single greatest stumbling stone in our attic is fear. Fear of being open. “If I am honest and transparent people will see who I really am. I will not measure up and I will be rejected.” Fear of being empty. “ If I am empty I will have no sure footing, no safety net. I may be lacking and suffer.” Fear of being receptive. “If I am receptive I will be vulnerable,  influenced or deceived. People will take advantage of me.” 

Thanks be to God there is an antidote to fear. Every time Almighty God breaks through our conscience to prepare a human mansion in which to incarnate and through which to reign, an angel or prophet appears and proclaims, “Do not be afraid, Mary (Diann, John, Linda, Dave, Susan, Ron, Ken…)  do not be afraid.” 

Then God said (to Jacob), "I am God, the God of your father;  do not be afraid to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. (Gen 46.3)

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid.”(Jos 11:6)

Then the angel of the LORD said to Eli'jah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid.” (2Ki 1:15)

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid: Zechari'ah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. (Luk 1:13)

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid: Mary, for you have found favor with God. (Luk 1:30)

But the angel said to the women (at the tomb), "Do not be afraid: for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. (Mat 28:5)

Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid: go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (Mat 28:10)

God knows we are afraid AND we know that every time one of God’s people steps over fear to say “Yes, here I am… “ their fear is replaced with light that incarnates through them and reigns on the earth.  

Here is the punchline. We are all virgins until we abolish every obstacle, step over our fear and say, “Yes. Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then, with our consent in a baptism by fire, fear is incinerated as the Light of Christ finds in us a mansion in which to live and from which to reign. 

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Gospel Text for The First Sunday in Lent 1 March 2020

Matthew 4:1-11        Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ 

and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God, 

and serve only him.’”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Reflection      It is important to remember what was going on with Jesus just before he “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan river to be baptized by John. “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ “ (Matt 3.16-17)

One moment the Spirit of God descends on Jesus like a dove and the next thing we know the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. A voice from heaven declares Jesus is beloved and the next voice he hears is that of temptation. Is this not precisely the way it works in our lives? One moment we delight in the glory of God and the next we are tempted to appropriate God’s glory as our own. We witness an extravagant sunrise, take a picture and assure ourselves we are great photographers.  We enjoy a sumptuous meal then assume our culinary artistry. We move across the country, switch careers, decide to marry, divorce or buy a house then give ourselves badges for our bravery. We take stock of our treasure and measure our stock then award ourselves a ribbon for wisdom, wit and hard work. 

The question before us is, to which voice will we listen? Will we listen to the voice of the hungry and homeless and take our place among the angels as messengers from God offering food and shelter? Or will we succumb to the voice of power and privilege seducing us with insurance for safety and security?  Will we listen to the cries of the meek and modest and take our place among the angels to wipe away their tears? Or will we place our pride with the self-possessed, assured of our superiority? Will we listen to the voice of God and put our faith in the One who promises to be with us every step of the way? Or will we be preoccupied with the matter of objects and comforts, assigning our faith to that which we can accumulate? 

Lent invites us to act decisively in response to the promise of God’s presence with us and decide to which voice we will listen.  I can think of no better way to respond  than to open our minds and hearts, our whole beings to God, to act deliberately to make room for God’s presence to grow and to glow through us so that we may act effectively as messengers from God. Please consider these questions. 

Do you think your time is precious? 

Are you careful how you spend it?

Do you think it is worth three minutes of your time each day to make room for God with you?

Are you willing to take your place in the company of angels?

If you said, “Yes, yes, yes, yes” then I invite you to join me making room for God in our minds and hearts and whole beings by praying together for one minute three times every day using three brief prayers for morning, midday and evening from John McQuiston II’s book “Always We Being Again.”

A Morning Prayer 

Grace to us and peace. We are given this day, and awareness of its colors and sounds; these and other gifts, too numerous to name and infinitely rare, are received. For these gifts we are thankful. 

We do not know what this day wiII bring - life is the great enigma; life is the great good; we expect good from this day. At all times and at this time we participate in the great Mystery. We acknowledge our contingent nature. We humble ourselves before that which we do not understand. When we consider the vast reaches of the cosmos, the incomprehensible forces at work in each moment, the numberless stories of each life, the millions of forgotten ancestors who preceded us, the untold acts of kindness which occur each day, we humble ourselves. We keep silence. 

Help us to save ourselves by forgetting ourselves. In every experience and thought bring us into the certain knowledge that we are children of the infinite. Assist us to envision life as an opportunity to share in the creation of a caring environment open our mind's eye to the knowledge that if we give love, nothing in life nor in death, nor things to come, nor things past can separate us from the state of grace. Help us this day both to receive grace and to give it. 

We believe that we are children of the unlimited and that we are enveloped in an unbounded network of friendships, affiliations, and relationships which are in time and beyond time. We believe in the ancient message that adopting an attitude of faith and hope toward this life and all that it brings will profoundly alter our lives and our universe. 

In our activities this day we ask for the power to be continuously thankful, not only in our words, but in our hearts; to give up concern for ourselves and thus to walk in perfect freedom. May the vast mystery beyond comprehension fill us with the joy and peace and hope this day and always. We lift up our hearts. 

In Christ we pray. Amen 

A Mid Day Prayer

We give thanks for our existence; we recognize that we rely on forces beyond our understanding. We trust what this life brings: we trust ourselves, we trust our friends, we trust our families, we trust life, and we trust the universe. 

We release our past to the past, we release our future to the future, and we accept our present. We give up our cares and fears. 

We abandon our illusions of control. We acknowledge our complete dependence on providence. We relinquish our apprehension. We rely on that which we do not understand. We have faith. We have courage. 

Keep us from fear today. Open our hearts to the gifts of this moment and bind us to the great unknown through complete trust. Assist us in forming a loving image of the ultimate mystery, to have faith, and the courage to give ourselves hope. 

In Christ we pray. Amen

An Evening Prayer 

Incomprehensible, unrevealed spirit of all that exists, the means of all relationships we confess that we have closed ourselves off from the full joy of existence. We confess that we have failed to open ourselves to a relationship of radical and complete trust with every person and experience of this life. We confess that we have failed to love our experience of the Infinite in this life by loving our neighbors as ourselves, and thus, in thought, word and deed we have lost the way to the only true security and peace. 

Therefore we renew our effort to have a sympathetic relationship with every person, to live in faith that an unfathomable, magnificent nature expresses itself in every moment and in every experience of our fleeting passage here. 

We Confess that we have been afraid we have been restless, we have been unhappy, we have been wanderers, lost in a garden we could not see. We regret our weaknesses, and we seek a new beginning, so that we may truly live this life in the full promise of our time. 

We know that there is an enormous power inherent in each of us, at every moment in time, to experience the unbounded love and deep joy which is potentially our inheritance. We remind ourselves that our experience of the infinite, the hidden and hallowed power, is through our experience of this creation, and in our relationship with our fellow beings, and that we have been granted the faculty to change our universe by changing our relationship with it. 

This is the great gift we have been granted· the potential to experience all that comes to us in this life in complete confidence, love and joy; to have the courage and strength to put aside fear and despair, and to live each day in unquestioning trust in the divine providence which has brought us into being. 

We humbly acknowledge that despite the magnitude of our fault, and the number of our failings, the inexplicable drive of creation, the sacred spirit manifest in all that is, continuously sustains us, and allows us to begin again at any time, infused with the might from which we can never be separated. 

In Christ we pray. Amen 

Blessings for a Holy Lent.

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Gospel text for The Transfiguration, Sunday 23 February 2020

Matthew 17:1-9        Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

                  God's Grandeur 

        by Gerard Manley Hopkins

      Suggestion - please read Hopkins poem aloud.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Reflection    What is it you sense when you hear these words? Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear the shining of shook foil? Are you attuned to Divine Presence saturating and streaming through you and all that is? Do you allow yourself to be agog in silence when the grandeur of God like a cumulus cloud cloaks the mountaintop? Or do you join our friend Peter staking a tent to procure perpetuity? Perhaps pull out your cell phone camera to suspend the moment?

Pondering the story of Jesus and his three companions, Peter, James and John climbing to his sacred place and enveloped in the grandeur of God, something new occurs to me. Anglicanism, the Anglican Episcopal tradition, has everything to do with transfiguration because it has everything to do with experiencing the grandeur of God.

Let’s back up a little. What is Anglicanism? Much may be said about the history of the Anglican Tradition rising from the 16th century Protestant Reformation. We can talk about its unique posture simultaneously holding the Roman Catholic liturgical and Protestant evangelical customs and practices while  insisting that reason and experience also be brought to the theological table.  We can dive into the complicated nuances of Anglican Episcopal polity and politics, not today. But at the heart of all of that information I believe the Anglican Episcopal Tradition is aimed at one thing. Transfiguration. 

What do we mean by transfiguration? Returning to Hopkin’s poem, I believe transfiguration is seeing beyond the “smudge and smell of our bleared and smeared bodies.” It is feeling our bare toes dig into the sand, unearthing the “dearest freshness (of) deep down things.” 

What is the “dearest freshness of deep down things?” I believe it is the grandeur of God, the light of Christ flickering within us, our deepest true unconditioned selves longing to shine out like shook foil. The “dearest freshness of deep down things” is nothing less than our transfigured selves flaming out the grandeur of God.  

This Sunday marks the end of the season of Epiphany and the grand Epiphany is this. Jesus is glowing with the grandeur of God and we are meant likewise to flame out like shook foil because the light of the risen Christ promises to radiate the grandeur of God and transfigure each one of us. This is very good news. Here is the thing, the promise of the risen Christ demands our response. Grace is not cheap. It is up to us to moisten our seared skin and wash away the smudges that overshadow our true transfigured selves. This is the work of Lent which we will begin on Ash Wednesday and continue for forty day and forty nights.  

For today it is enough to bask in the grandeur of God “Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings” and we are “charged with the grandeur of God.” 

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Hebrew Testament reading for Sunday 9 March 2014

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7        The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Reflection        Here is the biggest, boldest, most outrageous lie ever told to humanity. “You will not die…” That’s what the serpent said to the woman in the garden when tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit. It is a lie that set humanity on the course of denying, resisting and refusing death. It has not served us well.

Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months. 22 million ‘hits’ came up in 35 seconds when I typed anti-aging into my computer’s browser. At the bottom of the recession in 2009, Americans spent $10 billion on cosmetic procedures.  Models’ careers end at “28 if they are lucky, 21 if they don’t age well.”  Every form of media markets youth, vitality, agility and would have us deny the inevitable degeneration of our bodies and our minds. Culture would have us buy the serpent’s lie… “You will not die if you buy my stuff.”

But, for at least one day each year we Christians refuse to be bamboozled. Across the globe on Ash Wednesday priests dip their thumbs in ashes, smear crosses on our foreheads while saying, “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” In other words, you are going to die. It doesn’t matter what fruit you juice, what supplements you take, what extreme medical procedures you undergo, you are going to die.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time for calling our the serpent and admitting the lies we tell ourselves. “I cannot help if when I lose my temper, when I judge and speak ill of others, when I take the extra drink, eat when I am not hungry or shop compulsively. I am not good enough to deserve your love, to deserve God’s love. I don’t need help. I can handle this myself. I am not going to change. I am not going to allow things to change around me. I am in control.” These are lies that we tell ourselves. Lies that we tell ourselves to boost our sense of safety and security, to enhance our self image and self esteem, to amplify our feelings of power and control. 

But instead of saving our lives, the lies cause us to fall out of relationship with God, but only until we expose the serpent and purge our lies. This is the hard work of Lent; admitting the lies we tell ourselves and dying a thousand humiliations as we walk through Lent in the hope of the resurrection life of Easter. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 16 February 2014

Matthew 5:21-37        Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

"It was also said, `Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Reflection     Thousands of years before Roe versus Wade and the social political conversations about a persons “right” to choose,’the Jewish scribe Eliezer ben Sira of Jerusalem wrote the wisdom teachings known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Sirach in which he made clear, it is a person’s “obligation” to choose. “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. (God) has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose. Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” (Eccl  15.15-20)

It is more than a right. It is our obligation to choose. Do we choose a life driven by externals, by splashes of righteousness and enslavement to the letter of the law? Or do we choose a life upheld by the interior presence of God with us? Do we choose a life consumed by lust for food, drink or sex? Or do we choose a life nourished in the wisdom of God and God’s messengers? Do we choose a life possessed by desire for security, attention, affection or power? Or do we choose a life free to give away the gifts that have been given to us?

Jesus is upping the ante by instructing the disciples and us to choose the more difficult way, the way of knowing our selves and making conscious choices to live our lives in integrity with God’s economy. When we come to church on Sunday our prayers asking God to forgive the “things we have done and the things we have left undone” and our generous plate offerings are not enough if we “harbor anger, jealousy, bitterness, hostility, infidelity or any kind of ill will toward another person.” Jesus tells us, it is what’s inside that counts.  

Coming to worship, asking God to forgive us for our desecrating feelings is not enough. We must choose to grow in self awareness, and this is really hard. It is hard because of who we really are. 

In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, (I paraphrase) “God created humankind in God’s image… male and female God created them.” (Gen 1.27) This is an outrageous claim that carries with it enormous responsibility. Let me be crystal clear, we are not god, we are godlike. Created in the image and likeness of God, Imago Dei, we are a shadow or  snapshot of God. We are imbued with godlike qualities. The question is, are we choosing to allow our godlike qualities to show? That is the heart of self-awareness and the fruit of conscious choice.

Two questions I choose to reflect during the upcoming Lenten season are; What are my unique godlike qualities? What choices can I make to allow them to show? We are obliged to choose.

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Gospel Text for Sunday, 4 March 2012

Mark 8:31-38 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."