Gospel text for Sunday 18 September 2022

John 16.16-20        “A little while, and you all will not see me, and another little while, and you all will see me.” Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me; and ‘Because I am going to the Creator’?” They said, “What does he mean by this ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you all discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you all will see me’? Very truly, I tell you all that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you all will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has pain because her time has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the tribulation because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you all have pain now; but I will see you all again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” 

Reflection        Once again Jesus’ disciples are beside them selves and say to one another, “What does this mean that (Jesus) is saying to us, ‘A little while, and you all will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me…?”  They act as if this is the first time they heard the message of going and coming. The thing is, throughout much of the gospel according to John, Jesus has been preparing the disciples for his going away and coming again. 

Let us take a deep dive into the text. The disciples are reclining after their final Passover Supper with Jesus. Realizing his imminent departure and betrayal, the air is foul with foreboding as we listen to Jesus reassure the disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled… I go to prepare a place for you… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am there you may be also.” (14.1-3)  There it is. The going and the coming. 

Jesus continues to assure the disciples and us that even though he is going we will not be abandoned. “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth.” (14.16-17) “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (14.25-26) leaving

Jesus’ counsel is unambiguous.  “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you… “  Going and coming belong together.  Going creates the spaciousness into which the Spirit comes. “When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth… he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (16.7, 13.14)  In other words, nothing will be lost to the disciples when Jesus physically departs because they will participate in the mediating agency of the Spirit, the same Spirit of truth that informs Jesus, the same Spirit that informs all of us.  

One of the concerns of the unidentified writer of the Gospel according to John is conveying  the Trinitarian nature of God. There is every chance this is an effort to distinguish the new Christian teachings from the teachings of the Synagogue. The gospel explicitly names the disciples and all of us as participants in the Holy Trinity, effectual members of the Community of God.  Jesus puts it this way,  “I and the Father are one…(10.30)  The one who believes will also do the works that I do, and, in fact, will do greater works than these.(14.12) ) because the Advocate, the Spirit of truth… abides with you and he will be in you.” (14.17) Immediately before being betrayed and arrested Jesus prays for the disciples, “As you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us…” (17.20) Trinity.

We are intimate participants in the Community of Trinity, the Community of God. When we no longer see one another in the physical realm we remain connected by the Spirit’s mediating action of coming and going. It is in and of, with and through community in Trinity that the will, the ways and the works of God are embodied and expressed. The strength and creativity of Father Mother God moves through the agency of the mediating Spirit in intimate and compassionate relationship with all of us “to do even greater works” than Jesus has done. 

This is why Jesus advises the disciples and us,  “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you… When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own...  because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.(16.7, 13-15) We are full participants in the Trinity.

The physical presence of Jesus must go away for the mediating agency of the Spirit to be experienced by us. All the good, grace and generosity we witness in the physical life and ministry of Jesus takes root and residence within us through the agency of the Spirit. Let me be crystal clear. This in no way intends to privilege the spiritual over the physical. The very fact of incarnation, the living Spirit of God embodied in human flesh, sets that misapprehension to rest. Jesus reveals to us the way of being fully human, of consenting to the  living, breathing, healing and redeeming agency of the Spirit made revealed through him in the Community of Trinity. Through the agency of the same Spirit we are meant to be likewise.

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Christian Testament text for Sunday 29 May 2022

 Acts 16:16-34        With Paul and Silas, we came to Philippi in Macedonia, a Roman colony, and, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Reflection       Shhhhh. Be quiet. Do not bother me with your prophecy. Slaves and children are to be seen and not heard. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Do not rock the boat. Who do you think you are, speaking of such things?

We have all been silenced and, perhaps in some situations, appropriately. Still, there are so many occasions  when shooshing imprisons, rejects, excludes, overrides, devalues, bullies or denies us. And when shooshing reaches a tipping point we may even start shooshing ourselves; shrinking to invisibility, disowning our inherent goodness and worth. I believe shooshing is the almost perfect crime.

There is much irony in the Acts text.  Full of  himself the Apostle Paul fails to recognize the  veracity of the slave girl’s assertion that he and Silas are men of God offering freedom to the people. The girl recognizes and affirms the Spirit of God at work in the lives of Paul and his friend Silas but rather than welcome her astute perception, Paul misuses his power to bully and silence her. 

The slave girl’s owners are equally nearsighted as they fail to recognize the veracity of Paul and Silas’ liberating message. With a failure of perception and foregoing deliberation the slave owners act swiftly to silence Silas and Paul. As it turns out, it is only the slave girl (the least valued among them) who recognizes and proclaims the Spirit of God at work in the world.  

Being pathetically oblivious Paul shooshes the slave girl. “Stop talking. Stop following us.” Likewise, the myopic slave owners violently shoosh Paul and Silas by beating them and locking them in prison. And there we have it. Silenced people are imprisoned. Whether silenced by custom, threat or shackles, silenced people are not free to tell their stories. When we are not free to tell our stories we cannot claim our place as valued members of the community. The almost perfect crime is committed when we are not free to share the story of how the Spirit of God is at work in our lives.

The sixteenth century Spanish nun Teresa of Avila dares to challenge the Church by sharing  stories of her direct experience with God in seven books, more than five hundred letters and reams of poetry. Alarmed by Teresa’s bold assertions of intimacy with God the bishops and priests who position themselves as essential mediators between God and humankind destroy hundreds of Teresa’s letters and poems as well as many of her books.

In the early 2000s the Roman Catholic Pope Benedict issued the Jesuit School of Theology  an extensive list of books banned from Catholic seminaries as well as accompanying orders for their writers to be sent to obscure posts where they can have little or no influence.  Benedict aims to silence voices  that recognize an essential attribute of God is to affect and be affected in and of, with and through all people and the world. Benedict’s  interest is in securing God on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, well out of reach of unworthy folks such as me, you or a slave girl.

Five hundred years ago or today, keepers of the status quo are masters of the almost perfect crime, shooshing. But to remain silent when shooshed is to be complicit and frankly, the Spirit of God refuses to be imprisoned by custom, threat or shackles. 

So, St. Teresa kept putting her quill to cotton and became quite crafty disguising her experiences of God by minimizing herself and writing in the third person. In spite of the fact that the Church and men in power vehemently opposed her, Teresa founded seventeen Carmelite convents and monasteries, fostering the work of God's Spirit for all time.

Fast forward to my  twenty first century seminary classroom. After conspicuously pointing to the book titles listed on the whiteboard and audibly asserting that they are banned, my Jesuit Systematic Theology professor walks to the classroom door, closes it, nods toward the list of banned books and says, “We will read them.”

Finding courage in the Spirit of God with her, St. Teresa refuses to be shooshed. Relying on his experience of finding God in all things, my theology professor refuses to be shooshed. Singing and praying in prison, Paul and Silas refuse to be whooshed. The Spirit of God with us refuses to be shooshed by custom, threat or shackles. 

l believe the almost perfect crime in the Christian (or any) tradition is allowing our stories of how God is real for us to be shooshed and replaced with institutional dictates prescribing what we should believe.  When we bend before dogma and doctrine rather than defend our experience of God with us, we are complicit in securing God on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, well out of reach of folks such as me, you or a slave girl, complicit in the almost perfect crime.

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday the 15th of May, 2022

 Acts 11:1-18        Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, `Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, `By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time the voice answered from heaven, `What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 

At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, `Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, `John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

Reflection        How many times do you walk into a wall before you turn around and look for a doorway? If you are me the answer would be, three, at least. There is the first time, “Ouch, what is that wall doing here?” Second time, “That wall is still here?” Third time,  “Alright. I give up. This is getting me nowhere. I better turn around and find a doorway. “

Perhaps that is why three times Peter bumps into his God given sheet full of “four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air” before he turns around and finds a doorway into a new reality, a reality in which nothing is profane or unclean, not beasts of prey nor reptiles, not lepers nor gentiles, because `What God has made clean, (we) must not call profane. There is no distinction between them and us.” But this new reality is as hard to swallow as lizards. No wonder Peter must bump into it three times!

Even when we intellectually agree that “What God has made we must not call profane,” still we dig our heels into dirt when the Spirit instructs us  “to go with (Peter and a group of foreigners who are not one of us) and make no distinction between them and us.” What? Immediately I walk into another wall as my mind  skips somersaults around the strangers. Are they taller or smaller? trustworthy or fraudulent? deserving or corrupt? conservatives or liberals? citizen or alien? And even when I manage to zipper my mouth to conceal my contempt, my leaping mind recoils, “By no means Lord, I do not associate with those people.” 

Then the Spirit breathes the breath of God on the tall and small, trustworthy and fraudulent, deserving and corrupt, the conservative and liberal, the citizen and alien. Smack. There is that wall again. Nothing and no one is left out? Nothing and no one is undeserving? Nothing and no one is profane?

Breathing the breath of God on Jews and Gentiles, male and female, slave and free, straight and gay, old and young, righteous and sinner, conservative and liberal, citizen and alien, and every one of this motley crew we call humankind, it seems the Spirit of God has no prejudice. Everything that lives and breathes and finds its being in the interconnected web of all that is comes to life by the One breath of the One God. No one and nothing is profane. 

Be assured, this is not carte blanc, anything goes get out of jail free. The demand for value and respect for every breathing being is ontological, in other words, it has to do with the  fundamental nature of being, the essence of existence in which all breathing beings participate. 

This ontological reality is distinct from individual beings’ particular behavioral reality. I experienced this in spades while designing and overseeing a treatment program for Native American youth between the ages of thirteen and twenty-two who were adjudicated for sex offenses. It did not take long to realize several things;  the offending behavior of these boys was a recapitulation of behavior offended against them, the boys were consistently treated as if they were their behavior, not only labeled sex offenders but also identifying them selves as such and consequently experiencing them selves as having no ontological value. 

Four dimensions for a treatment program emerged; in their own time and own way each participant would admit their offending behavior to their program group, receive feedback from peers and staff that their behavior was unacceptable and they are good and valuable beings. The tipping point in their  healing was when a participant could affirm, “I am good and worthy. What I did was wrong. What _____ did to me was wrong and I am a good person. I deserve respect and will treat others with respect” the process of restoring their place with their family and community began. 

The very nature of our existence demands value of and respect for our essential being. “What God has made clean we must not call profane.”  We must not dishonor, disparage, disgrace or make distinctions between us and them. Rather, we are meant to appreciate, acclaim and approve the fundamental value of every breathing being, including our selves.  

A woman whom I will call Espera was born in San Pedro Sula in Honduras, a city distinguished as the "murder capital of the world.” Espera’s husband was murdered. She has two sons and a babe in arms. Her eldest son, thirteen years old,  is approached by the cartel, enticing him with drugs to earn money for his desperate mother. Knowing her son will be swept into this web of violence and addiction,  Espera starts walking north from San Pedro, hoping against hope to find asylum in the US. Along the way she finds a marginal sense of safety traveling with others evading treats and stumbling toward hope. In a heart wrenching moment Espera says good bye to her sons as she sends then across the southern US border. She has broken her heart, broken the law and sent her sons to break the law as well.

In legal terms it is just to condemn Espera’s behavior, but how are we to respond to the ontological terms presented in Peter’s three times encounter with God? “Do not make a distinction between them and us?”

I offer no simple answer to this dilemma. There are laws devised by humankind and there are laws delivered by the Spirit of God. Both have value and both have their place. This is what I believe.  It is incumbent upon each of us to hold these laws together, to draw our heads into our heart and listen for the sure and certain direction of the windy Spirit of God because with Peter we must ask ourselves, “Who am I that I could hinder God?” 

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Gospel text for the Third Sunday of Advent 16 December 2018

Luke 3.7-18        John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Reflection        In theory the prophet’s counsel sounds good… ”Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” But when it comes to actually putting his words into action, we look into our closets and cringe. Like Paul we must confess, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.” (Ro 7.19)  But this is not all bad news. 

As soon as we stumble over some block within us that prevents us from being and doing the greater good, as soon as we bump into a wall that bars us from being in right relationship with one another and God, that cringing, unsettling sense within tells us, we have stumbled onto something important. 

What is it that we have stumbled onto? The very obstacles that keep us from being and doing the greater good. In my case the mountain of bumps is mostly made of thoughts; “But I wear most of my coats. Why should I have to do this? I have always taken care of myself.  What if I don’t have enough? What if my family has a disaster? What if the economy goes south? Doesn’t God help those who help themselves? Compared to other people I don’t have that much. I have already given at the office. Oh, what should I do?” Please feel free to add your own.  

Hearing the prophet's answer to our question, “What then should we do?” our hearts sink into our stomachs, our shoulders hug our ears and we can barely swallow. In this vexing moment we are toe to toe with our stumbling blocks.  “What if we come upon hard times? Should we really give away the resources our loved ones should inherit? How do we know what is enough? Why should I give to someone who has not worked like I have? What will people think if I stop striving to acquire more money, power or position?”  But alas, these questions miss the mark. 

We do not begin with a question of what we do outside. We begin with a question of who we are inside. You see, John the Baptizer is calling our ancestors and us to repent. It is no less than a moral change to turn around and live our lives from the inside out, in accord with who we really are. This is what John is pointing to when he says, “the one who is to come (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”Here is the thing, the Holy Spirit is already breathed like fire into every one of us. We are already the beneficiaries of God’s Spirit with us.

The Holy Spirit of God with us is like the refiner’s fire; it burns away the impurities, the obstacles, whatever prevents us from being our true selves. It is the fiery Spirit of God with us that transforms our stumbling blocks into courage to live beyond the box of our self-centered concerns. It is the fiery Spirit of God with us that ignites our desire to be and to do all that we do for the Greater Glory of God.

The question is not, “How many coats do you have in your closet and how many should you give away?” The question is,  “How will you live from the inside out for the greater glory of God? 

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Gospel text for Sunday 25 November 2018

John 18:33-37        Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Reflection        Power from above. Power from within. Power exercising violence and promoting fear. Power exercising compassion and promoting faith. Power over. Power with. Pilate and Jesus come from and stand in distinctly different kingdoms. It is no wonder they make no sense to each other, answering questions with questions and leaving us wrestling with words much as pundits wrangle with political positions.

I believe Jesus would roll his eyes, shrug his shoulders and walk away in frustration if he googled the lectionary texts for today and read, “Last Sunday After Pentecost, Christ the King.” Can you hear him sighing, “Two thousand years later and they still want to dress me up in regal robes and weigh me down with an Imperial Crown.  My kingdom is not from this world.”

Which begs another question, “What is a kingdom?” A kingdom is a grouping of individual life forms that share fundamental characteristics in common. We learned that in middle school science. There are five biological kingdoms; animals, plants, fungi, and protozoa and eucaryotic algea. Which begs the next question, “What are the fundamental characteristics that distinguish Jesus’ kingdom from Pilate’s?”

Jesus’ kingdom is  founded in the Law of Moses that provides five instructions for how people are  to relate with God and five more directions for how they are to treat one another; the Ten Commandments.  Jesus refines Moses’ Law in his famous sermon on the upside down beatitudes which proscribe preferential treatment to the most vulnerable; the poor, the meek, the mourning, the hungry, the merciful, the good hearted, the peacemakers and those persecuted for being good hearted. (Matt 5.3-10)

When we imagine Jesus’ kind of kingdom, we must admit it does not sound like any kingdom from here today. Anyone who calls him or herself king today would be flanked by body guards, riding in a black bulletproof SUV to an exclusive state dinner, which would be out of this world in only one way, ninety nine percent of the people would not be invited. 

The single-most distinguishing quality of Jesus’ kingdom is the gift of the Spirit of God risen in us all. Jesus, the Christ, governs within us, not over us. This stands in stark contrast to the conventional role of king, ruler or  sovereign like Pilate who claims ultimate authority over the people. But Jesus ministry is all about freeing and empowering the people, restoring the least, the lost and the lonely to wellness so they can fully and freely participate in their community. Everyone counts. Everyone votes because the Spirit of God is with everyone. 

Truly, Jesus’ kingdom is not from this world because if it were we would be fighting to prove his power over others. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 11 February 2018

Mark 9:2-9        Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Reflection       When Peter witnesses the dazzling Presence of the Spirit of God and the prophets Moses and Elijah with Jesus, Peter wants to keep the Spirit with him and so suggests “let us make three dwellings.”  Here is the thing, along with countless theologians I have preached a fair few sermons chastising Peter for trying to cling to Jesus and the dead prophets by securing them in dwelling places. I have berated Peter’s notion of making an earthy dwelling for the Spirit of God as if the spiritualization of matter was not a good thing.

Here is another perspective. The Episcopal priest, teacher of our Christian Wisdom tradition and author of numerous books on contemplative theology and practice, Cynthia Bourgeault puts it this way.  “If the heart is awake and clear, it can directly receive, radiate, and reflect the unmanifest divine Reality.”*  Sounds like we (matter) are intended to be a dwelling place for Spirit. 

When we choose to turn toward God, our lives are transfigured which basically means any barriers or false notions of separation between God and us melt away. The dark cloud of unconsciousness recedes as we wake up to the truth of our being, that like the exemplar Jesus, we are aflame in the Spirit of God with us. We are both human and divine.

In order to “be” all we are intended, we must receive our full inheritance and radiate Divine fire in the way we choose to live our lives. I believe when Peter protested, “Let us make three dwellings, one for (Jesus), one for Moses and one for Elijah,” he was expressing in concrete terms a deeper spiritual wisdom and longing to “receive, radiate and reflect the unmanifest divine Reality.”

Christian life is a both-and process; receiving and radiating the Spirit of God. When we consent to our full inheritance as both human and divine beings, (which means no more justifying our less than Divine behavior professing, “I am only human,”) we wake up, fully alive and cannot help but radiate the dazzling glory of God with us. 

* Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming an Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart (Jossey-Bass: 2003), 33-35.

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Gospel text for Sunday 17 December 2017

 John 1:6-8,19-28        There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Reflection     Let’s leap to the bottom line message of the text. God is born and revealed in humankind. The thing is, we would rather not hear this news because with it comes too much responsibility. We want a Messiah, a Savior, a super hero, someone else meant to do the heavy lifting of making the world a better place. We want a God of mythic proportions to break into space and set our world straight. A well timed, medium size apocalypse would be great. But, alas and alack, that is not our story. Ours is a story of baptism.

Please look with me into  the glassy still water of an alpine lake or the unruffled surface of a pool.  What do you see? Yourself. Your reflection looking back at you. Let me suggest a nuanced way to consider baptism. What if John, a man send from God, is leading people, all people including us to look into the water of our baptism and ask ourselves, “What do we see?”

By our baptism we see who we really are. Sisters and brothers in the family of God, One people, without division. Members of One body, the bearers of the Kingdom of God on earth. In our baptism by water we see that which we seek is already right here. In that glittering recognition we claim our inheritance, the Spirit of God, the One that comes after, the Christ born again, and again in each of our hearts. God is born and revealed in humankind. This is our baptism by water and the Spirit.

The question the priests and Levites from Jerusalem pose to John, “Who are you?” is the very question we must ask ourselves. “Who are we?” If we say we are Christians, what does that mean? Are we the continuing revelation of God’s light bringing hope to all people? Are we purveyors of God’s peace, working to dislodge discord and repay hatred with friendship? Are we curators of God’s love, redressing animosity and neglect with tenderness and respect? Are we human epiphanies of God’s joy, delivering comfort and cheer in the face of suffering and sorrow? Are we fulfilling our baptism by water and the Spirit by being bearers of hope for this troubled world of ours? How are we showing the world that God is born and revealed in humankind?

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Gospel Text for Sunday 31 May 2015

John 3:1-17        There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Reflection   “Are you a teacher, yet you do not understand these things?” Of course not. As a traditional teacher Nicodemus is listening to Jesus with the ears of his mind and is seeking a sensible, rational, fleshy explanation of Jesus’ words. That is why the story reports, Nicodemus “came to Jesus by night.” Nicodemus was in the dark. But Jesus is inviting Nicodemus  to open his ears to receive the words of the Spirit, the Vital Spark, the incomprehensible Essence of Life. Jesus is inviting Nicodemus into the light of consciousness expanded beyond the limits of physical life (being born of water) to experience consciousness of spiritual life (being born again of the Spirit). 

At this point in the Jesus narrative Nicodemus’ mind is occupied with the myriad things of the known world. He understands Jesus’ words literally rather than as fingers pointing beyond themselves to the unborn, undying, incomprehensible Unity of All that Is. 

And Jesus says, “Do not be astonished.” Can you almost hear Jesus elaborating? “You are so much more than what your senses perceive. Don’t you see, your good sense and sound judgment will not avail you of the Spirit of Truth? You will not recognize the Presence of God with you if you rely exclusively on your faculties of sense and reason. “You hear the sound of the wind, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” So it is with the Spirit, you experience its effects even though you cannot grasp it with your mind. ”

Jesus is pointing to the Mystery of Eternal life in which we all participate through the Spirit within. By opening our minds to the Mystery within we begin to experience the Mystery Beyond. This is the gateway of Eternal Life. This is being born again of the Spirit. This is participating in the mutual indwelling of the Holy Trinity. 

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Gospel text for Sunday, 29 May 2012

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Jesus said to his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But, now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Missing posts & the "text" of life ...

Dear friends,

If you have noticed a lapse in my commenting and posting of Gospel texts the last two weeks- you are spot on. I was called to a family emergency which I am very grateful to report is resolving in healing and hope.

Looking over the text of my life these past eleven days I notice an amazing amount of grace in the midst of serious trauma and upheaval. It makes me think of our June 20th text. Jesus, the harbinger of peace and love and light showed up on the scene of what can only be described as utter chaos and suffering. Remember how Jesus arrived in the country of the Gerasenes and found the man who was tormented by a legion of spirits, whose life was so utterly out of control that he was exiled from his community? Did you notice that Jesus did not turn away from him even though in doing so he broke every social convention? Jesus looked straight at the suffering and named the demons that tormented the man. And in ways that are more mysterious than I can begin to fathom, in the power of the Spirit, the demons came out of the man, and were replaced by peace and calm.

It occurs to me that one way in which we may encounter Jesus' Holy Spirit is by looking straight at the suffering around us and engaging it. These past eleven days I witnessed my daughter and her husband be overwhelmed by trauma, look straight into it's face and engage it. With the support of faithful people, compassionate professionals and the grace of the ever present Spirit of our Lord, peace and healing were called out of the chaos.

May we all have the courage to look into the face of suffering and recognize therein the grace of the Spirit. Debra