Gospel text for Sunday 25 September 2022

  Matthew 5:21-26            Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be subject to judgment.’ But I say to you all that if you are angry with a sister or brother, you will be liable to judgment, and if you call a sister or brother an idiot, you will be subject to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be subject to the hell of fire.  Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and you remember that your sister or brother has something against you,  leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your sister or brother, and then come and offer your gift.  Come to favorable terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way with them or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the court officer, and you will be thrown into prison.  Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Reflection        I have never been particularly interested in the Royals. I have never had a favorite movie star nor been enamored by any politician. The way I figure, those folks give themselves enough adulation, they do not need mine. Still, somehow Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II captures my mind and my heart. 

Jew, Baha’i, Jain, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Interfaith, Muslim; this procession of religious representatives led clergy of the Churches of the British Commonwealth into Windsor Cathedral for the Funeral of Her Majesty the Queen. The message resounds as ninety-six peals of the Great Bell Big Ben bring England and the world to silence for two heartrending moments. All the people are with their vast array of cultural and faith traditions, personal opinions, preferences and politics, all the people are welcome in this place.

Being a woman of profound faith and having the world’s best liturgists at hand, long before her death Elizabeth meticulously designed the funeral liturgy to walk her family, the Commonwealth and the world through a moment of great transition with our feet marching on firm ground and our hearts grounded in deep faith. 

At the ripe young age of twenty-five years Elizabeth received the crown of her station and two essential symbols of the Monarchy, the sceptre and the orb. At the apex of her coronation the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the sceptre in Elizabeth’s left hand  as a symbol of her earthly power and authority to govern saying,  “Receive the rod of Equity and Mercy. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; so execute justice that you forget not mercy. Punish the wicked, protect and cherish the just, and lead your people in the way wherein they should go.”

The Archbishop then placed the golden orb, a cross above a globe, in Elizabeths’ right hand instructing, “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer,” a gleaming reminder that Elizabeth’s earthly power and position to govern on earth is subordinate to the power God. 

In my mind I see Elizabeth standing on the globe, mercifully exercising her governance with feet firmly planted on the ground. I simultaneously see her sitting at the foot of the cross, humbly finding her authority and direction in the ground of her wholehearted relationship with God. In the grace of God Elizabeth held a vision holy enough to accommodate fifty four member countries, from the impoverished Mozambique to wealthy Singapore. Which begs the question, “How on earth could she possibly do so, and not only do so but at the time of her death evoke world wide mourning and incomparable commendation?”

I believe the answer sparks from the illustrious  orb that Elizabeth held literally and metaphorically in her right hand until her coffin became its anchor. For seventy years Elizabeth subordinated her personal preferences, opinions and politics to the authority of God’s power and presence exercised with mercy for the common good. Was she perfect? No. But, morally Elizabeth was unimpeachable. 

In the Gospel text according to Matthew we listen as Jesus holds the disciples and us to a high order of moral conduct. Jesus insists it is not enough  not to kill our neighbor, not to slander our neighbor, not to incite fear in our neighbor, not even to be angry with our neighbor or call our neighbor a fool. Do not even think about it!  Judgment is the purview of God and God alone. Mercy is the means of commerce on earth.The rod of earthly authority is held with mercy. Elizabeth heard and heeded this counsel. Calm, dignified and unswerving in her faith, Elizabeth reigned with equanimity.

I believe every single one of us would do well to hold in our right hand the luminous globe with the cross above it, and take to heart the Archbishop’s words: “Receive this orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.” Elizabeth never lost sight of her place, sitting at the foot of the cross with her feet firmly planted on earth, exercising earthly rule empowered by her humble relationship with God.  

Following an extraordinary forty-five hundred person military procession from Westminster Cathedral to St. George’s Chapel, the symbols of Elizabeth’s power are removed from her coffin and placed on the high altar, the site of their source and sustenance. When the Choir of St. George’s Chapel put wind in the words of the great Anglican poet John Donne’s poetry, there was no question. All power is the purview of the One, Holy God.  

“Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitation of they glory and dominion, world without end.”  

Elizabeth’s was an uncomplicated and profound faith which gave her the courage to face the incomprehensible call on her life, executing justice with mercy for the 2.4 billion people of the Commonwealth and stunning the world. Dear people of God, it is time for us to receive the orb beneath the cross and remember that all of our earthly power and position is subordinate to the power of God. 

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Preamble to the US Constitution text for Sunday 10 January 2020

PREAMBLE

to the United States Constitution

Signed in convention September 17, 1787. 

Ratified June 21, 1788

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Reflection        Every week from the pulpit I issue a call to action aimed at what is right. Last week it was, “From time to time throughout each day pause and say, ‘How awesome is this place. How awesome this moment,’ then experience how that feels in your body.” Ever since my early career days as a clinical researcher I have lived and worked according to the ethic, “Never ask people to do something that I have not done or am not willing to do.”

My daily practice declaring “How awesome is this place. How awesome this moment,” proved rather satisfying until Wednesday around noon when I left my office to walk through the sanctuary heading to the kitchen to heat some wild mushroom soup for lunch. Rapt in a clamor of chaos and confusion I discover two of our Christ Ship Enterprise team members, Paul and Dale, with eyes glued to their new AV computer screen, ladders abandoned and wires for the cameras they were installing dangling from the ceiling. 

Like a moth drawn to a flame I move to see what is so captivating. The first image that assaults me is of someone with a long pole like object smashing a window and people pushing others through it, the image cuts to a man in black hanging by one hand from the side of a wall, then cut to an interior scene of men in suits crouching with guns aimed through a decorative window. “What is this?” I ask. Wide eyed and incredulous Paul replies, “It is the Capitol, the Capitol building. Rioters have invaded it. The Vice President and congress are being evacuated under armed guard.” Along with my eyes the camera lens widens to encompass a storming sea of people ramming their way into the building. Hot tears cut a river across my cheek. 

“How awesome is this place? How awesome this moment?” Looking toward the altar I shake my heart at God. “How can this be? How can this be happening? How can I say, “How awesome is this place? How awesome this moment?” Where are You God?” Heartsick and nauseated I retreat to my office. But work as usual eludes me. Even my trusted antidote to whatever ails me, walking four-legged Mojo along the Way of the Cross, fails me. 

Although I can mutter the words, “How awesome is this place. How awesome this moment,” like stale bread I have been exposed to too much heat and have become hardened. Steeped in images of smashed windows, fear and furious faces, I have no feel for the awesome; beautiful, magnificent or grand. 

Hours later listening to the radio I hear someone say, “We are better than this.” But I say, “No. What we see are the consequences of our hardened hearts and brutish behaviors. We, the people of these relatively young United States have not yet grown into our dream of “establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” In our races to win, our grabs for power, our adulation of celebrity we have  forgotten our responsibility for the commonwealth and common good. We have lost sight of the audacious dream defined in the Preamble to our Constitution, a dream that we as Christians understand to be aligned in the will of God. 

It is time for every single one of us to look into the mirror and admit we are responsible for the anger, alienation and atrocities provoked by our actions and inaction. We, the people of God, are meant to live for something greater than our personal rights and well being. We are meant to live with and for each other in a just and orderly nation aligned in the will of God.

Now, looking at footage of the Wednesday siege of the United States Capitol building we can say, “How awesome is this place. How awesome this moment,” because we remember that awesome also means alarming, dreadful and horrifying.  And we, the people of God, the people of this young country, must stand up and face the alarming, dreadful and horrifying consequences of forgetting to care for our commonwealth and common good.  Yes God, there you are clamoring up the steps of the US Capitol building, hiding behind a chair on the US Senate floor, shouting obscenities and whispering prayer. Yes God, there you are exposing all the peoples fear.

It is time to take responsibility for our missteps as well as the unintended consequences of our triumphs. It is time to move beyond blame and shame and aspire to our country’s audacious dream of “establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” 

Perhaps you will join me living according to the premise“Never ask people to do something that you have not done or are not willing to do. Never ask people to live in a way you have not lived or are not willing to live.”

      Be sure to listen to "The Prayer"  - a bit of medicine for our souls - click on upper right link. 

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Hebrew Testament & Gospel texts for Sunday 4 October 2020

 

Isaiah 5:1-7

Let me sing for my beloved

my love-song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

he expected it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem

and people of Judah,

judge between me

and my vineyard.

What more was there to do for my vineyard

that I have not done in it?

When I expected it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

he expected justice,

but saw bloodshed;

righteousness,

but heard a cry!

Matthew 21:33-46

Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Reflection        In the beginning God created heaven and earth, light and dark, water and dry land, every creature and living thing, capped off creation with human kind then blessed and charged man and woman to, ’Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over. (all creatures and creation) …’ And it was so.God saw everything that (God) had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Gen 1.28-31) In God’s economy everything and everyone is taken care of, except, that does not seem to be the picture today.

Time and time again we get tangled in dried grapevines, trip out of the garden, fall face first into the dirt because we presume to be what we are not. Because we presume to be the purveyors of power and privilege (the proverbial landowners) rather than the benefactors of blessing, blessing given whether we deserve it or not. Recall the parable of workers paid equally whether they worked all day or only for one hour? (Matt 20.1-16) This tale annoys lots of folk because the landowner pays people who work one hour the same salary as people who work ten. Why?  Because in God’s economy the issue is not what we earn or what we deserve. God’s is a blessing economy run on generosity and justice.

The way we participate in God’s blessing is not by presuming to be its originators. We, the people of God are meant to be the living breathing vessels through which God’s blessings flow, flow abundantly, flow without measure to bless as we are blessed, regardless of whether or not we think someone deserves the blessing. 

After Jesus tells the parable of tenant’s misbegotten attempts to steal the vineyard from the landowner he assures the religious officials and all of us that the story does not end with the killing of the landowner’s son. It is just the beginning because every one of us who hears and heeds this story will receive our inheritance, God’s blessing. As people made in the image and likeness of God we are blessed to live according to God’s economy, producing “the (good) fruit of the kingdom.”

What are the good fruit of the kingdom? Us. As the prophet First Isaiah declares, For “…the people of Judah (the Israelite people of God living in exile in the Southern Kingdom)  (the people) are God’s pleasant planting (even though they are in diaspora). We, the people of God are the “pleasant planting” or fruit of God’s kingdom. And, God expect(s) justice (from us), but (sees) bloodshed; righteousness, but hears a cry!”  Like the tenants in the landowners vineyard we protest, “What are those people doing here? They have not worked, they do not deserve this produce. They are lazy. If we give some to them there will be less for us. Let’s seize, arrest, send them away.” Sound familiar?

And can you not hear Isaiah singing, “O, you, people of God, don’t you know you are God’s pleasant planting? God expects justice from you, not bloodshed, righteousness not protests.”

The earth in all its abundance is given to us not because we earn or deserve it, but because we are the pleasant planting of the vineyard, the people of God’s kingdom. But when we turn away from God and like the tenants in Jesus’ parable refuse to extend the blessing, seizing, beating even killing people who want a share, when we fail to respect our sisters and brothers who, also being made in the image and likeness of God and are rightful heirs of the blessing, we can be sure of one thing. We all suffer. We suffer because suffering is the natural consequence of tending God’s kingdom with greed and dishonesty rather than trustworthiness and generosity. 

I have no idea why but we humans tend to spin a web around our social and political silos, to establish rarified groups that share a specific quality be it race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, economics, education, geographic location or political party. In so doing we lose the broad-based economy of God’s kingdom, the kingdom that from the beginning includes all of creation and calls it “very good.” Instead of claiming our inheritance, our identity as people of God with a sweeping base of alliance, “many people, one body,” we fracture into bundled troops fighting for our difference.

There is no question, people occupy a myriad of independent and intersecting subgroups of humanity, from race to age to political party. As long as we allow our attention, emotion and behavior to be driven by what divides us rather than what draws us together we deny our true and trustworthy identity as people of God and cut our selves out of the kingdom of blessing. 

How do we end the marginalization of particular groups of people? I believe we do so by refusing to be distracted, divided and destroyed by dualistic arguments of who is in and who is out, who is deserving and who is not. We end the marginalization of particular groups of people by holding fast to the all inclusive alliance of God’s economy wherein everyone and everything is blessed to be a blessing, regardless of whether we deserve it or not.

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Epistle for Sunday 27 September 2020

                                              
                                  Ruth Bader Ginsburg         

                 March 16, 1933  -  September 18, 2020

Philippians 2:1-13       If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God 

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave, 

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself 

and became obedient to the point of death-- 

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name 

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend, 

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord, 

to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Reflection       Wednesday morning while staring at my computer screen, hot tears carving a watercourse across my chin, witnessing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s flag swaddled coffin preside from the top of the Supreme Court steps, the question that rattled my mind is this. 

                                                    “What makes a person great?” 

Even in her death the greatness of Justice Ginsburg crushes cinderblock with lace. On Friday we witnessed best another quantum leap, Justice Ginsburg, the first woman to lie in state in the United States Capitol. As Paola Fuentes Gleghorn writes in an online Sojourner’s article (September 24, 2020),  “…many of the things I take for granted began with (Justice Ginsburg’s) work. As a woman, I can have a credit card in my name, open a bank account, and buy a house through a mortgage without a husband's signature. I can also inherit land, and I am protected from being fired if I become pregnant, none of which was possible for every woman in the United States before the 1970s.”  Almost all of these rights can point to the 1971 case in which Ginsburg argued and convinced the “Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment made discrimination on the basis of sex unconstitutional.”

Please consider this. Although the title justice is a noun referring to a person who presides over a court, I would argue that in Ginsburg’s case it is also a verb. For English majors, a transitive verb, one that is directly attached to a noun. I believe great people are people whose deepest truest values inform their actions and transform lives, their integral value is their title and their tithe. Justice Ginsburg embodies justice, just actions born on the back of her battles for dignity and opportunity for all people.  

Great people live great values, values that rattle like beans inside a dried gourd, values that play the person from the inside out.

We are all meant to live great values, values that inform us from the inside out. Which of course means, we are all meant to be great people. Clearly, not every great person has the status and stature of Justice Ginsburg. Still, there is no getting around it. We are all meant to be great people, living great values that rattle us, shake us up and move us from the inside out.

Here is the thing. Lives lived from the inside out, informed by values that rattle our core, mean we are sure to face adversity. Justice Ginsburg was no stranger to adversity. Her mother died of cancer one day before her high school graduation. As a young wife and mother her husband Martin was drafted for two years. Shortly after he returned and they were both enrolled in law school, Martin was diagnosed with testicular cancer. What did Ginsburg do? She attended both his and her classes, kept up her husbands work and ranked at the top of her Harvard class while law school officials derided her for taking a man’s place. Justice Ginsburg’s battle for dignity and opportunity for all people was both personal and transpersonal. It reached from the inside and rattled the outside because great people live great values that move them from the inside out. 

Here is what Justice Ginsburg has to say to all of us, “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” 

Acting deliberately to insure dignity and justice for all people is the way we embody our core values, values that should rattle us from the inside out, values that inspire compassion and sympathy and attract people to join us. Let us never forget, our core value driven actions do not incite anger and violence nor inflame divisiveness and destruction.  They cultivate consolation, cohesiveness and compassion. 

Most of us will never climb the steps of the United States Supreme Court but that does not let us off the hook. We are meant to be great people living great values. We are meant to follow in the footsteps of great people like Justice Ginsburg and Jesus, people who found their title and made their tithe by aligning their lives in the will and the work of God. 

By our actions we honor the legacy of Justice Ginsburg and Jesus. What action will you take this week aimed at procuring dignity and opportunity for all people? Please share a comment to let us know. 

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join you.”

Independence Day Observed 5 July 2020

Matthew 5:43-48        Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Reflection        The second paragraph read in congress on July 4, 1776 boldly proclaims, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…  Then follows the extensive list of offenses by the monarch (British Crown) against the people of the colonies, which I highly commend to your reading.  This is time well spent, perhaps in lieu of a barbecue or watching fireworks.  But I digress.

Consider this. From its inception, the grand experiment of these soon to be United States was fraught, fraught because the audacious aspiration to insure access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people puts us cross-wise with ourselves, individually and collectively. 

If we affirm that all people are created equal, how can we justify programs and policies that benefit some groups to the detriment of others? Think of the Indigenous people of the North American continent.  If we act to insure access to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for all, how can we justify securing our wealth by benefiting from others’ labor?  Think slaves, purchased and imported wives, outsourcing. If we believe all people are endowed by One God, how can we fail to respect the dignity of every human being, even if their race, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, social class , political or religious preference is different than ours? 

From the beginning as individuals and as a nation, we the people have endured a tug of war within us, a war between our high-minded ideals and our inordinate desires for security, safety, esteem, power and control. In theological terms this is the abyss between orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right action). 

It is relatively easy to say, “We hold these truths to be self evident…” Never once have I heard a parishioner complain, “ I simply cannot reaffirm my Baptismal Covenant, especially the part where you ask, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?” Not one person has ever told me they have a problem with that.  The question is not, do we believe these truths. The question is, “How do we live them? “

If we are honest the answer is, with much difficulty because we are conflicted. On one hand, our deepest, truest self knows what is right and good and aligned in the will of God. This is the still, small voice of the indwelling Spirit. This is our inheritance, the Light of Christ that opens our eyes to see reality as it is and stretches our hearts to feel compassion with all people and creation and compels us to act for the common good. This is our true self.

On the other hand, our social, cultural and emotional self hears the echoes of years of teaching, “You better look out for number one. Life is a zero sum game. The more the other guy has, less is available to you.” This conflict percolates within us even as it lays siege to the world around us. Orthodoxy - orthopraxy?  Right belief -right action? As individuals and as a nation, we have been wrestling with this for two hundred and forty four years.  

Phyllis Tickle, who died in 2015, was an American writer, poet and authority on religion who sparked the imagination of the emerging church in the United States. Tickle penned this Prayer for Morning. 

I am so weary, Father, of using myself as the measure of everything and everybody. Just for this one day, I beg you, help me find release from the old pattern of seeing the different-from-me as either less-than or more-than me. Grant instead that, for just this one day at least, I may see everything and everybody I meet in terms of how I want you to see me at this day’s end. *

Returning to the parishioner who when asked,  “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?” who boldly pronounced, “I will,” Phyllis Tickle’s prayer reminds us that there is something important missing in our high-minded parishioners response. The appointed response is, “I will, with God’s help” because we are conflicted and fail to embody our high-minded ideals.  Without God’s help we cannot live into God’s dream for humanity. 

Yes we can set our minds on big, beautiful, audacious dreams such as “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And we must remember, simultaneously we are subject to social, cultural, political and even religious voices demanding we sell or shun or sacrifice our dream, God’s dream, in order to belong (orthodoxy) and claim a sliver of security, safety, esteem, power or control. 

“Do you hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?”  If you answered “yes,” I implore you; pray. Pray every day that God will help you put flesh on the bones of your high-minded beliefs. 

• Tickle, Phyllis in  Boyd, Malcom & Talton, Chester eds (2003) Race and Prayer: Collected Voices Many Dreams, 11. 
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Gospel text for Sunday 3 November 2019

Luke 6:20-31        Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: 

“Blessed are you who are poor, 

for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, 

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now, 

for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."

"But woe to you who are rich,   

for you have received your consolation.

"Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

"Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you will mourn and weep.

"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Reflection        The life that most of us live looks nothing like the life that Jesus lives. Not just the fact that we have internet and drones, refrigeration and indoor plumbing. But much as some seventy four percent of the world population today lives in multidimensional poverty,* Jesus has no pillow on which to lay his head, depends on the generosity of others for supper, is scorned and roundly reviled by religious as well as political folks in high places. 

Today we find ourselves immersed in a culture obcessed with pleasure, power and privilege yet Jesus tells the disciples and us that the poor, the powerless and the underprivileged are blessed. How can this be? I believe the answer is hidden in plain sight. All we have to do is look at Jesus, the exemplar that stands at the center of our faith.

Rather than follow the road map provided for Jews in ancient Judea by their Roman occupiers, for example, taking a job as a tax collector which would involve fleecing his Jewish relatives but would stand him in good stead with the Romans, or just keeping his opinions to himself regarding the religious officials’ concern with purity laws at the expense of human suffering, Jesus chooses to be vulnerable, to follow God’s plan, act with integrity and be merciful to others even at his own expense. 

And Jesus is blessed. Blessed to do amazing things; healing, teaching and fearlessly facing the most dire circumstance. Blessed to be a prophet whose voice rings through the ages. Did you know there are more books written about Jesus than any other person in history? William Shakespeare comes in second.  Jesus is blessed to be a blessing and we can be too. 

When, like Jesus, our hearts are open, and we take the risk to step out of our comfort zone, get over our fear of change and submit ourselves to God’s plan rather than kow- tow to the status quo, we can expect to be surprised by God. 

My greatest “surprised by God” moment occurred when within  ten days of admitting I felt called to the priesthood three doors burst open and invited me in. I was living in Santa Fe, NM and the bishop of that diocese would not ordain women. Among other things, for about a decade I used that as an excuse not to acknowledge my call to holy orders. Frankly, the whole thing terrified me and seemed impossible. But literally the very moment I decided to walk through my fear of such a radical change, submit to God’s plan and admit to Catherine, my Episcopal priest friend, “I believe I am called to be a priest,” she laughed and said, “Well, it is about time. I can offer you a position here in San Gabriel, CA while you go through the process.” That was a Saturday. The following weekend I was in Ojai, California leading a Centering Prayer workshop. On Sunday morning following services the rector said to me, “Why don’t you come to St. Andrews?  I can give you a three quarter time job while you go through the process.” 

Upon returning to Santa Fe, back in the days of the relic “answering machine,” the little red light was blinking. I pressed listen and heard, “Hi Debra. The word is out that you have finally admitted your call to the priesthood. I think you should come to Arizona. It would be a great place for you to go through the process.” A little more than a week and three church doors were thrown wide open.  Was I ever surprised by God!

When our hearts are open, and we take the risk to step out of our comfort zone, walk through our fear of change and submit ourselves to God’s plan, we can expect to be surprised by God. We can even seek to do the impossible, because nothing is impossible with God.

Are you open to God’s surprises? Are you willing to walk through your fear of change and submit to God’s plan?

• United Nations Development Program

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Gospel text for Sunday 11 December 2016

Matthew 11:2-11        When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Reflection     In lock-step with the law and the prophets of his Jewish tradition, John is looking for a king in the line of David to exercise power over all people, to enforce the Jewish law and establish a consolidated political-religious state. It is no wonder he sent his disciples to question Jesus, “Are you the one who is coming or are we to wait for another?” There is every chance that John heard about “all the things” that Jesus was doing; giving sight to the blind, restoring the lame to walk, cleansing the lepers, healing the deaf, raising the dead, and bringing good news to the poor… (Matt 4.25) Not the expected list of skills and accomplishments for a messiah king.

John must have heard about the mind-bending sermon Jesus preached to large crowds on the Mountain proclaiming the poor and the hungry are blessed, the meek who understand their place in God’s kingdom are happy and those who are just and sincere are satisfied. (Matt 5.1-11)  And surely John heard what  Jesus said about the Jewish law, “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill…” (Matt 5.17) But (and this is a large ‘but’), “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees (that would be the religious folk) you will never enter” God’s kingdom. (Matt 5.20) What? Are not the religious leaders guaranteed a fast pass to the kingdom? 

The Messiah of what became the Christian tradition did not come to fulfill the letter of Jewish law. The Christian Messiah Jesus came to reform the Jewish tradition by fulfilling the Spirit of the law. “You have heard it said, you shall not murder…but I say to you if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgement…” (Matt5.21-22) “You have heard it said, an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say… give to anyone who begs from you…” (Matt 5. 38,42) “You have heard it said that you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your father in heaven.” (Matt 5.43-44)

From the point of view of John and the religious Jews of his time, Jesus does not fit the messiah’s job description.  Where he should be paying attention to giving a proper “tithe of mint, dill and cumin,” Jesus is concerned with matters of “justice, mercy and faith.” (Matt 23) He even dares to turn the finger of judgment toward the religious leaders, calling them  hypocrites, “For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside (you) are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matt 23. 25)

Clearly John is perplexed by the antithetical position pronounced by Jesus. The one whom John baptized in the river Jordan, the one whose sandals John was not worthy to tie, the one upon whom the Spirit of God descended, the “one who is to come” and bring the “kingdom of heaven near” turns out to be the unorthodox dissident, Jesus. How could this be the one John is looking for?

Which begs the question, what are we looking for? What are we hoping against hope will arise in the wilderness of our lives? This Advent season are we preparing our hearts to receive a feudal King legislating power from the top of a pyramid? Or are we allowing our hearts to be transformed and give birth to the Spirit of the living God, full of “justice, mercy and faith?”

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