Gospel text for Sunday 23 September 2018

Mark 9:30-37        Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Reflection       Last Tuesday evening I attended the Yom Kippur service with Rabbi Helen Cohn’s congregation. Yom Kippur, the highest and holiest day of the year, marks the end of the Jewish people’s ten days of penitence in preparation for their New Year. During her rabbinic reflection Rabbi Helen spoke about “sacred uncertainty,”  explicating an attitude of humility we are meant to bring to our relationships with God and one another. She counseled, “Do not to look at other people as incompetent versions of yourselves.” Hidden in the rabbi’s wisdom I heard Paul’s instruction to the Philippians,  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (Phil 2.5)

What if we took this counsel to heart and began to frame our questions from a humble  non-dualistic perspective? What if rather than regarding ourselves as equal with God, judging people and putting them in pigeonholes, good, bad, right, wrong, what if we adopted an attitude of “sacred uncertainty?”   What if we began to think with the Mind of Christ, as servants of humanity looking for connections rather than distinctions? 

Several months ago I encountered a person in a leadership role whom I was not able to  assign to a particular gender identity. At first I found this disconcerting. As I struggled to put this person in one box or another it occurred to me that I was asking the wrong question. The question is not, “Was this person born a biological male or female?” Nor is it, “In what gender role am I supposed to identify them?” The question is, “How am I connected with this person? What does this person have to say to me?” Which catapulted me out of the tension between this or that, male or female. When I let go of my dualistic way of looking at this person, I was able to experience them in relationship with me. 

“How am I connected with them?” In the deepest desires of our hearts; to be treated with respect,  to have access to decent lives and thereby experience meaning and value. I am connected with this person in our shared humanity and divinity and we both chose to be in this place this day.

Jesus, the Son of Humanity, the Son of God, is praised as King yet arrives in Jerusalem riding on an ass, presides at the Passover banquet then washes his guests feet. Jesus is haled as king of the chosen and executed as a criminal. Jesus is the embodiment of both-and, non-dual consciousness. This is the picture painted for us by Mark’s narrative and it raises some important questions.

What kind of mind set is this gospel inviting us to adopt? What might it look like if individually and as One Body we break out of our pigeon-holing boxes, stop asking questions that demand unproductive dualistic responses?  What if we fervently prayed to embody a both-and life of “sacred uncertainty/“ What if we put on the humble, nonpartisan Mind of Christ?

* Please listen to James Finley’s reflection on Thomas Merton’s teachings about the realization of uncertainty by clicking on image at the upper right of this post.

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday 26 August 2018

Ephesians 6:10-20        Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Reflection      In the spring of 1963 following much nonproductive discourse, civil and otherwise, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized one of the most influential campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement, the Birmingham Campaign. It involved a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall and boycotts on downtown merchants to protest segregation laws in the city of Birmingham. These peaceful demonstrations were responded to by violent attacks involving fire hoses and police dogs. Ultimately President John F. Kennedy wrote,  "The events in Birmingham... have so increased the cries for equality that no city or state or legislative body can prudently choose to ignore them." This was a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement and there is no question, embodying this new reality required engaging in more than polite conversation. It required courage, persistence and peaceful action.

Writing from his cell in the Birmingham jail The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.”

I believe this is our culture’s great failing. Most of us are the moderates and we are conflict averse. We do not want to step on anybodies toes and we do not want to compromise our privileged positions.  We prefer to sit in a shallow spool than swim upstream. Perhaps it is because we forget Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians, “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness…”  In other words, our struggle is against the keepers of the status quo. Who better than Paul, the reformed persecutor of Jesus’ followers, knows how our struggles to embody the alternate reality of Jesus are condemned and thwarted by the rulers and authorities protecting the current order? 

To embody the alternate reality of Jesus is disruptive because Jesus is a revelation of how God is present and acting in the world; healing the sick, comforting the afflicted…. and…. this is the part we prefer to overlook…. afflicting the comforted. Jesus is a thorn in the side of government and religious officials. He upsets anyone who is inclined to protect the current order at the expense of justice. 

I believe Jesus has the courage to persist with healing the sick, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comforted in the face of pervasive opposition because he finds his strength and power with God.  Empowered with God, Jesus puts on the “whole armor of God,” speaks truth out loud, demands fairness and respect, seeks reconciliation, and “with all of these, (takes) the shield of faith”

“Taking the shield of faith,” means standing in the conviction that God is with us rather than wallowing with uncertainty and cowering in fear of those that resist change. You see, when we put our faith in God with us rather than in our uncertain selves, we have the courage to embody Jesus’ alternate reality; healing the sick, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comforted.

History reminds us that change comes as a result of unsettling the status quo and that tends to require more than persuasive civil discourse. But the majority of folks are indifferent, if not overtly hostile, to conversations about change. Rather than slaving for persuasive civil discourse, perhaps it is time for us to take seriously Jesus’ revelation that actions are more powerful than words. Let me be clear. Jesus is not a proponent of violence. Rather, he exemplifies living for an alternate reality that begets dignity, respect and access to decent lives for all people. 

How can we embody the alternate reality of Jesus? This week we can take time to learn about the candidates running in the primaries. Find out how their behaviors line up with the behaviors exemplified by Jesus; healing the sick, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comforted. Then vote for the candidates we believe best represent Jesus’ values - regardless of whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent or Green. Rather than capitulate to partisan politics, let us have the courage to live Jesus’ alternate reality using actions that are stronger than words; healing the sick, comforting the afflicted and, yes, when necessary afflicting the comforted. 

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Gospel text for Independence Day 3 July 2016

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        Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. embodies Jesus’ foundational teaching, “Love is the superpower that prevails over all.” Although to the best of my knowledge neither Jesus nor MLK used the word “superpower” it seems the perfect word to describe the encounter of love with whatever wastes or contributes to the ruin of life. God’s superpower, love prevails. 

God’s love “rains on the evil and on the good…on the righteous and on the unrighteous” because God’s superpower is free of human constructed concepts of right or wrong, good or evil, left or right, friend or foe, Republican or Democrat, Christian or non-Christian. Being free, God’s superpower has the unparalleled ability to transform closed minds and hardened hearts. God’s superpower love wakens life in the midst of destruction and death. God’s superpower prevails.

Which of course is the heart of our Christian narrative. In the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we see that evil is overcome with love.    Being falsely accused, betrayed, beaten and tortured to death did not vanquish Jesus’ love of God, his unfaithful friends or his murderers.  Evil or destruction never has the final word because love prevails. As Paul instructs the Romans, “Nothing will separate us from the love of God…” (Ro 8.38) 

The thing is, God depends on humankind to continue God’s work of subduing evil with love.  Jesus shows The Way, Martin Luther King, Jr. follows. Now the task falls to each of us to deploy God’s superpower with nonpartisan love. The old way of dualistic seeing; friend v foe, ally v enemy, us v them; the old laws commanding an eye for an eye, restitution or defense, must be unequivocally replaced with the New Way of deploying God’s superpower; meeting corruption with decency, engaging vulgarity with restraint and embracing enmity with love. God’s  nonpartisan life-giving love is the superpower that prevails and transforms whatever wastes or contributes to the ruin of life. God's love is with us. Now let us pass it on.

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