Gospel text for Sunday 11 March 2018

John 3:14-21            Jesus said to Nicodemus, "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. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Reflection          If God is God, in and of, with and for all things, that means God is not other than us. Though we are not God, we are not, not God either. Nothing separates us from God. Nothing separates God from us which means our image of ourself is not other than our image of God. Conversely, our image of God is not other than our image of ourself. Humanity and God are intimately interwoven. We cannot be torn apart.

Which brings us to face the questions, “What is my image of myself? What is my image of God?” It really does not matter which question we begin with because we cannot tease the two apart. Let’s begin with our image of our selves. When we see ourselves as a disappointment, not measuring up or fundamentally not good enough by implication we are seeing God as displeased,  demanding and disengaged; God the judge. By contrast, when we see ourselves as dependable, devoted and desiring God by implication we see God as trustworthy, loving and true, God the benevolent. The thing is, just like our image of our selves, our image of God is not etched in stone. It is up to us to choose the image with which we want to live. 

When we choose to believe in a harsh and judgmental God we have every reason to remain in the shadows, hoping against hope that miraculously we will be transformed into something acceptable, unless of course we reject God entirely. But if we chose in favor of a sympathetic, life-giving God then we can dare to reveal ourselves, step out of the shadows into the light. The moment we do this we are set free, free from the shackles of a shameful self image, free to claim the truth of our identity with God. 

At the same time every one of us has some skeleton in the closet, some secret or foible we fear to expose about ourselves. For as long as we keep this hidden we remain prisoners of the darkness. But when we choose to bring our deepest truth into the light we are seen in the light of God’s love, love that does not condemn us but counsels us to choose life in the light of God.

Who we are is defined by our choices. In John’s gospel text Jesus counsels Nicodemus and us to choose, choose to believe. The thing is, belief is not a commodity that we mine like copper or grow like corn. Belief is not something we can find or buy or bargain for. Belief is a state of mind in which we choose to accept something as being true or existing without any empirical evidence to prove it with factual certainty.*

What we believe really matters because what we believe guides our action and determines whether we live in the darkness or in the light. For as long as we believe that we are fundamentally flawed,  not good enough or cannot measure up, we will hate the light and avoid the light because we do not want our shameful self to be exposed. But when we choose to believe that we are essentially good, we will seek and love the light and let our selves be exposed in the light “so that it may be clearly seen that (our) deeds have been done in God.”

The light and life and love of God is in and of, with and for all of us. Do you choose to believe? 

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* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief/accessed March 9, 2018.

Gospel text for Sunday 25 May 2014

John 14:15-21        Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Reflection        When I was a child I understood God to be up, up and away,  far above me; out of sight and unreachable. Even if I could climb a few steps of the ladder toward God’s supreme place of excellence the gap between my bumbling humanity and God’s unwavering divinity was too great for me to navigate. My early experience of life with God was rather like walking on a gangplank. With boldness of heart and firmness of spirit I would mount that plank and head toward God - until the inevitable plunge. I’d fall from grace into the ocean of shame, wallow there for a time then drag myself out to try again. 

There is every chance I would still be running and rerunning the gangplank scenario; crashing, treading water and dragging myself out, if I had not really ‘heard’ Jesus’ words to his disciples, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” From then on the gangplank and unmountable ladder were replaced by an image of God as a boundless circle with Jesus in the circle and me in it too! The best thing about it was that there was no way to be out of the circle. God is in me and I am in God just as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. 

Some of the time the edge of my slight circle seems to dissolve into God’s infinite circle and I experience the joy and the love, the grace and the peace, the wisdom and the blessing that I know belong to God - not me. Those moments come unbidden and last but for a breathe.  Pure gift they arise like God’s oceanic love to inhale the droplet of my being then breath me out again. It’s a gentle breathe, a coming in and a going out, always within God’s circle. Always a gift. And then, there is the slight circle again. The merest me engulfed in God’s endless sea. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 22 December 2013

Matthew 1:18-25        Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,"

which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Reflection             Joseph had two pair of glasses. When he looked at the world  and his situation through one pair of glasses he confronted the complex structure of social custom and law. Through this lens Joseph saw Mary, the woman to whom he was betrothed and with whom he had not had sexual relations as pregnant, in breach of their personal and social contract. Whether she had been raped or had consented to sex with another man, Joseph was not the father of Mary’s child and Joseph was justified by law and custom to divorce Mary which would incite shame and shuning for Mary and her family.  Let’s call these the glasses of justification. Joseph was wearing this pair of glasses when he decided to quietly dismiss Mary, then turned in for the night and went to sleep.

Joseph must have changed his glasses as he fell asleep that night because he had a dream in which he recognized that there was another lens through which to look at his situation. It was the spiritual lens, the lens that enabled him to recognize God present in his dream, and “know” in a deep, personal and unequivocal way “God is with us, (with me)” Emmanuel. Through his second pair of glasses Joseph saw beyond the personal, social and legal perspectives of his situation to the spiritual. The ill-bred child in Mary’s womb was not a blasphemy or degradation. The child in Mary’s womb was a gift of Divine Presence; it was godly, to be honored and praised.

Then Joseph “awoke from sleep,” which is bible-speak for becoming conscious of the divine perspective and acting on it.  Joseph took Mary to be his wife and followed the instructions he received in his dream.You see, recognizing “God is with us” without changing our behavior to receive Divine Presence and allow it to come to life within us is like dying of thrist while looking at a spring of cool fresh water but refusing to kneel, cup our hands and be refreshed. 

Often I am tempted to action while wearing the glasses of justification; tempted to dismiss a person or situation that has complicated my life and quietly move on. But true life in the Spirit comes  for me when I put on the glasses of the spiritual perspective and allow myself to "see" and be changed by the nuances of Divine Presence, even and perhaps especially in the messy moments of ordinary life.

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Gospel for Sunday 23 September 2012

Mark 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples went on from there and 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

“They did not understand… and were afraid to ask…” I don’t know about you, but I have been there. Keeping up appearances, not wanting to look like a fool. And the irony is, by being silent and not asking for clarity I have been the fool!
 
So what about the next inscrutable sentence, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Really? How can that possibly work to my advantage? I want to shout, “Jesus, you are forever turning things upside down and I don’t get it.” I can almost see Jesus smile, shake his head and reply, “Yes, that is precisely my point. You don’t “get it” and you won’t “get it” if “get it” means grasp it and claim it for yourself. Are you willing to lower yourself, to give up your advantage, instead of striving to be great? Are you willing to be the servant instead of the served?” I want to answer Jesus, “Sure I am willing but I still don’t understand how being last will make me first.” Oops, there I am again, willing to be last if, and it’s a big if, if it will get me to first.

 Two thousand years ago Mediterranean folks were also concerned with being first. They fret over issues of honor versus shame which for the most part was determined by class structure, who is valuable in society and who is not. At the time children had a rung on the ladder close to lepers and widows. They had no social status, no rights and were utterly vulnerable. And Jesus is teaching, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." Another one of those inscrutable sentences. What’s this fool to make of that?

 Greatness is measured by how we serve others, not by chain of command, corporate ladder, position, power structure, hierarchy. That was as hard bite to swallow two thousand years ago as it is today.

When I was a lot younger I believed that from time to time God would look favorably upon me and send an angel, in the form of another human, to bring good things into my life. Generally the ‘good things’ improved my situation or status and were for me evidence of God’s Presence. Now that I have worn out far too many pairs of shoes I understand God’s favor and Presence differently. Regardless of whether I notice, God is present and active at all times in all persons. The question is, “How do I welcome (recognize) God?” Jesus’ answer; "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."  When I serve others I come close to the One who sent Jesus. When I am the servant I am close to the Source, to God.

Gospel Text for Sunday, 12 February 2012

Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.