Gospel text for Sunday 12 December 2021

 

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        John is cajoling crowds of people who have left their homes to come to the wilderness, listen to an itinerant prophet and be baptized. Several questions loom largely.  Who are these people? What are they looking for? What compels them to leave their familiar places and go into the wilderness? Why do they listen to a grizzly wanderer calling them “a brood of vipers?” Then, instead of leaving when insulted, why do the people ask, “What then should we do?”

Well, I cannot answer any of those questions but they make me wonder about the crowd of folks who show up every Sunday on Facebook Live to “attend” worship at Church of the Apostles. The fact is, most Sunday’s the number of folks worshipping on Facebook Live exceeds the number actually sitting in the sanctuary. 

Again, several questions loom largely. Who are these people? What are they looking for? What compels them to get out of bed, stop searching the web and virtually visit Church of the Apostles? Why do they listen to me calling people to “Repent, turn around, put their heads in the wilderness of their hearts?”

Why do they return week after week to hear me prod them to let their lives look like the life of the itinerant preacher, teacher, healer Jesus who challenges the status quo keepers of institution and empire while treating every stranger, foreigner, leper, sinner and thief with dignity and kindness?

I cannot answer any of these questions but I will speculate. Although it is unlikely the Facebook Live worshippers are looking to be baptized I believe there is every chance they are showing up because they are long for a new way of live, a way that is loving and liberating, a way that affirms the dignity and worth of all human beings. I believe the unidentified folks showing up for virtual worship are looking for a beloved community in which everyone has a place at the table and everyone is interested in the well being of all. 

So Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! This is the Way of Jesus, the way that welcomes every color of the rainbow, refugees and asylum seekers, wealthy and impoverished, conservative and progressive, partisan and independent because the Way of Jesus is deeper than any difference. The Way of Jesus strives for “justice and peace among all people and respects the dignity of every human being.” This is the baptism by “the Holy Spirit and fire,” about which John is speaking because it demands nothing less than transforming ourselves into One Loving Community in which we really do respect and dignify ALL people, and that is radical change.  So Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

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 Luke 3:1-6        In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Reflection        Political and religious power pyramids have plagued humanity since long before the “ fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius” when God’s word did not come to Tiberius, one of Rome’s greatest generals. God’s word did not come to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who served under Tiberius. God’s word did not come Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. God’s word did not come to Herod’s brother Philip.  God’s word did not come to Lysanias, ruler of the slopes of Mount Hermon.  Neither did God’s word come to the high priests Annas and Caiaphas nor to anyone else with power and privilege in government or the temple. 

As we read in Luke’s text, the word of God comes to John, the son of Zechariah, an itinerant prophet who lives in the wilderness; a sticky bearded eccentric calling for apocalyptic change. The word of God comes to John who pretty much has nothing at all… except bad breath, an empty belly and the word of God. How can this be?

Skipping ahead three chapters in Luke’s text we meet John's cousin Jesus who just spent the night praying on a mountaintop and choosing his twelve disciples. He is coming down to a flat place, a plain, where he heals the crowds of their afflictions and launches into his famous sermon of blessings and woes;

 ‘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.…

‘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.” (Luke 6.21-26)

According to Jesus being blessed, which is to say,  experiencing our “with God life,” does not depend on position, power and privilege. When it comes to life with God, apparently less is more. Perhaps this is why the word of God comes to John in the wilderness. The wilderness is a place of unadorned wandering and perplexing wondering, a place where we set aside our stature and distinction to eat bugs, listen to trees, talk to birds and grasp our rootedness in creation. Once disentangled from religious and political power pyramids we begin to be informed by wisdom, the living word of God with us.

John, the son of Zachariah whom we also know as John the Baptist, consents to his place in the mystery of the wilderness rather than turning toward the Roman baths or columned temple halls. Is it not interesting, people from all over the region around the Jordan river  clamor to hear this crusty bearded holy hippie “Crying out in the wilderness. Repent! Prepare the way of the Lord…” Don’t you want to shout right back, “Tell me how?”

I believe if John was here he would answer, “Take your heads out of the temple walls and government halls and put them in the wilderness of your hearts.” Do not be daunted by the mantle of power. Do not put your faith in emperors and presidents, governors and majority leaders, rulers and minority leaders, bishops, priests or anyone else. None of them can and none of them will mediate your relationship with God. 

So, repent! Turn around. Put your head in the wilderness of your heart. Stop looking for truth in the mouths of political and religious authorities. The wisdom word of God arises in the mysterious wilderness of our hearts, so, put your heads in the wilderness of your hearts. Listen to trees, talk to birds, smell the air and walk in the night forrest confident that God is with you. 

Since long before the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius the word of God has challenged humanity to stretch beyond our hierarchical apprehension of the world, experience our rootedness in creation and taste the words of wisdom rising in the  wilderness of our hearts.

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paint  image of garden with head planted in the middle

Hebrew Testament & Gospel for Fourth Sunday in Lent 14 March 2021

Numbers 21:4-9        From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

John 3:14-21        Jesus said, “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        Poor Moses. After all the plagues he handled  to lead God’s people out of Egypt (bloody water, frogs, lice, flies, boils, hail, locusts), instead of being grateful for their newfound freedom the people “become impatient,” complain about their miserable food (who wants manna? we want meat), and “speak against Moses and God.” The poisonous serpents of faithlessness and unconscionable complaining corrupt the hearts and minds of the people Israel and they suffer in the poison of their own protests.

We know how this plays out. Someone whines and grumbles about the way things are. Pretty soon a chorus gathers around the complaint. Social media gets the message and ignites a match. And in a timeless second a protest is roaring with people swallowing their own poison and dying in the wilderness. This is the story of Moses and the moaning Israelites. This is the story of the fickle crowds in Jerusalem demanding, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” on the fateful day for Jesus. This is the story of our country today, with volleys of revolts erupting from the extreme right and flaring back from the far left. 

As if standing in a pit of poisonous snakes, we are split into feverish corners until a crowd is bent on an arc toward destruction. From the ten thousand feet above the ground perspective we can no longer distinguish one side from the other because we are all pointing poison fingers and looking for someone to blame for being stuck between the way things used to be and the promised land. Still, we are not condemned to this agony.

Looking to Moses we discover a way out of this hopeless hostility. Praying on behalf of the Israelites Moses first turns to God then offers the snaky masses something new to look at. Lifting up the bronze serpent Moses invites the cranky crowd to turn their eyes to healing rather than complaining and yearning for yesterdyear.

This was the first time the image of a serpent entwined on a pole enters humanity’s imagination. The Israelites are stuck between Egypt and the promised land, looking with longing backward to the way things used to be until Moses gives them something new to look at. The image of a serpent wrapped around a pole came to be associated with the Greek god Asclepius, the god of healing and medicine.* Today we see the symbol associated with the World Health Organization, The American Medical Association and on the sides of ambulances. What does this perennial symbol have to do with us? I believe it invites us to turn our eyes to healing rather than complaining and yearning for the way things used to be.

Four hundred years after Moses Jesus is still trying to get God’s people to stop protesting and see something new. Much like Moses lifting the serpent in the wilderness Jesus offers himself to be lifted up as something new to look at and be healed. I can almost hear the duet, Moses and Jesus pleading, “People, don’t you see? If you choose to look at the bronze serpent instead of the miserable food and your thirst to arrive at the promised land, if you choose to look at Jesus’ walk through suffering in the company of God, you choose life. You are healed.”

What do we choose to look at? To what do we give our attention?

As social beings in the twenty-first century we can protest forever about our rights; economic, social, cultural, civil and political. We can whip ourselves into frenzies, wag our biting fingers like so many venomous snakes or we can choose to look at something new, something risen from our wilderness journey between the idealized way things used to be and the promised land. Let us not forget, the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians before Moses led them into the wilderness. Why would they want to go back to that?  Likewise, when we remove our collective rose colored glasses we must confess, our past is not pristine. 

Here is the thing, poisonous protests rise on both sides of the aisle and sing every note on the scale. Since the beginning of the beginning this has been our story. Do we really want to continue suffering in the poison of our own protests? Do we really want to choose death and listen to ourselves speaking against God and Moses and crying “Crucify him?” How many hundreds or thousands of years before we choose to look at something new rising in the wilderness between the way things used to be and the promised land? 

 Today is a turning point in our journey. We are being led out of Egypt, out of the reach of Covid-19 into the wilderness where we will either find or lose ourselves while wandering between the way things used to be and the promised land.  It is time us to open our eyes to see something new. This is a matter of life or death.  

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*  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius

Hebrew Text & Gospel for Sunday 21 February 2021

Genesis 9:8-17        God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Mark 1:9-15        In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and b

believe in the good news.

Reflection       Seven years ago my younger brother died of a rare and raging blood cancer. While speaking on the phone to my nephew, my brother’s son, he said, “ Dad is dying right now. I have to go.” With all of the air kicked out of my gut I stumbled outside, dangled my feet in the pool and raged at God. “You better make good on your promise to be with my brother.” And as God is my witness I tell you, on this sun smothered June afternoon with hardly a cloud in the sky a rainbow appeared rising from the Catalinas, a wee bit north of Mount Lemmon. I wept. I wept because I knew that even though my brother had no faith in God and zero use for religion, God was faithful to him and all was well. 

This is the promise, “the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Never again will God abandon any one of us. And ever since that June afternoon when in the wake of my brother’s death God’s rainbow affirmed God’s uncompromising promise, during every Memorial Celebration of life that I have had the privilege of celebrating  I have been able to preach Paul’s words to the Romans with unwavering conviction,  “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God … ” (Ro 8.38-39)

God is faithful, even when we are not. As people of God we need this assurance because as soon as we are baptized, as quickly as the priest pours water over our crowns and marks us with holy oil as God’s own forever, like Jesus we are driven directly to the wilderness. We are cast into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, taunted by wild beasts and also cared for by the angels. Just in case you are wondering what that wilderness looks like, stop and look around. 

The wilderness is the thin ice of existence on which we all skate, the dubious daze and erratic maze of life that we call reality. The wilderness is history’s playground replete with adversity and advantage, blessing and curse, hardship and comfort, pleasure and affliction. You see, just as quickly as we, like Jesus, realize we are God’s beloved, we are driven into the wilderness to be tempted, humbled, refined and compelled along the way to Jerusalem.

“What is the way to Jerusalem?” I believe it is the long walk of life, the mariner’s cruise, the sojourner’s trek, the simple persons shuffle through puzzling days and sleepless nights. For those inclined toward things relating to the Spirit or soul, the walk to Jerusalem is understood as the Spiritual Journey of the lover moving toward union and unity with the Beloved. For the less spiritually inclined the way to Jerusalem may seem to be the road of baseless suffering bent on an arch toward doom. 

When almost all of the earth was destroyed by a flood, God made an everlasting covenant with all that lives, represented by a rainbow bridging earth and sky. This is the good news of God with us through floods, fires, freezes and political sea changes;  through climate catastrophes and pandemics, isolation, desolation as well as consolation. God is faithful, no matter what. So stop wagging your tongues and waving your fingers. Put down your complaints and turn around.  Repent. Believe the good news. God is near. Open the eyes of your heart to see God’s rainbow.

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Gospel text for Sunday 10 December 2017

Mark 1:1-8        The beginning of the  good news of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Reflection        Isaiah is not sending us out with axes and saws, root loopers and clippers, hazel hoes and rock bars to blaze a trail through the wilderness, to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Isaiah is inviting us to see and be a new way in the wilderness. For the most part our human way, our path through the wilderness of life, is fraught with obstacles. Whether they are fallen timber or emotional memories, mountains or inherited facts of our mental, physical or emotional condition, at every turn and junction we have a choice. Are we going to direct our time and attention to our struggle with the obstacle and consequently get lost in a sea of distractions?  or, are we going to turn ourselves around and pay attention to life as it envelops us, smell the roses even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles? 

What if instead of seeing fallen trees or sordid family history or a series of bad breaks as getting in our way or keeping us from arriving at our joy, what if we saw our obstacles as that which prevents us from welcoming the Spirit of God that is already with us? When we return our attention to God, which is what John the Baptizer means when he “proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin,” we are essentially making straight the path or the way between us and God. 

When John the Baptizer says, “Repent,” he is not saying beat yourself up for your shameful deeds. John calls for a change of mind… “the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces… a recognition of sin, sorrow for it and hearty amendment…” (Strong’s G3341) When we repent we admit we are focused on or entrapped by our obstacles and then choose to turn instead toward God, not only by changing our mind but also by changing our behavior. 

And when John speaks of sin he is talking about the ways we allow ourselves to live without a share in God, missing the mark, being mistaken. (Strong’s G266) This is cheating ourselves out of the experience of God with us. The remedy for sin is not shame or self loathing. It is changing our minds and deciding to live with our share of God. This is the good news that we hear when Second Isaiah speaks on behalf of God to our Israelite ancestors who have been suffering in the wilderness and believe God has abandoned them. “Comfort, O comfort my people.” Our comfort comes when we change our minds, when we lean against our obstacles and decide that life is better when we pay attention to what is good and true and always with us. Life is better when we turn toward God. 

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Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 1 October 2017

Exodus 17:1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Reflection        A bit of wisdom that appears to be lost on many of us is, “From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages.” To be clear, the literal interpretation of “the wilderness of Sin" refers to a geographic area near Mt. Sinai, not to a person or persons’ sinfulness/behavior. The wilderness of Sin is the place where the Israelites wander, trying to find their way, struggling to grow into right relationship with themselves, each other and God.

When I imagine this scene I see images of women, men and children on their journey with God, stumbling along through times of celebration for their freedom from slavery as well as times complaining of lack of water or food, experiencing blessing and loss, triumph and defeat, hope and despair, faith and fear. I see them loving their leaders and hating their leaders.  I see them looking back at the way life used to be and looking ahead to how life could be. I see life as described in the Hebrew Testament as well as in our local and national news today. Little seems to change.

We are a people who “journey by stages” even though we tend to forget that point. We do not leap into a happily ever after life. We do not all walk at the same pace nor do we all start with an equal hand. Nonetheless, we, the “whole congregation” are all on this journey through the wilderness that we call life. And like it or not, we are on this journey together. The turmoil of our current social political religious environment has divided families, communities and our nation. Like our quarreling ancestors we regress to our lesser, self-interested, selfish selves (narcissistic, nihilistic, individualistic) rather than grow in our understanding that we are not all equal, we are not all the same, every single one of us deserves dignity and a decent life (wholisitic) and there is no happily ever after life ( a hold-over ideal from our fantastical childhood).

Response to the election of Donald Trump has evoked foment among supporters as well as opposers.  Across the board people are suffering as they cling to their particular position of what is right and foster their need to win. The fact of the matter is, for as long as we wage a win or lose culture war, eventually everyone loses. 

And here we return to the wisdom of the Hebrew Testament, “we journey by stages.” As the contemporary philosopher Ken Wilbur* explicates and I summarize, much as a child first learns to make a sound, then a word, then a sentence, and much as each developmental stage “transcends and includes the former stage” (e.g. the capacity to make a sentence includes the ability to make sounds) so too proceeds the social, emotional and spiritual development of each person. As we proceed on our developmental journeys in the “wilderness of Sin” a fatal flaw festers when we deny, degrade or denigrate people expressing attitudes and beliefs of a former stage of development. In other words, vying to win and prove ourselves right inevitably discounts others and is less than helpful.  

Wilbur argues, people in the leading edge must seek, “out the most appropriate, most complex, most inclusive, and most conscious forms that are possible at that particular time and point of evolution, pointing to new, novel, creative, and adaptive areas for the future to unfold into.” 

The narrow win or lose perspective pits one side against the other. A more expansive view is humble, acknowledging we are all in this wilderness together. The question is not who is right or who will win, the question is, “How do we include everyone in the conversation while seeking the common good?”  or “How best can we stumble by stages through this wilderness of life?” Or perhaps we ought to borrow Moses’ humble cries, “What shall we do, O Lord?” and then deeply listen.

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*  Wilbur, Ken.  Trump and a Post-Truth World. (2017: Shambala Publications, Boulder, CO).

Gospel text for Sunday 24 July 2016

Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” 

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Reflection       If even Jesus is subject to the “time of trial,” (think forty days tempted in the wilderness immediately following his glorious baptismal moment (Luke 4.2)) it might serve us well to acknowledge our own vulnerability to temptation and take Jesus’ prayer to heart, “Do not bring us to the time of trial,” or in Matthew’s version, “but rescue us from the evil one.”

What if we decided to admit, “I am subject to temptation. I am susceptible to trials?” What if in the company of the Apostle Paul we humbly confessed, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate?” (Rom 7:15) A long time ago when married my husband and I had an argument. I was sitting at the far end of the great room. He was on the other side of the room, his back toward me. Sitting there I rehearsed in my mind reasoned words of reconciliation. “This is not who we are. This is not how I want to be with you. Can we remember why we are together? Can we hit reset and do better?” 

Feeling composed with my conciliating words I walked across the room, stood in front of him and out of my mouth blast indictment and condemnation while my inner narrator commented, “I do not want to say this. I am doing what I do not want.” And like Paul I concluded, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Ro 7.17, 19) 

Have you ever experienced a  disconnect between your mind and your mouth? Have you ever experienced a rupture between your deepest desires and your actions? Welcome to the human condition. This is not because we are bad it is because we are vulnerable.  We are assailable to trials, liable to temptation. This is intrinsic to our human condition, the very same condition to which Jesus was subject. 

What are we to do when we realize we are not in control?  Beat ourself up? Take a drink, a pill or eat to numb the effects? Redouble our efforts to be in control? Or, might we consent to the reality that we are vulnerable and follow Jesus’ counsel, “Pray, saying Father…”  Even Jesus did not rely on himself to control his situation. In all things Jesus turned to his relationship with God.

There is no shame in being subject to the time trial. The inability to be in control is not cause for self recrimination. Apparently Jesus knew this as did the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous when in the late 1930s they identified the first of three of twelve steps toward a transformed life; admitting we are not in control, believing there is a power greater than ourselves that can restore us and and deciding to turn our will toward that power… the power we call God, the God to whom we pray saying, “Our Father…”

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Gospel text for Sunday 14 February 2016

Luke 4:1-13        After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written,'Worship the Lord your God,

and serve only him.'"Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,'He will command his angels concerning you,to protect you,'

and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Reflection        While in the wilderness Jesus demonstrates the discernment of Spirits. What do we mean by discernment? A dictionary definition  of discernment is “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure; to distinguish and select what is true, appropriate or excellent; to penetrate beyond the obvious.” This definition of discernment is all about what we are able to do. We are the active agents. It is about us grasping, penetrating and mastering the situation.

The definition of discernment found in Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises* is, “…our willingness to look at and appreciate the signs of God’s love for us and, in response to the voice of the Spirit of God, follow where the Spirit leads.”  The tone is quite different. Rather than grasping, penetrating or mastering we are willing, listening, and following. God is the active agent. We are willing to respond to God through the leading of the Spirit. I believe this is what is happening with Jesus in the wilderness.

Jesus allows the Spirit of God to lead him to the wilderness (metaphor for the movements of his mind and his heart). The story continues with the devil tempting Jesus to grasp, penetrate or  master his situation rather than follow the Spirit of God. If you are the son of God, prove it by satisfying your hunger. If you are the son of God, do something to improve the social and political situation in the world attain fame. If you are the son of God, leap from the top of this temple and prove you are indestructible.  

Each time the devil taunts, tempts and tries to undermine Jesus’ intention to follow the Spirit of God, Jesus returns to the word of God. When inclined to satisfy his hunger Jesus remembers the counsel to the Israelites in the Hebrew scripture and replies, “I do not live by bread alone;” the word of God is the source of my sustenance and life. (Deut 8.2-3)

When tempted to make an idol of social and political power Jesus remembers Moses’ instructions to the Israelites, (Deut 6.13-14) and replies,“Worship the Lord your God and serve only God.” Finally, when provoked to challenge God’s faithfulness, again, rather than relying on himself Jesus listened to the words of Holy Scripture and replied, "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test…” (Deut 6.16) 

Jesus listens to the word of God and willingly follows the lead of the Spirit of God. Lent is our wilderness time, an opportunity for us to do likewise; sacrifice our inclination to grasp, penetrate and master our situations and instead be willing to listen and follow the lead of the Spirit of God.

*The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, as translated by Louis J. Puhl,S.J.

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Gospel text for Sunday 11 January 2015

Mark 1:4-11        John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Reflection       Jesus’ cousin John calls the people (then and now) to turn their lives around and be baptized as a public statement of their intention to live a changed life. Being dunked or sprinkled with water may be an empty ritual, simply going through the motions, or it may be one of the most radical things we ever do. We might choose to say yes, I repent, and change our lives. I have decided to die to my old way of life. I have decided to stop striving for security, safety, esteem, power and control. I have decided to stop trying to prove my worth or intelligence. I have decided to stop complaining about my situation and put my faith in God with me, right here, right now; God with me closer than my own breath, regardless of my circumstance. 

Jesus heard John’s invitation to baptism, and took it on. Instead of becoming an honorable rabbi and assuming a socially acceptable place in the temple, Jesus humbled himself. He chose to give his life away for the good of others. He chose to wander the Judean desert, to drink wine with the low life, gather a motley crew of friends, touch the unclean, preach compassion, violate a fistful of social and religious customs, and dare to claim his identity as the Son of God..

Now here is the hard part. We are created in Jesus image and likeness. It is our responsibility to claim our identity too;  our human identity with all its’ warts and wrinkles, strengths and temptations, loves and losses and  every kind of suffering, and, our identity as daughters and sons of God, inheritors of the kingdom of God (bcp858) as made known in our baptism. 

Here is the good news!  During those forty grueling days, suffering every human trial after temptation in the Judean wilderness,  Jesus was never alone. “The angels waited on him.” Jesus promises us nothing less. No matter our losses, how bad the news, the pain, the isolation or fear, when we consent to our full humanity we are never separate from divinity because we are the living Body of Christ, fully human and a bit divine. 

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Gospel text for Sunday, 9 December 2012

Luke 3:1-6         In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Reflection          “....all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Wow! Isaiah’s unequivocal, all inclusive assurance precedes by about two thousand years another prophet’s words, “And all shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well.” Born in England in the middle of the fourteenth century the mystic Dame Julian of Norwich was the first woman to write a book in the English language.   Like Isaiah, Julian turns away from obsession with sickness, corruption and sinfulness and experiences gratitude and joy in God’s unlimited forgiveness and assurance that “...all shall be well.”

What if we really believed the words of Julian and Isaiah? What if we looked at the world and the people of the twenty first century through the eyes of these ancient and medieval prophets who also lived in violent,  corrupt, disease plagued and morally bankrupt times yet did not let their hearts be hardened? Regardless of their circumstance, inside and out, Julian and Isaiah never stopped recognizing God’s compassionate Presence. Might we too encounter God’s limitless compassion and love in the ceaseless suffering of humanity?

When I ask myself, “what keeps me from “seeing” the way Julian and Isaiah see?” the painful truth is this. Judgement. I look at the world around me and I see what is wrong rather than what is well. My heart is hardened and the judgement of my mind says, “We’re going to hell in a handbasket.” And that makes me anxious and so I contract, begin to build walls to keep the world out except my walls bump into your walls and then we have to battle over property rights and human rights, which executes our humanity because we see each other as threats rather than the vulnerable creatures created in the image and likeness of God that we are. On guard rather than in God. 

Oh to see with the eyes of the prophet who looks into the face of corruption and calamity and experiences God’s limitless compassion. In the wilderness of our lives the prophet assures us that everything that is crooked will be made straight, whatever is rough will be made smooth, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” This is how I choose to be, in God rather than on guard. "And all shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well."