Gospel for Sunday 25 January 2015

Mark 1:14-20        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 believe in the good news."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Reflection       We have to admit, this gospel story is not very convincing. No time is wasted with details to set the stage and satisfy our curiosity. Jesus is going to change the world for the better (which of course is the euanggelion - the good news)  and he needs help now.  So Jesus casts his net. Apparently without hesitation Simon and his brother Andrew put down their nets (their lives)  and follow Jesus. I wonder if either of them asked, “What do you mean, fish for people?” If not, the way the plot raced forward they did not have long to wait before they witnessed Jesus cast his net again and catch  another pair of brothers, James and John, who immediately stood up, left their father in the boat and followed Jesus. which makes me think the writer was using words to point to something more than an historical event.

There seems to be a pattern emerging. Jesus goes looking for helpers and casts his proverbial net. Was it charm, charisma, an unspeable presence that compelled some to stop whatever they were doing and follow Jesus? I wonder how many others Jesus called; Charles, Don, Marilyn, Howard, folks who kept mending their nets, shaping their clay pots, fashioning sandles or collecting taxes? I wonder how many people averted their eyes and waited for this strange man shouting something about the “Kingdom of God being here” to pass by before looking at one another, shrugging their shoulders and rolling their eyes? I wonder how many times Jesus cast his net before he caught Simon and Andrew, James and John?

Getting back to the pattern. Jesus looks for helpers, calls them and without hesitation they stop what they are doing and follow him. It reminds me of something John Lewis said. You may recall Lewis is a congressman from Georgia and legendary leader of the nonviolent march over the Edmund Petis bridge on the way from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 hoping to make the world a better place, particularly for people of color. Lewis said and I quote, “When you pray, move your feet.” He continues to teach those who will listen that good is already here (even in our enemies).  The question is, how do we make the euanggelion, the good news for everyone, real. Lewis’ answer is, “When you pray, move your feet.”

How many times must Jesus cast his net before everyone one of us catches the euanggelion, the earth shattering, world changing good news of the grace of God, the peace of God, the efficacy of God, the kingdom of God available to all with  a will to change our minds and put feet on our prayers? 

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Psalm 139 for Sunday 18 January 2015

Psalm 139:1-5, 11-17

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *

you know my sitting down and my rising up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting-places *

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *

but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

You press upon me behind and before *

and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *

it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

For you yourself created my inmost parts; *

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *

your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

My body was not hidden from you, *

while I was being made in secret

and woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;

all of them were written in your book; *

they were fashioned day by day,

when as yet there was none of them.

How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *

how great is the sum of them!

If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; *

to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

Reflection       We humans have a knack for hiding, burying, avoiding ourselves; critical thoughts about the person whose voice pushes us over our edge, the swelling of lust for our neighbor or stranger in the market, the times we were offended, overlooked, misrepresented, forgotten or failed. We pretend we do not eat, drink or buy too much. We leap to judgments then cling to them. We deny our feelings then get stuck in loops rehearsing the awful things people said to or about us. Then, we build thick brick walls around all of this, hoping to keep it from leaking out. The trouble is, it does not work.

God sees and knows and so we cry,  

“Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’,
 even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. “

The only one who is left out in the dark is us. Those thick brick walls we build keep us from knowing who we are and whose we are. We cannot see that we are the beloved of God who sees and knows our whole story and loves us anyway. 

Years ago while making retreat at Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abique, New Mexico,  a single question rang through my soul, “Have I come here to find or avoid myself?” During Compline the first night of my retreat I quite forgot the question until we turned to Psalm 139 and chanted,                                                                                             

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways. 

Warm tears spilled on my psalm. I am seen. I am known. And I am not annihilated.  While walking to my room I paused in the uninterrupted darkness. “Lord, all the things I have never admitted, You see, You already know. Still You hold me in the breath of this night. You light my way with showers of stars.” Then I noticed a deer, maybe twenty or thirty feet away, watching me watching her. Amidst the unspeakable beauty of the canyon, with echoes of the monks chanting in my heart, I prayed , “Lord, you have searched me out and known me and not thrown me away. You have not stepped on me like an insect. You brought me to this holy place to wake me up in the middle of the night and let me know.  You know me; my journey, my comings, my goings and all the things I thought I had to hide.”

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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 The Celebration of the Epiphany, 4 January 2015

Matthew 2:1-12          In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: `And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Reflection       Gifts are more than a material exchange, more than a commercial transaction. Gifts are signs of spiritual, holy, sacred, nonmaterial connection. Gifts are about the unseen though palpable relationship between the giver and the receiver. I believe that is why the wise men traveled far to pay their respect and offer gifts of great value to the newborn peasant Jesus. The wise men had eyes to see beyond the meagre external circumstance of an infant. The wise men had eyes to see Divinity hidden within.

Five Chrtistmasses ago I received an especially meaningful gift. It was the last gift under the tree at my daughter Leela’s home. She looked into my eyes as she handed it to me. I tore through the wrapping paper until my breath caught in my throat. In my hands, captured in time by a simple snapshot, was my  mother and me. In the picture my back was to the camera because I was facing my mother. Her head was tossed back, eyes twinkling, mouth open issuing great guffaws of laughter. 

Four months earlier my mother died. I had never seen this photograph, but Leela did. She chose it for me with her sense and sensibility of the mother daughter relationship. She knew me and she loved me.  When she offered me this gift the goodness within her flowed to me and touched the emptly place left in my mother’s wake. 

Perhaps you recall a time you received a gift that was especially meaningful to you? I would venture to guess it was not its material value that gave it meaning. Rather is was about the relationship of which it was a sign.

Gifts are about spiritual connection, about the recognition of something more within ourselves and within the person to whom the gift if given. A wisely chosen gift   distinguishes the presence of something good and pure in us and the other person. A wisely chosen gift reveals our insight, our capacity to see beyond external appearances and discern the presence of something hidden, something Divine in the other person.

This is the meaning of Epiphany; the celebration of the revelation of Divinity, God, as a human being in Jesus Christ. And so we offer our gifts to God as a sign of our love, a sign of what cannot be seen within us. We offer our gifts so that the goodness within us us will flow to acknoweldge Divinity hidden in all of humanity. 

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Luke 2:1-14       In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,  "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Reflection        There is something profoundly different between receiving your run of the mill Christmas present (even if it happens to be gold, frankincense and myrhh) and receiving an infant. The former gifts we receive, pull off the bow, tear the wrapping (or if you are my Godmother, she can remove the wrapping paper without issuing a scar or a crinkle). Whatever our style, we unwrap the gift, recognize what is inside, take it and possess it. It does not  work quite that way with an infant.

Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends extend their empty hands to receive an infant having absolutely no idea what is inside. Whether it takes a week or a lifetime all the people who received the infant eventually figure out, they cannot possess this child. All they can do is commit to being in relationship with the child, to loving the child and experiencing the child as her or his true being is gradually revealed. 

I believe there is no better metaphor for the gradual unfolding of the revelation of God with us. We come to know incarnate God in our lived experience, in our committed relationship with God and one another. Gradually we come to know God in moments of delight and dollups of despair, in glimpses of peace, joy and love and pockets of fear, anger and lonliness. The spiritual reality is this, every moment of our lives is full of God with us. The thing is, most of the time we are too distracted to notice.

When we pause and savor each moment (regardless of whether we judge the moment as favorable or not) it is like receiving an infant into our empty hands and open hearts; we experience the true gift of Christmas. And if, ever so carefully we listen, we can almost hear the angels saying, “"Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 

                                                 Merry Christmas!

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Gospel text for 4th Sunday in Advent, 21 December 2015

Luke 1:26-38        In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Reflection       “For nothing will be imposssible with God.” I believe the most important word in this sentence is “with.” With God. I know from time to time I “hear” this sentence as, “Nothing will be impossible FOR God.” In so doing I neatly cut myself out of the equation. Shirk any personal responsibility. It (whatever “it” is) is up to God. I play no part in “it.” But that is not what the writer of Luke’s text wrote. 

In concert with, in dwelling with, imbued with, sitting with, endowed with, acquainted with, impregnated with, this mere preposition makes all the difference because it locates us in relationshiip “with” God. “With” may also be a statement that characterizes humanity; for people with God all things are possible. I believe it is to all of the above that Mary consented when she proclaimed, “Here I am… let it be with me according to your word.” 

And there “it” is again. What is “it?” It is a simple pronoun referring to a non-gender specific person or concept previously mentioned, about to be mentioned or present in the immediate context.* With her few words in response to the Angel of God Mary consents to every manner of being in relationship with God; Mary claims her relationship by God and with God and in God from before beginningless time, eternally in the present moment. 

Oh how I long to do the same. To put down my fears and unequivocally proclaim, “Here I am God… Let it be with me according to your word.” And I gulp knowing that giving myself unequivocally to God is giving myself over to the cloud of unknowing yet,  it is giving myself to a grandeur so incomprehensible it can only be called God. 

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*http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/it?s=t

Gospel text for 2nd Advent - Sunday, 7 December 2014

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus 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    What does this have to say to us, many of whom were baptized as infants? Isn’t baptism a done deal? Not according to John. “This is the beginnning of the good news, ” news that always we begin again. There is no shortage of opportunities for each of us to pause, listen to the words of the prophet, examine our lives for vestigages of sin asking; To what am I clinging for my safety and security? How do I use alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, sex, work, video games, people or the internet for comfort or esteem? What means do I employ to acquire and exert power and control? What if I found my safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control in relationship with God instead?

Now let me be crystal clear. I am not suggesting that the things of earth or creation are evil. That would be a heresy.  It is our attachment to things as sources of that which is of God that is sin. Just another way of saying, we have a tendency to turn things into idols - golden calves, golden parachutes.  When we decide to repent, to change our minds, to let go of our idols, our habits, attachments and addictions, we are ready for something new. This is how we prepare the way for the one who is and is to come. This is our work for the Advent season; preparing the way for the Christ to be born again in each of us. 

Surely preparing the way for something new is as natural as new families making countless trips to Babies R Us as they prepare for the coming of a child ? Aunties buy cribs and friends cuddly blankets. Parents search the web for advice, install baby monitors and socket guards. With nothing but the best of intentions boatloads of things are gathered to welcome the child into a world of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control. This is as it should be - and - immediately the writer of Mark’s gospel invites us to put that child in God’s hands, drenched in the water of baptism to die to a life constrained by things and rise into a life of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control born in the hands of God. We prepare the way to give our children away to God in baptism.

At the other end of the spectrum linger those of us in later seasons of life faced with the burden of scores of physical stuff, habitual stuff,  stuff we no longer have the energy to sustain. Mountains of possessions possess us. Decades of habitual behaviors and reactions stand between us and freedom like barbed wire prision walls. Are we not like the people of the Judean countryside and Jerusalem compelled by a sense of desperation and desire for something more than old stuff and the empty promises of city, state, empire? How many of us long to walk into the wilderness, throw all the things that possess us into the Jordan river, watch them sink to the watery depths and experience the lightness of being born anew in the hands of God? “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God….” Do you dare to prepare the way of the Lord?   

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