Gospel text for Sunday 22 February 2015

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 believe in the good news.”

Reflection    Baptism is the beginning,  the beginning of a new covenant relationship between God and us.  Baptism is the beginning of a new way of being and participating in life. Baptism is all about we, the living body of Christ on earth, the community of beloveds recognized by the way we live for the good of one another.

Being a Christian does not necessarily mean we believe certain things; Jesus‘ birth from a virgin, every word of the Nicene Creed. Being a Christian does not necessarily mean we do certain things; go to church on Sunday, give money to charities, read the Bible every day. 

Being a Christian means following Jesus,  walking the way of the cross, the way of giving our lives to suffer with and for all of humanity. For some of us that means listening when a friend describes their pain for the seven hundredth time. For others it means bringing meals to the homebound, or speaking out against customs, rules or laws that marginalize or oppress groups of people identified as “other;” the disabled, the aged or infirm, people of lesser or more education, resource or intellect, people of a different race or religion or no religion at all. 

For as long as we submit to labeling anyone as ‘other’ we are forgetting our commission and Jesus’ poignant prayer; “Not my will, but your will be done.”

Jesus dove full into life, revealing God’s love for lepers, maniacs reprobates, and “others.” He built no walls. He stretched no fences. By our baptism we are commissioned to likewise, to live and die for one another.

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Gospel text for Sunday, 15 February 2015

Mark 9:2-9        Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Reflection        “Listen to him!” That’s what the voice from heaven, presumably the voice of God, had to say to the thunderstruck disciples while they were still dazzled by a knock down, wake up, religious experience. “Listen to him!” Surely James, John and Peter’s only thought must have been, “OK, sure, whatever you say. We will listen to him.” 

Can you imagine the three disciples hovering close to Jesus as the were coming down the mountian wanting to catch his every word? Can you imagine them screwing up their eyes and scratching their heads when the first thing Jesus says is, “Tell no one about what (you) have seen, until after the Son of Man (has) risen from the dead.” What are you talking about? Tell no one about the most stupefying religious experience ever? Tell no one that we actually saw you, Jesus, glow and talk with Moses and Elijah who have been dead for a long time?  Tell no one that in an instant the entire mountain was wrapped in a talking cloud? 

Maybe that is what is supposed to happen when we have a rendevouz with God; we are supposed to stop talking and just be there, in the experience. What if a glimpse of God in the face of a stranger or a full on, turn your world upside down religious experience is an invitation to get out of our heads and stop using our words to grasp the ungraspable, to comprehend the incomprehensible?  Aren’t we just like Peter, wanting to make containers, or “dwellings,” to hold onto our precious moments? If only we could capture the truth and beauty and glory of those moments in exqisitely carved wood boxes we could take them with us wherever we go, have a peek in the box whenever we need a dose of truth, beauty or glory. 

But, what if capturing our experiences is like putting lightening bugs into a jar… it kills them? What if that is why Jesus ordered the disciples to stop talking “until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead?” What if Jesus intentionally confounded their (and our) minds so that they would stop talking and just be with him? What if God is in the silence instead of our tidy boxes?

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Gospel text for Sunday 8 February 2015

Mark 1:29-39        Jesus left the synagogue at Capernaum, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Reflection           Punctuating our lives with prayer is not unique to the Episcopal Church (Check out the Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer!). Our Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and monastic sisters and brothers all teach the value of ordering our lives around regular periods of prayer. Still, many of us are more comfortable with one mega dose of prayer each week. But is it enough to sustain us? Is one whopping Sunday of prayer enough to give us the courage to wholeheartedly pray with Jesus saying, “Not my will but your will be done?” 

This is hard and I believe this is the heart of Mark’s gospel text. “In the morning, while it was still very dark, (Jesus) got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” From the fervid frenzy of the night before, everything is quiet. Jesus goes to a deserted place to confirm his direction, strength and healing power in relationship with God who, little more than forty days earlier annointed him  “My son, the beloved.” All that Jesus says and all that Jesus does is a realization of his relationship in God. That is why Jesus goes off to pray alone, to keep conscious his connection to the source of all that flows through him. I believe Jesus understood that his healings and exorcisms, his parables and preaching were outward and visible signs of the power and presence of God with him. And so Jesus never stopped returning to God, the source and sustainance of his life and ministry. Right down to the wire Jesus submitted, “Not my will but your will be done.”

As daughters and sons of God I believe we too must acknowledge our complete and utter dependence on God, God who is closer to us than our own breath, God who is the source and sustainance of all that we say and all that we do God whose will is not other than our own true will.

It takes courage and faith that God really is with us to drop the arms that keep other people and God at a safe distance. It takes courage and faith that God really is with us to take church outside these doors, connect with strangers, lift them up and invite them into the spiritual consciousness of our interconnected, interdependent relationships with one another and God.  It takes courage and faith that God really is with us to lay down our personal preferences and pray, “Not my will but your will be done.”

One mega dose of praying “Your will be done,” is not  sufficient for me to sustain my courage and faith in the One, Holy and Living God with me as I navigate the moment to moment aches and agony, drama and disappointment, intrigue and injustice that constantly accost me. And so I find myself slipping away from the crowd, sometimes early in the morning when it is still dark, to pray. I find my self closing my office door and taking a few minutes to pray. I find myself sitting in my car praying before the next meeting because one mega dose of prayer on Sunday is not enough to sustain me.

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Gospel text of Sunday 1 February 2015

Mark 1:21-28        Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching-- with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Reflection     The contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber suggests a way to understand the stages of of I, We and All of Us moral develpopment as  evolving states of body, mind or  spiritual consciousness. In the body centered state of consciousness we identify with our physical needs and desires. Hunger, lust, emotions drive our behavior. We experience other people as objects to satisfy our desires. There is every chance you might hear us saying, “This is mine,” or “I can’t help it. It is just the way I am.”

In the next state of consciousness, the mind,  we begin to develop our cognitive capacity to make connections with others. People are no longer simply objects to satisfy our desires. We are able to step into the other person’s shoes and begin to establish relationships based on shared interests, values, traditions or ideals. At the same time that we acquire the capacity to make meaningful connections and experience “we,” we also develop a shadow side as we decide who is part of we and who is not.  This is the state of consciousness that drives 70% of our world’s behavior today. Hope to grow beyond this state lies in the invitation to become self aware and ask ourselves, “Who are we leaving out? Who are we marginalizing?”

When we begin to ask such questions, the evolution of our consciousness continues to expand into the spiritual “all of us” perspective. Here we affirm the interconnected web of creation. In Wilber’s words, we discover “the commonwealth of all beings…(this is) the move from ethnocentric to worldcentric, and is ‘spiritual’ in the sense of (being concerned with) things common to all sentient beings.”   (http://www.dailyevolver.com/a-primer-on-integral-theory/#sthash.YYxKq3wG.dpuf)  

I believe the ‘new teaching’ in the synagogue two thousand years ago is still new for many of us as we stretch into world centric spiritual consciousness that tolerates ambiguity, holds opposites together, and endures the tension between diversity and unity.

The ‘new teaching’ calls us into an “all of us” state of spiritual consciousness wherein we are compelled by truth, beauty and goodness. You see truth, beauty and goodness are qualities of God. They are also qualities of all sentient beings. Which is to say, in worldcentric all of us state of consciousness we no longer experience ourselves as isolated, independent individuals or groups of individuals. We experience ourselves in union and unity with one another and God and the qualities of truth, beauty and goodness naturally flow through us.

Let this be our hope and our prayer, to grow beyond the loud shouts and convulsions of I or we, body or mind consciousness into the spiritual state wherein all of us are free to be. 

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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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