Gospel text for Sunday 25 October 2015

Mark 10:46-52        Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Reflection      What if Jesus stood still in front of you, looked you in the eye and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” What would you say? What would you do?

I will never forget the first time I heard those words spoken to me through human lips. A wise Episcopal priest whom I had been pestering for months to be my spiritual director kept flatly saying, “No.” After 4 or 5 asks I pretty much gave up. Several more months passed and I decided to call one more time. He answered the phone and after a bit of small talk he asked, “What do you want me to do for your?” His beneficent words cut to my core. All of the oppressive voices that stood between me and God were exposed. “How can I admit the deepest desire of my heart? I don’t deserve such a generous invitation. I am not good enough. I can’t do this. I am not holy enough. How dare I say what I really want out loud?”

After a very long pause I stuttered something like, “I want you to help me see how God is working in my life and I want you to help me discern what I am to do.” Even as I choked out those words fear and trembling gripped my soul. I knew my life was changed forever and I was terrified. Like the cloak that Bartimaeus’ threw off when he sprung up to go to Jesus, I felt all the old images of who I thought I was along with the choir of voices declaring my proper place in the world were shattered. I could barely breath. Those words, those unspeakably generous words, “What do you want me to do for you?” cut through my social, emotional and spiritual limitations and opened the eyes of my heart.

Could there be a more generous invitation than to express the deepest desire of our heart? “What do you want me to do for you?” Do we dare to pause and admit our deep longing for “with God” life? Are we willing to cast off all constraints that limit our ideas of who and whose we are? Are we ready to respond with bountiful generosity in gratitude for the unspeakable blessings of our “with God” life?

Whether Jesus bursts into the journey of our life in a singular dramatic moment or has been a constant though perhaps not recognized presence inviting us to  “with God” life through the voices of friends and strangers along the way, a decision is always required of us. Are we going to settle for the status quo? Or, are we going to take a risk? Are we going to spring up from our comfortable ruts and throw off our cloaks of limiting ideas and oppressive attachments because we choose to put our faith in God’s lavish generosity? Or... will we let fear oppress us and bury our truth?

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Hebrew Testament text for Sunday 18 October 2015

Job 38:1-7, 34-41                                                            **Stars being born & gaseous nebula                                                 

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Gird up your loins like a man,

I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements-- surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? "

"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, `Here we are'?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?

"Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when they crouch in their dens,
or lie in wait in their covert? 

Who provides for the raven its prey,

when its young ones cry to God,

and wander about for lack of food?”

Reflection

God is God. Job is not. This message resounds through sunrise and sunset, the mystery of the ever expanding multiverse, a child laughing, waterfalls crashing, swift sips of ‘ah-hahs,’ a male lion’s bellows, grand humpback whales’ ballad; God is God, We are not.

If I was compelled to extract a singular admonition from the sublime wisdom story of Job it would be this. God is God. We are not. The sooner we get on our knees and admit our complete and utter dependence on God (not to mention unspeakable smallness in the face of all that is) the sooner we may experience the mysterious wisdom and grace of God in us and of us, with us and for us.

In all twelve step recovery programs the first and essential step toward freedom from a particular obsession, compulsion or addiction is for the individual to admit they are not in control, in other words, to get on their knees and surrender to something greater than themselves. Which is the second step in every twelve step program, recognizing there is indeed something greater than oneself. The thing is, not all of us lose our freedom to drugs, alcohol, sex, food or gambling. Some of us lose our freedom to ideas or images about ourselves; we are righteous, dutiful, smart, law abiding, altruistic, successful, philanthropic even holy… the list is endless. 

Although we are not God, we are not other than God either. As long as we get on our knees and like Job, never stop calling out to God, when we admit our complete and utter dependence on God, there is every chance we will be surprised by the lavish grace of God flowing to us and through us. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 11 October 2015

Mark 10:17-31  

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."

Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

Reflection        Can you almost hear Jesus saying to the running man, “Do you believe you have done all of these things; following the Law of Moses by your own wit and your own will? Do you see that homeless person? that leper begging? But for the grace of God, that could be you. By the grace of God with you, you have been able to follow the law and now you need something more. You need to admit your absolute and utter dependence on God as I do.” “Of my own self, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear, … and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who has sent me. (John 5.30) 

Jesus insists that in all things he is utterly dependent on God. This is “with God life.” This is eternal life. Jesus puts his faith in his relationship with God rather than clinging to conventional, or even orthodox, programs for happiness. Our programs for happiness are all the things we do in an effort to feel safe, secure, esteemed, right, in control or powerful. Things like  amassing food, property, money, weapons or insurance policies; avoiding conflict, following rules (commandments), being dutiful or failing to speak our truth in order to be liked by everyone, demanding perfection of  ourselves or others, lording it over others or striving for position or success regardless of the cost to our integrity or to other people. 

For the most part we get away with cultivating our programs for happiness during the early years of our lives. But when the time comes that like the running man, we are looking for something more, there is every chance that Jesus will counsel us, “Go, sell all that you have…go sell every earthly thing in which you put your trust because all of your possessions, all of the people cow towing to you, all of your righteous behavior, all of the privilege and power in the world will not get you “with God life.” 

There is nothing wrong with material possessions, with being well liked, following rules or being successful. It is only when we have an inordinate attachment to these things, when we identify with these things, that they become stumbling blocks because they get between us and “with God life.” So go, sell everything you have that you cannot imagine living without to make room for “with God life.” 

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Hebrew Testament text for Sunday 4 October 2015

2015 10 01 Job 1.2, 2.1-10  God’s faith… 

Job 1:1; 2:1-10        There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason." Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die." But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Reflection      Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? This question looms large among us as yet again we are confronted with the senseless violence expressed in the shooting of innocent people in Oregon on Thursday morning. 

The story of Job begins with a wager between God and the satan. Apparently God has a lot of faith in Job because God is essentially betting on Job’s faithfulness. God is betting that nothing the satan can do, that none of the circumstance that are part of every life on earth will be sufficient to turn Job away from God.

According to God Job was a good and faithful man. He was the richest man around. He owned lots of property, animals and businesses that not only supported his family of ten children and a wife, but also employed lots of people. He was well respected in the community, The people loved him because he treated them fairly and was generous and just. 

Nonetheless, Job's crops began to fail and his livestock died. He lost his property and businesses and with that, lost his status in the community. And if that was not enough, one at a time his ten children died, and then his wife. Suffering loss upon loss, Job then contracted an excruciating disease, boils all over his body, making him unclean and fit only to sit on the ashes in the dump. Life does not get much worse than that. 

Through all of this, Job never stopped calling out to God, demanding that God listen to him. Job pled his case of innocence… “I do not deserve this,” even when so called friends came to taunt him, “Surely you did something to cause all of this harm to befall you.” Job never lost faith in his own goodness and worth and never stopped calling out to God.  Which is to say, Job never lost faith in God's faithfulness. 

At the end of the day God was right to bet on Job’s faithfulness. You see, that is what faith is. Faith is stronger than any circumstance; loss of property or business, death of children or spouse, even sickness and living in pain and squalor. Faith is stronger than all of that. Faith is like a two edged sword that cuts through all that is impermanent to that which is permanent - God’s faithfulness to humankind. 

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Mark 9:38-50        John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Reflection    Jesus’ story is not about in group privilege and access to exclusive power. The story is about a man, like Jesus, who even though he was not in the in group, was reaching out and healing people. Which is to say, the unknown man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name was promoting the kingdom of God, not only by healing people but also by tearing down walls, stumbling blocks, that separate people into in groups and out groups that protect proprietary interests and territory. The man dared to step over a stumbling block that avers, some groups have an exclusive claim to God.

Most of us hear this story and react with revulsion  to the notion of chopping off body parts because much like the disciples we miss the mark. We don’t want to give up our agency (hands), autonomy (feet), preferred way of seeing things (eyes) or our exclusive relationship with God.  But Jesus calls this scandalizó, Greek for stumbling. Some translations  call this sin. Whatever words we use, the meaning derives from the ancient Jewish tradition that counsels people of God not to turn away from God, but rather to repent, teshuvah, the Hebrew word for returning to God or God oriented consciousness. 

This week the people of the United States and the world have witnessed a series of messages from the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis. I believe the heart of his message is simple, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Though Francis did not overtly add, “and cut off or turn away from anything that prevents you from doing so,” I am willing to wager he would agree because that is what returns us to all that is true, all that is good, God. Christians call this repentance. Jews, teshuvah. Muslims, tawbe. We all agree, what is true and good occurs when we are turned toward God.

Our individual and collective lives are saturated with distractions and attractions that lure our bodies, minds and souls to make idols of things that are not holy (food, drugs, sex, alcohol, adulation, exercise even compulsive seeking of the holy). We worship at the altars of security, esteem, power and control. We justify tiny lies, bits of gossip, self-aggrandizement. We fail to hold ourselves and each other to account. And so, bit by bit we turn further away from God.

Speaking to world leaders at the United Nations in New York, Pope Francis called for all 193 member nations to cut off the “boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.” That pretty much cuts to the marrow of the issues besetting the entire globe. It is time for us to chop off those parts, individually and collectively, that lead to the untold suffering of people and irreparable damage to our planet. 

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Christian Testament text for Sunday 20 September 2015

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a        Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Reflection    Get serious. Get humble. Get on your knees. James’ letter could have been written today to all of us Christians dispersed across the globe who say with our mouths we believe in God and Jesus the Christ and by many of our actions declare the constitutional status of the holy “my;” my preferences, my rights, my desires, my predilections. Where is humility in the sacred-cow of individualism? Where are “the good fruit” born in envy, unbridled ambition and victory at any cost?

Nothing is lost in the urgency of the words penned two thousand years ago. The early Christian community was in crisis as we are. If we dare to call ourselves Christian it is time to pause and look honestly in the mirror. Do we live well? Do we live peaceably? Do we live humbly? Are our lives the living, breathing revelation of God’s good fruit poured out through us? If we cannot answer a resounding “Yes, yes, yes!” to these questions we must then ask ourselves, “How am I not in right relationship with God?”

The “good fruit’ the writer of James’ letter refers to are much the same as the fruit of the Spirit  to which Paul refers in his Letter to the Galatians. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control (Gal 5.22) are evidence of God’s grace working in us as we do the serious work of staying in conscious, conscientious and humble relationship with God. And yes, this is serious work, exercising our spiritual muscles. An athlete works out to strengthen and stretch their physical muscles. A worker practices to develop their competency muscles. An intellectual studies to expand their mental muscles. A person of faith prays rightly to mature their spiritual muscles. Which returns us to the question, “How do we pray rightly?”

The German scholar, Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now, encourages us to have disciplined, humble prayer practices and warns us not to let our practices get in the way. Somewhere he wrote, and I paraphrase, “Why don’t we just go there now. Why don’t we just stop and be present to Presence right now?”

Perhaps you would join me in being present to Presence right now. If you would, please close your eyes. Take a deep breath, breathe in and breathe out. Now as you take your next breath experience the place of love in every cell and space of your being. Breathe out. As you take your next breath experience the presence of joy throughout your body. Breathe out.  Now do the same thing with peace, breathing in and breathing out, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness and self-control.  Then we conclude the prayer, “O God, here I am. I consent to Your presence and action within me. Please allow the fruit of your Spirit to flow through me for the good of humanity. Amen.”  You may or may not want to get on your knees.

The fruit of the Spirit are already in us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness,   generosity, faithfulness and self-control are the substance of Divine Presence, God with us. Even if we are not experiencing some or any of the fruit they are the fiber, the very meaning of our true self which is not other than God. When we consciously consent to God’s presence and action within us and ask to experience the good fruit of God, we are praying rightly.

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Gospel text for Sunday 13 September 2015

Mark 8:27-38        Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Reflection        This is one of those times when Malina and Rohrbaugh’s “Social Science Commentary” leaps to mind with its apt explanation of the difference between ancient Middle Eastern and 18-20th century Western civilization’s response to Jesus’ question, “Who do people say that I am?” In his honor/shame society Jesus is asking this question to locate his position of power and status in the collective, which is the source of his identity because his was a group-oriented society. A person knew themselves via their connections, relationships and responsibilities to their socio/cultural/religious group. (eg The Christian Testament speaks of Paul of Tarsus, Mary of Magdela). The value is for the collective good.

The Age of Enlightenment gave birth to  a different perspective, individualism, that understood human persons to have individual God given liberties and rights. This view arose in the late 17th-early 18th through 20th century and underlies the psychological perspective that individual persons live primarily of themselves and for themselves.  Identity is singular, derived from the individual’s particular needs, desires and ambitions.  The value is for independence over against the collective good. 

When Jesus asks, “Who do you or who do the people say that I am?” he is asking “How am I located in the complex web of relationships that constitutes humanity?” Jesus is not testing the disciples and Peter to find out if they recognize his particular psychological constitution. He is asking the people, the source of his identity, to tell him what his position of honor or shame (power) is among the people. How then can we relate to Jesus’ question of identity today?

In his Integral Theory the contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber suggests a four part model for understanding who a person is. It includes the interior subjective world of the individual, the individual’s cultural/collective background, the objective situation exterior to the individual and how the individual fits in the collective.* Wilber offers a way to move beyond a preference for either the collective or the individual and embrace a 21st century nondual perspective that integrates the values of both. The lens through which we 21st century Westerners look back at Mark’s gospel cannot escape projecting our psychological perspective on it. In fact, that is what keeps the Word alive and relevant for us. However, we must also bring forward the context and wisdom of the collective seeking the survival of the group.

I wonder if the current great divide between Republicans and Democrats may in some way be explained by a preference for either Ancient Middle Eastern or Eighteenth Century Enlightenment perspectives? I wonder if it is time for us to set down the pundits’ rusty swords and bridge the gap between the rights of the individual (insulated and unconnected to others) and the priority for group survival (at the expense of personal privilege)?** I wonder if it is time to adopt a perspective that ascribes value to both the individual and the collective and stretches toward the transpersonal to exceed the limits of both?

Copy and paste either citation in your browser to read more.

*Wilber, Ken. "AQAL Glossary," "Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice: IOS Basic and the AQAL Map," Vol. 1, No. 3. Retrieved on September 7, 2015.

**Steve Paulson. "You are the river: An interview with Ken Wilber". salon.com.

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