Gospel text for First Advent, Sunday 27 November 2016

Matthew 24:36-44        Jesus said to the disciples, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Reflection     What were the people who chose this reading for the First Sunday of Advent thinking? Why begin the New Church Year  in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel with Jesus warning the disciples and us to keep awake and be ready for apocalyptic change, change that will be no less traumatic than the great flood in Noah’s time?  Why not let us bask in naïve innocence anticipating the powdery smell of a newborn infant’s birth? Why not walk us through the litany of Jesus’ genealogy, who begat whom, “Abraham was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Issac… all fourteen generations until we arrive at another “Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.” (Matt1.1,16) 

I believe the vexing choice for this text was to insure we not get swept up in nostalgia,  not for a minute imagine we are preparing for the birth of an ordinary child. The unnerving message is, we are preparing to receive a child who will turn our world upside down. This child, this Son of Humanity, is going to shake us up and wake us up and show us the way to “beat our swords into plough shares and our spears into pruning hooks.”

There is no question. Twenty-seven hundred years after the prophet Isaiah proclaimed peace among all people,  two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth, we, the people of God, are still in dire need of teaching and guidance to become the peacemakers God is calling us to be. We must learn how to transform our weapons of destruction into tools turned for the good of all people; think  about transforming M16s into water purifiers, denaturing nerve gas into pollution control systems, converting biological agents into agricultural tools. And of course, translating our words of judgment, condemnation and hatred into words of welcome, recommendation and love. Jesus is unequivocal. In God’s economy words or weapons intended for violence will be reconfigured as the means to care for all people and institute peace on earth and it will turn our world upside down. 

How can we be proponents peace on earth when we ache over our families fractured by divisive politics? How can we extend good will to all people on earth while we squirm among friends and neighbors wondering if we dare say what we think, feel or how we voted?  Where is the vision of hope for all when so many people are suffering and worried about feeding their children, keeping their families together, holding onto their jobs or health insurance?

I believe these and many similar questions illumine our need to hear the apocalyptic story of Jesus’ intrusion into history today. Our days are rife with excess, indulgence, arrogance, irresponsibility, jealousy and greed -  nonetheless, we are preparing to welcome the birth of the Christ child. We are preparing to be made new again and remember that regardless of our situation, always we begin again shining the new light of Christ in the world. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 20 November 2016

Luke 23:33-43        When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same  sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Reflection        Practicing what we preach can be a rather agonizing experience. When, my six year old daughter Leela planted her tiny hands on her hips, looked me square in the eye and said, “Why do I have to eat healthy food if you smoke those cigarettes,” a steel saber could not more surely have pierced me to my core. And there it was, the test of my integrity. Was I going to practice what I preached about making healthy choices and give up smoking? What was I willing to give up to live in integrity? 

Two thousand years earlier Jesus' integrity was also questioned. Throughout his ministry Jesus preached, “But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6.27-28) And then we meet Jesus at the place called The Skull, nailed to a tree between two criminals. One of the criminals, who no doubt would have planted his hands on his hips to chastise Jesus were they not nailed to a cross, questions Jesus’ integrity. “If you really are who you say you are, get yourself and us out of this mess.” 

Jesus does the unthinkable. He does not climb off the cross. He does not implore God to save him. Instead, he forgives the criminals between whom he hangs as well as the perpetrators of his crucifixion saying, “Father, forgive them…” At the end of the day, when push comes to shove, Jesus practices what he preaches. He forgives the people who hate, curse and abuse him. In fact, he gives up his life rather than giving up his integrity. 

This raises a question for all of us, “For what are we willing to die?” The only way I know to begin to respond to that question is by asking yet another question, “For what are we willing to live?” Jesus lived his life practicing what he preached. “Love God, love your neighbors,  love your enemies, and forgive them.” Jesus was willing to die for that which he was willing to live. There is no better way for us to live our lives than to live for that which we are willing to die. And yes, I did quit smoking the day Leela confronted me. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 13 November 2016

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Reflection        Surely we are in no less a time of apocalyptic expectation than were the people listening to Jesus predict the decimation of the temple. Some of us are calling for a radical end of the way things have been. Others fear seismic doom and gloom borne of change. Within families, communities, cities , the Church, relationships are strained if not fatally fractured.

As people of God we are intended to be in loving relationship with God and one another. Most of us have been distracted and like our ancient Jewish ancestors forgotten our covenant with God. We are worried about “when (these terrible things) will be, and what will be the sign that it is about to take place.” Then and now we are asking the wrong questions.

The question is not “How shall we prepare ourselves for disaster;  ‘famine, plague and dreadful portents and great signs from heaven?’” The question is “How shall we live to fulfill our covenant agreement with God? How shall we repent, turn away from our selfishness, entitlement, pride and isolation to follow the way of Jesus by dignifying, caring for and giving ourselves away for the good of all people?” 

If we did live to fulfill our covenant with God there would indeed be an apocalyptic transformation of the world as we know it. And, if we choose to do this, like Jesus and his disciples, we can expect to be misunderstood and suffer along the way.

The good news is, God is with us and we do not have to prepare. We can have confidence because Jesus counseled, we need not be “terrified.” This moment in which we find ourselves is an opportunity to live and reveal the good news that God is with and for all people. “So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” We may be hated and betrayed by many folk but we are assured of God’s presence with us… always. 

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The News as Text for Sunday 6 November 2016

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts

Reflection        Where is God today on the final stretch of the presidential campaign? Today our gospel text is the news; TV, newspaper, online, radio, blog sites and twitter feeds where a two minute story is considered long. All day and night we are bombarded with blurts of breaking news. The pundits have refined the art of igniting fires, provoking torrential waves of emotion and carrying the collective consciousness of us, the United States citizens, out of our hearts and our souls and our minds.

Individually and collectively we have become like bubbles in the froth of hurricane whipped waves, smashing and crashing into our selves and one another. We can barely keep up with the tennis match volley of “who dun-it to whom.” We have forgotten that  the preferred political fish is red herring and allowed ourselves to be distracted from issues that matter by perpetual prurient panderings. 

We, the people, are swept away in tides of emotion. We have lost our hearts and our souls and our minds in the media tumult that bombards us. We have forgotten who and whose we are and the sacred ground on which we stand.

Here is the thing. Although we are privileged to pledge our allegiance to one of the richest nations in the world, our first and foremost allegiance belongs to God. We are the people of God. We are the visible body of the Christ in the world today.

What this means is we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves. Beginning with the book of Genesis the entire narrative  is punctuated with prophets, not the least of whom was Jesus, prophets who never stop warning God’s people to “love the Lord our God will all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves.” 

But we turn away from God and one another. We may no longer bow down before wooden statues and golden calves as did our ancient ancestors but we are beguiled by countless junk gods that consume our lives and our time; from electronic devices to enormous TVs, expensive cars and towering buildings, lust and greed for pleasure and money, and of course our idolatry of “the way things used to be.” Because we worship them we suffer loss upon loss upon loss because we are worshipping things that cannot last. 

You may well ask, “How are we  “to love the Lord our God will all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves.?” It is actually very simple. Turn off our TVs, the radio. Unplug the phone, the computer, and every media delivering device. Go into our rooms, close the door and pray to our God in secret. Pray with our whole hearts and souls and minds saying, “Not my will, Your will be done.” 

Our God is a God of love and hope for all people. As difficult as it may be for us to see or even believe, on this very day, at this very moment our God is working in the world for the good of all people. It is time for us to honestly look at all that we say, all that we do and the way that we vote asking, how do my thoughts, my words and my actions reveal to the world that God is with us? How is my vote a revelation of God’s love and hope for all people today? 

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Feast of All Saints & All Souls 30 October 2016

Luke 6:20-31        Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

"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. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

"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

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Reflection The French Philosopher Louis Lavelle lived the first half of the twentieth century and wrote, “Saints are those who teach us how to live in the visible world by seeing things invisible.” He taught that we live in both the world of nature and “the world of Spirit and through our experience in the natural world we may come to realize our spiritual powers.” Through choice and diligent practice some people come to experience nature and spirit in unity rather than duality. These are the people we recognize as saints.

In his essay, “The Meaning of Holiness”* Lavelle insists that we all have the potential to be saints, which is to say, to experience the presence and action of God with us. Saints are ordinary people who live extraordinary lives because of their disciplined intention to live aligned in the will of God and in right relationship with all people. 

As Christians we are all members of the Communion of Saints. Our selves, our souls and bodies are the means by which we participate in the Communion. Much like accomplished baseball pitchers, pianists, professors, construction workers, teachers or firefighters who persist in disciplined practice and study in their respective fields, if we aspire to holiness of life we must exercise our spiritual muscles through disciplined prayer, worship, study and diligent practice of generosity and loving-kindness. 

When we make choices for something, that means we leave some things behind. That is what the teenage peasant girl Mary did when the angel Gabriel informed her that she would be pregnant and give birth to the son of God, and she responded, “Let it be with me according to Your word.” (Luke 1.38) That is what Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew did when they put down their nets to follow Jesus near the sea of Galilee. (Matt 4.18) That is what each of us do every time we chose to live “with God” life and pray, “Not my will, God’s will be done.” The question is, what do we need to leave behind in order to continue God's generosity and loving-kindness in our world? 

Saints are ordinary people who persist, with God’s help, in aligning their will in the will of God and in so doing their ordinary lives are transformed into extraordinary expressions of God’s generosity and loving-kindness for the good of all people.

 *Lavelle,Louis. The Meaning of Holiness., London, Burns & Oates, 1953

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Gospel text for Sunday 23 October 2016

Luke 18:9-14        Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Reflection        Don’t we all try to be like the Pharisee… law abiding, spiritual people, who give at least our 10% tithe to God’s church, pay our share of taxes and do acts of charity? Aren’t we all a bit grateful that we are not like “those people” who do awful things we hear about in the news? How could it be that Jesus defends the tax-collector, absolving him for his sin without demanding some form of payment? How could Jesus contradict the generous, religious, law-abiding Pharisee, refusing to condone his behavior?  When we do wrong, don’t we have to pay? And when we do good, aren’t we being righteous? 

This Friday and Saturday was our annual Diocesan Convention The Very Rev. Jeffrey Johns, a Church of England priest, and dean of St. Alban’s Cathedral in England delivered the keynote address titled, “The Spirituality of Leadership.” Rev. Johns did not mince words. If we want to lead God’s people and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth, we must first pause and examine our own lives and hearts.

When we are honest with ourselves, we are all sinners. Day after day, week after week, we fail to give our first and our best to God. We check off the boxes of all the good things we do and fall to the same obsessions, compulsions, perfections, temptations, and addictions that we did yesterday. We try to be good Pharisees, but at the end of the day when we examine our hearts and our lives we see, just like the tax collector in Jesus’ story we cannot make it right.

Then Rev. Johns shared a poignant insight about the value of examining our lives  gleaned from the fourteenth century English mystic Julian of Norwich. We examine our hearts and lives in order to “turn our wounds into worship.” 

When we allow ourselves to admit and feel the depths of our violations, shortcomings and shame we are broken open to bow before God and humbly ask for mercy. And because our God is a merciful God our wounds turn into worship. In the words of our tax collector, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'

The question is not, am I righteous? Are you righteous? We are not. Our attempts at self improvement and getting it right fall short. But God is righteous, which is how we dare have the courage to admit our errors, shortcomings and violations and experience the attendant grief, shame and remorse Then, putting our faith in God’s righteousness rather than our own, our wounds turn into worship and, in Jesus’ words, we ‘will be exalted.”

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Gospel text for Sunday 16 October 2016

Luke 18:1-8        Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Reflection        Never stop turning and returning to God, or as our Jewish friends might put it, “Cultivate your inner nudge,” which is a rough translation of, “Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.” Rather than look at this instruction as a formula to manufacture an obnoxious personality I prefer to think of it as inspiration to sustain single-minded purposefulness in pursuing what is right and good and true. 

Sometimes it is hard to hold onto what is right and good and true, especially when the deck seems stacked against us. In the story of the widow we have no idea who her opponent is nor do we know the nature of her grievance. We do know the widow seeks justice in a situation that is stacked against her, having to rely on a merciless judge to hear her complaint.  Which begs the question, what gave the widow, a person of neither value nor status and certainly no education in her first century community, the courage, the chutzpah to persevere and bother the judge? From where did the widow derive her strength of purpose to repeatedly confront the truculent judge? 

It is unlikely the persistent widow was aware of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein definition of a nudge. Here is what they have to say. “A nudge…is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges are not mandates. Putting fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.” *

Perhaps the widow heard Jesus teaching on a hillside, on the plain or in the synagogue and was moved to hope for justice in spite of her desperate situation. Perhaps the widow was inspired by the story of Job who never stopped calling out to God despite the unspeakable adversity of his situation. We will never know what kept the fire going in the widow’s heart such that she held fast to her desire for justice. Nonetheless her story gives us hope that each and every one of us may be heard as long as we never stop calling out to God for justice. In the throes of this political season it might behoove us to never stop bothering God. “O Lord make haste to help us, all of us. O Lord, come quickly and make our ways straight. Amen.”

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

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