Gospel text for Sunday 24 October 2021

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 do you want me to do for you?”

I will never forget the first time I heard those words spoken to me through human lips. An Episcopal priest whom I had been pestering for months to be my spiritual director kept saying “No, absolutely not. I am not a spiritual director.”  Several months slipped by and I decided to call one last time. He answered the phone and after a bit of small talk he asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” I felt passed through to my core. 

“How can I admit the deepest desire of my heart? I don’t deserve such a generous invitation. I am not good enough. I am not holy enough. How dare I say what I really want?” This one question, “What do you want me to do for you?”  pulled back the curtain veiling a malevolent chorus of authoritarian voices bent on keeping me cloistered and divorced from God.

I stuttered and stammered until I finally squeaked out “I want you to help me see how God is working in my life and help me discover what I am to do about it.” The twisting in my stomach and the knot in my throat waved a crimson flag, “Oh Debra, what have you done? Life will never be the same.”

Which brings us to the curbside, outside Jericho.  Jesus and the disciples are coming and going to and from Jericho. Contrast that to Bartimaeus whose blindness sandbags him on the curb outside city limits, not only because he cannot see but also because the authoritarian voices of his culture insist that being afflicted with blindness is evidence he or his family have done something terrible which renders him unworthy. He has no voice, no place.

But a flare of faith deep inside Bartimaeus rebells against the chorus of afflicting voices, “You are not good enough, not holy enough. How dare you speak up and admit the deepest desire of your heart?” because when he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is nearby somehow Bartimaeus musters his mettle and shouts above those sternly ordering him to be quiet, “Son of David, have mercy on me.”

His spirited shout stops Jesus in his tracks where he stands still and watches blind Bartimaeus spring to his feet and throw off his cloak. Without a hint of hesitation Bartimaeus cast off what was likely his only worldly possession as well as every limiting social proscription about who he was, a blind beggar with no place nor value in society who had no business calling out to the prophet, the Son of David. How dare he?

From our twenty-first century perspective blindness is a biomedical problem resulting in the sightless person’s inability to function. Healing involves restoring the person’s ability to function. Two thousand years ago in Palestine blindness is a social rather than biomedical problem, therefore healing involves being restored to a place in society. Throughout the Gospel according to Mark we meet Jesus as he heals people which restores them to a place in society. 

Jesus heals a man with a dreaded skin disease, sends him to a priest to be ritually cleansed and return to community. (Mk 1.40-45)

Seeing the faith of folks who carry a paralyzed man to him, Jesus heals the man and sends him home.  (Mk 2.1-12)

When a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touches Jesus and is healed, it is her breaking the taboo about touching that heals her and Jesus affirms, “Your faith has made you well.” (Mk 5:25–34)

When townsfolk come to tell Jesus that Jairus’ daughter is dead he says, “Do not fear, only believe” and the child is healed. (Mk 5:21–42)

After touching and healing the blind man at Bethsaida Jesus sends him away to his home. (Mk 8:22–25)

The overarching message is, faith makes us well by restoring us to right relationship with God and community. When we choose to live by faith we are able to break through the physical, social, emotional and religious taboos that curb and constrain us, prohibiting us from participating in the fullness of life. 

Belief or faith is kin to hope in the possibility of what can be. Belief or faith foster a kind of fearlessness that enables us to get off the curb at the side of the road, and boldly answer the question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Do you dare to pause and admit the deepest desire of your heart? Are you willing to cast off all constraints that limit your idea of who and whose you are? Are you ready to live by faith and be restored to right relationship with your neighbors, the world and God? What do you want me to do for you?

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Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 17 October 2021

Job 38:1-7, 34-41

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, unfathomable as the unborn, undying eternally all that is, and, at the same time God is bound at the center of the whirlwind of our suffering. God is the humility that tempers our pride. God is the generosity that empties our gluttony. God is the peace that eases our anger. God is the joy that supplants our suffering. God is all and beyond all, closer than our breath, ungraspable as mercury.

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 creation) the sooner we will 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 to admit we are not in control, in other words, to get on our knees and surrender to something greater than ourselves. Which is the second step in every twelve step program, recognizing there is indeed something greater than ourself. The thing is, not all of us loose our freedom to drugs, alcohol, sex or gambling. Like Job some of us loose our freedom to ideas or images about ourselves; we are righteous, dutiful, smart, law abiding, altruistic, successful, philanthropic, good people, aren’t we?.

In the gospel according to Mark we meet Jesus as he “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.”” (Mk10.17) Apparently Jesus was familiar with the Hebrew scriptures and took Job’s lesson to heart. God alone is good or righteous. And we are meant to be in humble and reverent relationship with God. 

Here is the interesting twist. Although we are not God, we are not other than God. As long as we get on our knees and 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, even and perhaps especially in the midst of our suffering.

God appears to us in a whirlwind of run-a-way thoughts, anxiety, pain, fear, grief, and every variety of addiction, obsession and compulsion - whatever it takes to put us on our knees. Still, all is not lost because freedom calls us as Job’s young friend Elihu admonishes,   “(God) delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear by adversity. (God) also allures you out of distress into a broad place where there is no constraint…” (Job 36.15-16)

When swept away in a whirlwind of our suffering, God is not absent. God is not silent. God is speaking through our distress, and not only speaking but also inviting us to a bigger, broader life of freedom in humble relationship with God’s Indwelling Presence.

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Gospel text for Sunday 10 October 2021

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        I was shocked. The moment  happened to coincide with the early birth pains of the U.S. bursting housing bubble accounting for the startling number of  people of every stripe and reason huddled in store doorways and slumped near street signs. I had just arrived in Berkeley, California to begin the chapter of my journey toward ordination as an Episcopal priest at the Graduate Theological Union. I was shocked.

Old, young, families and individuals, I lost count of the number of homeless neighbors I passed before reaching Church Divinity School of the Pacific, the destination of the 1.6 mile trek from my flat. A week of maneuvering past bodies while giving away my lunch and cash left me not only hungry and broke but also morose. How was I to live and breathe and find my being in the wreck of this waterloo? 

That was the question I brought to the first meeting with my faculty advisor, The Rev. Dr. Louis Weil. And Louis said to me, “Choose one person. Make him your person. Jesus healed one person at a time.” And so that evening as I returned to my flat the question, “Who will be my person?” whispered me along the way. 

With only four blocks remaining between me and my flat I began to worry, “How will I know who is my person?” I have no idea what I expected but suddenly I knew when a gaunt and gangly shadow of a man looked up at me from his seat on the sidewalk in front of the Blockbuster store, and through clear blue yonder soul searching eyes, “He looked at me and loved me.”  

I could hear my heart hammering as I lowered my eyes and said, “Bless you.” He uttered not a word.  Most days for the next three years I visited Eugene offering him breakfast, a few dollars, assistance getting an identity card, a word about whatever and blessing. And every day “He looked at me and loved me” 

In the eyes of the world Eugene had nothing, No possessions, no wealth therefore no security, no safety, no esteem, no power and no control. But in Eugene’s eyes he had everything because his treasure was in heaven. Every day Eugene experienced the kingdom of heaven delivered to him by strangers. And so with clear eyes and unfettered heart he could “look at me and love me.”

I believe Jesus’ instruction to the rich and rule abiding young man, “sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” is the Markan version of Jesus’ famous sermons on Matthew’s mountain and Luke’s plain. We remember them as the Beatitudes. 

In Luke’s gospel we meet Jesus “Looking at his disciples (saying), Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (6.20) The poor are blessed because they already inhabit the kingdom of God. How is that possible? Because they are not depending on stuff that will fail them. They know they are dependent on God’s mercy.

I am not romanticizing the tragic consequences of poverty and homelessness. What I am suggesting is that the possessions and wealth that we believe give us security, safety, esteem, power and control are not and never will be the source of mercy, joy or blessing. All the wealth in the world is nothing compared to being blessed in the kingdom of God. And how do we receive such blessing? By realizing our dependence on God, accepting blessing delivered through the mercy of others and being merciful.

Which brings us to Matthew’s nuance of the First Beatitude, ^“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (5.3) What does it mean to be poor in spirit? I believe it means we find our security, safety, esteem, power and control depending on each other and God rather than on the crap and crunder of this world. When like Eugene we accept our poverty of spirit we understand our dependence on God’s mercy, mercy meant to flow to and through us. This is meaningful for both the material and spiritual realms. 

The very last thing I did before driving away from Berkeley to continue my life and ministry in Arizona was go to the corner of Shattuck and Dwight to say good bye to Eugene. And he “looked at me and loved me,” God’s merciful benediction. I pray to pass it on to you.

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Gospel text for Sunday 3 October 2021

Mark 10:2-16        Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.ca

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Reflection          Having been divorced, remarried, and divorced again I want to shout, “Hay God, Jesus’ words cannot be right. Furthermore, the Church has used them to do much harm. Do you know how many broken hearted Roman Catholics turn away from You because once divorced their priest refuses to give them communion?  Do You know how many men and women want nothing to do with a Church that refuses to affirm their love? Jesus’ words have caused too much harm.”

Although presuming to know Jesus’ intention when instructing the disciples and us is rather bold, considering his first century honor shame society and his overarching message of compassion and inclusion, I find it impossible to interpret Jesus’ words as merciless and prohibitive. What then? By reading this text out of context and making a direct leap from the first century to current time, not only do we miss the radically liberating message that Jesus is delivering for women and children, we also create another group of outcasts deemed unworthy to participate in the Church. 

What if instead of using Jesus’ words as warrant to essentially dishonor people by excluding them from Rites at God’s Table the Church heard Jesus’ words as instruction to elevate the value of women and children?

In the first century only men could be honored or dishonored. Women had no voice, no vote, essentially no value. Therefore a man could not commit adultery against his wife because she had no position of honor to be offended.  When Jesus says, “whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her…” he elevates the value of a woman to be equal to that of a man. This is revolutionary. This is good.

Here is another point. The Pharisees are interested in the issue of legality, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus is interested in relationship.

“Man shall leave father and mother and be joined to wife….” This is another seditious departure from the culture in which marriage as we know did not exist.  In Jesus’ context families offer their daughter and son to consolidate honorable relationships between the families. The man did not leave father and mother, rather he was a negotiating chip enhancing the family’s honor in a brokered deal, a business transaction that joined two families with an eye toward enhancing honor. 

In his not so subtle and subversive way our inveterate troublemaker Jesus elevates the relationship of a man and woman from a legalistic business arrangement to a union mediated by God. “What God has joined together let no one separate.”  Jesus is not interested in dividing, he is all about unifying. Twice he says, “They are no longer two but one…”

“From the beginning of creation” humanity, all of us, are called to unifying consciousness but because of our ‘hardness of heart’ we set our minds on matters that divide rather than unify. We turn away from one another and  from God. We could call this divorce consciousness. Its signature is discord, division and disunity. Dare I suggest this is the prevailing form of consciousness in our country today?

From the beginning of creation we are meant to live in concord and community. No one is less than or more than. No one is to be left out, which brings us to Jesus’ reproach of the disciples who are trying to prevent the children from bothering him. “Let the children come to me.” 

Once again our rebel Jesus is stirring the pot. In his culture children have no value but much as he does with women, Jesus elevates the status of children as he takes “them up in his arms, lays his hands on them, and blesses them.”

Without pointing fingers or assigning blame Jesus makes it crystal clear, the way things are is not good enough and I believe the difficult words of this text invite us to do the same. Look carefully for divorce consciousness in the written and unwritten laws in our community, our country and our hearts. Notice where we set our minds on matters that foster discord and divide us. Confess that we have turned away from God’s unifying consciousness. Amend our lives to be in communion with each other and creation. Which do you choose; divorce consciousness or unifying consciousness?

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Gospel text for Sunday 26 September 2021

 

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        The problem with this Markan text is that it is not one of Shakespeare’s plays,  not James Joyce’s  Ulysses nor Chris Ware’s graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Boy on Earth. The problem with this text is that it is scripture, sacred writing intended to form, and reform the community of the people of God. That would be us. 

So how are we to find good news in Jesus’ disconcerting dictum;  rather than stumble, chop off our parts in order to avoid being ”thrown into hell where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched?” This is a question with which I have wrestled for years. Generally my solution has been, leap over the chopping off of parts and land in the saltiness section because it is not hard to preach about the healing, preserving and enhancing qualities of salt. As professed followers of the way of Jesus we venerate these qualities and have no problem ascribing them to Jesus.

But recognizing, respecting even revering these life sustaining qualities is like pouring salt into a silver plated salt cellar, placing it on a glass shelf, stepping back and staring at it. What good can it do? Unless we swallow the salt, there is no saltiness. Unless we use our  hands to heal, our feet to preserve and our eyes to see the best for our lives, our communities and our planet we may as well chop off our hands, cut off our feet and pluck out our eyes because we are the stumbling blocks creating our own hell.  

In the context of this Season of Creation, the questions before us today are, “To whom have we given a cup of water to drink? From whom have we withheld it? How have we used our hands to preserve and purify that water so that it is a source of life rather than disease or death? How have we used our eyes to see beyond the standards of the way things are to the way things could be; farmers able to water their crops? no one dying of thirst?  adequate sanitation to avoid water borne disease?”

Water is essential for survival. We all know this. We also know the way to heal, preserve and enhance the life giving qualities of water for all. So the real question is, do we have the will to use our hands to heal, our feet to preserve and our eyes to see beyond current standards to enhance the quality of life for all? Here is the thing, if our answer is "no, not on my watch, not at my expense, not if it means I have to change my habits," we will find ourselves “thrown into hell, where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.” 

So where is the good news? We can choose to swallow the salt and be transformed into the healing, preserving, life enhancing people of God.  We can click on the link above and choose to act on "3 Thoughtful Ways to Conserve Water."

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Epistle and Gospel texts for Sunday 19 September 2021

                               
                                       Walking in the Dark

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.

Mark 9:30-37        Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 

example of the opposite of practical wisdom - which is cooperative and peace making not argumentative and destructive

He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”         

                      

Reflection       It was the early 1980s when I found myself in an unlikely situation, hiking pueblo ruins with Good Bear, a South Dakota Sioux. Having recently arrived in New Mexico  from New England I was getting to know the staff at a program for Native American youth. Good Bear was a counselor for  the treatment program. I was their new consultant

A bevy of program staff invited me to join them on a hike in Bandeleir National Monument. Replete with cliffs, cave dwellings, all manner of prickly things and snakes, this cautious New England transplant kept her eyes safely glued to her feet. Gradually people moved ahead or fell behind along the trail. Good Bear, whose name could fittingly have been Great Bear to accede his towering height and presence, fell in next to me and for three hours intermittently wove a story that culminated in wise counsel. “Let your feet walk and your eyes be where you are.” My hard-boiled blurt, “Why did you not tell me that three hours ago?” evoked no response. Over the next several years Good Bear taught me to talk to trees, listen to birds, smell the air and walk through forrest at night without flashlight neither stumbling nor having my eyes poked out by aberrant limbs. Good Bear invited me to stretch beyond my left brain apprehension of the world to experiencer something deeper, something that connects me to all that is.  With imperturbable patience he opened for me the experience of my rootedness in creation which I have come to understand as the source of practical wisdom.

Among indigenous people wisdom and right living emerge from an all inclusive integrative relationship with all that is. It is not hierarchical. This stands in stark contrast to the intellectual morality to which 21st c western civilized people subscribe and has plagued the human situation since, well, at least the time Jesus and his disciples were entering Capernaum. 

Jesus asked, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. “ I believe this snap-shot of life epitomizes the opposite of practical wisdom because practical wisdom is cooperative and peace making. It understands everyone and everything is interdependent and interconnected. By contrast, cultural wisdom is argumentative and destructive, understanding everyone and everything to  be in competition, fighting to survive. Although the gospel text does not delineate it in such terms clearly Jesus is a proponent of practical wisdom rooted in the understanding of the all inclusive nature of creation.

The writer of Jame’s letter notes, “ 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. “ If only the leaders of our cities, states and countries and religious institutions would put down their argumentative and destructive ways and pick up practical wisdom. And, if every one of us would do likewise we might well be surprised by how handily we can walk in the dark without tripping or being poked in the eye and, as one body, one people we could stop the degradation of every aspect of creation.

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Gospel text for Sunday 12 September 2021

  

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       No Lord, how can this be? People conspiring to commit federal hate crimes. Unprovoked stabbing of a black man. Countless people losing their homes to fire, flood and plague. Memories of the 9/11 debacle and twenty years under the authority of fear, war, politic, hatred and tragedy.  No Lord. How can this be? And there we stand right next to Peter with our minds closed to reality as it is, which sets us crosswise with all that is Divine because Divinity is a choice for the present moment. 

Reading the sentence, “Then he (Jesus)  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,” it is easy to be seized by emotion and shout, “No Lord, how can this be?”  And we miss a very important point.  The writer of the Markan text refers to Jesus as the Son of Man, which is to say, the Son of Humanity. I believe this not only annunciates Jesus as one who lives in accord with God and humanity but also every one of us who claim to follow Jesus and live in accord with God and humanity.  

We are Daughters and Sons of Humanity. When we choose to follow the law of the Lord, “Love one another (no exceptions, no conditions) and do to others as you would have them do to you,”  we set ourselves apart from the social, political and religious elite who set their minds on human things;  fostering fear rather than love to promote their positions, using their power for personal gain regardless of the cost to others, stopping at nothing to be first, great, pad their purses and save their own lives. This is the way of setting our minds on human things.

By contrast, when we choose to get behind Jesus we decidedly set our minds on divine things. This is the way of being divinely human; living with courage by faith, humbly using our power for the good of others, serving rather than being served, sacrificing our personal gain for the common good. This is not only difficult, it is dangerous because it puts us crosswise with the keepers of the status quo who persecute and try to annihilate anyone who challenges their authority. In fact, even some of our friends will call us crazy!

Still, “Wisdom cries out from the street,” “Love one another. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Are we listening? Are we scoffers? Do we hate knowledge and ignore Divine counsel? Do we lose faith and capitulate to fear? Do we succumb to the poison pen of the keepers of the status quo? Or, do we consent to be the Daughters and Sons of Divine Humanity even when it means laying down our lives for others? 

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Ephaphata - be opened. What if we were open to the Law of Lord? the statutes of the Lord? What if we were open to the wisdom of the Lord crying out in the streets. Can you hear it?

how long will you mutter scathing words and scorn the stranger?

how long will you hate knowledge and refuse God’s call? 

Love one another. Do to others what you would have them do to you.

When calamity strikes and we are drenched in anguish, then we reach out to our neighbors and call upon God.

Oh God, this cannot be….

7 The law of the Lord is perfect

and revives the soul; *

the testimony of the Lord is sure

and gives wisdom to the innocent.

8 The statutes of the Lord are just

and rejoice the heart; *

the commandment of the Lord is clear

and gives light to the eyes.

9 The fear of the Lord is clean

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.”

Gary Norman Beeler

24 August 1941 - 10 September 2021

 there is no better way to flood life with meaning than to have lifted others and helped them to a greatness they never knew they had; to have together with others righted some of the wrongs of this injured earth and its creatures; to have acted rather than waited for others to act, and to have brought others with you, for the greatest leader on earth or in heaven cannot lead alone.

Frankly I only stumbled across the new liturgical Season of Creation this week so turned to TEC website and read, “The Season of Creation, September 1st through October 43rd, is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another, and all of creation. The Episcopal Church joins this international effort for prayer and action for climate justice and an end to environmental racism and ecological destruction. This year’s theme is A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God. In celebrating the Season, we are invited to consider anew our ecological, economic, and political ways of living.” 

I have no idea how we will go about this but I trust we will figure it out together. 

I completed the circle of my sabbatical where it began, in my back yard. 

Morning’s dove sits vigil on my heart hatches me to see

the glories of purple petals and sunflower paint

How infinite the consciousness of woman, of man

flocking falling stars and pinecones.

Surely we are meant to be and be held 

in the grandeur of God flaming out like shook foil

in every distant chink and present chip with palatial praise. 

William O Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan and Potter Stewart.

I don’t remember the cases I argued. They were insignificant. I was a rookie in the justice department who was given either sure winners or sure losers to argue. But I especially recall Douglas, who had recently suffered a stroke and was in obvious discomfort, looking sharply at me as I made my arguments.

I was awed. Here was the justice who wrote the 1965 decision in Griswold v Connecticut, finding that a constitutional right to privacy forbids states from banning contraception. The man who argued the Vietnam war was illegal and issued an order that temporarily blocked sending Army reservists to Vietnam. The justice who wrote in the 1972 case Sierra Club v Morton that any part of nature feeling the destructive pressure of modern technology should have standing to sue in court – including rivers, lakes, trees and even the air – because if corporations (which are legal fictions) have standing, shouldn’t the natural world?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/02/us-supreme-court-texas-abortion-law-cruel-partisan