Observing the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, 2 October 2016

In observation of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4th I offer you his 

Peace Prayer.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, 

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Reflection       Orthodox Christianity has traditionally placed a great deal of emphasis on the sinfulness of humanity and the need to be forgiven. St. Francis and the ensuing Franciscan spirituality offer a different emphasis aligned with the first chapters of Genesis. All of creation is good, very good, because creation is the very expression of God’s love. Franciscans argue that God has two sacred books, Holy Scripture and creation. Franciscans understand Jesus came into the world to reveal God’s love in and of and with all of creation which means Jesus points to original blessing, not to original sin.

I believe it is Francis’ recognition of all of creation as blessing that is the root of what the contemporary theologian Matthew Fox refers to as Creation Spirituality. According to Fox, who was a Dominican priest until he was expelled from the order in 1993  and became an Episcopal priest, creation spirituality is the spirituality of the future. It “integrates the wisdom of Eastern, Western and Indigenous traditions with the scientific understanding of the evolving universe and the passion of creativity.”*  This is an integral spirituality that affirms the thesis of “original blessing.” From the beginning we are all blessed. We are all good. This supersedes the concept of “original sin.”

Although Creation Spirituality contradicts the orthodox Christian  emphasis on sin and sinfulness, Fox unswervingly  avers that creation spirituality  is profoundly Biblical. I refer to Eugene Peterson’s “Message” version of two Psalms in support of Fox. 

From Psalm 19, “God’s glory is on tour in the skies. God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning. Professor Night lectures each evening.” (Ps 10.1-2)  We experience the universe with awe. When we look at Hubble Telescope images  of deep space it cannot escape us that we are less than a blip on the cosmic screen of all that is and simultaneously utterly essential because there we are, noticing, taking our lessons from our expanding universe.

From Psalm 24, “God claims earth and everything in it. God claims world and all who live in it.  Wake up you sleepyhead city. Wake up you sleepyhead people. King-Glory is ready to enter. (Ps 24.1, 7-8)  We experience God in all things and all things in God. Theologically this is called panentheism. It is neither the God out there of theism nor the “no god” of atheism. God is all that is and all that is not. God is all in all. That realization is where St. Paul said we are headed in the First Letter to the Corinthians. (1 Cor 15.28)

*Fox, Matthew, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality (Santa Fe: Bear and Company, 1983), 12-16.

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Gospel text for Sunday 25 September 2016

Luke 16:19-31        Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers-- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Reflection      Three dead men. One wisdom tale. What is Jesus up to? Every hour of every day Lazarus dies a bit more as dogs lick his wounds until at last the unfathomable happens, “The poor man …. is carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.” Meanwhile the rich man lives in the lap of luxury; well fed and dressed in Tyrian purple, an expensive dye extracted from shellfish first produced by the Phoenician city of Tyre two thousand years before Jesus walked to Jerusalem. By all measures the man wearing purple is the image of success until he dies, is given a proper burial, and the  unfathomable happens; he finds himself irredeemably tormented, separated from Abraham by an impassable chasm.

Which leads us to the third dead man, Abraham, Father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, whose hospitality and generosity are immortalized in the tale of him lavishly entertaining three strangers, angels in disguise.(Gen 18.2-8) Like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, Abraham is a wealthy man. Unlike the rich man in purple whose actions are singularly self-serving, Abraham is generous and acts for the good of others. When the rich man wearing purple dies and sees Lazarus with Abraham, he does not pause to reflect on his actions, how day after day he ignored suffering Lazarus, he does not ask for forgiveness nor turn around to amend his ways. Instead, the self-important man still tries to wield power over Lazarus to get a sip of comfort. 

I believe it is the rich man’s attitude of entitlement ( not his wealth) that is the source of his torment. His singular concern with his security, safety, status, esteem, power and control makes it impossible for him to connect with the generosity and hospitality of God as embodied by Abraham. It is the rich man’s attitude, his frame of mind, that prevents him from being in right relationship with God or anyone else.

By contrast Abraham is the exemplar of what living in right relationship with God looks like. In fact, Christianity, Judaism and Islam stand together affirming Abraham as the earthly expression of God’s instruction that people who enjoy power, privilege and resource are to care for the powerless, the poor and the needy. This is what bridges the gap between the rich and the poor. This is what God’s economy looks like. 

Which begs the question, what are we doing to redistribute the power, privilege and resource we are freely given to provide for those with so much less? What are we doing to insure there is no chasm between God’s boundless generosity and ours? 

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Gospel text for Sunday 18 September 2016

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 Luke 16:1-13 Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, `What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, `And how much do you owe?' He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” ...............

Reflection....        What can be said about a dishonest manager who lures the very same people he has cheated into cheating their master for their gain as well as that of the dishonest manager himself? And what was the master thinking when he praised the dishonest manager for colluding with the master’s debtors to cheat him? Once again it seems Jesus is spinning tales to elude our minds and awaken our spiritual consciousness “…for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”


.................Being the presumptive “children of light” the disciples and we tend to be rather clever when it comes to construing strategies to insure our security and survival. According to Jesus the same cannot be said with regard to our spiritual awareness. The dishonest manager saw money and those indebted to him as assets needed to insure his security and survival. He put his faith in himself and his cunning game plan. In so doing the dishonest manager made his grand scheme to acquire money and indebtedness his god, which of course never pays off. What the misguided manager failed to note is that money comes and money goes. One cannot secure his life by trying to hang onto it nor by coercing others into debt. This is not to say that money is not good. Money is good, except when it causes dishonesty and division between people and takes the place of God, in whom we put our faith and hope for security and survival. Money is good when it is an instrument for promoting love among all people.


.....................Which brings the current political scene to mind. What if this country spent the fifteen-hundred million dollars being dissipated on the 2016 presidential campaigns on cultivating relationships and loving our neighbors instead? What if the United States of America decided to take the Spirit of our 1789 Constitution seriously and truly sought to “promote the General welfare” of all people? What if “We, the people” chose to walk The Way of Jesus demanding those with the greatest position, power and pelf use their God given resource to cultivate relationship and promote love among all people? It is time for us individually and collectively to ask the question, “Who or what is our God? Whom do we and our leaders serve?” Because, “no slave can serve two masters,” and the way we spend our money reveals what is our God. If you found this post to be meaningful, please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.

Gospel text for Sunday 11 of September 2016

Luke 15:1-10       All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Reflection      Like it or not, in God’s economy winners are losers and losers are winners. Jesus’ message is earth-shaking; if you really want to experience the kingdom of God then find a way to ally your self with the people who are under valued, misunderstood or relegated to the fringe of society; devote yourself to those who in Biblical terms are labeled sinners and outcasts. This is what Jesus does. He is faithfully devoted to  “Welcoming sinners and eating with them.” 

At first glance most of us would not jump on the word “devotion” to describe the splashy, cross-dressing extravaganza I had the privilege of experiencing last Sunday evening with twenty Apostles and friends attending "Turnabout" the Tuscon Interfaith HIV/Aids Benefit (TIHAN) “Pink Party.” Surrounded by booming music, glitter beards and exceedingly tall women, we waved our break and shake “Magic Fairy Wands,” laughed, danced in our seats and handed two dollar bills to the ordinary people we watched put everything they had on the line to express their love, loyalty and enthusiasm for the cause… caring for people who live with HIV/Aids. 

Here is the thing. The “Pink Party” was by no measure one of those  exquisitely coiffed and choreographed affairs replete with professional entertainment, fine food and libation that many of us have dutifully attended. This was a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants glitzy celebration. Blaring music enfolded local folks extravagantly cross dressing,  a gaggle of nuns with full face paint and bizarre clownish costumes hawking raffle tickets, amateurs dancing and singing out their hearts, all present  giving them selves away for loyalty, faithfulness, commitment, yes, devotion to our sisters and brothers living with HIV/Aids. 

As the evening progressed a question kept niggling in my heart. “Debra, would you be willing to stand up there, dressed in an outrageous costume, face painted and putting your whole self on the line in devotion to the cause?” I squirmed in my seat.  Swallowed hard. Looked down to hide my teary eyes, and knew myself to be the least among these great people. In that moment I finally understood Jesus’ words earlier in Luke’s gospel,   “…some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”(Luke 13.30) By the relentless faithfulness of God expressed in the devotion of God’s people, the under-valued, misunderstood and those relegated to the fringe of society are sought out and lifted up to receive the joy of heaven right here on earth. Perhaps this is why the creators of this event named it "Turnabout..."

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Gospel text for Sunday 4 September 2016

Luke 14:25-33       Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

Reflection      Most of us look at the cross and see either the dark Good Friday cross with Jesus’ dead body nailed to it or the Easter Morning cross, draped in white and pointing to resurrection. But none of this has happened yet. Jesus is very much alive when he instructs us to “Pick up the cross and follow me?” He never read  the description of his death, “He (Jesus) bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2.24) Nor was he privy to the work of the bishops at the First Council of Nicea three hundred years after his death, ironing out the details of his dual nature and the atoning benefits of his sacrificial death as perfect substitute for the sin of humanity. So, what does Jesus mean, “Pick up the cross and follow me?”

One way to understand the cross is as the intersection of human and Divine life.  The horizontal timber corresponds to our temporal life journey. The vertical beam represents Divine Presence on earth. At their intersection is the present moment. Each of us is traveling the horizontal plane amidst large crowds with Jesus, headed to Jerusalem because no one gets out of life alive. All along the way the vertical dimension of Divinity crosses our path in the present moment. Whenever we choose to accept or consent to the present moment, we are aligned with Divine Presence. We have “picked up the cross to follow Jesus.”

More often than not, instead of saying, “Yes, yes,” to the present moment, we equivocate. “Well, this is not how I pictured it. This hurts, I don’t like it. This makes me feel vulnerable, puts me out on a limb, out of control. What will people think? This is not good. No way. I can’t. I won’t.”  We reject the present moment. In Jesus’ terms, we refuse to “Pick up the cross and follow me.”  Perhaps this is why Jesus counsels us to “give up all of our possessions,”  to let go of anything that is in the way of saying “Yes, yes,” to the present moment. 

Let me be clear. I do not for a moment believe Jesus wants us to give up our food, shelter or loved ones. Nor do I believe Jesus wants us to roll over and be doormats for mistreatment. Rather I believe Jesus is inviting us to dispense with our ideas about God about ourselves and about the way things are supposed to be. Jesus is inviting us to consent to the present moment and in so doing align ourselves with Divine Presence. Jesus is unequivocal. “Pick up the cross and follow me. Consent to the present moment and you will find me there with you. “

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Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Reflection        In this season of political theatrics it is clear, God’s version of political power is not getting much media coverage because God’s political power exalts the humble and the meek. Jesus’ mother Mary knew this when she sang Hannah’s song “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly….” (Luke 1.45-55) and apparently Mary effectively communicated this wisdom to her son whom we hear unequivocally,“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." ( Luke 14:11)

The social political structures that support domination and oppression; racism, classism, agism, nationalism, sexism, elitism, all of the ‘isms’ or ideologies that support domination and oppression will be replaced by God’s political power which is expressed in humble self-giving love – servant love. As Jesus firmly informed the  disciples who were disputing about which one of them was to be the greatest;  “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves….I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-27) We, the people of God, are to become new as Jesus, to be and to lead the new way of the kingdom of God by serving others, especially the least and the lost and the lonely.

Essentially Jesus is saying, “This is how to subvert power that intends to dominate or oppress. Be humble. Refuse honor. Serve the oppressed. Do this rather than buy into the established social political structures that dominate and oppress.” Arguably the single greatest expression of political power in history is the Incarnation. God emptied God’s self, humbled God’s self to become fully human, not only consenting to the human condition, but consenting to suffer with all of humanity. Not only refusing to call upon divine power to escape evil and suffering, but holding nothing back

 God gave God’s self to be with and for humanity even in death.

This is noble power. This is humble servant power. In Luke’s gospel text, in fact in most of his teachings and parables Jesus seems to be saying, “If the law, if power is an instrument of dominance and oppression, if the law, power is used to give advantage to some at the expense of others, If the law, power excludes some people from full participation in God’s Kingdom, ever so humbly refuse to comply. Go and sit down at the lowest place. Sit on the bench with homeless women at Sr.José’s homeless shelter. Help set up St. Andrew’s Medical Clinic to serve suffering children. Help care for the pets of our penniless neighbors by supporting Paws With a Cause. Raise a cup and share a meal to support our friends stricken with HIV/Aids at the Pink Party in Tucson next Sunday evening.”

Where shall we sit? Shall we elbow our way to places of honor with great media coverage or humble ourselves, refuse honor and sit with the least and the lost and the lonely?

Paste this link into your browser to read a contemporary psychologists reflection on “The Paradoxical Power of Humility.”  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201501/the-paradoxical-power-humility 

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Gospel text for Sunday 21 August 2016

Luke 13:10-17        Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Reflection    Twenty five years ago I swung my bruised body on my all too familiar crutches into my acupuncturist’s office. Being a whole person healer Dr. D began by listening attentively to my tale of woe; my head dive over a patch of ice, my frozen ski binding that provided the opportunity for my femur to release out the side of my leg, the head first toboggan ride down the ski mountain, the sea of faces in the chair lift line all silently praying, “Thank God that’s not me,” the medic gone rogue yanking my leg across the equator, the single minded orthopedic surgeon whose only answer was the knife, my stubborn refusal to submit to his plan, now, 10 days later, my crippled leg lay motionless on Dr. D’ acupuncture table.” Throughout my monologue Dr. D drivers spiked points of pain into my ankles, wrists, top of my head. When finally my words run dry Dr. D pauses, needle in midair and avers, “One day you will be grateful for all of the traumas and pain you have experienced,” which stung more grievously than the needle she promptly planted into my swollen knee. 

Suffering happens. The weight of suffering is integral to the constitution of life. In the words of the old Rolling Stones song, “No, you can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime you find. You get what you need.” 

Thich Nhat Hanh refers to this attitude of consenting and welcoming the present moment as mindfulness. In an interview with Krista Tippett the Vietnamese monk explains. “Mindfulness is assent to life as it is. Look at a flower and see that it is on its way to be garbage. Look at garbage and see it is on its way to be a flower.”+ In the same way we may experience suffering as being on the way to compassion. And of course, when we experience compassion we are on the way to experience suffering with others.

What does all of this have to do with the woman who was “bent over and quiet unable to stand up straight?” Everything. We have no idea what ails her but we do know this. Two thousand years ago if she had scoliosis, not only would she suffer the physical pain associated with the condition, but her neighbors would see her as a sinner who must have done something wrong to bring this grievous state upon herself, the religious leaders would consider her doubly unclean (woman and diseased) which  would foster oppressive feelings of guilt and unworthiness and eject this woman into exile.

Then Jesus arrives and turns the proverbial temple tables upside down. In direct violation of social norms and temple law, Jesus looks at the woman and calls her to him, he calls her to return from exile. Then he speaks directly to her, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." and lays his hands on her. Jesus sees the woman exactly as she is. He not only acknowledges her existence he affirms her dignity and worth by touching her. And the healing is this. The woman is set free from the social, emotional and religious conditions that have oppressed her for eighteen years and her relationship with God is restored. “Immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”

We are all bent beneath the weight of something. And, if we are not now, just wait a minute. Jesus shows us the way of living freely; refusing to be oppressed by physical, social, emotional or religious conditions; look into the face of suffering, consent to the present moment and discover God with you, no matter what.

+To hear Thich Nhat Hanh’s entire interview, click on this link       http://www.onbeing.org/program/thich-nhat-hanh-cheri-maples-and-larry-ward-being-peace-in-a-world-of-trauma/74 accessed August 20, 2016.
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