Gospel text for Sunday 14 November 2021

 Mark 13.1-8         As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

Reflection       “Not one stone will be left here upon another….” Immediately my mind leaps to images  seared to my heart twenty years ago of the one hundred and ten stories of the Twin Towers in New York City turning into dust and again January 2021 watching the U.S. Capitol building, battered, trashed and dishonored. Peeking through the eyes of the disciples at these icons of civilization we see a glorious way of life that is too big to fall. But Jesus’ vision penetrates external appearances. He sees beyond the impressive edifice and the elaborate rituals practiced therein. Jesus shines light on the shadow-side of our institutions. 

Just one day before we meet Jesus sitting opposite the temple on the Mount of Olives, we find him standing inside the temple quoting the prophet Jeremiah,  “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den for robbers.”  (Jer 11.17) Gasping we watch as Jesus chases the money changers away and curses the temple. Peter, James, John and Andrew are with us so they should not be shocked when the very next day we hear Jesus say, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another…”  There is no reading  between the stones. Jesus sits in opposition to the religious and economic life of temple culture and predicts its demise.

Thirty years later Jesus’ prediction is fulfilled. The temple that has been the center of Jewish life for hundreds of years is destroyed by the Romans. But this is not the end of the story.  As Jesus insists, “It is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” In fact, it was after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that Rabbinic Judaism arose with its emphasis on a disciplined life as practiced by reformed Jews to this day. New life.

Returning our attention to birth pangs, in most cases they are not impotent anguish and sterile suffering. Birth pangs are productive labor. Something new is being born. I believe this is what the German poet Marie Rainer Rilke meant when he wrote, “what batters you becomes your strength.” Birth pangs.

Considering the present moment I believe  birth pangs bear down on us from every corner. We hold our breaths as hurricanes swoop across the nation in the wake of rampant wildfires and melting glaciers. Images of war and rumors of war break into our living rooms and vibrating pockets. Birth pangs.

Mass marketing aims to delude, distract and tempt us. Social media blows wind on words meant to coax and craze us. Pundits of every persuasion smugly warn us, “If you listen to the other guy, you and the whole world are going straight to hell in a hand basket.” Is that what Jesus is talking about when he warns the disciples and us, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray?” Who are we to believe?

My vote is, Jesus whose words ring with the wisdom of the prophets. “Not one stone will be left here upon another”  because the way of life governed by gross abuses of power and failure to care for the human community must come to an end. Birth pangs. We are meant to live in humble relationship with the One sovereign and merciful God and extend that mercy to all people. Birth pangs. Thousands of years ago and today our religious and political institutions are intended to support and sustain the embodiment of the people in communion with God and each other.

But woe to us when our institutions aim is to sustain them selves and  serve those in power. Woe to us when we lose sight of right relationship with God and human community. “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom” until false gods are tumbled,  the arrogant humbled and the fear mongering are tamed. Birth pangs. 

Jesus continues, “Do not be alarmed; this must take place…” for in Rilke’s words, “What batters you becomes your strength.”

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Gospel text for 3rd Sunday of Lent 7 March 2021

 John 2:13-22           The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Reflection        It was this time last year, as the Passover of the Jews was near and Christians were fast approaching Holy Week that the coronavirus erupted in the United States and across the globe. Much like Jesus’ whip of cords wrecking havoc with the commerce and routines of temple life, Covid-19 burst onto the scene overturning the tables of our personal, social, political and religious lives. 

Here we are, one year later, standing in the ruins of the way things used to be with rampant disease, raging hunger, homelessness, helplessness, dislocation and virulent fear masking itself at every corner. Even if we have managed to carve out a comfortable cave for ourself in the midst of all of this turmoil, the unimpeded commerce of our lives has been curbed. 

This, I believe, adds substantial weight to Jesus’ words. “Stop making my father’s house a marketplace!” The truth is, much like our ancestors we strive to stamp certainty onto our fragile lives by identifying with external expressions of piety and  fashioning false gods that we can see and hold onto. But woe to us who try to secure our lives with paper decrees,  hallowed halls and hollow deities. Woe to us who set our selves up to be scammed and seduced. Woe to us who put our faith and fealty in institutions and possessions that tempt and pervert us. Still, there is a way beyond this.

This being Lent, the season of self examination, it is time for us to stop, look into candor’s mirror and admit we look much like the Israelites who when tired of waiting for Moses to return from his meeting with God on Mount Sinai, forged their infamous golden calf and worshipped it. It behooves us to ask ourselves, what are our gods? jewelry? juicy 401K? multiple homes? comfortable retirement? youth? vacations? cars? career? collections of everything from old vinyls to books, boots or art? It is time to blow the smoke off of our mirrors and be honest with our selves. 

This is a fundamental message of our year living with Covid. The zeal that we have shown for the houses built, portfolios secured, positions attained, privileges gained, traditions maintained, our zeal for our social, political and religious institutions has imprisoned us. Sequestered within the walls of our own construction we are separated from the trustworthiness of God. 

Our passion, our ardor, our zeal is meant to be for the One, Holy and Living God. God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. God of Moses that is forged in the mystery of our hearts and can never be captured in anything fashioned by our hands. If only we would order our lives according to the wisdom that must have informed Jesus heart. Please hear in the words of Deuteronomy, the Second Law of the Hebrew Testament,  words that tradition tells us were spoken by Moses to Israel, words that anchor Jesus’ life and ministry in God. 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. “ Deut 6.4-6

How easily our mouths move to make these words, words spoken six hundred years before the current era and drawn from sources centuries older than that, ageless words straining to explain the meaning of the frequent disasters met upon humanity.  Yes, we can say these words but when it comes to acting on them we tend to be weak willed and easily seduced by specious promises of stability.  Three thousand years later we still wrestle with waiting at the edge of uncertainty and strain to recover the familiar. We do not notice our hardening hearts until Jesus’ words shatter us. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  We protest. “What? Destroy this temple? this institution? this lifestyle?  this comfortable rut? It has taken forever to construct and it is all that we know.” 

Perhaps today Jesus would elaborate. “Your hearts desire will never be sated by the bricks and mortar of your establishments. Your passion, your ardor, your zeal is misplaced.”  And there we have it.  

The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Our zeal for the things of this life is misplaced (which is not to say we cannot appreciate and care for them). But the passion, the ardor, the zeal of our hearts is meant to be directed toward and absorbed in God and God alone. Our thoughts, feelings, attentions and affections; all that we say and all that we do are meant to begin, continue and end in the One, Holy and Living God.  

It is not easy to watch the tables of our personal, social, political and religious lives turned upside down but until we let what is impermanent die we will not rise in the trustworthiness of the Lord, our God, the only One.

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Epistle for the 5th Sunday of Easter 10 May 2020

1 Peter 2:2-10

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the very head of the corner”,and

“A stone that makes them stumble,

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people,

but now you are God’s people;

once you had not received mercy,

but now you have received mercy.

Reflection       Acknowledging God as the rock, the foundation of our lives requires a reordering of everything else.

By choosing God we commit ourselves to turn away from competing loyalties.  In Biblical times these competing loyalties or false gods were named Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Artemis, and others. Our ancient ancestors carved these gods in wood and molded them in gold. These were the pagan gods in competition with YHWH, the One God of Israel.

Today our false gods have names like  money, religion, politics, rights and freedom, sex, sports, celebrity, drugs, add your own to the list. I believe the idol in position number one is, self.  How do we know these are false gods? Because false gods are things that occupy an inordinate amount of our attention, action and resources. Please underline the word ‘inordinate.’ 

None of these interests; money, youth, religion, politics, rights and freedom, sex, sports, celebrity, drugs or self are false gods in and of themselves. In fact, they can be worthy assets.  Idolatry comes into play when we devote an unwarranted or wasteful amount of our attention, action or resources to them.  It is when we ascribe a surplus of meaning and value to theses interests that they become false gods or idols.

Here is the glitch. By claiming to revere the One, Holy and Living God at the same time we make great offerings of our attention, action and resources to false gods or idols we are effectively condemning ourselves to life in the middle of a combat zone. At best we are restless, at worst worried sick, as our false idols compete with the One, Holy and Living God for our attention, our action and our resources. No peace will be found on this battleground.

What then shall we do? Let me suggest that in an unforeseeable twist of events, the onslaught of Covid-19 addresses our dilemma.  The insidious intrusion of the grim virion shut down historic institutions, power brokering agencies and brought the world to its knees. Recently someone put it this way, “It is as if God sent us all to our rooms!” That image strikes home for me. Too many times I heard, “Young lady, go to your room and write five hundred times, “I will be kind to my little brother.” But I digress.

Here is the startling paradox. The cost of the pandemic is unfathomable to victims, their families, those who lost their livelihood, their homes and their hope. And at the same time, the shutting down of public institutions has created the spaciousness for us to go to our rooms, examine and reorder our lives while the earth is healing her waters, air and atmosphere.

The question is, will we consent to this challenging moment and devote our attention, actions and resources to fostering right relationship with God, our neighbors and the earth? Or, will we join the chorus complaining, looking for someone to blame, demanding things go back to the way they used to be?

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