Epistle for Holy Cross Sunday 6 September 2020

 Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death—

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Reflection       Jesus’ decision to enter Jerusalem, host a farewell supper with his closest friends, and allow one of them to betray his whereabouts to his persecutors is not a personal decision. He does not act to insure his security, safety, esteem, power or control. Jesus’ action is not personal. It is transpersonal.

An individual who operates with a transpersonal mindset is one "in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind…..”*  The transpersonal perspective is integral and undivided, it recognizes and honors all of humankind as interconnected and interdependent.

Jesus is operating from a transpersonal perspective. Standing surely in this inclusive view Jesus is faithful to truth as he knows it. He claims his nondual birthright as the son of humanity and the son of God. Political and religious officials call this treason and blasphemy. Jesus calls it truth. He is willing to  give up his life rather than give up his truth. 

Right about now you may be thinking, “That is great for Jesus but what does it have to do with me? Jesus’ capacity to seek justice and love unconditionally is unparalleled. I cannot compare to that.”

Wait a minute. Can you hear Jesus’ words to the disciples challenging our smallness? “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…” (John 14.12) 

I believe we humans have set the bar too low. As it is with every generation, we are meant to exceed the good done by those who have gone before us. “How,” you ask? Fortunately St. Paul has a succinct instruction for the Philippians and us, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” 

What is the mind of Christ? It is the transpersonal point of view that sees every person and all of creation as sacred, interconnected  and interdependent. Furthermore, the mind of Christ compels action aimed at what is right.

When Paul counsels us to put on the mind of Christ, he is imploring us to grow beyond our small self’s demands that we strive to insure our personal needs for security, safety, attention, affection, power and control. He is admonishing us to live as Christ lived; engaging life from a transpersonal perspective, patiently and practically taking care of other peoples’ needs, even to the point of sacrifice. 

Which brings us to a perplexing paradox. When we sacrifice for the good of others, we lose nothing. We are not debased or shamed. Rather, we are stretched beyond the ordinary bounds of human understanding, we are raised into the transpersonal experience of glory, honor and triumph. 

This is the mystifying paradox of the cross. When Jesus allows himself to be bound, nailed and raised up on the cross he is not raised to shame and humiliation. He is raised to glory, honor and triumph; he ascends to victory and proceeds to breed hope in our hearts.

We have set the bar too low, made ourselves too small. What if we stood in our place with Jesus and claimed our birthright as children of humanity and children of God? What if we raised our sights to transpersonal heights and  doubled down on our commitment to action aimed at what is right, even when it means personal sacrifice? What might our world look like then?

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¹ Walsh, R. and F. Vaughan. "On transpersonal definitions". Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. Vol. 25, No2, pp. 199-207, 1993.

Gospel text for Sunday 29 April 2018

John 15:1-8        Jesus said to his disciples, ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Reflection     When I searched my memory for an example of what abiding might look like in more pedestrian language, I recalled a sequence of unfortunate events that occurred while I lived in Nambé, New Mexico, about eighteen miles north of Santa Fe. I was enjoying dinner with several of my neighbors in the home of the one who was a gourmet chef. The conversation turned to me when someone commented, “For someone who is so healthy, you sure are sick a lot.” The words stopped me in my tracks, I could not deny them. When I looked around the table I realized, “We all are constantly upping the ante of home remedies, work outs and doctor visits, unexplained allergies, itches and coughs.” The only other thing I recall about that meal is asking myself, “What do we all have in common?” The next morning I awoke with an answer, “Water. Everyone at that table shares a common well.”

So I got a quart jar, filled it with water and brought it to a local lab. When the technician asked me which tests on the list of hundreds I wanted I was utterly perplexed and returned the question, “If you noticed that everyone who is drinking water from your well has escalating allergies and recurring medical issues, what would you test for?” Without hesitation he replied, “Heavy metals.”

Five days later I picked up the results and discovered the level of uranium-238  in my drinking water was one hundred times the maximum contaminant level allowed by the FDA. With a bit of research I discovered it takes fifteen days for the body to dispel low levels of uranium, which  of course does not happen when you ingest the contaminated water every day. To confirm this finding I had a friend bring a geiger counter to my home. The needle nearly jumped off the gadget when we held it near running hot water at the kitchen sink and in the shower. With a call to the University of New Mexico pathology lab I discovered twenty years earlier a study had been done of the drinking water in Nambé and neighboring communities. It was determined that several of the wells had high levels of naturally occurring uranium-238, including a school and a church and multiple private wells. Apparently that information was not made public.

My first thought was to warn my neighbors. I was stunned by their mixed response. So I wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper which ignited the fury of neighbors who, though clandestinely installing reverse osmosis systems, refused to acknowledge the problem - after all what would it do to the value of their expensive real estate? Naive is the word to describe me. My daughter and I moved away.

Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Or you might say, when we choose to shut our selves down and deny our shared humanity, we suffer the effects of chronic, insidious poisoning.

We are intimately interconnected. We share a common life source and life force. It is up to us to keep our branches open to experience and transmit this vitality we call life. In Jesus’ words, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.” This of course begs the question, “How do we know if the fruit we bear is good?” I believe the answer is simple.  When the fruit is good it is not toxic, it is life giving and sustaining. Good fruit corresponds to the nature of the vine in which it abides.

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday 27 August 2018

Romans 12:1-8        I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Reflection       Who does not want what is “good and acceptable and perfect?” The question is, “Good and acceptable and perfect according to whom?” I believe this is the lynchpin question. In preparation for his visit to the Christian Church in Rome Paul hits the proverbial nail on the head when he counsels, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

What is good and acceptable and perfect is not determined by me or you or Republicans or Democrats or presidents or protesters or any one’s personal preferences or predilections. That would be conforming to the world. What is good and acceptable and perfect is synonymous with the will of God. How then are we to discern the will of God?

The Episcopal tradition finds authority in the confluence of Scripture, Tradition and Reason rooted in Experience. In Scripture the Word of God is revealed in the person of Jesus whose mission and ministry in the world instruct; love God, love yourself, love your neighbor, love your enemy.  The bottom line is compassion. Tradition suggests we find the sacred in ordinary things; bread, wine, sharing meals, offering comfort, touching the suffering, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the poor and walking together. The bottom line is the holiness of all things.  Reason tells us we are all of one substance, star dust, and therefore are interconnected and interdependent. Everything we say and do has consequences not only for us but for all people and creation which means life is not all about me. It is all about we. We must take responsibility for the common good. The bottom line is, by caring for others we are caring for ourselves. 

Of course this requires a new kind of consciousness, a “renewing of our minds.”  As Paul counsels, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” The level of consciousness out of which most of us act most of the time is dualistic, it is conformed to the vagaries of the world. It is all about winners and losers, personal gain and victory regardless of the cost to others. But this is not the mind that “discerns the will of God.”

The mind that discerns the will of God is non-dualistic. It holds the tension of opposites and seeks win-win solutions by carving out the middle way and remembering, “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” 

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Gospel text for Sunday 31 July 2016

                                                                                                                                                         Mt. Lemmon Sky Lab   

Luke 12:13-21        Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, `What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, `I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, `Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Reflection        It is not all about me, rather, it is all about we.  Apparently the person in the crowd who “…said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me,”” quite forgot this bit of wisdom. He was willing to sacrifice the “we” of his fraternal relationship in favor of augmenting the personal possessions of his “me.”  Isn’t it ironic, to ask Jesus, of all rabbis, to be the mediator of such action; Jesus, the ultimate reconciler of all people?

What the greedy brother fails to recognize and Jesus’ parables intend to teach is the interdependence of all creatures and creation. 

Words from my favorite contemporary poet David Whyte’s poem “Everything is Waiting For You” sing in my heart. 

“Your great mistake is to act the drama as if your were alone.”

“To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings.”

“Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.” 

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation.”

Whyte’s words invite us into conversation with with each other and all that is. This is where we find our riches. This is were we discover who and whose we are. 

Please click on the image in the upper right hand corner of this post to hear Whyte’s poem and his commentary.  Uploaded to YouTube on Feb 26, 2011, Internationally acclaimed poet David Whyte is an Associate Fellow at Templeton College and Said Business School at the University of Oxford, David works with many European, American and international companies, using poetry and thoughtful commentary to illustrate how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement. In his talk, David encourages us to remain open to know the dialogue with our surroundings inform and inspire our ideas. (accessed July 30, 2016)

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Gospel text for Sunday, 18 November 2012

                               

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 birthpangs."

Reflection   A little more than three weeks ago the news was flodded with images of Hurricane Sandy’s effects . But when I saw one photographer’s still photo of New York’s shadowy skyline it stole my breath, and like NYC I was stopped in my tracks. This grand edifice, the economic center of the world, a beacon of Western civilization and culture, stuttered in shades of pale and grey. From Staten Island to Yonkers the lights were out. The great buildings were dark. Jesus’ words echoed in my heart, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another...” But is that the end of the story? I don’t think so. 

Jesus said, “This is but he beginning of the birthpangs.” This is not the end. It is meaningful anguish and suffering. It is productive labor. And this is a lynchin of Christian faith. We understand that anguish and suffering need not be pointless or futile. In God’s economy anguish and suffering are the productive labor that leads to new life. But what are we to do?

I imagine that is the very question millions of folks in the northeast were, and still are, asking. What are we to do in the wake of hurricane Sandy? And they dug in. Shoveling away tons of sand, cutting up fallen trees, inviting strangers into their homes, feeding them, giving them clothes and a warm dry place to stay. Because anguish and suffering are not the end. They are the beginning of productive labor.

Since the Age of the Enlightenment western civilization has elevated the status of the individual, individual rights, privilege and entitlement. We’ve all heard the mantra, “It’s all about me.” In the wake of a storm such as Sandy those words dissolve like dust in a hurricane as millions of people are stopped in their tracks with the realization that, “It’s all about US. Not only are we inextricably interconnected, we are also utterly interdependent.” Of course some people take more kindly to the news than others, but none can escape the fact. We are in this thing, this life, together.

The blistering winds and raging waters of hurricane Sandy were the beginning of the birthpangs, the productive labor that gave birth to kindness and generosity among strangers, to mass efforts to kindle new light and life in the midst of anguish, suffering and loss. Now, if only we would not forget and would continue to live our lives “provok(ing) one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together... and encouraging one another.”

John 17:1-11

Jesus loooked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorigy you, since you hve given him authority over all epople, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had in your sresence before the world existed.

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me fro the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in ther. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are i the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."