Psalm for Sunday of the Passion 5 April 2020

Psalm 31:9-16

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;

   my eye wastes away from grief,

   my soul and body also. 

For my life is spent with sorrow,

   and my years with sighing;

my strength fails because of my misery,

   and my bones waste away. 

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,

   a horror to my neighbours,

an object of dread to my acquaintances;

   those who see me in the street flee from me. 

I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;

   I have become like a broken vessel. 

For I hear the whispering of many—

   terror all around!—

as they scheme together against me,

   as they plot to take my life. 

But I trust in you, O Lord;

   I say, ‘You are my God.’ 

My times are in your hand;

   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 

Let your face shine upon your servant;

   save me in your steadfast love.

Reflection       What makes you feel safe? A security system and camera on your doorbell? a face mask? a gun? What makes you feel secure?  A job? A good balance of stocks and bonds in your portfolio? A pantry bulging with garbanzo beans and toilet paper? What is your place of refuge? Your office? Your garden? Your addiction to food, alcohol, shopping, drugs, sex, gambling? 

In moments such as we face today our habitual strategies for safety, security and refuge  prove supremely insufficient to thwart the path of the dangerous interloper, Covid-19. Much as misinformation is spread by clandestine adversaries through social media gone viral, coronaviruses invade us through proteins on the surface of cells in our throat, lungs and intestinal tract. Once the hidden virus sneaks its genetic material into  a cell, as the geneticist Dr. Mendenhall writes, “the cell is duped into becoming a slave to the virus.”* 

A question we face today is “How have we been duped into becoming slaves to our personal strategies for safety, security and refuge?”

No amount of bleach, toilet paper or money can inoculate us against the ravages of life. We are fragile, vulnerable and intimately interconnected. When even a well intended handshake can deliver a deadly virus, we cannot comprehend the countless ways our mere presence on this planet can harm one another. 

What then will we do?

Will we go to our well stocked and electronically protected abodes, perseverate on the news, lick our wounds and look for someone or something to blame? Or will we take this time to pause and join our psalmist calling out to God, ““Have mercy on us, O Lord, for we are in trouble; * our eyes are consumed with sorrow, and also our throat and belly?” We are sick. We are dying. We are infected by mass marketing hype and poisoned by media’s misinformation. We have put our faith in consumptive strategies for safety, security and refuge and they are killing us.”

“O God, have mercy on us, for we are in trouble. Let our lives not be consumed by stuff that does not matter. Purify our hearts so that our neighbors will cease crossing the street to avoid us.  Rescue us from our toxic strategies for safety, security and refuge. Help us to make our sanctuary in you, our rock and our foundation.”

No amount of bleach, toilet paper or money can inoculate us against the ravages of life. We are fragile, vulnerable, intimately interconnected and utterly dependent on God and one another.  Let us put our times of social distancing and quarentine in the hands of our God and all of our faith in God’s faithfulness.

*https://www.uah.edu/news/items/ok-we-are-dealing-with-covid-19-but-whats-a-virus-in-the-first-place

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Hebrew Testament Text for 29 March 2020

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Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

Reflection       More than twenty six hundred years ago the God of Israel invited the prophet Ezekiel to use his imagination. God urges Ezekiel,  “…eat this scroll, and go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them…  Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear” (Ezk 4.3,4,10,11) Ezekiel swallows God’s words and much as the other prophets, turns God's words into action and chastises the people of God for turning away from God (being rebels) by being unresponsive to the needs of one another; killing the innocent, deriding the poor, rejecting foreigners, and failing to care for the most vulnerable; widows, orphans and elders.  Can we hear God whispering in our ears?  How are we rebelling? Who are we failing to care for? God’s message has not changed in the last twenty six hundred years. Have we?

Like all good prophets Ezekiel not only proclaims condemnation and death for those who fail to follow the way of God, he also offers hope for the future because we, the people of God, always need to hear both.  As we look around ourselves today and see everything seeming to expire; the streets of New York and San Francisco deserted, schools closed, businesses boarded up, jobs lost, stock market plummeting, grocery shelves barren and people succumbing to an insidious virus it is fair to say we find ourselves in a valley of dry bones and our sorry skeletons lament, “Our sinew is weak and our skin is transparent. Our bones are dry and they can no longer breath. “

But the voice of the Lord dismisses our lamentations. “ I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live… and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Still we are hard hearted and stubborn. We protest, “The situation is awful. Our hope is lost. Let us die so the young ones may thrive.“ Suddenly there is a noise, a rattling, and our bones come together. There is sinew on them, and flesh, and skin has covered them; but there is no breath in them,” until we are still, listen with Ezekiel and receive God’s living Word, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon (us), that (we) may live.”

There is One God, One Breath arriving from all directions , one  people living in all directions. The quickening breath of God is the great equalizer. God breathes on the honest and corrupt, the pure and the vulgar, citizens and strangers, the strong and the sick, across all nations. But many of us refuse God’s breath.  Like dry bones, we are inflexible, brittle, unwilling to change, which by the way is the definition of dead.  We have forsaken the inspiration of life in favor of the expiration of death.

For as long as we cling like adherent adhesive to life as we have known it we are like dry bones set down in the middle of the valley of death. But our story need not end there. When we finally choose to hear and to heed God’s unchanging words, being responsive to the needs of one another; protecting the innocent, providing for the poor, welcoming  foreigners, and caring for the most vulnerable among us the breath of life will fill us and we will live knowing that God is God and we are not.

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Hebrew Testament Text for 3rd Sunday in Lent, 15 March 2020

Exodus 17:1-7        From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Reflection        Is the Lord among us or not? As it was with our ancient Israelite ancestors, this seems to be the default question when we find ourselves wandering in the wilderness of Sin, when life tosses us a curve ball, or a coronavirus.

How do we proceed from COVID-19 to hope? How do we ride out a roller coaster stock market? How do we face armed guards in Walmart doling out toilet paper? How do we submit to social distancing? How do we brave the grave uncertainties of our time without succumbing to fear? In short, how do we endure?

Let me suggest, in this time of great unsettlement,  moment to moment we must choose in which direction we will walk.  Like Jesus, do we turn our face to Jerusalem, consent to our suffering and put our faith in God with us declaring, “Not what I want but what you want?” Or do we join the ancient people of God in the wilderness of Sin, anxious and testy, quarreling among ourselves, looking for someone to blame? 

Decades ago during a retreat with the late Thomas Keating, the Cistercian monk responsible for bringing the practice of Centering Prayer out of hallowed  monastery halls to the general public, I asked Keating about suffering. This gangly six foot six inch tall man threw back his awkward arms and exclaimed with the glee of a giggling two year old, “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” Keating taught, it is in welcoming our suffering that it is redeemed. **

We find the crowning example of welcoming or consenting to suffering on the night that Jesus shared his final Passover meal with the disciples. After supper Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to a place called Gethsemane, “Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’” (Matt 26.38-39)

Many of us are “deeply grieved, even to death.” Anxiety pumps our blood and our imagination finds no place to rest. We want to throw ourselves onto the ground and plead, “O God, make this stop! I don’t want coronavirus. I don’t want my loved ones to contract COVID-19.” Of course we do not. But are we willing to stay with Jesus face down in the dirt?  Are we willing to go the next step and submit (which by the way, means endure) are we willing to consent with Jesus, “yet not what I want but what you want?”  

Ours is not a religion that promises if we follow the rules and do everything right, check all the boxes, pay our pledge and say the right prayers, nothing bad will happen to us. Frankly, that is magical thinking. Ours is a religion that asserts, bad things are likely to happen even to good people but do not be afraid because God is with us, right in the midst of our suffering. Knowing God is with us gives us the strength and courage to endure. And the place in which we are most likely to meet God is face down in the dirt when we surrender saying, “Not what I want but what you want.” Or in Thomas Keating’s words, “Welcome, welcome, welcome.”

Covid-19 is spreading. As of March 11th there are nine cases in Arizona. Mindful measures to stop its spread have cost many their hourly wages, have kept elders confined, students out of school and parents out of work. We are anxious, deeply grieved and must choose. Do we turn our face to Jerusalem, put our faith in God with us saying, “Not what I want but what you want?” or do we join the ancient people of God in the wilderness of Sin, anxious and testy, quarreling among ourselves, looking for someone to blame? 

** To learn more about Welcoming Prayer, a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our lives,  click on

https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/welcoming-prayer

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Gospel text for Sunday 30 June 2013

Luke 9:51-62        When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Reflection        Jesus seems so completely human in this text. I can almost hear him draw in a deep breath and sigh a faltering exhale as he sures himself up to do the next hard thing - return to Jerusalem. No doubt he feels that sick sense in his gut and gropping fingers on his throat. Soon we will hear him lament, “Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! (Luke 13,33-34)

Jesus knows where he is headed. No wonder he seems a bit irritable, not cutting his disciples much slack when he rebukes them, maybe even feeling a bit lonely and isolated when he compares himself negatively with foxes and birds. Jesus knows there is only one thing to do and it is not easy. “Proclaim the kingdom of God.” Let nothing be a distraction. Set your direction and don’t look back. 

This text encourages me because it gives me a clue that I am not the only one who struggles to “set my face to go to Jerusalem,” which is to say, to proclaim the kingdom of God in all that I say and all that I do. Even Jesus, who as far as I know never stopped praising the name of God, never turned away from his relationship in God, struggled. Even Jesus had to reach through the trenches of his own humanity, had to suffer the indignity (and discomfort) of having no place to rest his head or call his earthly home. Even Jesus had to stubbornly set his face to persevere, fix his gaze on the horizon and not look back. “Proclaiming the kingdom of God” in all that he said and all that he did cost Jesus everything. I believe he experienced it with every sense and every cell of his humanity. That is what encourages me.

When I hear Jesus say, “Follow me,” I get a sinking feeling in my gut and watery tightness in my throat and know that when I say, “Here I am Lord,” Jesus is with me in my aching humanity because he has been here.