Christian Testament text for 1st Advent 1 December 2019

Romans 13:11-14        You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Reflection        What an invitation for the first Sunday in Advent, the first day of our liturgical year!  “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day… put on the Lord Jesus the Christ.”  Yes. It is time for us to take responsibility for our divine inheritance, Christ within us.”

If you are wondering,“How?” I have an invitation for each one of us. Let us begin this liturgical year by saying “Yes, I choose to actively participate in the revelation of God’s presence every single day.”  This year I invite you to consciously and conscientiously hold yourselves accountable to be the Holy Women and Holy Men we are intended to be because God has always depended on us humans to do God’s bidding. 

Our world is crying out to be changed and God depends on each of us to act decisively to turn things around for the good of all. This is the same message the illegitimate peasant son of Mary, Jesus brings to life in the world of the ancient mideast. The kingdom of God is meant to be right here in the dust and dirt we stand on. The kingdom of God is meant to heal the sick, feed the hungry and release the oppressed. The kingdom of God depends on each of us to act decisively for the good of all.

It is that simple and really hard. Surely it was hard for teenage Mary to say Yes to God and accept her unplanned pregnancy as a supreme blessing. It had to be hard for Joseph to say Yes to God and receive rather than reject his pregnant fiancee Mary and then respond to God’s dream message to escape with Mary and her baby to Egypt to avoid Herod’s scheme to kill all male infants. It must have been hard for Jesus whose own mother and siblings thought he was crazy and whose best friends abandoned him when things got really heated to carry on alone. 

But standing up, saying “Yes” and stepping out to reveal God’s presence is not the sole purview of famous Biblical characters. In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy we witnessed the best of our humanity. Then President Bush reported,  "We have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down sixty-eight floors to safety.”

—http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-2.html

Dr. Paul Farmer says Yes and steps out to reveal God’s presence in the world.  “He works about two months a year in Boston, MA where he heads the Infectious Disease program at Harvard Medical School but the rest of the year he spends most of his time in Haiti, a poverty ridden country with no affordable health care, treating the "disposable people" of the world. Why? His faith compels him to help those less fortunate than himself.”

https://sermons.faithlife.com/sermons/80703-six-true-stories-of-sacrifice

Our world is crying out to be changed and God depends on each of us to act decisively to turn things around for the good of all. And so, this liturgical year I invite you to join me saying Yes and stepping out every single day and doing one small thing to change our world. To make this very easy, throughout the month of December you can sign up to receive a short email blast  first thing every morning. The one for today reads like this:

"A year of revealing God’s love every day.

The next time you receive a text, email or call today, tell the person who sent it something you appreciate about them." If you are not already on Apostles' email list please send a request to admin@ovapostles with “Revealing God’s Love Every Day” on the subject line. Let's step out and change our world. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 4 March 2018

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     What a great example of market economy in action. The elite Judean religious and political officials are selling access to God and it is very profitable. The way this works is simple. The political and religious authorities conspire to keep something that is very desirable to the people (access to God)  scarce, and as a result the price the people are willing to pay for it goes up. The rich get richer. The powerful gain power. The masses of people sacrifice and fall behind as long as they agree to participate in the exchange. 

For as long as the masses believe the only way to experience the presence of God is to make a pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem, the only way to escape the torment of being separate from God is paying a temple tax, the only way to insure access to a happily ever after life is to sacrifice a pair of doves and an unblemished lamb, they will continue to turn their wallets over to the money changers in exchange for their heavenly insurance policies. Until someone like Jesus comes along and shouts, “Stop!” 

God is not in-prisoned in the temple of Jerusalem. God does not require you pay tax. The religious and political elites are not the only ones with access to God. God is with you, each and every one of you, in spirit and in truth. Quit your deal making. You do not have to sacrifice a pair of javelina, fresh fish or pay a temple tax. You do not have to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. All you have to do is stop, be still and know that God is with you right here, right now, in spirit and in truth. The true temple of God is not made of stones and mortar. As it is with Jesus so it is with us. The true temple of God is our bodies.

The question is, how do we inhabit our bodies as the true temples of God? I believe we must dismantle the bricks and mortar of our market economy lives that depend on differentiating those who have from those who have not. We must divest our greed and narcissistic striving. We must dismember the chains of our market driven guardianship. All of this ideology we must allow to crumble like Jesus’ proverbial temple walls so that we too will rise up into new, reasonable, holy lives, being humane, restrained and sane; humble, faithful and moral; awake, alert and alive, so that we embody in spirit and in truth the ubiquitous Presence of God. 

To delve into the way of embodying the presence of God in ordinary life, please listen to the audio book "Practicing the Presence of God" with Brother Lawrence by clicking on image above and to the right.  

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Gospel text for Sunday 15 January 2017

John 1:29-42        John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Reflection        Some of the most heartbreaking moments for me as a priest are when people come to me, head down and eyes diverted explaining, “I was raised Roman Catholic (or Protestant or _______) and no matter what I tell myself I cannot get past the feeling that I am a sinner. Fundamentally something feels wrong with me. I hear you speak of Original Blessing and that each one of us is a unique revelation of Divine presence and want to believe it but I cannot get past the feeling of my unworthiness.”

The delectable film “Chocolat” portrays this dilemma beautifully. The church folks in a rural French town are steeped in moral judgments and repressed desires whereas Vianne, a new woman in town who opens her  Chocolateria at the same time the season of Lent is beginning and invites people to enjoy the sights and smells and tastes of creation is deemed a vulgar sinner to be shunned. It is no wonder so many people leave the institutional church. Who wants to give up chocolate! Who wants to be a sinner!

Historically, well intentioned theologians were faced with trying to explain why Jesus, the Son of God, exemplar of faith and revelation of Divine Presence on earth had to die, particularly, why this utterly innocent man had to suffer and die such a horrific death. Some explanations include; Jesus was the ransom paired to free humanity or satisfy humanity’s debt to God, to Jesus was the perfect substitutionary sacrifice to God for all of humanity’s sins, to Jesus was a scapegoat onto which the sins of humanity was piled and then he alone needed to be sacrificed.

But I say, Jesus is neither a scapegoat nor was he born so that he could die as payment for the sin of humanity. Jesus is the lamb of God come to reveal that God is always with us, even when we turn away or imagine we are separated. To the question, “Should not someone as pure and innocent as Jesus be exempt from the human conditions of suffering and death?” the answer is a resounding, “No.” 

The wise men from the East knew it when they recognized the infant Jesus as human, divine and utterly fragile destined to die and thus offered their revelatory gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. If we adopt the spiritual vision of the wise we too will see that every infant, every person is human, divine and utterly fragile destined to die. Divinity is not separate from humanity. Divinity does not portend absence of suffering and death. Jesus is the lamb of God revealing God is with us regardless of our circumstance. Neither bloody sacrifice nor rigid abstinence from the delights of life is required to be in right relationship with God. In fact, Jesus shows us the way of enjoying good wine with friends and breaking bread with strangers. This is right relationship. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 21 September 2014

Matthew 20:1-16       esus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, `You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, `Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, `Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, `You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, `Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Reflection       My fair share. What is my fair share. That was the first thing I wondered when reading this parable. But what about the generous landowner? What about all the people who, much as the landowner, look for opportunities to be generous?

I turned to Charity Navigator to find giving statistics for Americans in 2013. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=42#.VBy4wl7Zdg0

In 2013 the Americans’ total giving to charitable organizations was $335.17 billion (about 2% of the GDP). Individuals (not corporations) gave 72% of it, roughly $240.6 billion to religious institutions, education, human services, health agencies and charities that focus on the environment or animals. This does not include monies given to assist with natural disasters and tragedies or handed out on the street. Like the landowner in Matthew’s text, Americans are generous.

What does it mean to be a generous individual? According to Wikipedia’s definition, generosity or largess is “a habit of giving without expecting anything in return… Generosity is not solely based on one's economic status, but instead, includes the individual's pure intentions of looking out for society's common good and giving from the heart. Generosity should reflect the individual's passion to help others.”

Sounds great. But how is Christian generosity distingushed from being a good citizen? Sacrifice. The word is sacrifice. It is at the heart of our Christian tradition. Paul counsels the Romans, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…” (Ro 12.1) In Luke 18, Jesus challenges a rich young man to sell everything. Mincing no words, Jesus said to his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 16.24-25)

These are hard words. Apparently, sacrifice is generosity on steroids. It is more than having good intentions, a loving heart, writing checks and hoping for the good of all people. Sacrifice is muscle on the bones of generosity that compels us to be willing to earn less (as did the land owner) in order to give more to others. Sacrifice is deciding to do less to sure up our personal kingdoms in order to build God’s kingdom on earth right now. Sacrifice is holding nothing back until everybody on the land gets a full days’ wage

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Epistle Holy Cross Day, 14 September, 2014

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        When Jesus entered Jerusalem he knew he was headed for death. Not just death, tortuous death; excruciating, humiliating death nailed to a cross and lifted high so all could watch him gasp for breath. Jesus knew what was waiting for him and he chose not to wipe Jerusalem’s dust from his heels and walk north to Samaria or Cana. He could have headed for the proverbial hills, gone underground and out of sight and saved himself. Who would blame him?

But Jesus was not listening to the voice of fear shouting, “By all and any means, save yourself. The most important thing is to be safe and secure, to surround yourself with people who care for and esteem you. Be sure to maintain a modicum of power and control.” That was not the voice that he was listening to. Jesus was listening to the deeply interior voice of his Father God.

Jesus’ decision to walk into Jerusalem, to host a farewell supper with his closest friends, and to allow one of them to betray his whereabouts to his persecutors was not a personal decision. Jesus’ decision to allow himself to be handed over to suffer and die on a cross went beyond his desire to take care of his basic needs for safety and security,  affection, attention and esteem. It bypassed his personal need for power and control. Jesus’ decision and action was not personal, it was transpersonal.

Transpersonal experiences have been defined as experiences "in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind.....”  Jesus was operating from a transpersonal perspective.  And so he chose to stay the course, to remain faithful to truth as he knew it. Jesus chose to stand in his place and claim his birthright as the Son of Man and the Son of God. The officials called this treason. Jesus called it truth. He was willing to  give up his life rather than give up his Truth. 

What does this have to do with us, mere humans, not Jesus? Everything. We are made in the image of God which means “we are free to make choices : to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.” (BCP 845) In other words, we participate with God in bringing about good in creation. That is why we are here.  Remember Jesus words to the disciples“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 have set our sights too low. Rather than claim our birthright as daughters and sons in the family of God we have let ourselves off the hook by claiming we are mere humans. What if we stood in our place and claimed our birthright as children of humanity and children of God, would we be moved to give ourselves away to care for and dignify all people? 

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Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 29 June 2014

Genesis 22:1-14         God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place "The LORD will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

Reflection       If God really is love, shouldn’t God be telling Abraham to wrap his precious son in cotton, put him in a closet so no harm would come to him? Why is the Bible full of so many ‘hard stories?’“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away…. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away…(Matt 5.30-31) Not to mention Jesus telling at least three people to sell everything they own and follow him. These are hard words. They are particularly ‘hard’ if we read them literally. 

How do we hear these hard stories?  As Cynthia Bourgeault points out, if we hear the stories literally with our small selves, with our ego selves, our immediate response is, “No way.” (Wisdom Jesus, 51) From the perspective of our small selves, we cling to what we have. We hold onto what is literally in our hands. There is no way we would agree to pluck out our right eye, chop off our right hand, sell all of our possessions or sacrifice our child. But the ‘hard teaching’ stories are not literal instructions intended to dictate external actions. 

These ‘hard teaching’ stories are about inner transformation. To ‘hear’ the deeper level of meaning intended by these legends we must learn to listen with our hearts. Listening with our hearts we realize we do not want to cling to anything that stands between us and God. Listening with our hearts we realize that whatever stands between us and God are our idols… our Isaacs.

When all reasonable hope of having a child was long gone (he was 100 years old after all) Abraham received the unspeakably precious gift of a son. Naturallly, Abraham loved Isaac. But he had to grow into the place where he could give back to God what was God’s in the first place. Abraham had to realize that all that he had was gift and to cling to anything, even and especially that which was most precious, would seperate him from God. And so in the legend, Abraham did what was unthinkable. He handed his child over to God. And God returned Isaac to Abraham, unscathed.

The question before us is, what are our Isaacs? What are our idols? Could our idol be our family? our partner? our career? our ministry? our money? There is nothing wrong with loving our family or our partner. There is nothing wrong with having a career, pursuing our vocation or earning money. There is nothing wrong with loving our eyes or hands or our child. AND - anything good can become an idol.  Which I believe is the point of the legend of Abraham and Isaac. What is your Isaac?

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