John 3:1-17        There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Reflection         The  twentieth century age of reason gave us eyes to see and measure things of the flesh and in so doing made great contributions  to civilization; airplanes and antibiotics, personal computers and nuclear power to mention just a few. The modern era also gave birth to the post-modern age that understands reason as good but not sufficient which I believe is more aligned with Jesus’ teaching, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” I believe twenty-first century post-modern thought is catching up with our first century Jesus movement apperception. We must value reason and what it can give us (value the flesh) and “we must be born again from above,” born of the Spirit whereby to understand spiritual things, those truths hidden from the fleshy eyes of reason.

The other day I watched the movie “Hidden Figures,” the true story of three African-American women whose history defining contributions at NASA helped put the first American astronaut into space. That was in 1961. Their story finally became widely public in 2017. For fifty-six years the story of their brilliant contributions was hidden. Clearly, I am not a black woman. I am a person of privilege and still this film reduced me to weeping. I left the theatre and sat in my car overcome by a deep, inscrutable sadness, asking myself “How can these things be?” Finally the words of scripture came to my heart, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matt 25.39) I am culpable. We are all culpable by failing to see and acknowledge the hidden goodness and value of all people.

Our world is replete with signs, things we can see and measure. Everywhere we look we see people suffering every possible disease, disaster and travesty. Anxiety, despair and horror curdle our blood and harden our hearts as we witness vast numbers of people experiencing separation rather than unity and judgment rather than compassion. If we pause to consider each person and situation as an outward and visible sign of something hidden, something more, I wonder if the multitude of human suffering is a harbinger of a deeper spiritual truth, the truth of God suffering? God weeping with us when we are bent, broken and bereft? God weeping because we are failing to see the fundamental dignity and value of all people? I wonder if this is a spiritual truth hidden from the fleshy eyes of reason? 

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Gospel text for the Feast of Pentecost 24 May 2015

                                                                                                                                Tempesta   Pietro

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15        Jesus said to his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But, now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Reflection        Jesus said to the disciples, “(The Holy Spirit) will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Sixteen-hundred years later Ann Hutchison, the well-educated midwife and daughter of a dissenting Anglican priest apparently took Jesus’ words to heart. Hutchison claimed to have an “Immediate or unmediated experience of God’s Presence.”*  She was unswerving in declaring her religious experience gave her wisdom, discernment and certainty. No matter what other people said to or about her, Hutchison was steady as a rock in affirming her experience of the Spirit of Truth.

But it was the seventeenth century and women were understood to be the property of men. They were not to think for themselves nor speak their minds. So Hutchison and her family joined a Puritan community to journey to the New World. Immediately she began teaching that faith, rather than rigid adherence to Puritan rules, was the ticket to heaven and that individuals could and should read and interpret the Bible for themselves. Needless to say, the keepers of the status quo were outraged. 

Undaunted, Hutchison cleverly combined her midwifery services with her subversive, teachings, encouraging the people, who would gather when she arrived to assist at a birth, to “receive the Holy Spirit” the spirit of wisdom and truth for themselves. Clearly, Hutchison was challenging the authority of the Puritan Church by daring to believe what Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Ultimately Hutchison was charged with heresy and she and her family were exiled from the Puritan community. 

What if we took seriously our claim to the Spirit of Truth with us? How could we be sure we were acting in accord with the Spirit of Truth rather than the impulse of our emotions? This is a question of discernment.

When we experience emotional impulse it is unsettling as storming ocean waves, volatile as a fire on a windy day. When we experience Spiritual Truth it is steady and unchanging as the mountains, calm as the surface of a pool of water on a windless day. Emotional impulse is accompanied by un-ease and disharmony. Spiritual Truth is accompanied by peace and harmony. The key to discerning emotional impulse from Spiritual Truth is peace, the peace that Jesus leaves with us, peace that is the steadfast companion of Spiritual Truth. 

*The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Houghton Mifflin Haracout Publishing Co., 1991.

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Gospel Text for Sunday 7 October, 2012

Mark 10:2-16        Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Reflection

It is interesting to me that when I read the Gospel of Mark, generally  I relate to the stories and parables allegorically, as texts pointing beyond themselves. So I surprise myself when I read this text and find myself responding in a most literal (O.K. be honest – defensive) manner. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I was divorced and I have had too many birthdays to call myself a child.

Still, I do not believe that the writer of Mark’s gospel intends for us readers to sink into discussions of acceptable versus unacceptable grounds for divorce or property or custody agreements. At every turn the gospel invites us to look beyond superficial details and discover Divine Intention.  So what are the jewels hidden in this text? What does it have to say to me, a single person who once upon a time was married? What does it say to me who once upon a time was a child? When I look at marriage and childhood as pointing to spiritual truths that lie beyond themselves I begin to glean some meaning and relevance for my life.

A fundamental truth that Jesus articulates regarding marriage is “the two shall become one flesh.” In other words, what once was separated is now united. According to the writer of John’s gospel Jesus says, “I and the Father are one, “ (John 10.30) and later expands his message of union and unity when he says, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14.20) In God’s economy, in the realm of the Spirit, God intends that we all are one. Paul explains this in his letter to the Romans, “…  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Rom 12:5). Our journey of faith is an inclusive adventure during which we discover that our deepest meaning and value, the revelation of each of our individual truest selves, is revealed in the network of connections between us and all of God’s creatures. We are one in the interconnected web of being. We are fundamentally joined; to behave otherwise (to divorce ourselves one from another) is to turn away from God.

 And that I believe is something children know instinctively. Children know they are connected. They know they are vulnerable and dependent upon others. And we adults are to receive one another “as a little child,” acknowledging our interdependence, full of hope and wonder, and we will be blessed.