Hebrew Testament reading for Sunday 9 March 2014

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7        The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Reflection        Here is the biggest, boldest, most outrageous lie ever told to humanity. “You will not die…” That’s what the serpent said to the woman in the garden when tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit. It is a lie that set humanity on the course of denying, resisting and refusing death. It has not served us well.

Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months. 22 million ‘hits’ came up in 35 seconds when I typed anti-aging into my computer’s browser. At the bottom of the recession in 2009, Americans spent $10 billion on cosmetic procedures.  Models’ careers end at “28 if they are lucky, 21 if they don’t age well.”  Every form of media markets youth, vitality, agility and would have us deny the inevitable degeneration of our bodies and our minds. Culture would have us buy the serpent’s lie… “You will not die if you buy my stuff.”

But, for at least one day each year we Christians refuse to be bamboozled. Across the globe on Ash Wednesday priests dip their thumbs in ashes, smear crosses on our foreheads while saying, “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” In other words, you are going to die. It doesn’t matter what fruit you juice, what supplements you take, what extreme medical procedures you undergo, you are going to die.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time for calling our the serpent and admitting the lies we tell ourselves. “I cannot help if when I lose my temper, when I judge and speak ill of others, when I take the extra drink, eat when I am not hungry or shop compulsively. I am not good enough to deserve your love, to deserve God’s love. I don’t need help. I can handle this myself. I am not going to change. I am not going to allow things to change around me. I am in control.” These are lies that we tell ourselves. Lies that we tell ourselves to boost our sense of safety and security, to enhance our self image and self esteem, to amplify our feelings of power and control. 

But instead of saving our lives, the lies cause us to fall out of relationship with God, but only until we expose the serpent and purge our lies. This is the hard work of Lent; admitting the lies we tell ourselves and dying a thousand humiliations as we walk through Lent in the hope of the resurrection life of Easter. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 2 March 2014

Matthew 17:1-9        Six days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Reflection        There is something about mountains. They have an uncanny allure. Throughout history humans have been drawn to mountains seeking wisdom and inspiration, hoping against hope to draw closer to God. That was the case for Moses and Elijah, both mountain men of the first order. 

Moses climbed Mount Sinai hoping to defend the people of Israel who had sinned against God by making a golden calf while waiting for the forty days that Moses was on top of the mountain receiving God’s commandments to govern the life of the Israelites whom he led out of slavery from Egypt. Unlike Moses,  after forty days of traveling through the wilderness, when he finally ascended Mount Horeb the prophet Elijah complained bitterly to God about the unfaithfulness of God’s people. At the top of the mountain both Moses and Elijah experienced the presence of God with them and were sent to continue God’s work in the world. 

Centuries later Jesus takes his three closest friends to have their mountaintop experience of God present with them. On the mountain they have the insight that humanity and divinity are revealed in the person of Jesus. Although it appears that Jesus is transfigured, it is the vision and the understanding of Peter, James and John that is illuminated and transformed. They “see” the unity of humanity and divinity in Jesus. They “hear” the transcendent voice of God instructing them "listen to" (and presumably be guided by) Jesus. I believe this is the key to understanding this enigmatic text. Listen to Jesus, the one who instructs his friends and us in incomprehensible ways; the one who told his friends he must suffer, die and be resurrected in Jerusalem. 

Like Peter,  when we have our mountaintop experiences we want to “build tents,” we want to cling to them or go back to them. But Jesus leads us down the mountain and heads straight for Jerusalem. If we listen to Jesus we take our experience of God with us into our world which is full of suffering and death. If we listen and follow Jesus, we touch the people who are afraid and suffering and say, “Get up. Do not be afraid.” Life does not end with death. God is with us, always. 

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** image is Mt. Lemmon, Arizona

Acts of the Apostles on the Feast of St. Matthias, Sunday, 23 February 2014

Acts 1:15-26          Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus-- for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 

"For it is written in the book of Psalms, `Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and `Let another take his position of overseer.'

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us-- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection." So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Reflection       This Sunday we observe the Feast of St. Matthias. The thing I love about St. Matthias is that most of us are much like him; faithful followers of Jesus whose stories will not show up in history books. Except for having our names engraved on a memorial plaque or written someplace in a family Bible, in two thousand years there is every chance our stories will be unrecorded, unacknowledged and uncelebrated. 

Still, the very fact that we set this day aside to celebrate the feast of a man about whom we know nothing except that he was a follower of Jesus… this very fact reminds us that every single one of our lives matter. Matthias was one of the ordinary people in the crowd who followed Jesus from his baptism in the Jordan to his resurrection in Jerusalem. 

Matthias must have been humble and wholehearted, willing to give up life as he knew it to follow the renegade prophet Jesus. And after three years of being anonymous in the crowd,  imagine how surprised he must have been when he heard his name called as a candidate to replace Judas among the Apostles. When the lot fell on him, he must have been astonished!

Without politicking for position or power Matthias was raised to the ranks of the chosen. Because he was chosen by lots, tradition holds that the Feast Day of St. Matthias is the luckiest day of the year. But I hesitate to concur. Although we do not know the story of Matthias’ life there is every chance his fate was no less dire than that of the other apostles. Being chosen to represent to all the world the social-political views of Jesus, who was tortured and murdered for those views, being chosen might not feel exactly like winning the lottery. 

Here’s the thing. The cost of grace, of being chosen by God, is everything. It puts us crosswise with the status-quo as it invites us to live into our baptismal promises; “continuing in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship: the breaking of bread and the prayers, resisting evil and repenting when necessary, proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. (Seeking and serving) Christ in all persons, and striving for justice and peace among all people.” 

Most of us will live out our days as one in the crowd of faithful Jesus followers. The question before us is, how will we conduct our lives as anonymous saints in the cloud of Christ’s witnesses?

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Gospel text for Sunday 16 February 2014

Matthew 5:21-37        Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

"It was also said, `Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Reflection     Thousands of years before Roe versus Wade and the social political conversations about a persons “right” to choose,’the Jewish scribe Eliezer ben Sira of Jerusalem wrote the wisdom teachings known as the Book of Ecclesiasticus or Sirach in which he made clear, it is a person’s “obligation” to choose. “If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice. (God) has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose. Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” (Eccl  15.15-20)

It is more than a right. It is our obligation to choose. Do we choose a life driven by externals, by splashes of righteousness and enslavement to the letter of the law? Or do we choose a life upheld by the interior presence of God with us? Do we choose a life consumed by lust for food, drink or sex? Or do we choose a life nourished in the wisdom of God and God’s messengers? Do we choose a life possessed by desire for security, attention, affection or power? Or do we choose a life free to give away the gifts that have been given to us?

Jesus is upping the ante by instructing the disciples and us to choose the more difficult way, the way of knowing our selves and making conscious choices to live our lives in integrity with God’s economy. When we come to church on Sunday our prayers asking God to forgive the “things we have done and the things we have left undone” and our generous plate offerings are not enough if we “harbor anger, jealousy, bitterness, hostility, infidelity or any kind of ill will toward another person.” Jesus tells us, it is what’s inside that counts.  

Coming to worship, asking God to forgive us for our desecrating feelings is not enough. We must choose to grow in self awareness, and this is really hard. It is hard because of who we really are. 

In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, (I paraphrase) “God created humankind in God’s image… male and female God created them.” (Gen 1.27) This is an outrageous claim that carries with it enormous responsibility. Let me be crystal clear, we are not god, we are godlike. Created in the image and likeness of God, Imago Dei, we are a shadow or  snapshot of God. We are imbued with godlike qualities. The question is, are we choosing to allow our godlike qualities to show? That is the heart of self-awareness and the fruit of conscious choice.

Two questions I choose to reflect during the upcoming Lenten season are; What are my unique godlike qualities? What choices can I make to allow them to show? We are obliged to choose.

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Gospel text for Sunday 2 February 2014

Luke 2:22-40        When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel."

And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-- and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Reflection          By every account Simeon and Anna expected the Abrahamic Covenant with God to be fulfilled, which is to say, they could imagine and looked forward to the time when all of Israel would be a holy nation and all that God promised would be fulfilled. So they conducted their lives in accord with the religious obligations set out in the Torah. They cultivated the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and worship. Throughout their lengthy lives they lived in relationship with God and when the Presence of Emmanuel, God with us was revealed, they recognized him. 

Today we look at Anna and Simeon’s lives and protest, “Yes, but this is the 21st century. I can’t, or don’t want, to live in a temple or a monastery. Not all of us are cut out for the religious life.”  If he were alive I imagine Brother Lawrence would reply, “Not so fast. By practicing the presence of God we can make our 21st century lives temples for God.” 

Born in 1614 Brother Lawrence was a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. He didn’t have the education to be a cleric so was assigned to the kitchen and repairing sandles. It was while doing these tedious tasks that Br. Lawrence developed his rule for “Practicing the Presence of God,” (also the name of his classic book.) He wrote,  "Men invent means and methods of coming at God's love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God's presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of (God)?" 

For Brother Lawrence the expectation that God is present in every moment of our lives is pivotal. When we do every task expecting God present every moment of our ordinary life has incomparable value. He wrote, "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees before the Blessed Sacrament.”

Anna and Simeon found their relationship with God in the Jerusalem temple. It was the symbolic focus of divine Presence, the place where heaven and earth mingled. Brother Lawrence expands the location of “the temple” to include all of life. When we approach all of life as “the temple” we are as righteous as Simeon and may well expect to experience the Presence of God with us. When we order our days with prayer, fasting and worship we too will receive the Wisdom of Anna, praise God and speak well of the One whom all are seeking.

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Gospel text for Sunday 26 January 2014

Matthew 4.12-23       When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Reflection       Eight hundred years  before Jesus , twenty eight hundred years before us First Isaiah explained, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined.” (Isaiah 9.2-3)  Which begs two questions? What is deep darkness? What is a great light?

I believe deep darkness is failure to recognize God with us and for us, right here and right now,. I believe deep darkness is weaving the net of our lives by our efforts alone while striving for security, esteem and power. I believe deep darkness is the reason so many of us experience isolation, alienation, anger, depression and fear. I believe deep darkness is the reason our world is under the siege of violence. 

Since World War II there have been over 250 mahor wars in the world in whcih 23 million people have been killed, tens of millions made homeless and countless millions injured and grieving. Our current global military spending is approximately $800 billion per year, more that the total annual income of the poorest 45% of our global population. Worldwide, a quarter of all women are raped during their lifetime.Three billion of the worlds people live in poverty. Still, there is good news.

Although we have lived in a land of deep darkness a great light has shined on us. And the great light is this. It is the light in the eyes of our hearts that recognizes the spiritual dimension as real and present, right here and right now. 

When we live in the darkness we are preoccupied with the comings and goings of all things visible. When we live in the light we recognize things visible as revelations of things invisible. The visible and invisible are not seperate and competing categories. The visible and invisible are two sides of one coin. They are the material and the immaterial, the human and the divine, each perspective essential to the apperhension of creation. . 

We are the people upon whom the great light has shined. The question is, will we allow our hearts (and behavior) to be transformed even before our minds catch up? Will we put down our nets, leave our old ways behind even when it means stepping beyond the box of the way we have always done things? Will we demand the end of war, the end of violence against all people? Do we dare to step beyond the status quo and redirect military spending to care for 43% of God’s people on earth who are living on less than $2. each day?

When Jesus called the first four disciples he called them to a heart stopping, mind boggeling, world changing life beyond the box of anything they could imagine. Jesus’ call upon our lives is no less radical. Shall we join the old prophet Isaiah and respond, “Here am I. Send me?” 

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Gospel text for Sunday 19 January 2014

John 1:29-42        John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Behold 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, "Behold, 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          In his novel, Stranger in a Strange Land, the writer Robert Heinlein coined the term “grok” which in common parlance means to intuitively grasp or understand, to be in rapport with the object of perception. But in his science fiction tale Heinlein’s usage of the word “grok” meant something more. Grok was the word used by Heinlein’s martians to describe the transcending experience of the ‘gorker’ and the ‘groked.’ The martians explain, as water becomes part of the drinker so does the drinker become part of the water. The sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

John the Baptizer admits that even though he had been baptizing in anticipation of the one, the Messiah, who would come after him, “he did not know” who Jesus really was until he saw Jesus’ post baptism experience as an affirmation of his own conversation with God in which God told him, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” John “saw” something more, he groked the deeper meaning and recognized Jesus as “the Son of God.” Following his insight John’s preconceived notions of what a proper Messiah or Annointed One would look like fell away. Once the impediments to his vision were removed it was time for John to pass on his wisdom (and his followers) and so he instructs the two disciples, “Behold, here is the Lamb of God.” Pay attention. Things are not as they seem, the Messiah does not look like a regally clad king. There is more than meets the eye here. 

The two disciples must have groked something more as well because when they “heard” Jesus they followed him. We will never know what Jesus said to attract their attention, but Jesus’ subsequent invitation to “come and see” resounds throughout the generations.

What does it mean to come and see? I believe “coming” means showing up, allowing ourselves to be present to the people or situation in which we are standing. “Seeing” is more than visual perception of persons or objects. It is penetrating to the meaning of or recognizing the identity of that which we perceive. In a sense, true seeing is not unlike Heinlein’s martians’ usage of the word “grok.” When we really “see” someone we experience rapport with them, an affinity that bespeaks our fundamental bond. When we grok someone we recognize there is something more than meets the eye and we experience a taste of the interconnected web of being.

From one person to another, the identity of Jesus, the revelation of God with us, is passed on until the interconnected web of humanity is fully illumined, which is to say, until every human being groks their union and unity in something more. Returning to the martians’ understanding of reality, the sum of the two is greater than the individual parts and their realities are integral. “Behold...” There is something more.

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