Christian Testament text for Sunday 20 September 2015

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a        Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Reflection    Get serious. Get humble. Get on your knees. James’ letter could have been written today to all of us Christians dispersed across the globe who say with our mouths we believe in God and Jesus the Christ and by many of our actions declare the constitutional status of the holy “my;” my preferences, my rights, my desires, my predilections. Where is humility in the sacred-cow of individualism? Where are “the good fruit” born in envy, unbridled ambition and victory at any cost?

Nothing is lost in the urgency of the words penned two thousand years ago. The early Christian community was in crisis as we are. If we dare to call ourselves Christian it is time to pause and look honestly in the mirror. Do we live well? Do we live peaceably? Do we live humbly? Are our lives the living, breathing revelation of God’s good fruit poured out through us? If we cannot answer a resounding “Yes, yes, yes!” to these questions we must then ask ourselves, “How am I not in right relationship with God?”

The “good fruit’ the writer of James’ letter refers to are much the same as the fruit of the Spirit  to which Paul refers in his Letter to the Galatians. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control (Gal 5.22) are evidence of God’s grace working in us as we do the serious work of staying in conscious, conscientious and humble relationship with God. And yes, this is serious work, exercising our spiritual muscles. An athlete works out to strengthen and stretch their physical muscles. A worker practices to develop their competency muscles. An intellectual studies to expand their mental muscles. A person of faith prays rightly to mature their spiritual muscles. Which returns us to the question, “How do we pray rightly?”

The German scholar, Eckhart Tolle, who wrote The Power of Now, encourages us to have disciplined, humble prayer practices and warns us not to let our practices get in the way. Somewhere he wrote, and I paraphrase, “Why don’t we just go there now. Why don’t we just stop and be present to Presence right now?”

Perhaps you would join me in being present to Presence right now. If you would, please close your eyes. Take a deep breath, breathe in and breathe out. Now as you take your next breath experience the place of love in every cell and space of your being. Breathe out. As you take your next breath experience the presence of joy throughout your body. Breathe out.  Now do the same thing with peace, breathing in and breathing out, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness and self-control.  Then we conclude the prayer, “O God, here I am. I consent to Your presence and action within me. Please allow the fruit of your Spirit to flow through me for the good of humanity. Amen.”  You may or may not want to get on your knees.

The fruit of the Spirit are already in us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness,   generosity, faithfulness and self-control are the substance of Divine Presence, God with us. Even if we are not experiencing some or any of the fruit they are the fiber, the very meaning of our true self which is not other than God. When we consciously consent to God’s presence and action within us and ask to experience the good fruit of God, we are praying rightly.

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Gospel text for Sunday 13 September 2015

Mark 8:27-38        Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Reflection        This is one of those times when Malina and Rohrbaugh’s “Social Science Commentary” leaps to mind with its apt explanation of the difference between ancient Middle Eastern and 18-20th century Western civilization’s response to Jesus’ question, “Who do people say that I am?” In his honor/shame society Jesus is asking this question to locate his position of power and status in the collective, which is the source of his identity because his was a group-oriented society. A person knew themselves via their connections, relationships and responsibilities to their socio/cultural/religious group. (eg The Christian Testament speaks of Paul of Tarsus, Mary of Magdela). The value is for the collective good.

The Age of Enlightenment gave birth to  a different perspective, individualism, that understood human persons to have individual God given liberties and rights. This view arose in the late 17th-early 18th through 20th century and underlies the psychological perspective that individual persons live primarily of themselves and for themselves.  Identity is singular, derived from the individual’s particular needs, desires and ambitions.  The value is for independence over against the collective good. 

When Jesus asks, “Who do you or who do the people say that I am?” he is asking “How am I located in the complex web of relationships that constitutes humanity?” Jesus is not testing the disciples and Peter to find out if they recognize his particular psychological constitution. He is asking the people, the source of his identity, to tell him what his position of honor or shame (power) is among the people. How then can we relate to Jesus’ question of identity today?

In his Integral Theory the contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber suggests a four part model for understanding who a person is. It includes the interior subjective world of the individual, the individual’s cultural/collective background, the objective situation exterior to the individual and how the individual fits in the collective.* Wilber offers a way to move beyond a preference for either the collective or the individual and embrace a 21st century nondual perspective that integrates the values of both. The lens through which we 21st century Westerners look back at Mark’s gospel cannot escape projecting our psychological perspective on it. In fact, that is what keeps the Word alive and relevant for us. However, we must also bring forward the context and wisdom of the collective seeking the survival of the group.

I wonder if the current great divide between Republicans and Democrats may in some way be explained by a preference for either Ancient Middle Eastern or Eighteenth Century Enlightenment perspectives? I wonder if it is time for us to set down the pundits’ rusty swords and bridge the gap between the rights of the individual (insulated and unconnected to others) and the priority for group survival (at the expense of personal privilege)?** I wonder if it is time to adopt a perspective that ascribes value to both the individual and the collective and stretches toward the transpersonal to exceed the limits of both?

Copy and paste either citation in your browser to read more.

*Wilber, Ken. "AQAL Glossary," "Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice: IOS Basic and the AQAL Map," Vol. 1, No. 3. Retrieved on September 7, 2015.

**Steve Paulson. "You are the river: An interview with Ken Wilber". salon.com.

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Gospel text for Sunday 6 September 2015

Mark 7:24-37          Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Reflection         I wonder if when Jesus said to the deaf man, “Ephphatha … be open,” I wonder if Jesus was also speaking to himself?  Having just walked away from his heart and mind opening encounter with the Syrophoenician mother, might Jesus have also been coaching himself? “Be thou open, Don’t let there be any boundaries or borders between yourself and others.  Eschew any line of demarcation between humanity and divinity.” 

That last would be the border crossing that got Jesus in the most trouble, acting on behalf of God, incarnating the will and the way of God, teaching, healing and forgiving sin. That is why the religious and political officials had to execute Jesus. It was their job to draw and protect the borders and boundaries of their laws. Today we call it gerrymandering, defining borders or boundaries to establish advantage for a particular group. And Jesus crossed the line. He refused to be bound by social, political or religious borders.

Jesus says, “Ephphatha… be open.” Any boundary or border that diminishes the humanity of another human being is to be transgressed. This is the will and the way of God; to be open to comfort, care for and heal every human being, especially the most vulnerable. The question before us today is, what borders or boundaries must we cross to be open, “Ephphatha…” to be open as was Jesus? What Maginot lines have we drawn imagining we can protect our privilege by keeping others at bay?

When Jesus invites us to “Follow me,” he might well add, “Ephphatha… be open. Put on the hands and feet and skin of God. Dare to cross borders to care for and comfort, teach, heal and forgive the sin of others. Refuse to be bound by borders and boundaries that diminish the humanity of another human being, that diminish the humanity of your true self. 

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Hebrew Testament Text for 30 August 2015

Song of Songs 2.8-13   

The voice of my beloved!

Look, he comes,

leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Look, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing in at the windows,

looking through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away;

for now the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away.”   

Reflection        Unlike most of the rest of the Bible, nearly seventy-five percent of the words spoken in the Song of Songs are the woman’s voice. This poetic call to love with its references to mountains and hills, a gazelle and a stag, fchanging seasons, verdant vines and fragrant blossoms locates human love in the context of the garden, and associates human love with all that is good in creation.  This offers an alternative view to the longstanding historical interpretation of the woman in the Song (not to mention many other parts of the Bible) as the adulterous, betraying woman who represents Israel’s idolatry or sinful woman, the church, who has lost her way. These interpretations of women have had a far ranging effect particularly as they are promoted in commentaries on the most widely published book in the world, the Bible with more than 5 billion copies printed since 1815.

We live in a time wherein many women are bought, sold, abused and exploited. Across the globe women are discounted, disrespected and held in contempt. The outrageous fact is, in many places the status of women has not much improved in the twenty-six hundred years since the Song of Songs was written. That said, we need to hear the Song of Songs because it reminds us of what love can be. The Song is a finger pointing beyond the edifice of human codes and concepts, interpretations, traditions and doctrines that separate us from the love of God and our neighbor. The Song of Songs is an invitation to acknowledge our deepest desires and longing and accept the invitation to live fully and freely rooted in the commandment to love. 

Of course we can extrapolate from the dramatic poem and offer theological reflections on God’s love of God’s people and Jesus’ love of the Church. But we must be careful “Not to teach human precepts as doctrines,”(Mk 7.8) in other words,  not to ignore God’s commandments and hold onto human tradition.  We must be careful not to slip into dualistic thinking, creating codes and characterizing love as human versus divine.  When one of the scribes asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;  you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12.28-31) 

When a  scribe asks Jesus  for the singular decisive commandment, Jesus’ non-dualistic response, love God with all your heart AND soul, mind AND strength, And love your neighbor AS your self, refuses to be constrained in a container of singular certainty. Both Jesus and the unknown writer of the Song of Songs shows us what love looks like. Fully human and fully divine, freely given and joyfully received. Amen. 

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Hebrew Testament Text for Sunday 30 August 2015

Song of Songs 2.8-13   

The voice of my beloved!

Look, he comes,

leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Look, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing in at the windows,

looking through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away;

for now the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

and come away.”   

Reflection        Unlike most of the rest of the Bible, nearly seventy-five percent of the words spoken in the Song of Songs are the woman’s voice. This poetic call to love with its references to mountains and hills, a gazelle and a stag, flowers, changing seasons, verdant vines and fragrant blossoms locates human love in the context of the garden, and associates human love with all that is good in creation.  This offers an alternative view to the longstanding historical interpretation of the woman in the Song as the adulterous woman who represents Israel’s idolatry or the Church that has lost her way.

We live in a time wherein many women are bought, sold, abused and exploited. Across the globe women are discounted, disrespected and held in contempt. The outrageous fact is, in many places the status of women has not much improved in the twenty-six hundred years since the Song of Songs was written. That said, we need to hear the Song of Songs. We need to hear and we need to see revelations of love, longing and desire, invitations offered and invitations accepted as reminders of what love can be; a mutuality of desire and consent, joyful relationship in accord with the goodness of creation.

The Song of Songs reminds us of what love can be. The Song of Songs is a finger pointing beyond the edifice of human codes and concepts, traditions and doctrines that separate us from the love of God and one another. The Song of Songs is an invitation to acknowledge our deepest desires and longing and accept the invitation to live fully and freely rooted in the commandment to love. 

Of course we can extrapolate from the dramatic poem and offer theological reflections on God’s love of God’s people and Jesus’ love of the Church. But we must be careful “Not to teach human precepts as doctrines,”(Mk 7.8) in other words,  not to ignore God’s commandments and hold onto human tradition.  We must be careful not to slip into dualistic thinking creating codes and characterizing love as human versus divine.  When one of the scribes asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;  you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mk 12.28-31) And the unknown writer of the Song of Songs shows us what love looks like. Fully human and fully divine, freely given and joyfully received. Amen. 

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday 23 August 2015

Ephesians 6:10-20   Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Reflection Sitting with a group of folks who come together every Thursday afternoon to ask questions of meaning and value, this week a woman asked, “How are we to live, to be, in the presence of all the disasters and chaos in our world today?  From brutal politics to starving children, dying whales to worldwide economic unrest, poisoned water to no water at all, I just don’t know …” She was visibly frustrated, distressed, at a loss. 

“Take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to withstand that evil day…. to stand firm.” That is Paul’s wise counsel to our ancestors and to us. But, it raises another question. “What is the armor of God?” I believe the armor of God is faith, which means, finding our strength in God, rather than in our selves. When we put our faith in God’s ability to overcome the impossible, to transform even death to life, we have the courage to speak truth to power, we receive the grace to stand for what is right and are able to behave accordingly. When we put our faith in God rather than our selves, our ordinary behavior in our ordinary communities is rooted in the promise of faith, not fear because, God is faithful.

Faith is our shield. Faith renders us “able to quench all the arrows of the evil one.” The politicians and secular moguls, the media and mass marketers of our geopolitical world use fear in their efforts to capture their markets and sure up their power.  Every day we are bombarded with threats of earthquakes, terrorist plots and rampant disease. Images of shootings, massacres, economic and natural disasters indoctrinate us with a sense of impending doom, fear. When we react with fear to these messages it means we believe them, we believe they are real and consequently they have power over us. The truth is, fear mongering is the work of evil undoing our faith because the opposite of faith is fear. In faith we look beyond the realm of appearances to the something more that we call God, by whom and with whom and in whom we live in the light of faith rather than the darkness of fear.

Twenty-five times the counsel “do not be afraid” appears in the Bible. I believe this acknowledges the temptation to fear is omnipresent, therefore we must constantly make the choice to “put on the whole armor of God,” putting our faith in God ’s faithfulness rather than ourselves regardless of all that conspires in our geopolitical world to indoctrinate us with fear. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 16 August 2015

John 6.52-58

Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Reflection       “Those who trōgō (eat) my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”The Greek trōgō is used as a verb that means chewing, gnawing or crunching with the teeth.  This is not an homogenized message about receiving holy food and drink. This is Jesus’ radical invitation to the disciples and us.  “But the one who eats, gnaws on, chews and crunches my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever.” No wonder the religious Jews balked. They must have been as repulsed as we may be entertaining images of savagery or cannablism. Eat my flesh, chew on it, gnaw on it, crunch it with your teeth then swallow it and you will live forever. 

A long time ago when I began to seriously study the Bible a wise mentor counseled me, “If you really want to encounter Jesus, eat the gospel of Mark. Read it as a story from beginning to end. Do that three times. Then, read it slowly, one sentence, even one word at a time, until it becomes part of you. Eat the gospel of Mark, incorporate this story into your own being.” And Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

I believe the disturbing words and images in today’s gospel text are intended to propel us into something more than a magical relationship with Jesus, the miracle worker who gives us bread when we are hungry.  When we choose to accept Jesus’ invitation, we consciously and conscientiously eat, chew on, assimilate and integrate the flesh and blood of Christ to become the flesh and blood of Christ. As Christians we are not intended to simply memorialize the historical person of Jesus; tell the story and close the book. As Christians we are intended to become the eternal flesh and blood, the hands and feet of Christ. This is Eucharistic, or sacramental eating. Trōgō, chewing, gnawing, crunching with our teeth, wrestling with the words that offend and repulse us until we arrive at the marrow of meaning and remember who and whose we are.

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