Running Home to What We Know

Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."
They said to him, "We will go with you."  John 21:3



Peter had had it. After the crucifixion, after days being cooped up in the Upper Room, Peter announced, "I am going fishing." He wanted to go back home to what he knew, to what felt "normal." Apparently the others felt the same way; they journeyed back to Galilee with Peter.

When life spins out of control, when the present is too hard to face, we too, may wistfully dream about kinder, simpler times. We may long to return to what once was. Peter did. The disciples did. The thing is, as Peter retreated, God followed him.

God never leaves us - even when we are running away.
Do you perceive God with you this very moment?

From Palm Fronds to a Crown of Thorns

"Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Crucify him! Crucify him!"

Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It wasn't always like this, but these two "events" in Jesus' life have been conflated into one Sunday. We shout "Hosanna in the highest" as Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem. We wave our palm fronds around, and sing "All Glory Laud and Honor," and it is a festive occasion.

Yet not more than fifteen minutes later, on that same Sunday, we read the narrative of Jesus' trial, crucifixion and death. In this second lesson, we all take part in shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him!" I find these two events being remembered during the same worship service quite disorienting.


We go from celebration and thanksgiving to accusation and crucifixion at warp speed. This week, think about the speed with which we levy our own judgments upon others in the present time: be they rock stars, politicians, or our own neighbors.

Self-examination

Jesus said, "…but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did." Luke 13:3

We are now solidly in the midst of Lent. According to the Book of Common Prayer, it is a time set aside by the church for self-examination and repentance. In the passage from Luke for the third Sunday in Lent, Jesus begs us to repent. It can all get quite depressing, and many of us wonder whether we should add sack cloth and ashes to the mix of our Lenten disciplines. 

Certainly, we should all take inward time to examine where we may fall short of God's dream for each one of us. And certainly we should take time to think seriously about how we might better align our lives with God's plan for us, but Lent is not all about self-flagellation and despair. If we focus on despair, and develop a self-loathing for our own sinfulness, we can miss the point of Lent. But…. If we observe a season of prayer, fasting, self-examination and penitence, we wil discover something new about God and begin to understand the potent gift God offers us: absolution and pardon. 

The sack cloth and ashes perspective makes it "all about us," but if we take seriously the call to the observance of a holy Lent, we will begin to better understand God's loving responses to us. We begin to realize that it's not "all about us" and discover, instead, that it's all about God's grace and God's infinite love.

A Smoking Pot

The Scripture: 

When the sun had gone down, and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram.  (Genesis 15:17-18)

The Whisperings: 

On Sunday, we will hear the passage from Genesis chapter 15 where God promises Abram many descendants and also the Promised Land. It is a story filled with mystery and ritual. First God walks outside with Abram and promises this childless man that his descendants with outnumber the stars in the sky. After this, a strange ritual which involves cutting animals in half occurs, followed by Abram falling into a "deep and terrifying darkness." Finally, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch mysteriously appear and pass between the sections of the divided (now dead) animals while Abram is sleeping.

God works in strange ways. As liturgically focused Anglicans, perhaps we are most comfortable with predictable patterns of worship, and many of us have grown to expect God to appear while we are devoutly on our knees praying or receiving Eucharist at the rail. Yet the story in Genesis suggests that God is at work in the loneliest of outposts and in the most un-ecclesiastical of venues.

This week, look for God in the strange places. Review any "weird things" that you have witnessed. Have you seen any dancing firepots? Was God in that place?

A Holy Lent

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent.

Almighty and merciful God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts, so that when we turn to you and confess our sins and acknowledge our need, we may receive your full and perfect forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
                                     
                                         (adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)

Resurrection

I am Resurrection and I am life, says the Lord. John 11:26

Resurrection is one of those "religious-y" words that we tend to put on a shelf, right there next to words like atonement, righteousness, and incarnation. It's not one of those words that you hear in line at the post office, for example. And yet, the Greek word for resurrection, anastasis, simply means "getting up again; awakening." It is an ordinary word and an ordinary occurrence; it means, in Greek parlance, that we literally resurrect ourselves when some power within us wakens us every morning.  

How might our lives change if we considered every morning's awakening as an anastasis: a grace-filled opportunity to wake up and be a new creation.  A new day to be wholly changed and transformed -- even when our lives, up to that one moment of awakening, have been spent simply wandering int he dark?  

Anastasis: its the opposite of stasis -- the opposite of staying the same. 

Precious

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you,  
I have called you by name,you are mine. 
Because you are precious in my sight, 
and honored, and I love you...   Isaiah 43: 2,5   


Imagine how different our world would be if we all believed that God really loves each one of us. Now, you may be saying to yourself, "But I do know God loves me," and that would be great. Still, the sad fact is that there are plenty of folks, who believe they are the exception, folks who believe, "Well, God may love everybody, but God cannot possibly love me; I am the one exception." These folks are hung up on their unworthiness, but that does not change the fact that God loves each of us anyway. Deal with it!

So here's the quantum leap: even when we are feeling loved by God, even when we are feeling cherished and precious, can we rest in that love and, at the same time, understand and accept the fact that God feels that way about everyone? That God loves the colleague who drives you crazy and the person who cuts you off in traffic just as much as God loves you?

Consider this: Life is not about punishment anymore; it's about forgiveness. And life is not about being good enough; it's about grace.

Oh – if only we could believe that with all our hearts and minds and voices. What a wonderful world it would be!

Light or Darkness?

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem asking, "Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews?" When King Herod heard this, he was frightened.....               Matt. 2:1-3

This week, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. So often we envision this as a happy, sentimental time: three mysterious strangers on camels bringing gifts to a child in a manger. But the Gospels are rarely about sentimentality; they are always teaching us, beckoning us to see ourselves in the story as we begin to understand how humanity responds to God in the world. 

The Wise Men, or whatever we want to call them, respond with a healthy curiosity. Why has a light shone on this particular place at this particular time? They investigate and find a child, and they are enthralled by him; captivated. Herod’s response is the exact opposite: Herod sees this light and is determined to extinguish it. His fears rule him; he leads from a place of fear. He reacts from fear.

Perhaps we need to look at the Feast of the Epiphany as a study in light and darkness. Notice that the light shines upon Jesus. Those who are not ruled by fear follow the light and are recipients of that light.  Those who are ruled by fear merely want to extinguish the light.

We have seen the light of Christ; the star.  We worship it, and in worshipping it, Jesus reminds us that we are the light of the world. In worshipping it, we refract the light out into the world.

As we approach the Feast of the Epiphany, think about light: both the Divine Light that shines upon you and the Divine Light that you shine on those around you.  Hearts that lead with fear seek to extinguish the light. Hearts that lead with faith shine that light into a world in desperate need of it. How is your light shining in the world?

May the Star that is lit in you be a light to the world.

The Hope of Christmas

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight — indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.                                                                               Malachi 3:1

There are many sources of hope. We can find hope in our work, or in the words of a favorite philosopher or prophet, or in beautiful music. But there is something different about the hope we find in Jesus Christ.  As we anticipate the feast of the Incarnation on December 25^th, our hopes become deeper. We allow ourselves to wonder what God has in store for us and for the world. It is as though God is calling us to something deeper, something more than the “everyday” hopes we have for our lives.

As we begin to recall those familiar scenes of shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night or to envision choirs of angels bursting into song over dark starry skies, I feel God nudging the world to something deeper, something more profound. The hope we experience every year as we wait expectantly in Advent for the signs of the star, we experience more deeply God’s hope for each one of us. It is a hope and the flicker of the knowledge that God is in the midst of us, not just today, but has been forever and will be forever.

Look for hope today; ask what God might be asking of you.
                                                                                         

·        Is it to go deeper?

·        Is it to seek God more fully?

·        To serve God more faithfully?

The “Christmas spirit” is not about tinsel and lights and presents; we only wish it were that easy, but these things are not what we really yearn for. We yearn for connection; a connection with the living God who accompanies us always, who seeks to bring us everlasting peace.  

Breathe the spirit of Christmas in – and resolve to send it out into a world in desperate need of hope. Resolve to discover what God is asking of you: to find hope in the midst of pain, to bring hope to those who have no hope, to be the bearer of the Good News to those who haven’t seen it lately.

May the spirit of the living God be in you and among you and alive through you in this time of waiting and expectation.

Visible Traces

The Scripture:                                                                                       Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Whisperings:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."

This prayer is called the Shema, and it is prayed at the beginning and end of every day by observant Jews. (It is traditionally prayed while covering or closing one’s eyes.) The Shema reveals God’s commandment to us in two distinct parts. First, it begs us to hear the proclamation that the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. It exhorts us to remember that we must worship only one God, not many.  It reminds us that God must be the first priority in our lives. The second part is just as important: God demands that we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and might.  This indicates a need for an ongoing relationship with God, not just a “once in a while” drive thru visit.

So, in this short prayer, there are actually two powerful imperatives: a command to hear and a command to love. How do we do that?  In verses 6-9, Moses outlines three specific ways to accomplish the tasks of hearing and loving God: 

1. First, we must commit these words to our hearts.  How different would our lives be if we recommitted ourselves to God each and every morning upon awakening and every evening before going to bed? 
2. Second, scripture tells us to recite these words to our children and talk about them both at home and in the world. How are we doing with that? Are we passing down the vital message of God’s love to our children and to our neighbors?
3. And third, we are told to make God known to the world with visual reminders.  “Wearing it” on our shirtsleeves may not be feasible for us, but the intent here is to place the very fact of God, to place the Shema itself, in the midst of our lives as a reminder for all people. It’s not about how many crosses you tie around your neck, or how many fish decals you stick on your car. Instead, this part of the passage asks us to place the idea of the Shema “out there” –  in our actions and way of life. How do we leave visible traces of God in the marketplace?
4. 
   
   How goes it for you?

Prayer for Times of Conflict: O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.                                                    Book of Common Prayer, pg. 824

It has been a divisive election year. The television ads have been particularly unsettling, not because they were simply derogatory, but because they took statements and actions utterly out of context, and named them "truth." Pilate was right when he asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).

Whether your candidate won or lost, whether today you are feeling jubilant or depressed, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are bound together in a common life. We are called by our Lord God to bind up the broken hearted, to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We are called to be Christ's hands and hearts in the world: to seek out and serve all people, but particularly those who are poor, weak, sick, or lonely.

· Who, this week, needs an encouraging word?
· Who, this week, needs food or shelter?
· Who, this week, needs your time or your attention.

Let's get on with the business of our common life. God has a world in need of your heart and hands. 

For Bob...

This week, one of my dearest friends was killed; accidentially, tragically. He was watching his wife and her team row crew in Portland, Oregon.  He was standing on a bridge. He waved to her as her boat went under the bridge. Then, he turned to cross the bridge to watch her boat emerge from the other side, but he never made it. Crossing the bridge, he was struck by a car and killed instantly.  

Grief is a funny thing. I somehow cannot bear to put up a picture of Bob on this page, but I can put up an example of how love helps us through the darkest of days. It is proof positive that God is there with us in our triumphs and in our tragedies. The picture above is of Cynthia's crew team. You, see, they didn't wallow in the tragedy that occurred, they acted. Someone decided that their very next race would have every team member wearing shirts remembering Bob.  It was a way to show solidarity with one of their teammates. It was a way to keep moving forward, even when the world seems to have stopped.  

They raced. They won. They held up Bob's wife in her grief by doing what only they could do. By proclaiming that Bob was there, that Bob lived, that Bob would not be forgotten. Not only would he not be forgotten, he would be celebrated. 

I love you Bob. Still.