Pentecost

Come alive in the Spirit!

The Whispering of the Spirit

And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages………………. Acts 2: 1-3 

This Sunday is Pentecost. Imagine what it must have been like that day in 1st century Palestine. Those who witnessed the arrival of the Holy Spirit must have been shocked, amazed, and maybe even afraid. Imagine the noise! The ru'ah, the winds of God blowing in on them!

Now imagine Pentecost 2013. What new languages are being spoken? How does the world hear the Gospel? How do we experience the Holy Spirit? What languages do we use to boldly attend to the needs of the elderly, the homeless, and the undocumented workers that surround us? What languages are we speaking to them?

This week, pray that this Pentecost does not just become a festal day to wear red and comment on how beautiful the flowers are. The presence of the Holy Spirit is among us. Let us pray that the same Spirit that rushed in and over the apostles will give us the words and the ministries to speak to the world. 

  Julian of Norwich


Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Julian of Norwich. 
Julian lived in 14th century England during the Black Death, so it seems a bit surprising that her most remembered words were 
"All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well." 
Where does that kind of optimism come from?


Conventional wisdom at the time believed that God brought plagues and bad things to bad people, but Julian dismissed that rationale while facing a life threatening illness herself. After receiving "last rites" and at the brink of death, Julian received 16 "showings" or revelations of God's love which were published in her book The Revelations of Divine Love.

The question for us, it seems to me, is how do we respond when faced with our own plagues:  those of self-doubt, grief, or physical distress?

When faced with the things that plague us, Julian points us in the direction of God's love.  She reminds us that we can have utter confidence in God's faithfulness. Once again, the wisdom of the saints is passed along to us, exhorting us to live our lives in faith, not fear.  

Quotes from Julian's Revelations of Divine Love:

          -- There were times when I wanted to look away from the Cross,                                                    
             but I dared not. For I knew that while I gazed on the Cross I was safe and sound…

        --   God loves us and enjoys us, and so he wills that we love him and enjoy him, and firmly    
              trust him; and all shall be well.

          -- Flee to our Lord and we shall be comforted. Touch him and we shall be made clean.           
             Cling to him and we shall be safe and sound from every kind of danger.

          -- What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing?                                               
             Know it well, love was His meaning. 
             Who reveals it to you? Love. 
             What did He reveal to you? Love. 
             Why does he reveal it to you? For love.

Marathon Madness

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 


I think of the valley of death that exists at the corner of Exeter and Boylston streets in Boston this week. I have walked that street many times; met friends on that corner. To see it covered in blood and detritus was appalling. 

As I have tried to wash that image out of my mind in the days since the attack, the words of the 23rd Psalm have served as a balm for my distress. But the fact is: evil exists. There are times when events in our world cast our collective sense of comfort and safety into the fire; times when we teeter at the edge of hopelessness. 

This week, let us remember that we are Easter people; and when the valley of the shadow of death threatens us, we cling to our Lord's words: I am with you. I will never leave or forsake you.

Do We Need Proof?

But Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."  John 20:25

I think Thomas got a bad rap.  After all, how many of us have called him “Doubting Thomas?”  Thomas had not been in the Upper Room when Jesus first came to the disciples, so when the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord,” no wonder he was unwilling to take their word for it. He wanted proof.

As children of the information age, we, too, often ask for proof. Yet, concerning the mysteries of God, concerning the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, there will never be concrete evidence.  Just as there is no “block of love” sitting in a museum somewhere to prove that love exists, there is no “block of faith” in another museum somewhere.  Yet we are aware of the existence of both. 

This week, as we consider Thomas’ request for proof, let us rest in the truth of Christ’s answer to him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Are you blessed? 

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!