Moving Forward

The Reading: ...but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3:13-14

The Whispering: I took this picture five years ago, standing in a cold field in Indiana at dusk. At the time, I was facing some hefty decisions about my own life, my call, and where God was leading me.  Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, reminds us that we must always resist the human inclination to look longingly backwards and to cultivate a spirit of adventure that leads us forward. Lent accomplishes this by leading us into a liminal place of repentance. Lent invites us into a time where we consider, and then excise the sins and guilt that bind us. Ultimately, we must face this truth: that God will forgive all our sins when we "do earnestly repent." Lent pulls us into that place where we are made ready for absolution and, ultimately, for the triumph we will celebrate when we accept God's forgiveness. Every Lent is followed by an Easter morning. What do you need to leave behind?  What hurts? What guilts? What impediments must be cast off in order to discover the joy that is in Christ? Look forward. God forgives us our sins and leads us into Easter -- always.

Manna

The Reading: Gracious Father whose blessed son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him.                         Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the 4th Sunday in Lent  "Manna"   The Whispering: The question of manna has intrigued me since I was a little girl. A child's imaginings that magical bread fell from heaven every morning and every evening. And the fact that it was always enough for everybody?!?   And I remember being utterly gobsmacked when my Sunday School teacher told us that if the Hebrews took more than their fair share, the excess would turn rancid by the next day. God's economy is like that. God's grace and love are always enough, abundantly enough; and God proffers enough grace for everyone. Why, then. do we spend time worrying that someone is getting more than their share? More manna, more love, more wealth, more attention? Meditate this week on God's economy. Do we covet that which our neighbors have received? Has God offered us enough? How do we speak to God about our cravings and our appetites?

Curiosity

"I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up."   Exodus 3:3

"Moses and the Burning Bush"   Marc Chagall

It was a normal day: Moses was at work, tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. A day like any other, but a day when Moses noticed something off in the distance: a bush consumed by flames, yet the bush did not appear to be burning up. Curiosity got the best of him. "Hmm. That's strange. I'll go over there for a closer look." He changed his normal daily routine to turn aside, to look, to go over and to see why the bush was not burning up. An investigative fellow. 

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but curiosity is essential to a life of faith. For when we are open to the unimaginable, when we are curious about the unfathomable, when we stop to investigate the unthinkable?  It is in those places that we will meet God. As Christian people, we know all about responsibility and focused, hard work, but remember that God lives at the margins. When we are myopically focused on that which lies directly in front of us, we can miss God:  God at the periphery reaching out to us, beckoning, whispering, "Come over here. I have need of you."

Trust

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?   Psalm 27:1

"Theofania"   by Agostino Arrivabene

Consider the role fear plays in our lives. It seems to be hard wired into us, probably a survival instinct from when we were less socially developed creatures. And yet, biblical references about fear are legion. "Do not be afraid," said the Angel to Mary at the Annunciation. "Fear not," said the angel to the shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night.

When God has a message for us, it is often preceded by an admonition about fear. As we enter this season of prayer and self-examination, we would do well to examine how much we trust God. Do I trust God with my whole heart, mind, and soul?  Or do I trust God only so far?  

Because to trust God "only so far" is to deny the power of the Living God. 
We become what we believe. 

The Devil Made Me Do It

The Devil said, "If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Luke 4:7

Jesus, after being baptized by John in the Jordan River, was sent into the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil. In Lent, Christians are encouraged to think about those things (those habits) that cause us to take our eyes off God.  

What distracts you from God and from those you love? What takes priority in your life?  What prevents you from being Christ's hands and feet in the world?  Is it television? Gaming? Shopping? Alcohol? The Internet?

We all have distractions: pastimes that may subtly (or not so subtly) separate us from the love of God.  Lent is a time to consider where the devil may be creeping into our lives. Do all of our actions and all of our habits glorify and praise God?

What needs to change?

Transfigured?

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.  

                                                           Luke 9:29

"Transfiguration"   by Lewis Bowman

On Sunday, we will hear the fantastical story of Jesus being "transfigured" on the top of Mount Tabor in the region of Galilee. His friends, Peter, John, and James are with him, and they are stunned as Jesus' whole countenance changes right before their eyes, and he appears to be talking to Moses and Elijah. 

Of course those early disciples were terrified. 

I mean, what if you saw President Obama, just as plain as day, standing twenty feet away from you and chatting it up with Dr. Martin Luther King and JFK? Would you believe your eyes? Or would you think you were going crazy? 

How do we recognize the presence of God in our everyday lives? Dare we proclaim that which we have witnessed ourselves?

Gentleness

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  
                                                               Philippians 4: 4-7

Jean Francois Bausmayer

The Whispering

Gentleness. With gentleness, we open ourselves to the peace of the Lord. 

I wonder how many of us cultivate gentleness.  We reward self-starters, team players, dynamic managers, but in our culture, gentleness is not a resume line item. Scripture often contradicts culturally approved mores. 

Gentleness, Paul suggests, allows us to discern when the Lord is near; 

gentleness is the passport into that divine state some call Nirvana or Enlightenment, the divine stasste that Christians know as the peace of Christ.  Do you know it? Have you experienced it?

Today, cultivate gentleness. Close your eyes. Breathe in the breath of God, exhale regret, grudges, bitterness, and pain. The Lord is near.

Rough Ways

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."  Luke 3: 4-6

Masada Snake Path - Israel

I remember taking a gondola to the Masada, a famous fortress near the Dead Sea in Israel. It was 110 outside. I recall dozens of pilgrims ascending to the fortress via the Snake Path rather than riding up in the gondola. Isaiah dwelt in this land, knew this topography. Isaiah knew the virtual impossibility of making such paths straight, knew the impractability of making the deserts rocky paths smooth.

And yet.  And yet. What Isaiah knew, what John knew, is that there is some travail involved in preparing our hearts for God. We are saved not from our own efforts, but through God's grace, to be sure, but the simple gift of grace propels us into the work of preparing ourselves and our lives for God's most lavish extravagance: salvation.

This Advent, we prepare the way; we contemplate the exorbitance of our salvation. How will you respond? How will you make your paths straight, your roads smoother? Your height a little lower?

Love and Faithfulness ARE the Path

All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness *
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.  Psalm 25:9

The pathways to the Lord are love and faithfulness, the Psalmist writes. This week I am, like many of you, joining together with family and friends to give thanks to God for all our blessings. It is a particularly poignant Thanksgiving for me because my husband is not here with me this year. 

It is poignant also because of the shape in which the world finds itself. Life (either personally or geopolitically) does not always play out on straight, well marked paths. Often, the paths are poorly marked and full of tree roots that cause us to stumble. 

What God promises us is this: when we set out on a path, whether its well marked or barely there, God will be there. Our task is to look for love and faithfulness wherever we find ourselves, and there we will find God. The path itself may be poorly marked, but love and faithfulness are the signs assure us that we are on the right course. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Christ as King?

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1: 5-6

Świebodzin, Poland, 6 November 2010

It is hard for us living in a modern democracy to visualize kingship. Even in our relationships with Jesus, as varied as they are, I suspect most of us are more comfortable relating to Jesus as the man who came, a man born of a woman. He dwelled among us - he was with us - Emmanuel.

Kingship is different, and yet, Jesus' kingship is an integral part of Christian doctrine. Jesus as King of the Universe. Jesus as fully divine. Jesus, the name above all names: Redeemer, Sanctifier, Messiah. Sunday we celebrate Christ as King. As we do, we must consider Jesus as the Christ, Jesus as King. May he become fully integrated as both human and divine and not live as a sort of disembodied man-god in our hearts.

Kingship is hard for us, but His kingship is essential.

For the Beauty of the Psalms

Psalm 16

Keep me safe, my God,
    for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
    “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
    I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
    or take up their names on my lips.

5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

         For the Fullness of the Earth         J.E. Swanson

To be sure, there are more familiar Psalms than Psalm 16, Psalms like the 23rd or Psalm 121, but this little Psalm is a powerhouse. It will sustain us through thick and thin. We make King David's words into our own prayer. 

Why? Just read it. It reminds us of all that is essential:    

Take refuge in God. Apart from God, we have nothing. When we stray and begin to worship other gods, our sorrows will increase. God alone is our portion and our cup; God alone is enough. We can live through our darkest imaginings because God is always at our right hand; always present. God will never give us up to the Pit, and will never forsake us. 

For all of this, I sing praises to the Lord who is my refuge and my strength.  Alleluia!

Sanctuaries?

Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands,a mere copy of the true one... Hebrews 9:24

                              Caring for the Sick     L.M. Horthemels

Jesus had it right. The sanctuaries where we gather for worship are mere copies of the true one. As we come together each week, it is not simply to have a perfunctory visit with God. Coming to worship is far more important than that because it prepares us for the true heaven and is practice for life itself in the Kingdom of God.

The care we take with practicing our anthems, in ironing our linens, with polishing our silver mirrors how God wants us to be with each other: careful, gentle, loving. And, similarly, each liturgical action set in motion during times of public worship, whether it's bowing our heads, bending our knees, or extending our hands for Eucharist is practice for the same. Each movement, each action, each breath prepares us for living and being in God's world.

Thanks be to God.