Prayer

If you live in or near Chicago, most of you know the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup this week. Triumph! Champions! Prayers answered!

 

But were they?
Certainly there were a lot of faithful Boston fans praying that their Bruins would beat our Blackhawks.
So…… were our prayers better?
Does God prefer Chicago over Boston?
Are we more faithful than the Boston people are?

The question this week becomes: Why pray?
Why pray when our aging parents are dying?
Do our prayers give them one more moment of life?

This idea of "effective prayer" has been a stumbling block for faithful folks for centuries. Like Job's friends, some of us may succumb to judging others when we see their prayers falling on deaf ears. Some of us might lose our faith when we perceive that our own prayers are just evaporating into the stratosphere. And worst of all, some of us might even begin to censure our prayers, fearful that God can't or won't do for us what's on our list.

The "sticky wicket" of prayer is that we get hung up on the outcomes. Instead, let us look at prayer from an entirely different perspective. Let us consider prayer as simply a deep conversation between us and One who loves us. In the very act of having that conversation, we are transformed. We begin to realize that God is God and we are not. We begin to recognize God's actions in the world and become more aware of God with us. And, finally (God willing) we will begin to recognize God's invitation to us to participate in God's world. God's invitation to us to participate in God's world.

Forgiven

"Your sins are forgiven." Luke 7:48

Some things are so good it's hard to believe they're true.
Sunday's gospel, about the woman who enters the house of a Pharisee and begins to weep and anoint Jesus' feet with precious ointment, caused quite a stir. The dinner was for insiders only……and yet, this woman, a sinner, crashes the party.
The story is about forgiveness, and the gratitude we experience when we realize we have been forgiven. Forgiveness allows for restoration of relationships. It allows us to hope in a future. 
But this story is also about judgment and hardness of heart. There are those who feel forgiveness is so precious that it should be meted out sparingly or with strings attached.
This week, ask yourself how you feel about that.             Should forgiveness be rationed?             Do you believe your sins are forgiven?             Do you live as though you have a clean slate?
In the economy of grace, forgiveness is freely offered, freely given.  How do we respond?

Visitation

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.       Luke 1:42

On Friday, we observe The Feast of the Visitation.

Mary, a young, unmarried teen, discovers that she is pregnant. She flees to the village of Ein Karem, a nine day walk from Nazareth, to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The very fact that Mary fled tells us that she must have had conflicting feelings about this pregnancy. What would Joseph think? How would she explain herself to her parents and to the townspeople? Scared and unsure, Mary must have been astonished by Elizabeth's welcome:

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" (Luke 1:39-40)

Those words of welcome, of hospitality, filled Mary with the courage she needed to willingly accept God's call. Fear, questioning, and timidity disappeared as Mary felt the welcoming embrace of a distant cousin.

Are you available? God has put people all around us who need an encouraging word - a listening ear.      
Who is in need of your love and acceptance right now?

Wind

Last Sunday, the people of Moore, Oklahoma and the people of St. Charles, IL gathered together in their respective faith communities to celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Chances are, we all listened to the same reading.

"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." (Acts 2:2)

I wonder whether the people of Moore have considered the irony of that reading in the wake of the tornado that decimated their town on Monday afternoon. The fact is: life is short. The fact is: we do not know the day or the hour. The fact is: life sometimes stinks.

This week, let us continue our prayers for those in Moore, and for all who suffer and grieve, and especially for those who have lost hope. And as we do, we recall Paul's promise to the people of Rome that we will hear this Sunday: that our faith assures us that we will find peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

May it be so.

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.