Below are four versions of the song, Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. I love this song and admittedly I chose four versions that I like out of the many many versions available on YouTube.
Everlasting Arms has been playing in my head for the last few weeks. The idea of leaning on the arms of Jesus is a wonderful way for me to feel comforted and strengthened. Singing this song helps my soul to remember that I need to trust, breathe, focus, and allow myself to hope.
Since I began checking out the YouTube videos of this song I have found a new inspiration. It is the inspiration that I feel from many voices saying (or singing) the same thing but doing it in their own way. At first I began searching for the song that I knew ... the version that I knew. I never did find it. What I did find was a whole lot of people doing the same thing differently.
How many ways are there to sing a song? How many ways are there to live a life? How many ways are there to follow a path of faith? How many ways are there to be you?
Sometimes I think it is easy to slip into a template of how we are ourselves. We can put ourselves into a box just as easily as we put others in a box. The "I can'ts" and "This is just what I do" lines that we tell ourselves can be replaced with, "What if I tried it this way?"
There are many valid, holy, and wonderful ways to be. Keep leaning ... keep loving ... and keep your soul flexible ...
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Now I know only in part
The days are becoming a little more noticeably shorter. There is an abundance of vegetables and herbs at my local CSA. Squirrels are running around hiding nuts in the ground. There is a coolness to the air at night.
Along with all these things that I am noticing, there is something that I don't notice but that I am told is happening. The colour of the light is different as is its angle. These are details that I miss. I believe those who agree that this is so, but I don't see it or sense it.
What is it about who I am, how my brain works, or how I understand the world that keeps me from seeing/sensing this shift in light? I don't know. I can smell the difference between summer and fall. I can feel the difference in the air. But how the light changes is not within my perception. Apparently it is there to be seen and sensed, but it is not within my grasp.
It makes me wonder what else is right there ... right in front of my eyes ... right in front of my spirit ... that I do not perceive.
We go through our lives seemingly seeing what other people see, hearing what other people hear, and perceiving what other people perceive. While I do believe there is a kind of universality of experience, it seems more and more clear to me that we each have our own unique slant - some things we experience with greater intensity and some with less. Some things have a great impact on us and other things not much at all.
The smell of summer is different to me than the smell of fall. This has a greater impact on me and it is in my conscious mind. The look of the light, though, does not register to me consciously. I'm sure it has an impact on me, but I do not know what it is.
What is it that we perceive differently, you and I? How do we understand God differently or the Bible? What is an act of kindness, a gesture of generosity, or curt remark. How do we really know that we are seeing and sensing everything that is in front of us?
We don't know. There is so much happening that we miss. And there is so much happening that is important to us or that impacts us strongly that others miss. When we are gliding through our day, do we assume that we are seeing everything that others see and that others see what we see? Do we base our reactions to what someone says, how they say it, or the look on their face as if we understand them completely? Do we read the Bible or hear God's voice and believe that we totally get it or that we don't get it at all?
Complete understanding or complete ignorance are either/or equations that I believe keep us from understanding fully the part of whatever it is we do understand. I also believe it keeps us from hearing the understanding and experience that others have. While I would love to see the change of light that I've been told is happening, I also am gaining an appreciation that there is a mystery that I cannot hold that others can. I have to rely on the experience of others to gain a more full understanding of life, love, and God.
The more we are willing to relax at the notion that we don't see it all, hear it all, perceive it all, or understand it all, the more we need to relax at the notion that we need one another to fully live into the beauty and mystery of this life.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 NRSV
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Along with all these things that I am noticing, there is something that I don't notice but that I am told is happening. The colour of the light is different as is its angle. These are details that I miss. I believe those who agree that this is so, but I don't see it or sense it.
What is it about who I am, how my brain works, or how I understand the world that keeps me from seeing/sensing this shift in light? I don't know. I can smell the difference between summer and fall. I can feel the difference in the air. But how the light changes is not within my perception. Apparently it is there to be seen and sensed, but it is not within my grasp.
It makes me wonder what else is right there ... right in front of my eyes ... right in front of my spirit ... that I do not perceive.
We go through our lives seemingly seeing what other people see, hearing what other people hear, and perceiving what other people perceive. While I do believe there is a kind of universality of experience, it seems more and more clear to me that we each have our own unique slant - some things we experience with greater intensity and some with less. Some things have a great impact on us and other things not much at all.
The smell of summer is different to me than the smell of fall. This has a greater impact on me and it is in my conscious mind. The look of the light, though, does not register to me consciously. I'm sure it has an impact on me, but I do not know what it is.
What is it that we perceive differently, you and I? How do we understand God differently or the Bible? What is an act of kindness, a gesture of generosity, or curt remark. How do we really know that we are seeing and sensing everything that is in front of us?
We don't know. There is so much happening that we miss. And there is so much happening that is important to us or that impacts us strongly that others miss. When we are gliding through our day, do we assume that we are seeing everything that others see and that others see what we see? Do we base our reactions to what someone says, how they say it, or the look on their face as if we understand them completely? Do we read the Bible or hear God's voice and believe that we totally get it or that we don't get it at all?
Complete understanding or complete ignorance are either/or equations that I believe keep us from understanding fully the part of whatever it is we do understand. I also believe it keeps us from hearing the understanding and experience that others have. While I would love to see the change of light that I've been told is happening, I also am gaining an appreciation that there is a mystery that I cannot hold that others can. I have to rely on the experience of others to gain a more full understanding of life, love, and God.
The more we are willing to relax at the notion that we don't see it all, hear it all, perceive it all, or understand it all, the more we need to relax at the notion that we need one another to fully live into the beauty and mystery of this life.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13 NRSV
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A Change in The Force
I found out that a friend of mine died March 28, 2010. I think it has been about two weeks that I've known. I found out because I looked her up online and her obituary popped up. Her obituary.
Her name is Iyvie. Her professional bio reads,
"Seiki Attunement, shiatsu, reiki, conscious medium/intuitive spiritual consultant. Trained & cert. by D. Cannon as past life regressionist & Dr. E. Pearl for Reconnective Healing & The Reconnection. Aura/chakra live photo & biofeedback analysis."
Iyvie and I were friends. We were connected. We vibrated together. We also hadn't seen each other for 5 years since she moved to the island of Kailua-Kona. We spoke by phone for the next year or so, but then we lapsed in our tangible communication. I looked her up online to see where she was speaking or what new certificate she earned. For the last year I didn't see much about her though. I was worried. I didn't call. I don't think I was supposed to.
I knew she was sick. She hadn't told me, but I knew. I also knew that she didn't want people making a fuss. She died of cancer. One of the obits reads that she died, "after a brave fight with cancer." That's a pretty common turn of phrase. It is applied to many people but means something different for every one of them.
I don't know if it helped, but every time I thought of her, which was far more than I ever expressed, I sent her my love and my breath, my pulse and my consciousness.
It is because of Ivyie that I began doing energy healing.
It is because of Iyvie that I learned that the fruit of the Holy Spirit grows on trees outside of the orchard of Jesus.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to trust my own power.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to understand the Divine to be not separate from creation, but vibrating within creation.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to see The Spheres of Being and create a theory around The Spheres, vibrations, our interconnectedness with each other and The Holy.
It is because of Iyvie that I understand myself to have a shamanic gift.
I so enjoyed knowing that she was in Kailua-Kona, breathing, loving, and being her amazing self. I am sad that she is no longer vibrating in her body. I know that I grieve for the future, though, not the past. I had a hope that someday I would visit her there. I hoped that I would look into her eyes again, feel her vibrations again, and maybe even once again feel the power of her work. When she worked on me I saw visions and cried. Amazing visions. Tears that came from the core of my soul. Tears that were shed not because of an emotion but because of the intensity of being.
I hoped that I would have the opportunity to share my power with her as it has become shaped and more fully conscious in me. I wanted to give back to her something that I couldn't give to her then. She told me that God was strong in me and that I had to follow my path. She told me that she used the word God because that was how I understood it, but that for her it wasn't God. It was me and love and ... so much beyond words. She taught me to feel my own vibrations. I wanted to share with her my consciousness.
I did share with her my consciousness. I just didn't do it face to face.
I am so very sad, but I am not lost in the sadness. I am living in it. I am holding it, breathing it, and loving it.
And I am dancing with my sadness. Iyvie was a dancer. As her obituary reads,
"Iyvie was an accomplished ballerina. She danced and taught ballet professionally for several years with the Ruth Page Dance Company of Chicago and George Balanchine, and the New York City Ballet. She performed the lead role in the Nutcracker ballet in Chicago for several years."
Dancing with my sadness makes the most sense. The dance is physical, but not just physical. It is energetic, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual. So I am dancing ... and crying ... and laughing ... remembering ... and mostly, I am vibrating and breathing in gratefulness.
Her name is Iyvie. Her professional bio reads,
"Seiki Attunement, shiatsu, reiki, conscious medium/intuitive spiritual consultant. Trained & cert. by D. Cannon as past life regressionist & Dr. E. Pearl for Reconnective Healing & The Reconnection. Aura/chakra live photo & biofeedback analysis."
Iyvie and I were friends. We were connected. We vibrated together. We also hadn't seen each other for 5 years since she moved to the island of Kailua-Kona. We spoke by phone for the next year or so, but then we lapsed in our tangible communication. I looked her up online to see where she was speaking or what new certificate she earned. For the last year I didn't see much about her though. I was worried. I didn't call. I don't think I was supposed to.
I knew she was sick. She hadn't told me, but I knew. I also knew that she didn't want people making a fuss. She died of cancer. One of the obits reads that she died, "after a brave fight with cancer." That's a pretty common turn of phrase. It is applied to many people but means something different for every one of them.
I don't know if it helped, but every time I thought of her, which was far more than I ever expressed, I sent her my love and my breath, my pulse and my consciousness.
It is because of Ivyie that I began doing energy healing.
It is because of Iyvie that I learned that the fruit of the Holy Spirit grows on trees outside of the orchard of Jesus.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to trust my own power.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to understand the Divine to be not separate from creation, but vibrating within creation.
It is because of Iyvie that I began to see The Spheres of Being and create a theory around The Spheres, vibrations, our interconnectedness with each other and The Holy.
It is because of Iyvie that I understand myself to have a shamanic gift.
I so enjoyed knowing that she was in Kailua-Kona, breathing, loving, and being her amazing self. I am sad that she is no longer vibrating in her body. I know that I grieve for the future, though, not the past. I had a hope that someday I would visit her there. I hoped that I would look into her eyes again, feel her vibrations again, and maybe even once again feel the power of her work. When she worked on me I saw visions and cried. Amazing visions. Tears that came from the core of my soul. Tears that were shed not because of an emotion but because of the intensity of being.
I hoped that I would have the opportunity to share my power with her as it has become shaped and more fully conscious in me. I wanted to give back to her something that I couldn't give to her then. She told me that God was strong in me and that I had to follow my path. She told me that she used the word God because that was how I understood it, but that for her it wasn't God. It was me and love and ... so much beyond words. She taught me to feel my own vibrations. I wanted to share with her my consciousness.
I did share with her my consciousness. I just didn't do it face to face.
I am so very sad, but I am not lost in the sadness. I am living in it. I am holding it, breathing it, and loving it.
And I am dancing with my sadness. Iyvie was a dancer. As her obituary reads,
"Iyvie was an accomplished ballerina. She danced and taught ballet professionally for several years with the Ruth Page Dance Company of Chicago and George Balanchine, and the New York City Ballet. She performed the lead role in the Nutcracker ballet in Chicago for several years."
Dancing with my sadness makes the most sense. The dance is physical, but not just physical. It is energetic, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual. So I am dancing ... and crying ... and laughing ... remembering ... and mostly, I am vibrating and breathing in gratefulness.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
With Liberty and Justice for All
Texts: Exodus 23:1 – 12 and John 10:9 – 16
Today is July 4th, a national holiday when the United States celebrates our independence from a system of government that was oppressive. While our history as a nation is far from unblemished when it comes to oppression – past and current – the tenets of our national creeds can help guide us toward true equality with the hopeful result of liberty and justice for all.
I am not here today to preach to you on the tenets of our national creeds though, because along with this being July 4th, it is also Sunday, a religious holiday for us Christians to celebrate our interdependence with our God and with each other. The notion of liberty and justice for all is a core message of our sacred scriptures. Over and over we read that God is displeased with the people when they neglect widows, orphans, and the resident alien in their midst. We also read that our motivation for not oppressing the poor, the isolated, and the resident aliens in our midst should be because we were once enslaved aliens in the land of Egypt. When we remember how God redeemed us from our poverty, our isolation, and our oppression we should be moved to pity and mercy on those who are in similar situations in our midst.
The God of Israel repeats this concern for the widow, the poor, the orphans, and the resident alien in book after book of our sacred text. And yet so many who call themselves Christian are more concerned with social morality than with social equality. The message is clear though – even if you don't like someone, you need to treat them as equals. We need to make sure that people have food and shelter. We need to make sure that justice is upheld; that the marginalized are not overlooked; and that everyone gets to rest.
Jesus' ministry reflects these values. Time and time again he heals, he feeds, and he sets free all persons, from whatever rank, social status, or nationality they are. In the passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus declares himself the good shepherd. He tells us, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Lots and lots of life!! Abundance of life!!
Jesus also says, "I know my own and my own know me," which sounds like this abundance of life is for a select group of folks, that is until he finishes his thought ... "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also." He doesn't explain who these other sheep are, where they will come from, or what they will look like. We know nothing except there are other sheep in other folds that belong to Jesus.
One of my favourite teachings in the gospels comes from both Mark and Luke. It says, "whoever is not against us is for us."
The old testament scriptures which talk about taking care of the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the resident aliens do not require any kind of statement of faith from them or any kind of moral fiber as deemed by the provider. The directive given is to let them eat, let them rest, and let them live equally ... without distortion of their wages, their goods, or their services. There is no blame in Deuteronomy or Exodus for poverty. There is only the command that enough is left behind in the fields for folks who need to eat to be able to do so. There are also commands to not take advantage of someone because they don't have the money to pay for a lawyer or because they are foreign to the culture and don't know our ways.
While our official national creeds use words like "all men are created equal" and "liberty and justice for all," our unspoken cultural norms and expectations include phrases like, "if it is to be it is up to me" and "if you work hard enough you will be rewarded." These ideas that poverty is blamed on the poor and that if you don't look and sound like the popular majority you must be suspicious creeps into how we read the Bible and hear the message of Jesus. If we focus on our own sheepfold then we become suspicious of other sheepfolds. But Jesus came that ALL would have abundant life. The earlier teachings of letting the poor reap from what was left in the fields is replaced by the teaching that ALL should share in abundant life.
That's risky, isn't it? It's one thing to give your spare change to the beggar on the street or to donate to a not-for-profit knowing that you will get to declare it at tax time and another thing completely to image that same beggar living in a beautiful house and that not-for-profit having enough resources to do whatever they do with ease. But that's what I think we should imagine. Life abundant for everyone!
I have this crazy idea that if everyone had enough and if everyone was respected and celebrated for who they are then crime would decrease, sadness would decrease, productivity would increase, communities would grow closer and engage each other across boundaries of difference, and … God would be glorified. I believe this. I believe it fully and firmly.
We have to work like Jesus worked, not as a hired hand who will run away when things get scary, but as a shepherd who truly cares. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and when Peter says yes Jesus tells him to feed and tend his sheep. This story is in the Gospel of John, the 21st chapter, after Jesus' resurrection. Still, after his torture and execution, after his being descended three days and then rising from the dead, Jesus is concerned about his sheep being fed and tended.
We are one fold. There are other folds. I believe that we are the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in this world. We are given power to do what we must do by the Holy Spirit. And the works we do are from our foundation of faith and for the glory of God.
Today I ask you, do you love Jesus? Will you feed and tend his sheep? Will you remember and advocate for the poor and isolated, for the marginalized and oppressed. Are there gleanings from your field, whatever your field looks like, that you can leave behind for others? We have to be careful to correct those would say folks are stealing from us. It is important to speak up when someone warns us that we are being taken advantage and say plainly and with love for the sheep that we intentionally left for it whoever needed it.
We also must guard against thinking well of ourselves for doing good. It is for the love of Christ and the love of the sheep that we do what we do. It is also because we remember that once we were slaves in Egypt. That's harder. Especially for white people. People of colour remember very well the stories of their ancestor's enslavement. As a white person, I don't have that. My people have never endured the kind of cruel treatment that the Bible is asking me to call to memory as a motivation. The story of the Israelites in the land of Egypt is thousands of years past. I am detached from it by time even if by nothing else.
My motivation then, rather than conjuring up a memory that I don't really have, is solidarity. To be in solidarity one has to be in relationship with people. It's time consuming, energy consuming, and requires commitment. I'm working on it. I'm working on it because through the scriptures Jesus asked me if I love him and I said yes. Then he asked me if I would feed and tend to his sheep by offering the abundant life that I was given, and I said yes. Solidarity doesn't mean doing something for someone, it means doing something with someone. A hired hand isn't in solidarity with the sheep. A good shepherd is in solidarity with the sheep.
Do you love Jesus? Do you believe that this flock and the other flocks are equal and deserving of true justice and abundant life? Will you tend to the flocks as a shepherd?
Today is July 4th, a national holiday when the United States celebrates our independence from a system of government that was oppressive. While our history as a nation is far from unblemished when it comes to oppression – past and current – the tenets of our national creeds can help guide us toward true equality with the hopeful result of liberty and justice for all.
I am not here today to preach to you on the tenets of our national creeds though, because along with this being July 4th, it is also Sunday, a religious holiday for us Christians to celebrate our interdependence with our God and with each other. The notion of liberty and justice for all is a core message of our sacred scriptures. Over and over we read that God is displeased with the people when they neglect widows, orphans, and the resident alien in their midst. We also read that our motivation for not oppressing the poor, the isolated, and the resident aliens in our midst should be because we were once enslaved aliens in the land of Egypt. When we remember how God redeemed us from our poverty, our isolation, and our oppression we should be moved to pity and mercy on those who are in similar situations in our midst.
The God of Israel repeats this concern for the widow, the poor, the orphans, and the resident alien in book after book of our sacred text. And yet so many who call themselves Christian are more concerned with social morality than with social equality. The message is clear though – even if you don't like someone, you need to treat them as equals. We need to make sure that people have food and shelter. We need to make sure that justice is upheld; that the marginalized are not overlooked; and that everyone gets to rest.
Jesus' ministry reflects these values. Time and time again he heals, he feeds, and he sets free all persons, from whatever rank, social status, or nationality they are. In the passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus declares himself the good shepherd. He tells us, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Lots and lots of life!! Abundance of life!!
Jesus also says, "I know my own and my own know me," which sounds like this abundance of life is for a select group of folks, that is until he finishes his thought ... "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also." He doesn't explain who these other sheep are, where they will come from, or what they will look like. We know nothing except there are other sheep in other folds that belong to Jesus.
One of my favourite teachings in the gospels comes from both Mark and Luke. It says, "whoever is not against us is for us."
The old testament scriptures which talk about taking care of the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the resident aliens do not require any kind of statement of faith from them or any kind of moral fiber as deemed by the provider. The directive given is to let them eat, let them rest, and let them live equally ... without distortion of their wages, their goods, or their services. There is no blame in Deuteronomy or Exodus for poverty. There is only the command that enough is left behind in the fields for folks who need to eat to be able to do so. There are also commands to not take advantage of someone because they don't have the money to pay for a lawyer or because they are foreign to the culture and don't know our ways.
While our official national creeds use words like "all men are created equal" and "liberty and justice for all," our unspoken cultural norms and expectations include phrases like, "if it is to be it is up to me" and "if you work hard enough you will be rewarded." These ideas that poverty is blamed on the poor and that if you don't look and sound like the popular majority you must be suspicious creeps into how we read the Bible and hear the message of Jesus. If we focus on our own sheepfold then we become suspicious of other sheepfolds. But Jesus came that ALL would have abundant life. The earlier teachings of letting the poor reap from what was left in the fields is replaced by the teaching that ALL should share in abundant life.
That's risky, isn't it? It's one thing to give your spare change to the beggar on the street or to donate to a not-for-profit knowing that you will get to declare it at tax time and another thing completely to image that same beggar living in a beautiful house and that not-for-profit having enough resources to do whatever they do with ease. But that's what I think we should imagine. Life abundant for everyone!
I have this crazy idea that if everyone had enough and if everyone was respected and celebrated for who they are then crime would decrease, sadness would decrease, productivity would increase, communities would grow closer and engage each other across boundaries of difference, and … God would be glorified. I believe this. I believe it fully and firmly.
We have to work like Jesus worked, not as a hired hand who will run away when things get scary, but as a shepherd who truly cares. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and when Peter says yes Jesus tells him to feed and tend his sheep. This story is in the Gospel of John, the 21st chapter, after Jesus' resurrection. Still, after his torture and execution, after his being descended three days and then rising from the dead, Jesus is concerned about his sheep being fed and tended.
We are one fold. There are other folds. I believe that we are the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in this world. We are given power to do what we must do by the Holy Spirit. And the works we do are from our foundation of faith and for the glory of God.
Today I ask you, do you love Jesus? Will you feed and tend his sheep? Will you remember and advocate for the poor and isolated, for the marginalized and oppressed. Are there gleanings from your field, whatever your field looks like, that you can leave behind for others? We have to be careful to correct those would say folks are stealing from us. It is important to speak up when someone warns us that we are being taken advantage and say plainly and with love for the sheep that we intentionally left for it whoever needed it.
We also must guard against thinking well of ourselves for doing good. It is for the love of Christ and the love of the sheep that we do what we do. It is also because we remember that once we were slaves in Egypt. That's harder. Especially for white people. People of colour remember very well the stories of their ancestor's enslavement. As a white person, I don't have that. My people have never endured the kind of cruel treatment that the Bible is asking me to call to memory as a motivation. The story of the Israelites in the land of Egypt is thousands of years past. I am detached from it by time even if by nothing else.
My motivation then, rather than conjuring up a memory that I don't really have, is solidarity. To be in solidarity one has to be in relationship with people. It's time consuming, energy consuming, and requires commitment. I'm working on it. I'm working on it because through the scriptures Jesus asked me if I love him and I said yes. Then he asked me if I would feed and tend to his sheep by offering the abundant life that I was given, and I said yes. Solidarity doesn't mean doing something for someone, it means doing something with someone. A hired hand isn't in solidarity with the sheep. A good shepherd is in solidarity with the sheep.
Do you love Jesus? Do you believe that this flock and the other flocks are equal and deserving of true justice and abundant life? Will you tend to the flocks as a shepherd?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Sweet Sophia
Wisdom calls. Understanding raises her voice.
We hear Wisdom from on high, standing near, and at the intersection of our lives.
She is at the door and at the city limits, crying out.
We listen for her words of truth.
Wisdom tells us - Be in awe of God!
Our hearts know no other worthy of our praise.
Wisdom and happiness meet when we follow her ways.
We watch and wait daily for the sound of Wisdom’s voice.
Our ears tingle, our souls become alive, and our hearts find happiness.
We hear Wisdom from on high, standing near, and at the intersection of our lives.
She is at the door and at the city limits, crying out.
We listen for her words of truth.
Wisdom tells us - Be in awe of God!
Our hearts know no other worthy of our praise.
Wisdom and happiness meet when we follow her ways.
We watch and wait daily for the sound of Wisdom’s voice.
Our ears tingle, our souls become alive, and our hearts find happiness.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Research on Lesbian Experiences of Social Attitudes and Discrimination
This comes forwarded from a friend.
*************
... helping the scholars helps us, friends. Please take a minute to participate if you qualify.
Research Study Looking for Lesbian Women
Looking for lesbian women to participate in a research study examining social attitudes and experiences of discrimination.
Participation involves completion of an anonymous online questionnaire. Participants must:
-Self identify as a lesbian woman (i.e., not heterosexual or bisexual)
-Be 18 years or older
This survey is being conducted in two parts and is estimated to take you no longer than 15 minutes total to complete. At the end of part one you will be asked to provide your e-mail address in order to be contacted when it is time to complete part two. Because your email address will be collected in a separate survey, there will be no way for the researcher to associate your email address with the answers you provided to the other questions.
If you would like to participate, click on the following link. Alternatively you may copy the link and paste it in your web browser.
Link for LESBIAN women:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BRIEFstudy
Regina Chopp may be reached at rchopp@gmu.edu or 530-219-5582 for questions or to report a research-related problem.
*************
... helping the scholars helps us, friends. Please take a minute to participate if you qualify.
Research Study Looking for Lesbian Women
Looking for lesbian women to participate in a research study examining social attitudes and experiences of discrimination.
Participation involves completion of an anonymous online questionnaire. Participants must:
-Self identify as a lesbian woman (i.e., not heterosexual or bisexual)
-Be 18 years or older
This survey is being conducted in two parts and is estimated to take you no longer than 15 minutes total to complete. At the end of part one you will be asked to provide your e-mail address in order to be contacted when it is time to complete part two. Because your email address will be collected in a separate survey, there will be no way for the researcher to associate your email address with the answers you provided to the other questions.
If you would like to participate, click on the following link. Alternatively you may copy the link and paste it in your web browser.
Link for LESBIAN women:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BRIEFstudy
Regina Chopp may be reached at rchopp@gmu.edu or 530-219-5582 for questions or to report a research-related problem.
Monday, June 07, 2010
The Brown Boi Project leadership retreats
Worth the read to the bottom where it says, "if you are selected your travel, lodging, and food will be covered to attend the retreat in Oakland, CA from August 18th-22nd."
**************************
The Brown Boi Project leadership retreats work to build leadership, economic self sufficiency, and health of young (35 and under) masculine of center* womyn, trans men, and straight/queer men of color-pipelining them into the social justice movement.
*Masculine of center (MOC) is a term coined that recognizes the breadth and depth of identity for lesbian/queer/ womyn who tilt toward the masculine side of the gender scale and includes a wide range of identities such as butch, stud, aggressive/AG, dom, etc. ©B. Cole 2008
During the 5-day training retreat you will have the opportunity to work across issues and communities, talk about race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, and explore whether the social justice sector might be the right place to help their community. Our retreats bring participants from across the country to experience an intensive introduction to community organizing while doing important personal leadership development.
We’re looking for people who are interested in deepening their path or career to include building power for communities of color. You will receive training in understanding power, communications, cross culture coalition building, personal finance, community organizing, conflict resolution, fundraising, relationship building, gender justice, and personal life planning. The program is open to participants from around the country and if you are selected your travel, lodging, and food will be covered to attend the retreat in Oakland, CA from August 18th-22nd.
To apply please complete our survey by June 11th at http://www.brownboiproject.org/brown_boi_project.html
**************************
The Brown Boi Project leadership retreats work to build leadership, economic self sufficiency, and health of young (35 and under) masculine of center* womyn, trans men, and straight/queer men of color-pipelining them into the social justice movement.
*Masculine of center (MOC) is a term coined that recognizes the breadth and depth of identity for lesbian/queer/ womyn who tilt toward the masculine side of the gender scale and includes a wide range of identities such as butch, stud, aggressive/AG, dom, etc. ©B. Cole 2008
During the 5-day training retreat you will have the opportunity to work across issues and communities, talk about race, class, culture, gender and sexuality, and explore whether the social justice sector might be the right place to help their community. Our retreats bring participants from across the country to experience an intensive introduction to community organizing while doing important personal leadership development.
We’re looking for people who are interested in deepening their path or career to include building power for communities of color. You will receive training in understanding power, communications, cross culture coalition building, personal finance, community organizing, conflict resolution, fundraising, relationship building, gender justice, and personal life planning. The program is open to participants from around the country and if you are selected your travel, lodging, and food will be covered to attend the retreat in Oakland, CA from August 18th-22nd.
To apply please complete our survey by June 11th at http://www.brownboiproject.org/brown_boi_project.html
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches needs your help
Pride in Chicago is coming soon. Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches (CCWC) could sure use some help both with planning our parade entry, organizing for the entry, and in running the entry on the day of the parade. If you can help, please comment here or get in touch with me at annmarie@chicagowelcomingchurches.org
Here's an announcement for a work day from Brent. Again, you can reply here or email at the above address. Thanks all.
***********************
Pride is quickly approaching and there are things to be organized for the parade to be a success. Next Saturday, June 5th at 2pm (advise if a later time is better) we will meet at the Coalition's storage locker,
Public Storage
5733 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60660
We will be doing the following:
-Inventory of congregation signs for the parade
-Identifying any church that needs a sign and communicating directly with them
-Inventory of other materials for the parade
(to include nuts & bolts for signs, magnets for banners on van)
-Checklist review of items needed for parade day
-Planning who to invite to help with particular tasks
-Brainstorming additional ways to make our entry in the parade more effective (music? chants? vehicle?)
Here's an announcement for a work day from Brent. Again, you can reply here or email at the above address. Thanks all.
***********************
Pride is quickly approaching and there are things to be organized for the parade to be a success. Next Saturday, June 5th at 2pm (advise if a later time is better) we will meet at the Coalition's storage locker,
Public Storage
5733 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60660
We will be doing the following:
-Inventory of congregation signs for the parade
-Identifying any church that needs a sign and communicating directly with them
-Inventory of other materials for the parade
(to include nuts & bolts for signs, magnets for banners on van)
-Checklist review of items needed for parade day
-Planning who to invite to help with particular tasks
-Brainstorming additional ways to make our entry in the parade more effective (music? chants? vehicle?)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Angie
Today my mother would have turned 72 years old. In honour of her birthday, I drank lots of coffee. Yes, I was fully caffeinated all day. Coffee was her beverage of choice until she last went to the hospital. She liked it with powder creamer because it didn't cool the coffee. Only burning hot coffee would do. As much as I love my mother, today was an ice coffee day for me. Sorry Mom. I think she'd be okay with that. She would think me crazy ... but she'd be okay with that too.
Here are a few things my mom taught me.
If you can make something fun, do it. For instance, polishing a newly waxed floor is hard work. Instead, have the kids polish the floor by donning their feet with old socks and letting them skate their hearts out.
It isn't cheaper to use a coupon if you spend more money in gas going to that special story than the worth of the coupon.
Cheap jewelry needs more special care than expensive jewelry. This was her dying lesson to me. I didn't understand her very well at first. It might have been the morphine that she was on, but it was probably my ignorance of jewelry. Finally I understood ... don't wash your hands while wearing your costume jewelry.
Take naps
Read fun books
Continue to be amazed at wonderful things, even if they grow ordinary. Be amazed for your whole life. Have you seen hundreds of deer in the backyard? Has that grown ordinary? It shouldn't. Having deer roam about in your backyard is nothing short of amazing.
Be kind as often as you can. Avoid gossip.
Sniff out a garage sale. Buy from second hand stores.
Trust God.
******* Happy Birthday, Mom!
Here are a few things my mom taught me.
If you can make something fun, do it. For instance, polishing a newly waxed floor is hard work. Instead, have the kids polish the floor by donning their feet with old socks and letting them skate their hearts out.
It isn't cheaper to use a coupon if you spend more money in gas going to that special story than the worth of the coupon.
Cheap jewelry needs more special care than expensive jewelry. This was her dying lesson to me. I didn't understand her very well at first. It might have been the morphine that she was on, but it was probably my ignorance of jewelry. Finally I understood ... don't wash your hands while wearing your costume jewelry.
Take naps
Read fun books
Continue to be amazed at wonderful things, even if they grow ordinary. Be amazed for your whole life. Have you seen hundreds of deer in the backyard? Has that grown ordinary? It shouldn't. Having deer roam about in your backyard is nothing short of amazing.
Be kind as often as you can. Avoid gossip.
Sniff out a garage sale. Buy from second hand stores.
Trust God.
******* Happy Birthday, Mom!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Get Up
Texts: 1 Kings 17:17 - 24 and Acts 9:32 - 43
Resurrection. Physical resurrection. Before Jesus and after Jesus there are stories about physical resurrection in the Bible. Jesus' resurrection was different because he did it himself. He didn't need help. But, that does not take away from the marvel and miracle of what I'll call assisted resurrections.
When we read the Bible, we often fit ourselves into the story. In the stories that we read today, I think it might be easiest to find ourselves in the character of the mother whose son has died or of the widows who are grieving about Tabitha's death. I'm sure that each of us has lost a loved one and prayed for some kind of miracle or gotten angry. It may be difficult to imagine ourselves as the son or as Tabitha, a person who has died and has been resurrected. It may be even more difficult to imagine ourselves as Elijah or Peter, calling out to God on behalf of someone who is dead with the result being resurrection.
However, just like Carl Jung asks us to interpret our dreams as if every person in the dream is an aspect of our self, I'd like us to interpret this scripture as if each person could be us.
Focusing on the story of Tabitha, first let us consider the widows. These women were not just grieving; they were also hopeful. It says that the disciples heard that Peter was near and sent for him. It also says that Tabitha was a disciple. It seems likely to me that the widows were of the disciples who sent for Peter. When Peter arrives they show him the tunics and other clothing that she made. They were overflowing with memories, praises, and love. Maybe they wanted Peter to know how important she was to their community. Maybe they wanted Peter to see how worthy she was of a miracle.
Whatever their motivation, what strikes me the most is that they called for Peter and hoped for a miracle. They had heard about him healing Aeneas, and while healing a man who was eight years bedridden is no small miracle, it isn't resurrecting someone from the dead. What kind of faith did they have? What kind of need did they have that they would turn so strongly to their faith for an answer? What kind of pain were they in that moved them to seek a miracle of this magnitude?
When we think of faith, do we think of some kind of superhuman power that calls down the glory of God? Do we think of someone who is near enough to perfection that they have some kind of right to ask God for the incredible? If these are our images of faith, it is little wonder to me that so few miracles are happening today.
I think faith is hitting rock bottom and not giving up. I think faith is taking God to task for promises made. I think faith is a result of having a strong connection with the Holy but at the same time feeling a deep longing or ache to have that connection manifested. This is the faith I see in the widow disciples. I believe this is the faith that we need to have. It is a passion, a hope, and an active striving. If we are the widows, we must get in touch with this intense emotion and motivation.
Can we see ourselves as Tabitha? Here we have a woman who has lived her life devoted to the cause of Jesus. She didn't give her hand-me-downs to the poor, but she made them clothes to wear. She was loved dearly by the widows to whom she gave selflessly, which tells us that there was more to their relationships then just giver and taker. She was a part of their lives and they were a part of hers. When Tabitha died it sent more than a ripple through their community, it sent a wave of grief and change. Can we see ourselves as Tabitha, woven into the community like the threads she wove into fabric for the people she loved?
And what of her resurrection? Can we see ourselves there? Have we been touched by the resurrection power of prayer? Have we yielded ourselves to a change so extreme that it brings breath into our lifeless body? We may not have experienced a physical resurrection, but as we yield to the breath of the Spirit, our bodies and our minds are quickened along with our souls. When we hear our Divine Beloved call to us to Get Up, do we have the will and the desire to do so? It can be so much easier to just keep laying there, ignoring or even not believing that it is us to whom the Voice is talking. Peter said, "Tabitha, get up." He called her by name. We need to be like Tabitha and hear our name being called. We need to believe that our name is being called and we need to respond by getting up.
How is it that we can be like Peter? Is it possible that we could physically raise someone from the dead? As I understand the teachings of Jesus, yes, it is very possible that our prayers could have resurrection powers. Jesus sent out his disciples to perform the very miracles that he performed. Peter raises Tabitha from the dead after Jesus' resurrection but before the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost. That's amazing!
We are living post Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is no less powerful than before. God's strength and desire have not diminished. I do not have a clue why miracles are not performed every day in the name of Jesus. There are so many of us who profess our faith in Christ. Clearly it takes more than just declaring yourself a Christian to have this kind of extreme power of the Holy Spirit flow.
And truthfully, when we consider the ramifications of embodying such power, how many of us really want it? Elijah carried the boy upstairs and stretched himself over the corpse three times calling out to God. Peter sent everyone out of the room, knelt down, and then prayed before turning to the body of Tabitha and calling her name telling her to rise. We have no indication how long any of this took. We may romanticize that all this took about 15 minutes, but really, we don't know. I expect it takes some work to pray a prayer of resurrection power.
There is an account in the gospels of a boy who is possessed. The disciples could not cast out the demon. Jesus claims in Matthew that it is because of their lack of faith. In Mark he explains that "this kind only comes out through prayer." In other words, this is not easy or casual. You have to be prepared spiritually. You have to have a spiritual discipline to exercise this kind of power. It is like being a spiritual athlete. You have to train and be serious about what you want to do.
Can we see ourselves as Peter? It's hard. It is like imagining ourselves as Tabitha. Both of these disciples were absolutely invested in being a disciple. They both took their calling very seriously. They also both felt a responsibility to the people of their communities. They exercised their gifts and their talents, seeking to do good wherever they went.
Peter was gaining a reputation ... , a kind of fame, like Jesus had. That kind of celebrity will take its toll on a person. Imagining ourselves as Peter is a little like imagining ourselves as Mother Teresa, Bono, or the Dalai Lama. Who can attain to such a depth of discipline? And yet, I believe it is a worthy goal, to imagine ourselves this way. Not to pretend we are powerful when we aren't. Peter wasn't in it for the glory. This is about striving for that connection with God that will make us effective in our communities. It is about gaining a reputation for service and caring. It is about being attainable and not scary.
Peter was sent for and he yielded his plans to those in need. He heard the stories of the widows and he let their grief and hope move him. He took the risk to pray for a miracle.
Peter got up when the Spirit of God told him to get up. Tabitha got up when the Spirit of God through Peter told her to get up. And before all of this, the disciple widows got up in their grief and hope to send for Peter.
It is time to get up. It is time to hear our names being called. It is time to kneel and pray for a miracle. It is time to lift our voices and call for that miracle to happen.
Resurrection. Physical resurrection. Before Jesus and after Jesus there are stories about physical resurrection in the Bible. Jesus' resurrection was different because he did it himself. He didn't need help. But, that does not take away from the marvel and miracle of what I'll call assisted resurrections.
When we read the Bible, we often fit ourselves into the story. In the stories that we read today, I think it might be easiest to find ourselves in the character of the mother whose son has died or of the widows who are grieving about Tabitha's death. I'm sure that each of us has lost a loved one and prayed for some kind of miracle or gotten angry. It may be difficult to imagine ourselves as the son or as Tabitha, a person who has died and has been resurrected. It may be even more difficult to imagine ourselves as Elijah or Peter, calling out to God on behalf of someone who is dead with the result being resurrection.
However, just like Carl Jung asks us to interpret our dreams as if every person in the dream is an aspect of our self, I'd like us to interpret this scripture as if each person could be us.
Focusing on the story of Tabitha, first let us consider the widows. These women were not just grieving; they were also hopeful. It says that the disciples heard that Peter was near and sent for him. It also says that Tabitha was a disciple. It seems likely to me that the widows were of the disciples who sent for Peter. When Peter arrives they show him the tunics and other clothing that she made. They were overflowing with memories, praises, and love. Maybe they wanted Peter to know how important she was to their community. Maybe they wanted Peter to see how worthy she was of a miracle.
Whatever their motivation, what strikes me the most is that they called for Peter and hoped for a miracle. They had heard about him healing Aeneas, and while healing a man who was eight years bedridden is no small miracle, it isn't resurrecting someone from the dead. What kind of faith did they have? What kind of need did they have that they would turn so strongly to their faith for an answer? What kind of pain were they in that moved them to seek a miracle of this magnitude?
When we think of faith, do we think of some kind of superhuman power that calls down the glory of God? Do we think of someone who is near enough to perfection that they have some kind of right to ask God for the incredible? If these are our images of faith, it is little wonder to me that so few miracles are happening today.
I think faith is hitting rock bottom and not giving up. I think faith is taking God to task for promises made. I think faith is a result of having a strong connection with the Holy but at the same time feeling a deep longing or ache to have that connection manifested. This is the faith I see in the widow disciples. I believe this is the faith that we need to have. It is a passion, a hope, and an active striving. If we are the widows, we must get in touch with this intense emotion and motivation.
Can we see ourselves as Tabitha? Here we have a woman who has lived her life devoted to the cause of Jesus. She didn't give her hand-me-downs to the poor, but she made them clothes to wear. She was loved dearly by the widows to whom she gave selflessly, which tells us that there was more to their relationships then just giver and taker. She was a part of their lives and they were a part of hers. When Tabitha died it sent more than a ripple through their community, it sent a wave of grief and change. Can we see ourselves as Tabitha, woven into the community like the threads she wove into fabric for the people she loved?
And what of her resurrection? Can we see ourselves there? Have we been touched by the resurrection power of prayer? Have we yielded ourselves to a change so extreme that it brings breath into our lifeless body? We may not have experienced a physical resurrection, but as we yield to the breath of the Spirit, our bodies and our minds are quickened along with our souls. When we hear our Divine Beloved call to us to Get Up, do we have the will and the desire to do so? It can be so much easier to just keep laying there, ignoring or even not believing that it is us to whom the Voice is talking. Peter said, "Tabitha, get up." He called her by name. We need to be like Tabitha and hear our name being called. We need to believe that our name is being called and we need to respond by getting up.
How is it that we can be like Peter? Is it possible that we could physically raise someone from the dead? As I understand the teachings of Jesus, yes, it is very possible that our prayers could have resurrection powers. Jesus sent out his disciples to perform the very miracles that he performed. Peter raises Tabitha from the dead after Jesus' resurrection but before the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost. That's amazing!
We are living post Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is no less powerful than before. God's strength and desire have not diminished. I do not have a clue why miracles are not performed every day in the name of Jesus. There are so many of us who profess our faith in Christ. Clearly it takes more than just declaring yourself a Christian to have this kind of extreme power of the Holy Spirit flow.
And truthfully, when we consider the ramifications of embodying such power, how many of us really want it? Elijah carried the boy upstairs and stretched himself over the corpse three times calling out to God. Peter sent everyone out of the room, knelt down, and then prayed before turning to the body of Tabitha and calling her name telling her to rise. We have no indication how long any of this took. We may romanticize that all this took about 15 minutes, but really, we don't know. I expect it takes some work to pray a prayer of resurrection power.
There is an account in the gospels of a boy who is possessed. The disciples could not cast out the demon. Jesus claims in Matthew that it is because of their lack of faith. In Mark he explains that "this kind only comes out through prayer." In other words, this is not easy or casual. You have to be prepared spiritually. You have to have a spiritual discipline to exercise this kind of power. It is like being a spiritual athlete. You have to train and be serious about what you want to do.
Can we see ourselves as Peter? It's hard. It is like imagining ourselves as Tabitha. Both of these disciples were absolutely invested in being a disciple. They both took their calling very seriously. They also both felt a responsibility to the people of their communities. They exercised their gifts and their talents, seeking to do good wherever they went.
Peter was gaining a reputation ... , a kind of fame, like Jesus had. That kind of celebrity will take its toll on a person. Imagining ourselves as Peter is a little like imagining ourselves as Mother Teresa, Bono, or the Dalai Lama. Who can attain to such a depth of discipline? And yet, I believe it is a worthy goal, to imagine ourselves this way. Not to pretend we are powerful when we aren't. Peter wasn't in it for the glory. This is about striving for that connection with God that will make us effective in our communities. It is about gaining a reputation for service and caring. It is about being attainable and not scary.
Peter was sent for and he yielded his plans to those in need. He heard the stories of the widows and he let their grief and hope move him. He took the risk to pray for a miracle.
Peter got up when the Spirit of God told him to get up. Tabitha got up when the Spirit of God through Peter told her to get up. And before all of this, the disciple widows got up in their grief and hope to send for Peter.
It is time to get up. It is time to hear our names being called. It is time to kneel and pray for a miracle. It is time to lift our voices and call for that miracle to happen.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Today is today
Text: Luke 19: 28 - 40
The stories preceding this story are not all happy and joyful. Some are but to me they certainly don't build to this "Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem."
At the end of chapter 18, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection for the third time in Luke's gospel. And for the third time, the disciples don't get it.
Then a blind beggar is shouting out to Jesus while those around him sternly shush him. But he will not be shushed. He shouts even more loudly. The story then reads, Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him. Jesus didn't keep walking. He did not make them catch up to him. He stopped what he was doing so that he could attend to this man who was shouting out to him. After the beggar received his sight he began glorifying God and followed Jesus.
Next is the story of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector who was rich and "short in stature." He wanted to see Jesus as he passed by so he climbed a tree. Jesus saw him, called him by name, and invited himself over to spend the night. Zacchaeus was thrilled. The crowd grumbled. After all, Zacchaeus was a chief of the tax collectors. How much more of a sinner could Jesus find? But Jesus sees Zacchaeus' character and not his occupation, and calls him a son of Abraham.
Immediately following this, while Jesus had the attention of his crowd of disciples ... grumbly though they were ... he told them the parable of "a nobleman who went to a distant country to get royal power for himself." The nobleman summons ten of his slaves and gives them each the same amount of money with which to do business until he returns. While he is gone, many of the citizens speak out against his being a ruler over them because they hate him. We are told what happens with three of these slaves. The first profits 10 more pounds, the second profits 5, and the third has only the pound he was given. While the first and the second are rewarded with cities to govern equivalent to the profits they made, the nobleman takes the pound away from the third one and gives it to the first. Finally, the nobleman turned king says those citizens who hate him are his enemies and he calls for their slaughter in his presence.
Now we begin our story of the triumphal entry. Not after the joyous glorifying of God after the beggar's healing. Not after Zacchaeus being declared a son of Abraham. No ... it is after a harsh king reprimands a scared slave and calls for the slaughter of those who oppose him. And all of these stories are in the context of Jesus explaining to his followers that he is about to be tortured and killed and them not getting it.
This story of the triumphal entry, like so many other stories, often gets told in a vacuum as if it's just one cool thing happening after another until finally they are overwhelmed with joy to the point of singing and dancing in the street. Other times the disciples are criticized because they are singing and dancing in the street when they should be scared out of their minds about Jesus' prediction of his death.
Were they rejoicing because they thought those who opposed Jesus were going to be slaughtered in his presence? How could they think that and why would they rejoice over that? It doesn't jive with the rest of Jesus' teachings.
Did they not understand Jesus telling them that he was going to be tortured and killed because they thought it was a parable? Did they not understand because they didn't want to understand?
Does it matter? Were they wrong to express their joy that Jesus was with them that day riding on a donkey showing the world that he was indeed THE King? The Pharisees thought it was wrong. According to Jesus it was not wrong of them. It was the only reasonable thing that they could be doing. If they stopped, the stones would shout out. That seems like it would have been even more disruptive than a parade of shouting people.
Some scholars believe that Jesus was leading his parade of loyal followers at the same time that Pontius Pilate was leading his parade at the other end of the city. Both came for the purpose of peace. Pilate came to keep the peace during the Passover when droves of Jews came to their most holy city to remember the time that their people revolted against their oppressors with Moses and God at the helm. How clever of the Romans to let one Jewish prisoner go during the Passover. Moses demanded Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Pilate said, "Okay, I'll give you one. You get choose even."
Whatever the factual details of the day were; whatever the motivation for the cheering and singing; Jesus was riding on a donkey on which no one had ever ridden and he had a parade cheering him on. The donkey ... a humble working animal. One that had never been ridden ... a humble working animal saved for a sacred moment. How could the crowds resist cheering? In spite of the dire the parables and criticism by the Pharisees, their messiah; their healer; their hero was riding into Jerusalem for the festival and they were right there for it!
A lot had happened prior to this moment. A lot was going to happen after this moment. But this was the moment in which they were living. They may not have understood half of what Jesus said, but they did see what he did and they knew how he made them feel. And right now he made them feel like celebrating.
There are so many moments. We think we know what might happen tomorrow or next week. And we know what happened yesterday. We know that we don't understand half of what's going on most of the time. Can we set all these knowings aside – not forget about them completely because they do inform how we make plans and help us make the choices that are set before us – but can we set aside the expectation of how we should feel or live based on these knowings and simply look at the moment we are in and respond to that? Sure there are people out there who will criticize. We may be tempted to criticize our own selves. But when we miss those moments we never get them back. If Jesus had died and not gotten the parade because folks were too bound by his coming death, it would have been a grievous loss. When I sit at the bedside of someone who is dying it's a beautiful thing to find a moment of laughter or celebration.
We are all going through very hard things. Our tomorrows may be painful and scary. Our today may be painful and scary. But when there is a moment to celebrate – regardless of who will think what – we should celebrate. I think we should look for those moments of joy. I think we should even create them.
The writer of proverbs said, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." (Pr 13:12) The writer of proverbs also says, "A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." (Pr 15:13) And also, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones." (Pr 17:22)
I know it is not easy to have a cheerful heart when hope is deferred! But I also know that I do not want my bones to dry up. I do not want my spirit broken. Neither do I want to see your bones dry or your spirit broken.
Today's celebration just may be what gets you through tomorrow's grief. Good Friday will get here soon enough. For today, Happy Palm Sunday.
The stories preceding this story are not all happy and joyful. Some are but to me they certainly don't build to this "Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem."
At the end of chapter 18, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection for the third time in Luke's gospel. And for the third time, the disciples don't get it.
Then a blind beggar is shouting out to Jesus while those around him sternly shush him. But he will not be shushed. He shouts even more loudly. The story then reads, Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him. Jesus didn't keep walking. He did not make them catch up to him. He stopped what he was doing so that he could attend to this man who was shouting out to him. After the beggar received his sight he began glorifying God and followed Jesus.
Next is the story of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector who was rich and "short in stature." He wanted to see Jesus as he passed by so he climbed a tree. Jesus saw him, called him by name, and invited himself over to spend the night. Zacchaeus was thrilled. The crowd grumbled. After all, Zacchaeus was a chief of the tax collectors. How much more of a sinner could Jesus find? But Jesus sees Zacchaeus' character and not his occupation, and calls him a son of Abraham.
Immediately following this, while Jesus had the attention of his crowd of disciples ... grumbly though they were ... he told them the parable of "a nobleman who went to a distant country to get royal power for himself." The nobleman summons ten of his slaves and gives them each the same amount of money with which to do business until he returns. While he is gone, many of the citizens speak out against his being a ruler over them because they hate him. We are told what happens with three of these slaves. The first profits 10 more pounds, the second profits 5, and the third has only the pound he was given. While the first and the second are rewarded with cities to govern equivalent to the profits they made, the nobleman takes the pound away from the third one and gives it to the first. Finally, the nobleman turned king says those citizens who hate him are his enemies and he calls for their slaughter in his presence.
Now we begin our story of the triumphal entry. Not after the joyous glorifying of God after the beggar's healing. Not after Zacchaeus being declared a son of Abraham. No ... it is after a harsh king reprimands a scared slave and calls for the slaughter of those who oppose him. And all of these stories are in the context of Jesus explaining to his followers that he is about to be tortured and killed and them not getting it.
This story of the triumphal entry, like so many other stories, often gets told in a vacuum as if it's just one cool thing happening after another until finally they are overwhelmed with joy to the point of singing and dancing in the street. Other times the disciples are criticized because they are singing and dancing in the street when they should be scared out of their minds about Jesus' prediction of his death.
Were they rejoicing because they thought those who opposed Jesus were going to be slaughtered in his presence? How could they think that and why would they rejoice over that? It doesn't jive with the rest of Jesus' teachings.
Did they not understand Jesus telling them that he was going to be tortured and killed because they thought it was a parable? Did they not understand because they didn't want to understand?
Does it matter? Were they wrong to express their joy that Jesus was with them that day riding on a donkey showing the world that he was indeed THE King? The Pharisees thought it was wrong. According to Jesus it was not wrong of them. It was the only reasonable thing that they could be doing. If they stopped, the stones would shout out. That seems like it would have been even more disruptive than a parade of shouting people.
Some scholars believe that Jesus was leading his parade of loyal followers at the same time that Pontius Pilate was leading his parade at the other end of the city. Both came for the purpose of peace. Pilate came to keep the peace during the Passover when droves of Jews came to their most holy city to remember the time that their people revolted against their oppressors with Moses and God at the helm. How clever of the Romans to let one Jewish prisoner go during the Passover. Moses demanded Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Pilate said, "Okay, I'll give you one. You get choose even."
Whatever the factual details of the day were; whatever the motivation for the cheering and singing; Jesus was riding on a donkey on which no one had ever ridden and he had a parade cheering him on. The donkey ... a humble working animal. One that had never been ridden ... a humble working animal saved for a sacred moment. How could the crowds resist cheering? In spite of the dire the parables and criticism by the Pharisees, their messiah; their healer; their hero was riding into Jerusalem for the festival and they were right there for it!
A lot had happened prior to this moment. A lot was going to happen after this moment. But this was the moment in which they were living. They may not have understood half of what Jesus said, but they did see what he did and they knew how he made them feel. And right now he made them feel like celebrating.
There are so many moments. We think we know what might happen tomorrow or next week. And we know what happened yesterday. We know that we don't understand half of what's going on most of the time. Can we set all these knowings aside – not forget about them completely because they do inform how we make plans and help us make the choices that are set before us – but can we set aside the expectation of how we should feel or live based on these knowings and simply look at the moment we are in and respond to that? Sure there are people out there who will criticize. We may be tempted to criticize our own selves. But when we miss those moments we never get them back. If Jesus had died and not gotten the parade because folks were too bound by his coming death, it would have been a grievous loss. When I sit at the bedside of someone who is dying it's a beautiful thing to find a moment of laughter or celebration.
We are all going through very hard things. Our tomorrows may be painful and scary. Our today may be painful and scary. But when there is a moment to celebrate – regardless of who will think what – we should celebrate. I think we should look for those moments of joy. I think we should even create them.
The writer of proverbs said, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." (Pr 13:12) The writer of proverbs also says, "A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." (Pr 15:13) And also, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones." (Pr 17:22)
I know it is not easy to have a cheerful heart when hope is deferred! But I also know that I do not want my bones to dry up. I do not want my spirit broken. Neither do I want to see your bones dry or your spirit broken.
Today's celebration just may be what gets you through tomorrow's grief. Good Friday will get here soon enough. For today, Happy Palm Sunday.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Categories
Texts: Luke 15 and The Invitation by Oriah http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/
I have read a couple of articles lately that talk about the Middle Eastern proverb that states, "I saw them eating and I knew who they were." I wonder if someone passing by our potluck would have said to themselves or to the person next to them, "I know who they are," just because we were eating together. I wonder which one or two of us would have stood out to them as the indicator of the group's status. I wonder if how we eat as a group defines us in some certain way so that someone not of our community would say, "I know who they are." Everyone has something they are looking for. Probably each one of us meets some kind of criteria for someone else's judgment. And probably we each have some criteria we look for too.
Jesus is being judged according to his eating with tax collectors and sinners. In response Jesus tells three stories, the last of which is the story of the prodigal. The first story is the story of the lost sheep. The second story is the story of the lost coin. In each of the three stories what was lost ended up being found. The finding of what was lost ends up in rejoicing and calling people up to have a party. "I lost something that was important. Now I've found it. I'm so happy. Come rejoice with me." In the first two stories the party is called and there is no conflict. In the third story, there is conflict. The older son is furious that his younger brother who was irresponsible and selfish comes home and is received with rejoicing. There is no punishment meted out. There is no reconciling rights and wrongs. There is just rejoicing.
The Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." The older brother refuses to go inside to his younger brother's party. He will not eat the fattened calf with them. The father goes in without him. The Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice that those who they label tax collectors and sinners desire to be with a holy man who heals and teaches. Instead of rejoicing over the sheep that Jesus has found, they categorize Jesus as being like unto a tax collector and sinner. Just like the older brother does not rejoice with his father that his once-dead brother has returned, the Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice with Jesus.
We are categorized and we categorize according to type. In this scripture I see a call to stop looking at the superficial categories that we create and to come together. I also see a call to live into the truth of our being children of a magnificent, abundant, powerful, and extravagant divine parent. The older brother is told by his father, "You are always with me and all that is mine is yours." Do we live, though, like the older brother ... our nose to the grindstone and our hearts weary with work and resentment? Do we obey commands and yet not celebrate?
The older brother and the Pharisees worked hard and followed all the rules. But they did not see the abundance that was right in front of them. All they could see were the rules and the work. The younger son saw all the abundance and didn't see the work at all, that is, until the abundance ran out. Neither perspective is full.
Jesus calls us to a new perspective, one that obliterates our superficial categories altogether. This perspective calls us to see each other more deeply and to respond to each other with more innocence. When the shepherd lost and found his sheep, when the woman lost and found her coin, they rejoiced and called their friends to come party with them. When the father lost and found his son, he rejoiced and began organizing a party.
Can we shed our need for the categories that keep us walking with folks that look and talk and eat like us? I'm not suggesting that we put ourselves into situations where we will be abused. But, can we risk getting to know people and really caring about them ... even rejoicing with them ... who are not like us? Can we reach deeper and look for the similarities that are more at our core.
Can we learn to work hard and to party hard? Can we see and feel deep in our soul the abundance that is ours simply because of our relationship with God? Can we also see and feel the power that we have to be a part of the work in bringing the Realm of Heaven here to our earth? Can we do this work by shattering the categories that keep us isolated, but that feel safe?
This poem by Oriah, called The Invitation, inspires me to the deeper calling that I hear Jesus teaching. This teaching that asks us to transcend our boundaries and to rejoice with those who have found what they have lost, whatever that is.
How can we do this? How do we get to know people who are not like us? We have to lift up our eyes ... maybe the eyes of our soul. We have to go outside of our daily patterned life.
What is the real risk of getting to know others who are not like us? Is it that our own soul will be bared? Is it that we will have to redefine what is good and holy and wonderful?
There are stories to be told, stories to be heard, joy and pain to be shared; parties to attend and burdens to bear.
When we find ourselves either being shut out by someone or shutting out someone, we can pause and open our souls to the call of Jesus. If we are being judged, the call is knowing that even if the person in front of us can't rejoice with us, that our Messiah is and that we have a community here that will. If we find ourselves being critical of others that Jesus is spending time with, we need to lay down our categories and step over the boundaries that are superficial.
In truth, I don't think we have to go too far out of our way to simply share the lives of those not like us. We don't have to become best friends with someone to appreciate a moment of life.
What we have to do, is open ourselves up to the moments as the present themselves.
I have read a couple of articles lately that talk about the Middle Eastern proverb that states, "I saw them eating and I knew who they were." I wonder if someone passing by our potluck would have said to themselves or to the person next to them, "I know who they are," just because we were eating together. I wonder which one or two of us would have stood out to them as the indicator of the group's status. I wonder if how we eat as a group defines us in some certain way so that someone not of our community would say, "I know who they are." Everyone has something they are looking for. Probably each one of us meets some kind of criteria for someone else's judgment. And probably we each have some criteria we look for too.
Jesus is being judged according to his eating with tax collectors and sinners. In response Jesus tells three stories, the last of which is the story of the prodigal. The first story is the story of the lost sheep. The second story is the story of the lost coin. In each of the three stories what was lost ended up being found. The finding of what was lost ends up in rejoicing and calling people up to have a party. "I lost something that was important. Now I've found it. I'm so happy. Come rejoice with me." In the first two stories the party is called and there is no conflict. In the third story, there is conflict. The older son is furious that his younger brother who was irresponsible and selfish comes home and is received with rejoicing. There is no punishment meted out. There is no reconciling rights and wrongs. There is just rejoicing.
The Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." The older brother refuses to go inside to his younger brother's party. He will not eat the fattened calf with them. The father goes in without him. The Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice that those who they label tax collectors and sinners desire to be with a holy man who heals and teaches. Instead of rejoicing over the sheep that Jesus has found, they categorize Jesus as being like unto a tax collector and sinner. Just like the older brother does not rejoice with his father that his once-dead brother has returned, the Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice with Jesus.
We are categorized and we categorize according to type. In this scripture I see a call to stop looking at the superficial categories that we create and to come together. I also see a call to live into the truth of our being children of a magnificent, abundant, powerful, and extravagant divine parent. The older brother is told by his father, "You are always with me and all that is mine is yours." Do we live, though, like the older brother ... our nose to the grindstone and our hearts weary with work and resentment? Do we obey commands and yet not celebrate?
The older brother and the Pharisees worked hard and followed all the rules. But they did not see the abundance that was right in front of them. All they could see were the rules and the work. The younger son saw all the abundance and didn't see the work at all, that is, until the abundance ran out. Neither perspective is full.
Jesus calls us to a new perspective, one that obliterates our superficial categories altogether. This perspective calls us to see each other more deeply and to respond to each other with more innocence. When the shepherd lost and found his sheep, when the woman lost and found her coin, they rejoiced and called their friends to come party with them. When the father lost and found his son, he rejoiced and began organizing a party.
Can we shed our need for the categories that keep us walking with folks that look and talk and eat like us? I'm not suggesting that we put ourselves into situations where we will be abused. But, can we risk getting to know people and really caring about them ... even rejoicing with them ... who are not like us? Can we reach deeper and look for the similarities that are more at our core.
Can we learn to work hard and to party hard? Can we see and feel deep in our soul the abundance that is ours simply because of our relationship with God? Can we also see and feel the power that we have to be a part of the work in bringing the Realm of Heaven here to our earth? Can we do this work by shattering the categories that keep us isolated, but that feel safe?
This poem by Oriah, called The Invitation, inspires me to the deeper calling that I hear Jesus teaching. This teaching that asks us to transcend our boundaries and to rejoice with those who have found what they have lost, whatever that is.
How can we do this? How do we get to know people who are not like us? We have to lift up our eyes ... maybe the eyes of our soul. We have to go outside of our daily patterned life.
What is the real risk of getting to know others who are not like us? Is it that our own soul will be bared? Is it that we will have to redefine what is good and holy and wonderful?
There are stories to be told, stories to be heard, joy and pain to be shared; parties to attend and burdens to bear.
When we find ourselves either being shut out by someone or shutting out someone, we can pause and open our souls to the call of Jesus. If we are being judged, the call is knowing that even if the person in front of us can't rejoice with us, that our Messiah is and that we have a community here that will. If we find ourselves being critical of others that Jesus is spending time with, we need to lay down our categories and step over the boundaries that are superficial.
In truth, I don't think we have to go too far out of our way to simply share the lives of those not like us. We don't have to become best friends with someone to appreciate a moment of life.
What we have to do, is open ourselves up to the moments as the present themselves.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Sharing Flesh and Blood
Texts: Hebrews 2:5 - 18 and Ain't I a Woman? By Sojourner Truth (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.html)
In the Hebrew text we are told that Jesus understands us and can be compassionate to us because he shared in our flesh and blood ... and because he shared in our suffering. His ability to be merciful and faithful as our High Priest is due to his "becoming like us in every respect."
There is something about us humans. We need to be able to relate. We need to be able to see and feel some kind of kinship.
It's no wonder to me that as Christianity spread that the pictures of Jesus changed. Jesus was likely a dark skinned man. Maybe he had nappy hair that was black. His eyes were possibly a deep rich brown like the fertile earth. As his message went from nation to nation his image changed. We are used to looking at people who look like us. It's a superficial thing.
The image of Jesus changed to look like the people who had adopted his teachings. There's really nothing wrong with that ... until one nation becomes dominant and insists that the other nations are wrong and that their depiction of the Messiah is evil. And there's nothing wrong with it unless it is a conquered nation who is being stripped of their beliefs by force and given a whole new set of beliefs from a Messiah with whom they can't relate.
The Hebrew text doesn't give us this superficial relationship with Jesus. We are offered something much more substantial. We are told that Jesus shared in being made of flesh and blood like we are made and that Jesus shared in experiencing suffering just like us. This is the Messiah that we follow ... that we trust with our own flesh and blood ... that we trust with our own suffering. This is the Messiah with whom we share the bread and wine of communion because he shared flesh and blood with us.
Whenever I think about suffering I think of Buddhism. The First Noble Truth is often translated as Life is Suffering. The word suffering is an incomplete translation though. The word that is translated as suffering is Dukkha. Dukkha, like many ancient words, has no equal in many languages, English included. Instead of translating the word, some say that it is more important to look at the three types of Dukkha: Suffering or pain; Impermanence or change; and Conditioned states.
I thought I would take this approach with the Greek word translated as suffering. There are two words that I found being used in our text.
One of the words has three spellings. They are, Pascho (pas-kho), patho, and pentho. These words mean, to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful): - feel, passion, suffer, vex.
The second word is pathema (path'-ay-mah. This means something undergone, an emotion or influence; such as affection, affliction, motion, suffering.
These words have a relationship with the word pathos or passion. I think it's good to look at the fullness of these ideas. We are not just talking about a Messiah who felt the whip of the Romans and the betrayal of the Pharisees. Our Messiah knows all our passions. Our Messiah was made of flesh and blood, just like we are. When his skin was scratched it hurt. When his skin was caressed it felt good. Jesus experienced the whole of the human condition.
If all we focus on is Jesus knowing our pain, then we have a Saviour who only understands part of our life. That's not the kind of Saviour I want!
I want a Saviour who understands me. I want a Messiah who I can laugh and cry with. I don't want to laugh by myself. I don't want to enjoy the spring daffodils all alone. The joy of the resurrection was that Jesus returned ... body and all! For this season of Lent we reflect on the wilderness and the betrayal, but the reason we can get through this is because of our confidence in the resurrection! And because we have a Messiah who can relate to us in our flesh and blood we can relate to our Messiah. We can look at the terrible tragedy of his suffering while we are suffering but hopefully we won't stop there. Hopefully we will say, "yes, but ... there is the resurrection." I can endure this suffering. I can live in this suffering. I can conquer this suffering. Hope is powerful
We fill this need of ours through many re-creations of the relatable Messiah. I'm not being flippant. I think re-creations help us get through our every day stuff. Sometimes maybe Jesus seems a little too far off or too powerful. Not quite as relatable as we would like. He is too God-ish. So we create superheroes. Wonder Woman. Superman. Spiderman.
We create fictional characters who walk around just like us. They have boring jobs and relationship troubles. They go to parties. They try to figure out how to fit in. But when the signal is spotted or when a cry for help is heard, they transform into a super-person. They transform into a saviour. Sometimes they suffer at the hands of evil but they always bounce back. These stories give us hope.
As much as these stories seem like mimics of our understanding of Jesus for us, I think they are also show, in some way, how we wish to be. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear the story of Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk, I imagine myself hearing the cry of distress and being transformed into a powerful and almost invincible person who saves the day.
Messiah complex? Maybe.
But that is the desire that is birthed in me when I hear the story of Jesus. I believe that we have been given the gift of a relatable Messiah not just to help us get through life but also to help us become who we need to be in this life. Jesus stands as an example to us of how to live. He is a merciful and faithful high priest to us but he is also our teacher and mentor. We are to follow him to the cross with the promise of experiencing the resurrection.
As Christians, I believe that the superheroes in comic strips and on movie screens are examples of what we need and who we want to be.
We are not called to be above anyone. We are not called to be without defect or awkwardness. We are called to be relatable and yet to hear the cry of distress and answer it in the power with which we have been gifted. And I believe we have all been given some power to answer the cries of distress.
Sojourner Truth asks, "Ain't I a woman?" She extends her arms to show her physical strength and yet asks again, "Ain't I a woman?" I hear echoes of Hebrews 2 in this. Am I not made of flesh and blood? Am I not one of you? Can you not relate to me? I can relate to you. I can see your skin and I know that blood is pumping through your veins. Don't be afraid of my power. Appreciate it for what it is and appreciate me for who I am.
There is comfort and challenge in Jesus being made in our image. We not only have a relatable high priest, saviour messiah ... but we also have a teacher and mentor who calls us to be the same for others.
"14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
We share this flesh and blood with so many. We come across people who are held captive by the fear of death. Sometimes it's physical death but more often I think there are other deaths or ends that people fear. Everyone needs someone to relate to. Can we follow in the footsteps of our Jesus who, because he was flesh and blood he could be merciful and faithful? And because he was Divine he could triumph over the fear of death.
Can Jesus' ability to relate to us transform us to be able to relate to others? Can we be like Sojourner Truth – proclaiming ourselves to be humans and relatable while challenging the power that holds the fear of death?
Can we take the ways we have been tested through suffering and become merciful and faithful priests of our Divine Beloved?
As lent continues and you meditate on the coming betrayal and then the resurrection of our Jesus, consider how he can relate to you and then how you can relate to others. Consider your super-powers ... your divine powers ... the gifts that you have that you know about and those that are not yet to the surface. Remember that your mild-mannered life is what makes you relatable to so many. Don't scorn your boring days or your awkward moments. Know that your pain and your joy allows you to share in the humanity of others.
And with all this, remember that, as verse 18 says, "Because Jesus himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."
Because you yourself have been tested by what you suffer, you are able to help those who are being tested. And as you are doing so, Jesus, is helping you.Sharing Flesh and Blood
Texts: Hebrews 2:5 - 18 and Ain't I a Woman? By Sojourner Truth (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.html)
In the Hebrew text we are told that Jesus understands us and can be compassionate to us because he shared in our flesh and blood ... and because he shared in our suffering. His ability to be merciful and faithful as our High Priest is due to his "becoming like us in every respect."
There is something about us humans. We need to be able to relate. We need to be able to see and feel some kind of kinship.
It's no wonder to me that as Christianity spread that the pictures of Jesus changed. Jesus was likely a dark skinned man. Maybe he had nappy hair that was black. His eyes were possibly a deep rich brown like the fertile earth. As his message went from nation to nation his image changed. We are used to looking at people who look like us. It's a superficial thing.
The image of Jesus changed to look like the people who had adopted his teachings. There's really nothing wrong with that ... until one nation becomes dominant and insists that the other nations are wrong and that their depiction of the Messiah is evil. And there's nothing wrong with it unless it is a conquered nation who is being stripped of their beliefs by force and given a whole new set of beliefs from a Messiah with whom they can't relate.
The Hebrew text doesn't give us this superficial relationship with Jesus. We are offered something much more substantial. We are told that Jesus shared in being made of flesh and blood like we are made and that Jesus shared in experiencing suffering just like us. This is the Messiah that we follow ... that we trust with our own flesh and blood ... that we trust with our own suffering. This is the Messiah with whom we share the bread and wine of communion because he shared flesh and blood with us.
Whenever I think about suffering I think of Buddhism. The First Noble Truth is often translated as Life is Suffering. The word suffering is an incomplete translation though. The word that is translated as suffering is Dukkha. Dukkha, like many ancient words, has no equal in many languages, English included. Instead of translating the word, some say that it is more important to look at the three types of Dukkha: Suffering or pain; Impermanence or change; and Conditioned states.
I thought I would take this approach with the Greek word translated as suffering. There are two words that I found being used in our text.
One of the words has three spellings. They are, Pascho (pas-kho), patho, and pentho. These words mean, to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful): - feel, passion, suffer, vex.
The second word is pathema (path'-ay-mah. This means something undergone, an emotion or influence; such as affection, affliction, motion, suffering.
These words have a relationship with the word pathos or passion. I think it's good to look at the fullness of these ideas. We are not just talking about a Messiah who felt the whip of the Romans and the betrayal of the Pharisees. Our Messiah knows all our passions. Our Messiah was made of flesh and blood, just like we are. When his skin was scratched it hurt. When his skin was caressed it felt good. Jesus experienced the whole of the human condition.
If all we focus on is Jesus knowing our pain, then we have a Saviour who only understands part of our life. That's not the kind of Saviour I want!
I want a Saviour who understands me. I want a Messiah who I can laugh and cry with. I don't want to laugh by myself. I don't want to enjoy the spring daffodils all alone. The joy of the resurrection was that Jesus returned ... body and all! For this season of Lent we reflect on the wilderness and the betrayal, but the reason we can get through this is because of our confidence in the resurrection! And because we have a Messiah who can relate to us in our flesh and blood we can relate to our Messiah. We can look at the terrible tragedy of his suffering while we are suffering but hopefully we won't stop there. Hopefully we will say, "yes, but ... there is the resurrection." I can endure this suffering. I can live in this suffering. I can conquer this suffering. Hope is powerful
We fill this need of ours through many re-creations of the relatable Messiah. I'm not being flippant. I think re-creations help us get through our every day stuff. Sometimes maybe Jesus seems a little too far off or too powerful. Not quite as relatable as we would like. He is too God-ish. So we create superheroes. Wonder Woman. Superman. Spiderman.
We create fictional characters who walk around just like us. They have boring jobs and relationship troubles. They go to parties. They try to figure out how to fit in. But when the signal is spotted or when a cry for help is heard, they transform into a super-person. They transform into a saviour. Sometimes they suffer at the hands of evil but they always bounce back. These stories give us hope.
As much as these stories seem like mimics of our understanding of Jesus for us, I think they are also show, in some way, how we wish to be. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear the story of Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk, I imagine myself hearing the cry of distress and being transformed into a powerful and almost invincible person who saves the day.
Messiah complex? Maybe.
But that is the desire that is birthed in me when I hear the story of Jesus. I believe that we have been given the gift of a relatable Messiah not just to help us get through life but also to help us become who we need to be in this life. Jesus stands as an example to us of how to live. He is a merciful and faithful high priest to us but he is also our teacher and mentor. We are to follow him to the cross with the promise of experiencing the resurrection.
As Christians, I believe that the superheroes in comic strips and on movie screens are examples of what we need and who we want to be.
We are not called to be above anyone. We are not called to be without defect or awkwardness. We are called to be relatable and yet to hear the cry of distress and answer it in the power with which we have been gifted. And I believe we have all been given some power to answer the cries of distress.
Sojourner Truth asks, "Ain't I a woman?" She extends her arms to show her physical strength and yet asks again, "Ain't I a woman?" I hear echoes of Hebrews 2 in this. Am I not made of flesh and blood? Am I not one of you? Can you not relate to me? I can relate to you. I can see your skin and I know that blood is pumping through your veins. Don't be afraid of my power. Appreciate it for what it is and appreciate me for who I am.
There is comfort and challenge in Jesus being made in our image. We not only have a relatable high priest, saviour messiah ... but we also have a teacher and mentor who calls us to be the same for others.
"14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
We share this flesh and blood with so many. We come across people who are held captive by the fear of death. Sometimes it's physical death but more often I think there are other deaths or ends that people fear. Everyone needs someone to relate to. Can we follow in the footsteps of our Jesus who, because he was flesh and blood he could be merciful and faithful? And because he was Divine he could triumph over the fear of death.
Can Jesus' ability to relate to us transform us to be able to relate to others? Can we be like Sojourner Truth – proclaiming ourselves to be humans and relatable while challenging the power that holds the fear of death?
Can we take the ways we have been tested through suffering and become merciful and faithful priests of our Divine Beloved?
As lent continues and you meditate on the coming betrayal and then the resurrection of our Jesus, consider how he can relate to you and then how you can relate to others. Consider your super-powers ... your divine powers ... the gifts that you have that you know about and those that are not yet to the surface. Remember that your mild-mannered life is what makes you relatable to so many. Don't scorn your boring days or your awkward moments. Know that your pain and your joy allows you to share in the humanity of others.
And with all this, remember that, as verse 18 says, "Because Jesus himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."
Because you yourself have been tested by what you suffer, you are able to help those who are being tested. And as you are doing so, Jesus, is helping you.
In the Hebrew text we are told that Jesus understands us and can be compassionate to us because he shared in our flesh and blood ... and because he shared in our suffering. His ability to be merciful and faithful as our High Priest is due to his "becoming like us in every respect."
There is something about us humans. We need to be able to relate. We need to be able to see and feel some kind of kinship.
It's no wonder to me that as Christianity spread that the pictures of Jesus changed. Jesus was likely a dark skinned man. Maybe he had nappy hair that was black. His eyes were possibly a deep rich brown like the fertile earth. As his message went from nation to nation his image changed. We are used to looking at people who look like us. It's a superficial thing.
The image of Jesus changed to look like the people who had adopted his teachings. There's really nothing wrong with that ... until one nation becomes dominant and insists that the other nations are wrong and that their depiction of the Messiah is evil. And there's nothing wrong with it unless it is a conquered nation who is being stripped of their beliefs by force and given a whole new set of beliefs from a Messiah with whom they can't relate.
The Hebrew text doesn't give us this superficial relationship with Jesus. We are offered something much more substantial. We are told that Jesus shared in being made of flesh and blood like we are made and that Jesus shared in experiencing suffering just like us. This is the Messiah that we follow ... that we trust with our own flesh and blood ... that we trust with our own suffering. This is the Messiah with whom we share the bread and wine of communion because he shared flesh and blood with us.
Whenever I think about suffering I think of Buddhism. The First Noble Truth is often translated as Life is Suffering. The word suffering is an incomplete translation though. The word that is translated as suffering is Dukkha. Dukkha, like many ancient words, has no equal in many languages, English included. Instead of translating the word, some say that it is more important to look at the three types of Dukkha: Suffering or pain; Impermanence or change; and Conditioned states.
I thought I would take this approach with the Greek word translated as suffering. There are two words that I found being used in our text.
One of the words has three spellings. They are, Pascho (pas-kho), patho, and pentho. These words mean, to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful): - feel, passion, suffer, vex.
The second word is pathema (path'-ay-mah. This means something undergone, an emotion or influence; such as affection, affliction, motion, suffering.
These words have a relationship with the word pathos or passion. I think it's good to look at the fullness of these ideas. We are not just talking about a Messiah who felt the whip of the Romans and the betrayal of the Pharisees. Our Messiah knows all our passions. Our Messiah was made of flesh and blood, just like we are. When his skin was scratched it hurt. When his skin was caressed it felt good. Jesus experienced the whole of the human condition.
If all we focus on is Jesus knowing our pain, then we have a Saviour who only understands part of our life. That's not the kind of Saviour I want!
I want a Saviour who understands me. I want a Messiah who I can laugh and cry with. I don't want to laugh by myself. I don't want to enjoy the spring daffodils all alone. The joy of the resurrection was that Jesus returned ... body and all! For this season of Lent we reflect on the wilderness and the betrayal, but the reason we can get through this is because of our confidence in the resurrection! And because we have a Messiah who can relate to us in our flesh and blood we can relate to our Messiah. We can look at the terrible tragedy of his suffering while we are suffering but hopefully we won't stop there. Hopefully we will say, "yes, but ... there is the resurrection." I can endure this suffering. I can live in this suffering. I can conquer this suffering. Hope is powerful
We fill this need of ours through many re-creations of the relatable Messiah. I'm not being flippant. I think re-creations help us get through our every day stuff. Sometimes maybe Jesus seems a little too far off or too powerful. Not quite as relatable as we would like. He is too God-ish. So we create superheroes. Wonder Woman. Superman. Spiderman.
We create fictional characters who walk around just like us. They have boring jobs and relationship troubles. They go to parties. They try to figure out how to fit in. But when the signal is spotted or when a cry for help is heard, they transform into a super-person. They transform into a saviour. Sometimes they suffer at the hands of evil but they always bounce back. These stories give us hope.
As much as these stories seem like mimics of our understanding of Jesus for us, I think they are also show, in some way, how we wish to be. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear the story of Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk, I imagine myself hearing the cry of distress and being transformed into a powerful and almost invincible person who saves the day.
Messiah complex? Maybe.
But that is the desire that is birthed in me when I hear the story of Jesus. I believe that we have been given the gift of a relatable Messiah not just to help us get through life but also to help us become who we need to be in this life. Jesus stands as an example to us of how to live. He is a merciful and faithful high priest to us but he is also our teacher and mentor. We are to follow him to the cross with the promise of experiencing the resurrection.
As Christians, I believe that the superheroes in comic strips and on movie screens are examples of what we need and who we want to be.
We are not called to be above anyone. We are not called to be without defect or awkwardness. We are called to be relatable and yet to hear the cry of distress and answer it in the power with which we have been gifted. And I believe we have all been given some power to answer the cries of distress.
Sojourner Truth asks, "Ain't I a woman?" She extends her arms to show her physical strength and yet asks again, "Ain't I a woman?" I hear echoes of Hebrews 2 in this. Am I not made of flesh and blood? Am I not one of you? Can you not relate to me? I can relate to you. I can see your skin and I know that blood is pumping through your veins. Don't be afraid of my power. Appreciate it for what it is and appreciate me for who I am.
There is comfort and challenge in Jesus being made in our image. We not only have a relatable high priest, saviour messiah ... but we also have a teacher and mentor who calls us to be the same for others.
"14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
We share this flesh and blood with so many. We come across people who are held captive by the fear of death. Sometimes it's physical death but more often I think there are other deaths or ends that people fear. Everyone needs someone to relate to. Can we follow in the footsteps of our Jesus who, because he was flesh and blood he could be merciful and faithful? And because he was Divine he could triumph over the fear of death.
Can Jesus' ability to relate to us transform us to be able to relate to others? Can we be like Sojourner Truth – proclaiming ourselves to be humans and relatable while challenging the power that holds the fear of death?
Can we take the ways we have been tested through suffering and become merciful and faithful priests of our Divine Beloved?
As lent continues and you meditate on the coming betrayal and then the resurrection of our Jesus, consider how he can relate to you and then how you can relate to others. Consider your super-powers ... your divine powers ... the gifts that you have that you know about and those that are not yet to the surface. Remember that your mild-mannered life is what makes you relatable to so many. Don't scorn your boring days or your awkward moments. Know that your pain and your joy allows you to share in the humanity of others.
And with all this, remember that, as verse 18 says, "Because Jesus himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."
Because you yourself have been tested by what you suffer, you are able to help those who are being tested. And as you are doing so, Jesus, is helping you.Sharing Flesh and Blood
Texts: Hebrews 2:5 - 18 and Ain't I a Woman? By Sojourner Truth (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.html)
In the Hebrew text we are told that Jesus understands us and can be compassionate to us because he shared in our flesh and blood ... and because he shared in our suffering. His ability to be merciful and faithful as our High Priest is due to his "becoming like us in every respect."
There is something about us humans. We need to be able to relate. We need to be able to see and feel some kind of kinship.
It's no wonder to me that as Christianity spread that the pictures of Jesus changed. Jesus was likely a dark skinned man. Maybe he had nappy hair that was black. His eyes were possibly a deep rich brown like the fertile earth. As his message went from nation to nation his image changed. We are used to looking at people who look like us. It's a superficial thing.
The image of Jesus changed to look like the people who had adopted his teachings. There's really nothing wrong with that ... until one nation becomes dominant and insists that the other nations are wrong and that their depiction of the Messiah is evil. And there's nothing wrong with it unless it is a conquered nation who is being stripped of their beliefs by force and given a whole new set of beliefs from a Messiah with whom they can't relate.
The Hebrew text doesn't give us this superficial relationship with Jesus. We are offered something much more substantial. We are told that Jesus shared in being made of flesh and blood like we are made and that Jesus shared in experiencing suffering just like us. This is the Messiah that we follow ... that we trust with our own flesh and blood ... that we trust with our own suffering. This is the Messiah with whom we share the bread and wine of communion because he shared flesh and blood with us.
Whenever I think about suffering I think of Buddhism. The First Noble Truth is often translated as Life is Suffering. The word suffering is an incomplete translation though. The word that is translated as suffering is Dukkha. Dukkha, like many ancient words, has no equal in many languages, English included. Instead of translating the word, some say that it is more important to look at the three types of Dukkha: Suffering or pain; Impermanence or change; and Conditioned states.
I thought I would take this approach with the Greek word translated as suffering. There are two words that I found being used in our text.
One of the words has three spellings. They are, Pascho (pas-kho), patho, and pentho. These words mean, to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful): - feel, passion, suffer, vex.
The second word is pathema (path'-ay-mah. This means something undergone, an emotion or influence; such as affection, affliction, motion, suffering.
These words have a relationship with the word pathos or passion. I think it's good to look at the fullness of these ideas. We are not just talking about a Messiah who felt the whip of the Romans and the betrayal of the Pharisees. Our Messiah knows all our passions. Our Messiah was made of flesh and blood, just like we are. When his skin was scratched it hurt. When his skin was caressed it felt good. Jesus experienced the whole of the human condition.
If all we focus on is Jesus knowing our pain, then we have a Saviour who only understands part of our life. That's not the kind of Saviour I want!
I want a Saviour who understands me. I want a Messiah who I can laugh and cry with. I don't want to laugh by myself. I don't want to enjoy the spring daffodils all alone. The joy of the resurrection was that Jesus returned ... body and all! For this season of Lent we reflect on the wilderness and the betrayal, but the reason we can get through this is because of our confidence in the resurrection! And because we have a Messiah who can relate to us in our flesh and blood we can relate to our Messiah. We can look at the terrible tragedy of his suffering while we are suffering but hopefully we won't stop there. Hopefully we will say, "yes, but ... there is the resurrection." I can endure this suffering. I can live in this suffering. I can conquer this suffering. Hope is powerful
We fill this need of ours through many re-creations of the relatable Messiah. I'm not being flippant. I think re-creations help us get through our every day stuff. Sometimes maybe Jesus seems a little too far off or too powerful. Not quite as relatable as we would like. He is too God-ish. So we create superheroes. Wonder Woman. Superman. Spiderman.
We create fictional characters who walk around just like us. They have boring jobs and relationship troubles. They go to parties. They try to figure out how to fit in. But when the signal is spotted or when a cry for help is heard, they transform into a super-person. They transform into a saviour. Sometimes they suffer at the hands of evil but they always bounce back. These stories give us hope.
As much as these stories seem like mimics of our understanding of Jesus for us, I think they are also show, in some way, how we wish to be. Maybe it's just me, but when I hear the story of Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk, I imagine myself hearing the cry of distress and being transformed into a powerful and almost invincible person who saves the day.
Messiah complex? Maybe.
But that is the desire that is birthed in me when I hear the story of Jesus. I believe that we have been given the gift of a relatable Messiah not just to help us get through life but also to help us become who we need to be in this life. Jesus stands as an example to us of how to live. He is a merciful and faithful high priest to us but he is also our teacher and mentor. We are to follow him to the cross with the promise of experiencing the resurrection.
As Christians, I believe that the superheroes in comic strips and on movie screens are examples of what we need and who we want to be.
We are not called to be above anyone. We are not called to be without defect or awkwardness. We are called to be relatable and yet to hear the cry of distress and answer it in the power with which we have been gifted. And I believe we have all been given some power to answer the cries of distress.
Sojourner Truth asks, "Ain't I a woman?" She extends her arms to show her physical strength and yet asks again, "Ain't I a woman?" I hear echoes of Hebrews 2 in this. Am I not made of flesh and blood? Am I not one of you? Can you not relate to me? I can relate to you. I can see your skin and I know that blood is pumping through your veins. Don't be afraid of my power. Appreciate it for what it is and appreciate me for who I am.
There is comfort and challenge in Jesus being made in our image. We not only have a relatable high priest, saviour messiah ... but we also have a teacher and mentor who calls us to be the same for others.
"14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death."
We share this flesh and blood with so many. We come across people who are held captive by the fear of death. Sometimes it's physical death but more often I think there are other deaths or ends that people fear. Everyone needs someone to relate to. Can we follow in the footsteps of our Jesus who, because he was flesh and blood he could be merciful and faithful? And because he was Divine he could triumph over the fear of death.
Can Jesus' ability to relate to us transform us to be able to relate to others? Can we be like Sojourner Truth – proclaiming ourselves to be humans and relatable while challenging the power that holds the fear of death?
Can we take the ways we have been tested through suffering and become merciful and faithful priests of our Divine Beloved?
As lent continues and you meditate on the coming betrayal and then the resurrection of our Jesus, consider how he can relate to you and then how you can relate to others. Consider your super-powers ... your divine powers ... the gifts that you have that you know about and those that are not yet to the surface. Remember that your mild-mannered life is what makes you relatable to so many. Don't scorn your boring days or your awkward moments. Know that your pain and your joy allows you to share in the humanity of others.
And with all this, remember that, as verse 18 says, "Because Jesus himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."
Because you yourself have been tested by what you suffer, you are able to help those who are being tested. And as you are doing so, Jesus, is helping you.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Come and Take My Hand
Texts: Luke 4:1-14; John 13: 30 – 36; and the song, Ecclesiastes: Free My Heart by Meshell Ndegeocello
Our celebration of Black History Month continues with a song by Meshell Ndegeocello.
**************
We are entering a ritual season. The 40 day or 40 year wilderness experience is understood to be a time of testing, trial, and discernment which leads to a call to action which then leads to a promise fulfilled.
In Genesis 8, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights ... a time of testing for Noah's family followed by a call to follow God which is followed by the promise of God to never curse the ground because of humankind's propensity to be evil.
Exodus 16, "The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan."
Moses twice went into the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights to meet with God. Exodus 24 tells of the first time. Exodus 34, the second. In Exodus 34 it states explicitly that Moses "neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." The first time was easier - God wrote on the tablets and Moses might have had food.
Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan, according to Numbers 13, and "At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land." What did the spies discern? The spies reported that the land was amazing but so were the people ... the conclusion being by all but 2 of the spies that Israel didn't have a chance against the Canaanites. The people cried out against Moses and then in Numbers 14 God cries out to the people ... another 40 years for this. And it's not going to be you, it's going to be your kids that get to enter the promised land.
Deuteronomy 8:2 "Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments."
If you go to a concordance – whether and actual book or online – you will see forty days and years everywhere, such as 1 Kings 2:11, "The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem."
I bring this up not just to give a Bible lesson, but to say that this is a long-standing tradition that is used in various ways. There's trial. There's testing. There's discernment. It's poetic rather than literal. It's a concept of – a long time – as well showing it is a contained time.
Story after story, even when one like Jesus or Moses goes off into the mountain, what I've noticed is that a person is rarely sent off alone. They might be the only person there, but The Presence accompanies. For, it is to The Presence that we are sent. Even in the midst of trial or discernment ... it is not to the hard thing that we're sent to ... it is to The Presence. The hard thing happens, but hard things always happen. I wonder if it's in contrast to the presence of our Divine Beloved that the hard things feel and even become even harder.
As I've been contemplating Lent ... this season of a long yet contained time of reflection, discernment, and trial ... I have strongly felt that as alone as I am often in person; as alone as I am when I sit on the train filled with other people; as alone as I am because I am the one who inhabits this particular body; I am never actually alone.
In our reading tonight in John 13 Simon Peter doesn't want Jesus to leave him alone. He wants to know where Jesus is going. Jesus answers, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward."
This is afterward. We are living in afterward. Jesus calls to us - Come and take my hand.
When life becomes as Meshell Ndegeocello sings from the adapted words of Ecclesiastes, that it is time to move to the next step ... that this place and this season is winding down. As she sings, "I'm so ready. Free my heart so my soul may fly," she also sings, "Come and take my hand."
I see here so many pictures from these words. I see Jesus at the Table with his friends. I also see him in the Garden praying. In addition I see Jesus at the resurrection turning to us and saying, "Come, take my hand." It is as if our taking the hand of Jesus helps to free not only our souls, but also his soul.
In the wilderness story where Jesus was tempted he was not alone. It wasn't just the tempter with him either. It was the Spirit that drove him there to begin with. It is not my impression that Spirit just pushed Jesus into the mountains and then said, "See you later. Good luck.Hope it turns out well." I believe Spirit was with him. I believe Spirit sustained him during his time of decision-making. Who was he going to be? What was he going to choose? How was he going to live? Both paths were difficult ones laden with burden and with treasure.
No matter what decisions you are making, no matter how you are shaping this season of Lent to be meaningful to you, please do me this one favour. Don't live through it alone. Even if you need to be the only person on the mountain, don't go through this alone. Let Spirit sweep you up and love you. Let Spirit hold you and comfort you. There are so many people who feel alone and lonely. Sometimes we all feel alone and lonely. It is hard to reach out to The Presence, to feel being accompanied. But mark my words – you are never alone, when you are the only one there or when you are in a crowded room.
This Lenten journey that we are on is toward Easter. It is toward the promise of resurrection. It is toward our own spirit's rebirth. Whatever you do and however you do it, please know that Spirit is with you.
Sometimes Spirit, though, is not enough. Being accompanied by a person can bring great strength and comfort. But it is also a very vulnerable place to be. To give up our walls and our defensive tactics is scary and difficult. Like Peter, we want assurance that with whomever we have shared that kind of intimacy that they won't just go away. Unfortunately, sometimes we are whisked or driven into a seemingly solitary experience. And the truth is that we are the ones who inhabit our bodies, even when we share them with others. It is the you in your you-ness that stays constant.
At every turn, I believe Jesus is singing to us, "Now is afterwards. Come and take my hand. You can go through this forty days. You and I together because I've already done it and I know it's possible. Come ... take my hand."
Our celebration of Black History Month continues with a song by Meshell Ndegeocello.
**************
We are entering a ritual season. The 40 day or 40 year wilderness experience is understood to be a time of testing, trial, and discernment which leads to a call to action which then leads to a promise fulfilled.
In Genesis 8, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights ... a time of testing for Noah's family followed by a call to follow God which is followed by the promise of God to never curse the ground because of humankind's propensity to be evil.
Exodus 16, "The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan."
Moses twice went into the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights to meet with God. Exodus 24 tells of the first time. Exodus 34, the second. In Exodus 34 it states explicitly that Moses "neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." The first time was easier - God wrote on the tablets and Moses might have had food.
Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan, according to Numbers 13, and "At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land." What did the spies discern? The spies reported that the land was amazing but so were the people ... the conclusion being by all but 2 of the spies that Israel didn't have a chance against the Canaanites. The people cried out against Moses and then in Numbers 14 God cries out to the people ... another 40 years for this. And it's not going to be you, it's going to be your kids that get to enter the promised land.
Deuteronomy 8:2 "Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments."
If you go to a concordance – whether and actual book or online – you will see forty days and years everywhere, such as 1 Kings 2:11, "The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem."
I bring this up not just to give a Bible lesson, but to say that this is a long-standing tradition that is used in various ways. There's trial. There's testing. There's discernment. It's poetic rather than literal. It's a concept of – a long time – as well showing it is a contained time.
Story after story, even when one like Jesus or Moses goes off into the mountain, what I've noticed is that a person is rarely sent off alone. They might be the only person there, but The Presence accompanies. For, it is to The Presence that we are sent. Even in the midst of trial or discernment ... it is not to the hard thing that we're sent to ... it is to The Presence. The hard thing happens, but hard things always happen. I wonder if it's in contrast to the presence of our Divine Beloved that the hard things feel and even become even harder.
As I've been contemplating Lent ... this season of a long yet contained time of reflection, discernment, and trial ... I have strongly felt that as alone as I am often in person; as alone as I am when I sit on the train filled with other people; as alone as I am because I am the one who inhabits this particular body; I am never actually alone.
In our reading tonight in John 13 Simon Peter doesn't want Jesus to leave him alone. He wants to know where Jesus is going. Jesus answers, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward."
This is afterward. We are living in afterward. Jesus calls to us - Come and take my hand.
When life becomes as Meshell Ndegeocello sings from the adapted words of Ecclesiastes, that it is time to move to the next step ... that this place and this season is winding down. As she sings, "I'm so ready. Free my heart so my soul may fly," she also sings, "Come and take my hand."
I see here so many pictures from these words. I see Jesus at the Table with his friends. I also see him in the Garden praying. In addition I see Jesus at the resurrection turning to us and saying, "Come, take my hand." It is as if our taking the hand of Jesus helps to free not only our souls, but also his soul.
In the wilderness story where Jesus was tempted he was not alone. It wasn't just the tempter with him either. It was the Spirit that drove him there to begin with. It is not my impression that Spirit just pushed Jesus into the mountains and then said, "See you later. Good luck.Hope it turns out well." I believe Spirit was with him. I believe Spirit sustained him during his time of decision-making. Who was he going to be? What was he going to choose? How was he going to live? Both paths were difficult ones laden with burden and with treasure.
No matter what decisions you are making, no matter how you are shaping this season of Lent to be meaningful to you, please do me this one favour. Don't live through it alone. Even if you need to be the only person on the mountain, don't go through this alone. Let Spirit sweep you up and love you. Let Spirit hold you and comfort you. There are so many people who feel alone and lonely. Sometimes we all feel alone and lonely. It is hard to reach out to The Presence, to feel being accompanied. But mark my words – you are never alone, when you are the only one there or when you are in a crowded room.
This Lenten journey that we are on is toward Easter. It is toward the promise of resurrection. It is toward our own spirit's rebirth. Whatever you do and however you do it, please know that Spirit is with you.
Sometimes Spirit, though, is not enough. Being accompanied by a person can bring great strength and comfort. But it is also a very vulnerable place to be. To give up our walls and our defensive tactics is scary and difficult. Like Peter, we want assurance that with whomever we have shared that kind of intimacy that they won't just go away. Unfortunately, sometimes we are whisked or driven into a seemingly solitary experience. And the truth is that we are the ones who inhabit our bodies, even when we share them with others. It is the you in your you-ness that stays constant.
At every turn, I believe Jesus is singing to us, "Now is afterwards. Come and take my hand. You can go through this forty days. You and I together because I've already done it and I know it's possible. Come ... take my hand."
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Don’t Stop While You’re Ahead
I'm a little late with my posting. This one if from January 31, 2009.
Text: Luke 4:21 – 30
Jesus had a habit of getting into trouble. Through out the gospels he sidesteps one disaster after another. You might say he's socially awkward. Or maybe he's reckless. He always seems to take things a little too far.
In this story in Luke, Jesus comes out of the gate strong. People are responding to him favourably. It says, "They were amazed at his gracious words." He was in the limelight ... and then ... he kept talking. He eloquently told the crowd that was falling in love with him that they couldn't follow through and he equated them to widows and lepers that weren't worth the time a prophet had to spend. The honeymoon was over quickly. The crowd turned on him and not only ran him out of town but they wanted to hurl him off the cliff.
Can you imagine if Jesus had a handler ... a PR person? What kind of trouble Jesus would have gotten into with what happened here? The PR person would have said, "Jesus, what were you thinking? You had them in the palm of your hand. They were yours. Why did you turn on them? Why did you say that stuff to them? You had to know it would tick them off? You can't do stuff like that. You are going to ruin your career before it even starts."
Jesus might reply by saying, "I was just telling them the truth. You know that's what is going to happen."
"Timing, Jesus," the handler replies, "It's in the timing. We would cross that bridge when we come to it. But while you have them, keep them. You need all the support you can get while you can get it. You can't say stuff like that anymore. Stick to healing and encouraging people. We gotta get this thing off the ground."
At this point in my imaginary conversation between Jesus and his PR person I hear Jesus saying, "You have no clue what I'm about. Get out of here!"
The PR person leaves shaking their head mumbling something about Jesus having so much potential.
As I see it, one of the lessons here is that we are to not stop while we are ahead. Being popular ... being the next best thing ... being agreed with ... are not bad on their own but as a follower of Christ, they are not the goal.
Sometimes we get caught up in timing. We want to say the right things but at the right time. So we wait ... and we're silent at times when we could speak up. That's not the way of the Christ.
I know that what I am advocating is risky. Speaking up in a group of people, a group of friends, to your boss, to your employee - they all have risks. I'm not talking about evangelizing. I'm talking about living your life of faith.
Is it wrong to laugh at a handicap person who has fallen? Yes. Is it equally wrong to be silent when others laugh and to not say, "That's not funny." Yes. Is it wrong to laugh at jokes against bisexuals, or to be complicit in a conversation when poor people are being blamed for their poverty because "they just don't work hard enough." Yes.
There are many many times that we could say a simple sentence to stand up for Love and Mercy. But those sentences can be lethal to a conversation. They can be lethal to a relationship. Solidarity with the marginalized is not for the faint-hearted. And I will confess that at times I still find myself silent, the words stuck in my throat, my gut twisted at the thought of speaking, my spirit twisted at the thought of not speaking.
I want to tell you a story. Not long ago I participated in a youth event where kids came from many different churches. The church where I was an associate pastor was quite liberal, but many of the other kids were from conservative churches. On the second day of our week together one of the teens in my class declared something that he thought was stupid as being gay. I confronted him by asking him if he was talking to me. Was he comparing what he was talking about to me? He didn't understand so I told him that as a lesbian I was confused by what he was saying. He and his friends became very upset that I was minister at all. We ended up off topic entirely while they quoted chapter and verse to me about why I was not fit for ministry. I in turn quoted chapter and verse back. It wasn't very productive.
Eventually we got back on topic a little and the young man rephrased his sentence saying, "okay then, it is lame." I had a problem with that too, and I told him so. I said, "Now you are comparing something you don't like to someone who is handicapped. That's not right either." He looked at me like he had had just about enough of me. He said, "So what are we supposed to do, change our whole language." And I said, "Yes. Everything needs to be revamped. That's what Jesus came to tell us." He and his friends were disgusted with me and by me. The rest of the week was terrible. We all had a hard time listening to each other.
Even though that was the outward result of my confronting his choice of words, I do not regret speaking up. It had to be said. And I stand by my conviction that our language and our actions have to be revamped and that that is one of the things that Jesus came to tell us. That is one of the things that Jesus lived.
The PR person in our head wants to monitor and correct our words and actions so that we don't get into too much trouble. That's understandable, but it isn't living our faith to the fullest. Sure there are times to make choices toward safety. I don't walk into just any room and introduce myself as a lesbian. I'm not advocating utter foolishness, but I am advocating risk-taking and faith-living. I do believe that stopping while we're ahead can be a way to avoid sticky conversations that have real meaning and depth.
There were many times that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was told that he was pushing his agenda too fast. That he wanted too much. That his timing was off. But Dr. King did not stop while he was ahead. Had he curbed his language a little, not pushed against the status quo so hard, maybe he wouldn't have come up against so resistance. Maybe he ... would have lived his life to his natural end.
Duanna Johnson was a black transwoman who was murdered in Memphis. Perhaps if she just wore men's clothes and was quiet about her gender identity she would be alive today. But Duanna wanted to live a life of freedom and liberty. She wanted to live as she was created. She did not stop while she was ahead.
I'm not painting a very optimistic picture, am I? I seem to be saying that if you push the envelope you are going to get killed. In fact, many people who push the envelope do get killed. Our brother and saviour, Jesus, is one of them. But I have it in mind that if we all push together ... if we all don't stop ... that progress will be made. Others who are in more precarious life situations than us will benefit and then they will be able to join us. Duanna shouldn't have had to die to live in her gender identity, but she couldn't not live her authentic self.
What if all of us who believe God's creation is beautiful, regardless of how similar or different that creation is from us, spoke up in solidarity with those who were different and deemed unbeautiful? What if together we didn't stop while we were ahead? What if we backed each other up and encouraged each other to say the right thing even when it was unpopular or not good politics?
As a Christian, I am a person who follows the teachings of a man who risked it all. A defiant man who spoke out against hate. A man who came to the aid of the woman caught in the act of adultery. This woman was about to be killed by the throwing of stones. Her male lover was not being accused of any guilt, only she was. And as a test the religious authorities physically dragged her to Jesus to see if he would say something for which they could bring a charge against him. You see, they knew that he didn't stop while he was ahead. They were hoping that he would step over the line. However, Jesus could also be quite brilliant in the way he pushed the envelope and after writing in the dirt with his finger awhile he invited anyone without sin to go ahead and fling the first stone at her. One by one all the men left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone. Jesus did not condemn her.
I believe, just like Jesus, we must not stop while we are ahead. There are people that are on the verge of being stoned. If we don't stand in solidarity with them, who will? The risk might be being hurled off a proverbial or a real cliff. We still have to speak up. Some of us are living on the margins, taking risks to live authentic lives as much as possible. Those of us for whom it is a lesser risk to speak up should do so. If we do this together; if we all push together; if we back each other up, there will be no stopping love and mercy and justice.
Text: Luke 4:21 – 30
Jesus had a habit of getting into trouble. Through out the gospels he sidesteps one disaster after another. You might say he's socially awkward. Or maybe he's reckless. He always seems to take things a little too far.
In this story in Luke, Jesus comes out of the gate strong. People are responding to him favourably. It says, "They were amazed at his gracious words." He was in the limelight ... and then ... he kept talking. He eloquently told the crowd that was falling in love with him that they couldn't follow through and he equated them to widows and lepers that weren't worth the time a prophet had to spend. The honeymoon was over quickly. The crowd turned on him and not only ran him out of town but they wanted to hurl him off the cliff.
Can you imagine if Jesus had a handler ... a PR person? What kind of trouble Jesus would have gotten into with what happened here? The PR person would have said, "Jesus, what were you thinking? You had them in the palm of your hand. They were yours. Why did you turn on them? Why did you say that stuff to them? You had to know it would tick them off? You can't do stuff like that. You are going to ruin your career before it even starts."
Jesus might reply by saying, "I was just telling them the truth. You know that's what is going to happen."
"Timing, Jesus," the handler replies, "It's in the timing. We would cross that bridge when we come to it. But while you have them, keep them. You need all the support you can get while you can get it. You can't say stuff like that anymore. Stick to healing and encouraging people. We gotta get this thing off the ground."
At this point in my imaginary conversation between Jesus and his PR person I hear Jesus saying, "You have no clue what I'm about. Get out of here!"
The PR person leaves shaking their head mumbling something about Jesus having so much potential.
As I see it, one of the lessons here is that we are to not stop while we are ahead. Being popular ... being the next best thing ... being agreed with ... are not bad on their own but as a follower of Christ, they are not the goal.
Sometimes we get caught up in timing. We want to say the right things but at the right time. So we wait ... and we're silent at times when we could speak up. That's not the way of the Christ.
I know that what I am advocating is risky. Speaking up in a group of people, a group of friends, to your boss, to your employee - they all have risks. I'm not talking about evangelizing. I'm talking about living your life of faith.
Is it wrong to laugh at a handicap person who has fallen? Yes. Is it equally wrong to be silent when others laugh and to not say, "That's not funny." Yes. Is it wrong to laugh at jokes against bisexuals, or to be complicit in a conversation when poor people are being blamed for their poverty because "they just don't work hard enough." Yes.
There are many many times that we could say a simple sentence to stand up for Love and Mercy. But those sentences can be lethal to a conversation. They can be lethal to a relationship. Solidarity with the marginalized is not for the faint-hearted. And I will confess that at times I still find myself silent, the words stuck in my throat, my gut twisted at the thought of speaking, my spirit twisted at the thought of not speaking.
I want to tell you a story. Not long ago I participated in a youth event where kids came from many different churches. The church where I was an associate pastor was quite liberal, but many of the other kids were from conservative churches. On the second day of our week together one of the teens in my class declared something that he thought was stupid as being gay. I confronted him by asking him if he was talking to me. Was he comparing what he was talking about to me? He didn't understand so I told him that as a lesbian I was confused by what he was saying. He and his friends became very upset that I was minister at all. We ended up off topic entirely while they quoted chapter and verse to me about why I was not fit for ministry. I in turn quoted chapter and verse back. It wasn't very productive.
Eventually we got back on topic a little and the young man rephrased his sentence saying, "okay then, it is lame." I had a problem with that too, and I told him so. I said, "Now you are comparing something you don't like to someone who is handicapped. That's not right either." He looked at me like he had had just about enough of me. He said, "So what are we supposed to do, change our whole language." And I said, "Yes. Everything needs to be revamped. That's what Jesus came to tell us." He and his friends were disgusted with me and by me. The rest of the week was terrible. We all had a hard time listening to each other.
Even though that was the outward result of my confronting his choice of words, I do not regret speaking up. It had to be said. And I stand by my conviction that our language and our actions have to be revamped and that that is one of the things that Jesus came to tell us. That is one of the things that Jesus lived.
The PR person in our head wants to monitor and correct our words and actions so that we don't get into too much trouble. That's understandable, but it isn't living our faith to the fullest. Sure there are times to make choices toward safety. I don't walk into just any room and introduce myself as a lesbian. I'm not advocating utter foolishness, but I am advocating risk-taking and faith-living. I do believe that stopping while we're ahead can be a way to avoid sticky conversations that have real meaning and depth.
There were many times that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was told that he was pushing his agenda too fast. That he wanted too much. That his timing was off. But Dr. King did not stop while he was ahead. Had he curbed his language a little, not pushed against the status quo so hard, maybe he wouldn't have come up against so resistance. Maybe he ... would have lived his life to his natural end.
Duanna Johnson was a black transwoman who was murdered in Memphis. Perhaps if she just wore men's clothes and was quiet about her gender identity she would be alive today. But Duanna wanted to live a life of freedom and liberty. She wanted to live as she was created. She did not stop while she was ahead.
I'm not painting a very optimistic picture, am I? I seem to be saying that if you push the envelope you are going to get killed. In fact, many people who push the envelope do get killed. Our brother and saviour, Jesus, is one of them. But I have it in mind that if we all push together ... if we all don't stop ... that progress will be made. Others who are in more precarious life situations than us will benefit and then they will be able to join us. Duanna shouldn't have had to die to live in her gender identity, but she couldn't not live her authentic self.
What if all of us who believe God's creation is beautiful, regardless of how similar or different that creation is from us, spoke up in solidarity with those who were different and deemed unbeautiful? What if together we didn't stop while we were ahead? What if we backed each other up and encouraged each other to say the right thing even when it was unpopular or not good politics?
As a Christian, I am a person who follows the teachings of a man who risked it all. A defiant man who spoke out against hate. A man who came to the aid of the woman caught in the act of adultery. This woman was about to be killed by the throwing of stones. Her male lover was not being accused of any guilt, only she was. And as a test the religious authorities physically dragged her to Jesus to see if he would say something for which they could bring a charge against him. You see, they knew that he didn't stop while he was ahead. They were hoping that he would step over the line. However, Jesus could also be quite brilliant in the way he pushed the envelope and after writing in the dirt with his finger awhile he invited anyone without sin to go ahead and fling the first stone at her. One by one all the men left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone. Jesus did not condemn her.
I believe, just like Jesus, we must not stop while we are ahead. There are people that are on the verge of being stoned. If we don't stand in solidarity with them, who will? The risk might be being hurled off a proverbial or a real cliff. We still have to speak up. Some of us are living on the margins, taking risks to live authentic lives as much as possible. Those of us for whom it is a lesser risk to speak up should do so. If we do this together; if we all push together; if we back each other up, there will be no stopping love and mercy and justice.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Don Belton
http://justicefordonbelton.com/
Don Belton was killed in his own home. Michael Griffin admits to killing him, but is pleading not guilty to murder. Griffin says that Belton sexually assaulted him a couple of days prior to his killing Belton. The people who know Belton say that it unlikely he would or could have assaulted anyone.
Griffen waited two days after the alleged assault to kill Belton.
Don Belton was an African American gay man who was murdered in his own home. Murdered. This was not self defense. I am angry and extremely sad that there is a chance his murder will be excused because of what is often referred to as gay panic.
Don Belton was killed in his own home. Michael Griffin admits to killing him, but is pleading not guilty to murder. Griffin says that Belton sexually assaulted him a couple of days prior to his killing Belton. The people who know Belton say that it unlikely he would or could have assaulted anyone.
Griffen waited two days after the alleged assault to kill Belton.
Don Belton was an African American gay man who was murdered in his own home. Murdered. This was not self defense. I am angry and extremely sad that there is a chance his murder will be excused because of what is often referred to as gay panic.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Prince of Peace and Division
Micah 5:2 – 5a
For the past few years I have identified most, if not all, of the ministry work I do as peace work. This peace work takes many forms.
• Being an interim pastor
• Being an activist for LGBT rights within Christian denominations
• Co-facilitating workshops on sustaining your spirit
• Blogging
• Leading discussions on the intersectionality of oppressions
All of these things I do for the sake of peacemaking.
I struggle, though, with the notion of peace. What is it? I use the word to sign off emails, in workshops, in prayer, in sermons … but what is it. Is peace an it ... a thing. Is it an event? A state of mind and spirit? A community experience?
Webster has a few definitions.
1 : a state of tranquility or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell
If these are the definitions of peace, then they are the definitions of what I hope my work, and our work, will accomplish. I think about the lion eating grass like the ox and laying down with the lamb to cuddle. That is the Christian picture of peace that I carry around with me. That is the promise that I heard over and over as a child and a young adult.
I think about the lion and the lamb; what they represent. The lion is a predator. The lamb is the prey. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Jesus is also the Lamb of God.
In the book of Micah, little Bethlehem of Judah is promised to be the birthplace of the one of peace. According to the text, this peace comes in the form of Israel as a flock being fed and protected; the people of Israel living securely and being able to rest. Sweet rest. Isn't it nice to be able to rest securely?
Resting is different than being idle. One might be idle ... having nothing to do ... bored ... jobless … but that one probably isn't resting. Most likely that one is agitated and anxious. Just as rest isn't simply not doing work, peace is more than not fighting. Peace is more than being quiet. Peace is more than a pact between governments. Peace is more than the dictionary definition. The dictionary definition is a starting place. But peace includes all the spheres of being. It is a resting, I think, in one's thoughts, emotions, spirit, and body. Peace also includes communities and the planet. Chaos, unrest, and violence are inflicted across the board of creation. Peace, I think, is resting securely in wholeness.
Passing laws does not require someone's position to change on matters of racism, heterosexism, classism, violence, privilege and the like. But they are a starting point. A peace pact isn't peace, but it's a starting point. Learning how to sit or walk in mindful quietness is not peace, but it's a way to start.
Jesus as the Prince of Peace, says that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He himself is not going to enact peace in the land. His actions and his teaching will more likely cause unrest and division as people sort out how they think and feel about how this Messiah is going about being Messiah. This baby whose birth ... whose embodiment we celebrate because of the promise of who he is and what he will accomplish ... this baby whose mother was unwed yet the angels heralded his birth to her, to her fiance, to shepherds ... this baby as a man says – no, that's not what I'm doing. I'm here to heal people on the Sabbath in front of religious authorities; to feed way too many people with way too little food; and to give power to many so they too can heal and feed and stand up to those who are greedy in the name of God.
Being a peacemaker doesn't tend to involve much that looks or feels like peace.
Peace itself may look like a tranquil winter scene with a horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed. But peacemaking looks more like standing in the way of non-peace for the sake of future rest, probably for someone else. Peacemaking means stepping in the way of violence; domestic violence, military violence, legalized violence, religious violence, environmental violence ...
Jesus as the Prince of Peace walked in the middle of harm's way and he provoked his followers to do the same.
We are not unlike little Bethlehem ... a small community in the midst of a larger one, insignificant by many standards. But from us the Prince of Peace is born ... is embodied. Peace still has not arrived. We are still in the midst of much struggle and little secure resting.
Jesus provided healing, food, and spiritual shelter for so many, as well as causing much distress as families were divided over whether or not to follow him. We are to carry on his legacy of peacemaking, which means that we are sometimes to be the source of division. We are to stand in harm's way. We are to offer the secure resting place of acceptance.
We are not here to simply be nice and smooth the wrinkles. I think we are here to ruffle feathers. We are here to make a statement that there are choices available. We are not to swim along in the stream of convention, being complicit with our own oppression or the oppression of others. We are to build dams to stop that stream.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so threatening as a baby that one of the narratives says he had to be whisked away to Egypt because Herod was on the hunt for him. Herod was so determined to kill him that he mimics the story of Pharaoh in Egypt on the hunt for Moses. In both accounts, there is a massacre of babies 2 years old and under. In the Gospel story, it is Egypt which is the refuge.
For those in power, peace is very threatening. Peacemaking is dangerous. But it's our call, as the followers of Jesus the Christ.
As we approach the day where we celebrate the birth of our Christ on this earth and the subsequent birth of our own selves as christs as we are filled with the essence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, I ask you to consider this: how shall we stand in harm's way for the future securing of rest? How do we continue the work of the Prince of Peace? Individually, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action? Communally, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action?
This radical reaching out of acceptance where all who come may be healed and fed causes division. Do we have the strength to be that radical? Do we have the vision to endure the criticism that comes with that kind of peacemaking?
As you adore the baby Jesus, and adore him I hope you do, I beseech you to say yes to his calling of peacemaking toward a future secure rest in wholeness.
For the past few years I have identified most, if not all, of the ministry work I do as peace work. This peace work takes many forms.
• Being an interim pastor
• Being an activist for LGBT rights within Christian denominations
• Co-facilitating workshops on sustaining your spirit
• Blogging
• Leading discussions on the intersectionality of oppressions
All of these things I do for the sake of peacemaking.
I struggle, though, with the notion of peace. What is it? I use the word to sign off emails, in workshops, in prayer, in sermons … but what is it. Is peace an it ... a thing. Is it an event? A state of mind and spirit? A community experience?
Webster has a few definitions.
1 : a state of tranquility or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell
If these are the definitions of peace, then they are the definitions of what I hope my work, and our work, will accomplish. I think about the lion eating grass like the ox and laying down with the lamb to cuddle. That is the Christian picture of peace that I carry around with me. That is the promise that I heard over and over as a child and a young adult.
I think about the lion and the lamb; what they represent. The lion is a predator. The lamb is the prey. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Jesus is also the Lamb of God.
In the book of Micah, little Bethlehem of Judah is promised to be the birthplace of the one of peace. According to the text, this peace comes in the form of Israel as a flock being fed and protected; the people of Israel living securely and being able to rest. Sweet rest. Isn't it nice to be able to rest securely?
Resting is different than being idle. One might be idle ... having nothing to do ... bored ... jobless … but that one probably isn't resting. Most likely that one is agitated and anxious. Just as rest isn't simply not doing work, peace is more than not fighting. Peace is more than being quiet. Peace is more than a pact between governments. Peace is more than the dictionary definition. The dictionary definition is a starting place. But peace includes all the spheres of being. It is a resting, I think, in one's thoughts, emotions, spirit, and body. Peace also includes communities and the planet. Chaos, unrest, and violence are inflicted across the board of creation. Peace, I think, is resting securely in wholeness.
Passing laws does not require someone's position to change on matters of racism, heterosexism, classism, violence, privilege and the like. But they are a starting point. A peace pact isn't peace, but it's a starting point. Learning how to sit or walk in mindful quietness is not peace, but it's a way to start.
Jesus as the Prince of Peace, says that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He himself is not going to enact peace in the land. His actions and his teaching will more likely cause unrest and division as people sort out how they think and feel about how this Messiah is going about being Messiah. This baby whose birth ... whose embodiment we celebrate because of the promise of who he is and what he will accomplish ... this baby whose mother was unwed yet the angels heralded his birth to her, to her fiance, to shepherds ... this baby as a man says – no, that's not what I'm doing. I'm here to heal people on the Sabbath in front of religious authorities; to feed way too many people with way too little food; and to give power to many so they too can heal and feed and stand up to those who are greedy in the name of God.
Being a peacemaker doesn't tend to involve much that looks or feels like peace.
Peace itself may look like a tranquil winter scene with a horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed. But peacemaking looks more like standing in the way of non-peace for the sake of future rest, probably for someone else. Peacemaking means stepping in the way of violence; domestic violence, military violence, legalized violence, religious violence, environmental violence ...
Jesus as the Prince of Peace walked in the middle of harm's way and he provoked his followers to do the same.
We are not unlike little Bethlehem ... a small community in the midst of a larger one, insignificant by many standards. But from us the Prince of Peace is born ... is embodied. Peace still has not arrived. We are still in the midst of much struggle and little secure resting.
Jesus provided healing, food, and spiritual shelter for so many, as well as causing much distress as families were divided over whether or not to follow him. We are to carry on his legacy of peacemaking, which means that we are sometimes to be the source of division. We are to stand in harm's way. We are to offer the secure resting place of acceptance.
We are not here to simply be nice and smooth the wrinkles. I think we are here to ruffle feathers. We are here to make a statement that there are choices available. We are not to swim along in the stream of convention, being complicit with our own oppression or the oppression of others. We are to build dams to stop that stream.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so threatening as a baby that one of the narratives says he had to be whisked away to Egypt because Herod was on the hunt for him. Herod was so determined to kill him that he mimics the story of Pharaoh in Egypt on the hunt for Moses. In both accounts, there is a massacre of babies 2 years old and under. In the Gospel story, it is Egypt which is the refuge.
For those in power, peace is very threatening. Peacemaking is dangerous. But it's our call, as the followers of Jesus the Christ.
As we approach the day where we celebrate the birth of our Christ on this earth and the subsequent birth of our own selves as christs as we are filled with the essence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, I ask you to consider this: how shall we stand in harm's way for the future securing of rest? How do we continue the work of the Prince of Peace? Individually, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action? Communally, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action?
This radical reaching out of acceptance where all who come may be healed and fed causes division. Do we have the strength to be that radical? Do we have the vision to endure the criticism that comes with that kind of peacemaking?
As you adore the baby Jesus, and adore him I hope you do, I beseech you to say yes to his calling of peacemaking toward a future secure rest in wholeness.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Mulling my sermon
This is the 4th Sunday of Advent. I will be talking about peace and angels. Peace. What is peace? Is peace not-war? Is it not-chaos? Reducing peace to a thing, event, single experience, or theory does not seem right to me.
As most Christians interpret Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and yet according to Matthew 10:34, Jesus did not come to bring peace to earth, but a sword. The text continues with Jesus promoting his set of family values.
Matthew 10: 35 - 39
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one's foes will be members of one's own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
And yet, here is another statement of family values from Jesus, Matthew 15:4-6
4 For God said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. 6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.
Prince of Peace
Lion of the Tribe of Judah
Healer
Thrasher of the Temple
Is peace standing in front of a tank, using your body to say "Stop this war!"
Is peace protecting a woman being beaten by a man by taking her into your home or standing between them?
Is peace healing on a Sabbath day on purpose to provoke religious authorities to hate you?
Is peace a man being nailed to a cross because he was not cowed by the religious and political manipulators of his day?
Is peace a tranquil winter scene with horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed?
Do we live peace?
Do we enact peace?
Do we experience peace in a passive way?
Is peace deep?
Is peace on the surface?
Is peace freedom from illness?
Is peace watching yourself die from your illness?
Can peace include Violence? Blood? Passion? Sleep? Breathing? Chaos? Order?
Peace ... is there such a thing as peace? Can we find it in a food? In a relationship? In music?
As most Christians interpret Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and yet according to Matthew 10:34, Jesus did not come to bring peace to earth, but a sword. The text continues with Jesus promoting his set of family values.
Matthew 10: 35 - 39
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one's foes will be members of one's own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
And yet, here is another statement of family values from Jesus, Matthew 15:4-6
4 For God said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. 6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.
Prince of Peace
Lion of the Tribe of Judah
Healer
Thrasher of the Temple
Is peace standing in front of a tank, using your body to say "Stop this war!"
Is peace protecting a woman being beaten by a man by taking her into your home or standing between them?
Is peace healing on a Sabbath day on purpose to provoke religious authorities to hate you?
Is peace a man being nailed to a cross because he was not cowed by the religious and political manipulators of his day?
Is peace a tranquil winter scene with horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed?
Do we live peace?
Do we enact peace?
Do we experience peace in a passive way?
Is peace deep?
Is peace on the surface?
Is peace freedom from illness?
Is peace watching yourself die from your illness?
Can peace include Violence? Blood? Passion? Sleep? Breathing? Chaos? Order?
Peace ... is there such a thing as peace? Can we find it in a food? In a relationship? In music?
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Holding Joy in our Hearts
Texts: Zephaniah 3:14 - 20 and Luke 2:8 – 20
This is the third week of Advent, which is the week of Joy and of the Shepherds. We light a pink candle instead of a purple candle. As we anticipate the celebration of Jesus' birth ... of Jesus bursting into the lives of humans in an eye to eye / spirit to spirit / soul to soul kind of way, this week we focus on Joy and we focus on the Shepherds.
This joy and these shepherds are not superficial concepts. They are complicated and we must wrestle with their complexities. We are also given the Zephaniah text with which to wrestle.
The Zephaniah text is kind of a cheerleading text. "Sing aloud. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. Do not fear. Do not let your hands grow weak. I will remove disaster from you. I will change your shame into praise."
Jerusalem is going through a tough time. They are despondent, weary, and not praising God. Zephaniah is trying to energize them, telling them all the good things that they may have temporarily forgotten about the God with whom they are in relationship.
The shepherds are doing their job in the fields. It is night when suddenly an angel and the glory of God come out of nowhere, terrifying them. The angel calms them down by sending them on a kind of treasure hunt with a promise that this treasure is from God. Then the text says a multitude of heavenly host appears and praises God. After this praising, all that suddenly appeared leaves, returning to heaven. The shepherds are once again alone in the field.
They want this good news to be true. They believe in what they have just seen. So they go in search of the baby in Bethlehem. Upon finding this treasure just as they were promised they would, they return to their fields glorifying and praising God.
There's a notion that if it takes you seeing the promise to rejoice then your faith is little. We get that idea from passages like Thomas doubting, wanting to see Jesus' wounds and touch the hole in his side. But there are many other passages that talk about seeing the promise as the means for bringing joy and praise.
There are many of us here that would like to see a promise fulfilled. Some of us would just like to hear a promise made on our behalf. There are so many hard things happening – the war, the economy, health insurance, personal tragedy, community tragedy, the list can go on and on.
Christmas is touted as being "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," but studies show that it is also a time of severe depression and hardship for oh so many. The expectation of what Christmas should be in comparison to how Christmas actually plays out in our lives can alone be depressing.
Yes, this is a time where like the shepherds we are working in the fields. It is a time like in Zephaniah where some of us do not feel the hope and the presence of our Divine Beloved in our lives. It is easy to go through the motions of Advent and Christmas, saying the right words and singing the right songs all the while covering up our sorrow and our disappointment.
This week we are to focus on Joy. For those of us whose circumstances are dire, we may find it difficult to believe in joy. For those of us who are just working in the fields, joy might also be difficult to latch on to.
I don't know how long it took the shepherds to get to the manger. The text makes it sound like they were there in a half hour, but I doubt that. They were walking and they couldn't just leave their flocks behind. They had to lead those flocks to wherever they wanted to go. As they were journeying ... as they were leading their flocks to see this promise they had been given, I suspect periodically they might have questioned their belief and maybe became frustrated with the journey taking so long.
Christian Advent is a tradition that has been passed down generation after generation since about the Middle Ages. The weeks that we celebrate have their meanings from long ago. It's interesting to know and understand why we do what we do. But, why do we continue the tradition and how does it give us meaning today?
Can we relate to the shepherds being given a promise and then sent on a treasure hunt to find that promise, bringing with them all the sheep that were in their charge? They were still responsible for everything they had been responsible for, but now they had this promise and a journey for the promise to be fulfilled.
Can we relate to the pain and suffering of Jerusalem as Zephaniah reminded them that their God was a good and loving God who really was on their side?
Has the promise of the embodiment of Jesus the Christ been fulfilled within you ... you as the embodiment of Christ? Can you get in touch with that? Does getting in touch with that fulfilled promise which is mostly intangible help you find joy? Not circumstantial happiness? Joy. Deep true joy. This joy which abides in the isness of our soul – based not on how this world works or how our life plays out, but rather on the trueness of our being in relationship with our Divine Love.
We can not base our Advent tradition or the call to Joy solely on the traditions of the past. We must know why today we bother to wait in hopeful anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ. If we don't attach meaning to this for today, then the tradition is hollow instead of hallowed.
Finding the deep joy in our souls when things around us point to despair, is I think what Zephaniah was cheerleading Jerusalem to do. Last week we read Baruch 5 which was also a cheerleading kind of text. "Take off your garment of sorrow and affliction. Put on forever the beauty of the glory of God."
That has to come from somewhere. I believe we are created with a deep well of hope and peace and joy in our soul. Sometimes it flows better than others. Sometimes it does not seem to be flowing at all. The call that I hear from these texts is to reach out with whatever we can and believe the promise of good for our souls, our life circumstances notwithstanding. Reaching out with whatever we can may be called faith. It may be called determination. It may be called foolishness. Seeing the promise sure does help give us the ability to rejoice. The challenge is to see the promises we have already been given – the promises we have already seen and experienced – and then, to hold that joy in our hearts as Mary treasured and pondered the words of the shepherds in her heart. This deep well of joy that we hold in our hearts can then be accessed when we need it most.
This Advent, as we wait for the celebration of the breakthrough of the Christ to the people of earth, we also struggle with so many adverse situations. I am here to cheerlead you toward joy. Find the deep joy that sustains you. Call upon the true love of your God for the fulfillment of the promises for your soul. Remember that you are the Divine's beloved! Hold the joy in your heart as you journey field after field toward the next divine promise yet to be fulfilled.
This is the third week of Advent, which is the week of Joy and of the Shepherds. We light a pink candle instead of a purple candle. As we anticipate the celebration of Jesus' birth ... of Jesus bursting into the lives of humans in an eye to eye / spirit to spirit / soul to soul kind of way, this week we focus on Joy and we focus on the Shepherds.
This joy and these shepherds are not superficial concepts. They are complicated and we must wrestle with their complexities. We are also given the Zephaniah text with which to wrestle.
The Zephaniah text is kind of a cheerleading text. "Sing aloud. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. Do not fear. Do not let your hands grow weak. I will remove disaster from you. I will change your shame into praise."
Jerusalem is going through a tough time. They are despondent, weary, and not praising God. Zephaniah is trying to energize them, telling them all the good things that they may have temporarily forgotten about the God with whom they are in relationship.
The shepherds are doing their job in the fields. It is night when suddenly an angel and the glory of God come out of nowhere, terrifying them. The angel calms them down by sending them on a kind of treasure hunt with a promise that this treasure is from God. Then the text says a multitude of heavenly host appears and praises God. After this praising, all that suddenly appeared leaves, returning to heaven. The shepherds are once again alone in the field.
They want this good news to be true. They believe in what they have just seen. So they go in search of the baby in Bethlehem. Upon finding this treasure just as they were promised they would, they return to their fields glorifying and praising God.
There's a notion that if it takes you seeing the promise to rejoice then your faith is little. We get that idea from passages like Thomas doubting, wanting to see Jesus' wounds and touch the hole in his side. But there are many other passages that talk about seeing the promise as the means for bringing joy and praise.
There are many of us here that would like to see a promise fulfilled. Some of us would just like to hear a promise made on our behalf. There are so many hard things happening – the war, the economy, health insurance, personal tragedy, community tragedy, the list can go on and on.
Christmas is touted as being "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," but studies show that it is also a time of severe depression and hardship for oh so many. The expectation of what Christmas should be in comparison to how Christmas actually plays out in our lives can alone be depressing.
Yes, this is a time where like the shepherds we are working in the fields. It is a time like in Zephaniah where some of us do not feel the hope and the presence of our Divine Beloved in our lives. It is easy to go through the motions of Advent and Christmas, saying the right words and singing the right songs all the while covering up our sorrow and our disappointment.
This week we are to focus on Joy. For those of us whose circumstances are dire, we may find it difficult to believe in joy. For those of us who are just working in the fields, joy might also be difficult to latch on to.
I don't know how long it took the shepherds to get to the manger. The text makes it sound like they were there in a half hour, but I doubt that. They were walking and they couldn't just leave their flocks behind. They had to lead those flocks to wherever they wanted to go. As they were journeying ... as they were leading their flocks to see this promise they had been given, I suspect periodically they might have questioned their belief and maybe became frustrated with the journey taking so long.
Christian Advent is a tradition that has been passed down generation after generation since about the Middle Ages. The weeks that we celebrate have their meanings from long ago. It's interesting to know and understand why we do what we do. But, why do we continue the tradition and how does it give us meaning today?
Can we relate to the shepherds being given a promise and then sent on a treasure hunt to find that promise, bringing with them all the sheep that were in their charge? They were still responsible for everything they had been responsible for, but now they had this promise and a journey for the promise to be fulfilled.
Can we relate to the pain and suffering of Jerusalem as Zephaniah reminded them that their God was a good and loving God who really was on their side?
Has the promise of the embodiment of Jesus the Christ been fulfilled within you ... you as the embodiment of Christ? Can you get in touch with that? Does getting in touch with that fulfilled promise which is mostly intangible help you find joy? Not circumstantial happiness? Joy. Deep true joy. This joy which abides in the isness of our soul – based not on how this world works or how our life plays out, but rather on the trueness of our being in relationship with our Divine Love.
We can not base our Advent tradition or the call to Joy solely on the traditions of the past. We must know why today we bother to wait in hopeful anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ. If we don't attach meaning to this for today, then the tradition is hollow instead of hallowed.
Finding the deep joy in our souls when things around us point to despair, is I think what Zephaniah was cheerleading Jerusalem to do. Last week we read Baruch 5 which was also a cheerleading kind of text. "Take off your garment of sorrow and affliction. Put on forever the beauty of the glory of God."
That has to come from somewhere. I believe we are created with a deep well of hope and peace and joy in our soul. Sometimes it flows better than others. Sometimes it does not seem to be flowing at all. The call that I hear from these texts is to reach out with whatever we can and believe the promise of good for our souls, our life circumstances notwithstanding. Reaching out with whatever we can may be called faith. It may be called determination. It may be called foolishness. Seeing the promise sure does help give us the ability to rejoice. The challenge is to see the promises we have already been given – the promises we have already seen and experienced – and then, to hold that joy in our hearts as Mary treasured and pondered the words of the shepherds in her heart. This deep well of joy that we hold in our hearts can then be accessed when we need it most.
This Advent, as we wait for the celebration of the breakthrough of the Christ to the people of earth, we also struggle with so many adverse situations. I am here to cheerlead you toward joy. Find the deep joy that sustains you. Call upon the true love of your God for the fulfillment of the promises for your soul. Remember that you are the Divine's beloved! Hold the joy in your heart as you journey field after field toward the next divine promise yet to be fulfilled.
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