A reflection on the reeadings for Ephiphany 7:Leviticus 19:1-18, Matthew 5: 38-48, and 1 Corinthians 3:10-23 By The Rev. Karla Jean Miller
I live in a neighborhood where most of the block has lived in their houses for at least 50 or so years. In fact we bought our house from a retired couple who had lived on the block for over 50 years. I think we are the third owners of this 104 year old home! My neighborhood, although it is changing a little, was, back in the day, the landing spot for many first generation Italian-Americans moving out of the North End of Boston. Now, their children live in these single family and two family homes. There is definitely an Italian “flava” in my hood.
The woman who lives across the street, and is as Italian and Bostonian as it gets! She speaks her mind, speaks it loudly, and is unabashedly unapologetic. She gets things done. Let’s call her Loretta. Loretta also is president of a non-profit “ahgahnizashun” that rescues cats and dogs and finds them homes.
Next door to me live aging siblings, Steven and Julietta, who have big personalities themselves, and not always in a positive way. They have a houseful of cats (incidentally, so do I , but that is another story). So, it was natural for Julietta to volunteer for Loretta’s organization. That worked out alright for awhile, but it was inevitable that this would explode. Indeed, it did. Julietta had a falling out with Loretta, whom she felt was not as responsible as she should be. (If the Department of Agriculture has you on their hit list, well, jus’ sayin’.)
So, for the past three years, they haven’t spoken to each other, unless absolutely necessary—but with me living next door, it hasn’t been necessary too often. Usually one will ask me to relay a message to the other. You get the picture. When the snow buried all of us this winter, I took Loretta’s third-hand rusty snow thrower to try and clear a path in front of Julietta and Steven’s home—they aren’t very spry.
Loretta yelled at me from across the street, “Let Stephen do it himself. He can use the snow-thrower— he knows how to work it.” They really, really do not like each other—in spite of being neighbors for years.
Across the street from Julietta and Stephen live a whole host of Italian grandpas. Seriously. I can’t explain it—somehow they are all related, and they all are in their 70s-80s. I am friendly with Rocco. Rocco has a thick Italian accent and brings me celery and tomatoes and zucchini and basil from his garden. Rocco likes me. Rocco, I learned, does not so much like Loretta.
One day, I was walking my doggies on the street where Rocco was standing, smoking and watching traffic. Loretta drove by, slowed down, and rolled down her window so her dog, Nickel, could say hi to my doggies. Nickel jumped out of the window, and all of a sudden it was dog chaos on a busy street. I yelled at Rocco to grab Nickel, but he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I was so IRRITATED with his unwillingness to, oh, do the right thing and help his neighbor? I finally was able to corral all three dogs safely, but my heart was shaken! I couldn’t trust my neighbor to help? He would let Nickel get hit by a car? What kind of neighbor is this?
The Leviticus text this week talks all about right relationship with neighbors. Love your neighbor as yourself. Mathew reminds us to turn the proverbial “other cheek” (which I think has to do with forgiveness and going beyond, rather than allowing yourself to be abused. I also really like Walter Wink’s take on this passage, but I digress.) Matthew also exhorts the reader to “love their enemies.”
What happens when your neighbor is your enemy, or when your enemy is your neighbor? This is the tension that lives in my neighborhood. It makes me sad. It makes me sad because it isn’t that hard to do the right thing—to be neighborly. Is it really worth it to give bad blood so much energy? I don’t think so. But then, I live in a different reality.
Sometimes I live in the cocoon of my life and ministry, where I am surrounded by people who honestly strive and struggle to do the right thing, people who want to give, want to help, want to love as best and deeply as they can. Realizing that only about 10% of the people of the Commonwealth are participants in communities of faith reminds me that I don’t always live in the real world---like my neighborhood! These people don’t know, or don’t remember that there is real and richer way to live. They don’t hear these words of exhortation; they don’t know they are temples of God’s spirit, and that they are made in the image of God.
Living in my neighborhood reminds me that the light of God’s love shines very dimly in so many pockets of our lives. As a person of faith, as a person of Love, I need to shine that grace wherever I go. As a person of faith, however, I also need to find better ways to help 90% of those find their own lights to shine, so that the neighborhood of the world can truly be a home of hope, of healing, of forgiveness and mercy.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Epiphany Six,
A reflection on the readings for Epiphany 6:Deuteronmy30:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8;I Corinthians 3;1-9; Matthew 5:21-37; by The Rev. Camille Hegg
I bought valentines on Thursday, two that I hoped two granddaughters would think cute. On Friday morning I put $5.00 in each envelope, signed the cards and mailed them. One was a stylized butterfly covered in hearts; the other a ladybug, her “spots” different colored hearts, Three or four three years ago the little one asked me (she is now seven) how to draw a heart. I broke it down to two motions and told her she didn’t have to make each side even or the same size. She draws hearts all the time now. They both have T-shirts that read “I (heart) NY,” their special request as I went to New York last year.
Heart shapes, especially during valentine season, are very visible these days. There is a national jewelry store that designs necklaces, earrings and bracelets in heart shapes. One advertises jewelry that is an open heart saying that an open heart allows “love to come in.” Pajamas come with hearts on them, we are encouraged to buy candy, flowers and cards during this season of heats. And remember those little candies in the shape of a heart that have a message on them? “Be mine”’etc I understand they have been updated with things like “text me.”
But it is always a ‘season of hearts.’ The ancients wrote and pondered that part of the body that is called the heart is, in fact, the center of the emotions. It does seen that way when we experience some things: our loved ones; our new baby; a sunrise; full moon. A feeling of excitement does seem to start from the heart. Likewise, a sense of guilt, remorse, or grief also seem to start from the heart. A “broken heart” comes from betrayal or deep sadness. Whether emotions actually begin with the heart, or the heart registers and transmits them is a question people have long pondered. The metaphor of the heart is found throughout the Bible and especially in many of Jesus’ teachings. As a metaphor, there is an understanding that the heart represents a core of humanity, our loves and cares, and implies that when we are authentic with ourselves and others heart and actions match.
In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus, teaches about actions that refer to the heart and which match the feelings. When Jesus speaks about lust, anger, reconciliation, careless oaths, he is talking about hearts, and actions that reflect authenticity. We see throughout his life this authenticity. This gospel is not just a list of do’s and don’t, but a glimpse of the heart of God.
In her new book “The Meaaning of Mary Magdalene” Cynthia Bourgeault says Mary Magdalene is the “woman at the Heart of Christianity.” For so many women she is a hero in part because she is so prominent in Jesus’ life and because even a smidgen of it made it into scriptures. Knowing what we know about how scriptures came to be written, chosen and preserved we realize that it is remarkable that Mary Magdalene was included in stories of his life and death. For me she is brave and determined to function authentically in spite of the patriarchy. So has she done so for these two thousand years of Christianity which have not silenced her but have enabled us authors to explore her and her role with Jesus.
Her heart seems to be Jesus’ heart. And Jesus taught and acted so as to show us the heart of God. It is that the physical life can mesh with the spiritual life and help us be “fully human,” reflecting the wisdom of “what is above is also below” The one who is fully human has grasped the essence of God. Bourgeault expresses it as a union of finite and infinite, or a union of opposites within oneself. Mary Magdalene was able to become fully human, not by parroting Jesus’ teaching, but because, as it says the in Gospel of Mary Magdalene, she was able to ‘turn the hearts” of the disciples to the Good. She lived so that she could move in the world and especially with the disciples seeming to understand that an apostle is as an apostle does. For me, Christian and feminist, Mary turns my heart to the Good. The more she is written about and pondered over, the more I can take heart for her presence in history and my own life.
Valentine’s day may be a season of hearts, but turning our hearts to the Good is always in season.
I bought valentines on Thursday, two that I hoped two granddaughters would think cute. On Friday morning I put $5.00 in each envelope, signed the cards and mailed them. One was a stylized butterfly covered in hearts; the other a ladybug, her “spots” different colored hearts, Three or four three years ago the little one asked me (she is now seven) how to draw a heart. I broke it down to two motions and told her she didn’t have to make each side even or the same size. She draws hearts all the time now. They both have T-shirts that read “I (heart) NY,” their special request as I went to New York last year.
Heart shapes, especially during valentine season, are very visible these days. There is a national jewelry store that designs necklaces, earrings and bracelets in heart shapes. One advertises jewelry that is an open heart saying that an open heart allows “love to come in.” Pajamas come with hearts on them, we are encouraged to buy candy, flowers and cards during this season of heats. And remember those little candies in the shape of a heart that have a message on them? “Be mine”’etc I understand they have been updated with things like “text me.”
But it is always a ‘season of hearts.’ The ancients wrote and pondered that part of the body that is called the heart is, in fact, the center of the emotions. It does seen that way when we experience some things: our loved ones; our new baby; a sunrise; full moon. A feeling of excitement does seem to start from the heart. Likewise, a sense of guilt, remorse, or grief also seem to start from the heart. A “broken heart” comes from betrayal or deep sadness. Whether emotions actually begin with the heart, or the heart registers and transmits them is a question people have long pondered. The metaphor of the heart is found throughout the Bible and especially in many of Jesus’ teachings. As a metaphor, there is an understanding that the heart represents a core of humanity, our loves and cares, and implies that when we are authentic with ourselves and others heart and actions match.
In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus, teaches about actions that refer to the heart and which match the feelings. When Jesus speaks about lust, anger, reconciliation, careless oaths, he is talking about hearts, and actions that reflect authenticity. We see throughout his life this authenticity. This gospel is not just a list of do’s and don’t, but a glimpse of the heart of God.
In her new book “The Meaaning of Mary Magdalene” Cynthia Bourgeault says Mary Magdalene is the “woman at the Heart of Christianity.” For so many women she is a hero in part because she is so prominent in Jesus’ life and because even a smidgen of it made it into scriptures. Knowing what we know about how scriptures came to be written, chosen and preserved we realize that it is remarkable that Mary Magdalene was included in stories of his life and death. For me she is brave and determined to function authentically in spite of the patriarchy. So has she done so for these two thousand years of Christianity which have not silenced her but have enabled us authors to explore her and her role with Jesus.
Her heart seems to be Jesus’ heart. And Jesus taught and acted so as to show us the heart of God. It is that the physical life can mesh with the spiritual life and help us be “fully human,” reflecting the wisdom of “what is above is also below” The one who is fully human has grasped the essence of God. Bourgeault expresses it as a union of finite and infinite, or a union of opposites within oneself. Mary Magdalene was able to become fully human, not by parroting Jesus’ teaching, but because, as it says the in Gospel of Mary Magdalene, she was able to ‘turn the hearts” of the disciples to the Good. She lived so that she could move in the world and especially with the disciples seeming to understand that an apostle is as an apostle does. For me, Christian and feminist, Mary turns my heart to the Good. The more she is written about and pondered over, the more I can take heart for her presence in history and my own life.
Valentine’s day may be a season of hearts, but turning our hearts to the Good is always in season.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Epiphany 5A: Letting My Light Shine……
A reflection on Matthew 5:13-20 by The Rev. Margaret Rose
A few years ago I heard a Bill Moyers interview with Bernice Johnson Reagen. A Georgia native, she was the director of a program in African American history at the Smithsonian and the leader of a favorite singing group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. She and Moyers spoke of church and the important role the church had played as a place of liberation and freedom for many slaves. Later, during the Civil Rights Movement, the Church continued in many places to play a vital role. In the interview, they spoke of music and its central role in the survival of slaves. Singing spirituals carried people through the hard work and helped them survive the abuse. They were songs which spoke of God’s love and a hope of heaven which would carry them beyond the drudgery of their days. One of the songs Moyers asked her about was the one that our children often sing, “This little light of mine”. It was sung during marches and was oft repeated in the days of the Civil Rights Movement. “Why not ‘This little light of ours?’ asked Moyers.” After all, wasn’t it part of a group effort, a community movement.? Aren’t we trying to get away from all this rugged individualism in America toward interdependence?” “Yes, replied Reagen. “But each one of us individually has to believe that our light, our lilfe is worth shining out, worth offering to the movement. We have to believe that we are worth it individually before we can come together to say, We are going to let OUR light shine.” She went on, and I paraphrase:
We have come a long way in understanding all creation as “made in the image of God”, but knowing this in our heads and living it in our hearts is not the same thing.
I am reminded of a woman in our parish who had worked hard for the success of an event, spending late hours cooking and finally cleaning up as the event was over. I thanked her, ‘Great job!” I said. “Oh, it wasn’t much,” she said. “These hands are not good for much.” She went on, stretching her hands out to me. I of course tried to convince her otherwise, but not to much avail at that moment. Until she could claim her own light, see herself in God’s image, good for lots of things, then the light will be under a bushel. “This light of mine” will need to overcome a history which still lingers in such hymns as “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” ( remember that one?) The original version went like this: Two wonders I confess; the wonders of redeeming love and my own worthless ness. The 1982 Hymnal has changed to “my unworthiness”—not much better in my view. We may not in fact deserve God’s redeeming love, but we are not in any case worthless. If we were, why would God bother? Made in the image of God we are part of God’s Body. Great worth. Let your light shine.
Matthew in his continuation of the message of the blessings of the Beattitudes is not interested in our worthlessness but in our great worth to God. You are the light. Do good works, because that is what it is to be God’s creature. We are the light. Shine, do good works because that is what it is to be ourselves, authentically human, claiming the gift that God in Jesus and in ourselves.
That is not to say that such claiming is easy. One has only to look around the world and in our own country to realize the light is too easily extinguished by a world that does all it can to extinguish the light from within.
I think here particularly about women—trafficked in our own country and abroad. Apparently the Super Bowl this weekend will be a big moment for bringing women to Dallas either from across the border or elsewhere. Women as weapons of war, rape victims who then are outcast by society are common occurrences. The recent execution of a woman in Afghanistan for blasphemy, the rape of women in the Congo and the violence that is escalating against women in the tents in Haiti are but a few examples of how far we are from being able to live out the vision of the shining light.
One hopeful sign is the statement of the Anglican Primates, written from their recent meeting in Dublin. ( I am sure it is on a link for the Anglican Communion site) They have asked the Provinces to identify theological and practical resources for responding to gender based violence. And more important, they have committed their Provinces to raise the profile of Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
Such a word from the primates has been a long time coming and there has been much work in the background to bring it about. Nevertheless, these are steps in living out Matthew’s Gospel word and that of Bernice Johnson Reagen: This light of mine. Let it shine! Give thanks for small steps that will make it possible for light to overcome the darkness.
Amen.
A few years ago I heard a Bill Moyers interview with Bernice Johnson Reagen. A Georgia native, she was the director of a program in African American history at the Smithsonian and the leader of a favorite singing group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. She and Moyers spoke of church and the important role the church had played as a place of liberation and freedom for many slaves. Later, during the Civil Rights Movement, the Church continued in many places to play a vital role. In the interview, they spoke of music and its central role in the survival of slaves. Singing spirituals carried people through the hard work and helped them survive the abuse. They were songs which spoke of God’s love and a hope of heaven which would carry them beyond the drudgery of their days. One of the songs Moyers asked her about was the one that our children often sing, “This little light of mine”. It was sung during marches and was oft repeated in the days of the Civil Rights Movement. “Why not ‘This little light of ours?’ asked Moyers.” After all, wasn’t it part of a group effort, a community movement.? Aren’t we trying to get away from all this rugged individualism in America toward interdependence?” “Yes, replied Reagen. “But each one of us individually has to believe that our light, our lilfe is worth shining out, worth offering to the movement. We have to believe that we are worth it individually before we can come together to say, We are going to let OUR light shine.” She went on, and I paraphrase:
For a people who’ve been told they are worthless for too long, we need to stand tall, believing that this light of mine is worth shining. To claim my light is to proclaim that I , along with everybody else am made in the image of God. My contribution is valued because it is mine. And then it can be part of the whole.
We have come a long way in understanding all creation as “made in the image of God”, but knowing this in our heads and living it in our hearts is not the same thing.
I am reminded of a woman in our parish who had worked hard for the success of an event, spending late hours cooking and finally cleaning up as the event was over. I thanked her, ‘Great job!” I said. “Oh, it wasn’t much,” she said. “These hands are not good for much.” She went on, stretching her hands out to me. I of course tried to convince her otherwise, but not to much avail at that moment. Until she could claim her own light, see herself in God’s image, good for lots of things, then the light will be under a bushel. “This light of mine” will need to overcome a history which still lingers in such hymns as “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” ( remember that one?) The original version went like this: Two wonders I confess; the wonders of redeeming love and my own worthless ness. The 1982 Hymnal has changed to “my unworthiness”—not much better in my view. We may not in fact deserve God’s redeeming love, but we are not in any case worthless. If we were, why would God bother? Made in the image of God we are part of God’s Body. Great worth. Let your light shine.
Matthew in his continuation of the message of the blessings of the Beattitudes is not interested in our worthlessness but in our great worth to God. You are the light. Do good works, because that is what it is to be God’s creature. We are the light. Shine, do good works because that is what it is to be ourselves, authentically human, claiming the gift that God in Jesus and in ourselves.
That is not to say that such claiming is easy. One has only to look around the world and in our own country to realize the light is too easily extinguished by a world that does all it can to extinguish the light from within.
I think here particularly about women—trafficked in our own country and abroad. Apparently the Super Bowl this weekend will be a big moment for bringing women to Dallas either from across the border or elsewhere. Women as weapons of war, rape victims who then are outcast by society are common occurrences. The recent execution of a woman in Afghanistan for blasphemy, the rape of women in the Congo and the violence that is escalating against women in the tents in Haiti are but a few examples of how far we are from being able to live out the vision of the shining light.
One hopeful sign is the statement of the Anglican Primates, written from their recent meeting in Dublin. ( I am sure it is on a link for the Anglican Communion site) They have asked the Provinces to identify theological and practical resources for responding to gender based violence. And more important, they have committed their Provinces to raise the profile of Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women.
Such a word from the primates has been a long time coming and there has been much work in the background to bring it about. Nevertheless, these are steps in living out Matthew’s Gospel word and that of Bernice Johnson Reagen: This light of mine. Let it shine! Give thanks for small steps that will make it possible for light to overcome the darkness.
Amen.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Epiphany 4A
A reflection on the readings for Epiphany 4A: Micah 6. 1-8, Psalm 15, 1 Corinthians 1: 18-31, Matthew 5:1-12 by the Rev. Dr. Sarah Rogers
Not for the first time since I started writing for this blog I am completely confused about the readings…The Church in Wales is using 1 Kings 17. 8-16, 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31, John 2. 1-11. So, the only reading we have in common is 1 Corinthians. I can quite understand why the Church in Wales (as well as the Church of England) have opted for Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, it has been sadly neglected during this season of Epiphany, but the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount also have a lot to offer.
The Beatitudes give us a complete vision of how to live, the eight Beatitudes should be considered together, not simply as individual statements reflecting different categories of people. Rather, they reflect the broad spectrum of followers of Jesus.
The Beatitudes outline Jesus’ mission to Israel. He has come as a herald of good tidings to the poor and oppressed and they receive hope through God. Blessings will be heaped upon those who are poor in spirit, those who grieve, those who care about what is right, those who are meek, those who are compassionate, those who are pure in heart, those who spread peace and those who are persecuted in Jesus’ name. There is no room for those who have an over-inflated opinion of themselves..humility is the order of the day. I think that is reflected in Jesus’ example at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. After-all, it is Mary, his mother that pushes him forward. She expects that simply explaining the situation to her son will lead him to do something about it. When we come to the end of our human resources, and we simply have nothing left to say or do, or give in a situation, so too we can turn to God in prayer and tell him what has happened. On the one hand there is that vision of the doting mother, turning to her son..on the other a vision of us all turning to God in prayer. Jesus doesn’t rebuff his mother quite as forcefully as it seems, the term ‘woman’ in Aramaic (or even in Greek) is not as forceful as it appears in English. Jesus uses the same term when he is dying on the cross.
This is a family wedding, men and women would have been separated at the ceremony and the party afterwards. Mary surprises her son by venturing near him, on the wrong side of the divide, to suggest they need to find some more wine. It would not have necessarily been Jesus’ responsibility, he and Mary we probably not the closest relatives, but Mary probably wanted to save her nearest and dearest any embarrassment…and great embarrassment there would have been had the party run out of wine..!
Jesus isn’t quite ready to come forward yet…he responds in humility ‘my time has not yet come’. I’m not sure how ‘its okay, it is under control, I am the Son of God and can do anything’ would have gone down…Jesus would probably have been laughed out of the room.
Mary, however is determined, she is not put off by Jesus’ response, she reassures the officials that they should do whatever Jesus tells them, and so they follow his instructions and that first great miracle is performed.
The Beatitudes teach us that persistence in faith is absolutely necessary, without persistence we will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. There must be persistence despite persecution, we must persist and persevere for what is right.
Mary knows that pushing her son forward is right, she knows that sooner or later he must be revealed as the Son of God, the Messiah. He might not be quite ready, but sometimes, it is our mothers that know best – even the Son of God relies on his mother to set him on the right road.
I think Mary is the ultimate example of perseverance, what joy and pain she must have gone through throughout the life of her most beloved Son. She bore a tremendous burden and that gives us great hope.
There are many difficulties in this life, as outlined in the beatitudes. We must persevere in faith for our Saviour Jesus Christ’s sake. Perhaps women understand that most of all. Life is not always easy, and it seems that there are always battles to face. We must always remember that we are all one in Christ Jesus, we are all inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians ‘consider your own call, brothers and sisters.’ We are all called in equality to the kingdom of heaven and we all have our own role to play. God calls us all, no matter how small, weak or insignificant we may be. It may be that Mary stood up and fought for her Son who she believed in, and pushed him forward before his time at the Wedding feast at Cana, but that is our role too. No matter how small or insignificant we are, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount shows that we must stand up for what is right, no matter what we may face, and our reward will be in heaven.
Mary is such a perfect example of faith, let us emulate her as we work to build the Kingdom of God here on earth. We all have a role to play in building the Kingdom of God here on earth, and whatever we do, no matter how small or insignificant it may be if we do it in faith, in hope and in trust then our reward will be great in heaven.
Not for the first time since I started writing for this blog I am completely confused about the readings…The Church in Wales is using 1 Kings 17. 8-16, 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31, John 2. 1-11. So, the only reading we have in common is 1 Corinthians. I can quite understand why the Church in Wales (as well as the Church of England) have opted for Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, it has been sadly neglected during this season of Epiphany, but the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount also have a lot to offer.
The Beatitudes give us a complete vision of how to live, the eight Beatitudes should be considered together, not simply as individual statements reflecting different categories of people. Rather, they reflect the broad spectrum of followers of Jesus.
The Beatitudes outline Jesus’ mission to Israel. He has come as a herald of good tidings to the poor and oppressed and they receive hope through God. Blessings will be heaped upon those who are poor in spirit, those who grieve, those who care about what is right, those who are meek, those who are compassionate, those who are pure in heart, those who spread peace and those who are persecuted in Jesus’ name. There is no room for those who have an over-inflated opinion of themselves..humility is the order of the day. I think that is reflected in Jesus’ example at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. After-all, it is Mary, his mother that pushes him forward. She expects that simply explaining the situation to her son will lead him to do something about it. When we come to the end of our human resources, and we simply have nothing left to say or do, or give in a situation, so too we can turn to God in prayer and tell him what has happened. On the one hand there is that vision of the doting mother, turning to her son..on the other a vision of us all turning to God in prayer. Jesus doesn’t rebuff his mother quite as forcefully as it seems, the term ‘woman’ in Aramaic (or even in Greek) is not as forceful as it appears in English. Jesus uses the same term when he is dying on the cross.
This is a family wedding, men and women would have been separated at the ceremony and the party afterwards. Mary surprises her son by venturing near him, on the wrong side of the divide, to suggest they need to find some more wine. It would not have necessarily been Jesus’ responsibility, he and Mary we probably not the closest relatives, but Mary probably wanted to save her nearest and dearest any embarrassment…and great embarrassment there would have been had the party run out of wine..!
Jesus isn’t quite ready to come forward yet…he responds in humility ‘my time has not yet come’. I’m not sure how ‘its okay, it is under control, I am the Son of God and can do anything’ would have gone down…Jesus would probably have been laughed out of the room.
Mary, however is determined, she is not put off by Jesus’ response, she reassures the officials that they should do whatever Jesus tells them, and so they follow his instructions and that first great miracle is performed.
The Beatitudes teach us that persistence in faith is absolutely necessary, without persistence we will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. There must be persistence despite persecution, we must persist and persevere for what is right.
Mary knows that pushing her son forward is right, she knows that sooner or later he must be revealed as the Son of God, the Messiah. He might not be quite ready, but sometimes, it is our mothers that know best – even the Son of God relies on his mother to set him on the right road.
I think Mary is the ultimate example of perseverance, what joy and pain she must have gone through throughout the life of her most beloved Son. She bore a tremendous burden and that gives us great hope.
There are many difficulties in this life, as outlined in the beatitudes. We must persevere in faith for our Saviour Jesus Christ’s sake. Perhaps women understand that most of all. Life is not always easy, and it seems that there are always battles to face. We must always remember that we are all one in Christ Jesus, we are all inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians ‘consider your own call, brothers and sisters.’ We are all called in equality to the kingdom of heaven and we all have our own role to play. God calls us all, no matter how small, weak or insignificant we may be. It may be that Mary stood up and fought for her Son who she believed in, and pushed him forward before his time at the Wedding feast at Cana, but that is our role too. No matter how small or insignificant we are, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount shows that we must stand up for what is right, no matter what we may face, and our reward will be in heaven.
Mary is such a perfect example of faith, let us emulate her as we work to build the Kingdom of God here on earth. We all have a role to play in building the Kingdom of God here on earth, and whatever we do, no matter how small or insignificant it may be if we do it in faith, in hope and in trust then our reward will be great in heaven.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Epiphany 3A
Reflection for Epiphany 3A:Matthew 4:12-23, by The Rev. Dr. Kate Hennessy-Keimig
It’s just an ordinary day, and you’re going about the business of your life. Maybe at work, or in an aisle at Hy-vee trying to decide between the corn and peas, vacuuming a rug, shoveling snow, chatting on-line….and suddenly, there is this person you have never seen before and he stops in front of you and says, “So…. Kate or Sally, Rick or Jim…. Drop everything you’ve got going on there, your tasks, your work, whatever it is and follow me.” Yeah, what would we think, what would we do? Well, that’s the story this morning. Jesus is passing by the Sea of Galilee and he sees Simon and Andrew fishing, doing their every day, regular jobs, and he says “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And “immediately” just like that, no questions asked, as Matthew tells the story, they leave their nets and they follow him. And so, too with James and John. He calls to them and “immediately” they, too leave their boat, their nets, and their father and off they go with him. Ordinary people doing the ordinary tasks of their day until this extraordinary thing happens to them that changes not only their lives but the whole course of history. So do you ever wonder…what made them go? What was it that made them “immediately” drop what they were doing, leave their livelihood, their worldly goods and family member behind and go off with this iterant preacher?
Maybe it was something about Jesus. In John’s Gospel last week we heard another version of this same story. On that story too, the people whom Jesus called to him were transformed by abiding with him, experiencing him.
Perhaps it was God’s power at work. Theologian and writer Barbara Brown Taylor agrees with this. She says that we tend to forget about God’s ability “…. to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory.”
The truth is we don’t really know what made them do it. What we do know is that they were nothing special as people go. Not wise, or educated, or by any reports even particularly religious or holy people. Just your average folks. Ordinary people called to an extraordinary task of becoming the ones, right along side Jesus of bearing God’s message, of bearing the light. John says Jesus is the light… not much further along in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, "You are the light of the world. . . Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). And that’s a big inclusive “you”…not just directed to a few disciples on a mountain over two thousand years ago.
Those disciples can give us a lot of hope, though. Here they were, right up close and personal with Jesus, with him every day as he taught and healed and lived out his mission and even so, they didn’t always quite “get” Jesus or his mission. While the Gospels give them their bright and shining moments, we also see them in their all-too bumbling humanity. And yet, they have become our spiritual ancestors, part of that great cloud of witnesses that remind us who and Whose we are. They help us remember that this is God’s work we are being tapped for, called up out of our lives for, that it is God who supports us with what we need as we leave our particular boats and our nets to follow Jesus, and that we can bring whatever we have, whoever we are and that God can make use of us to transform our little corner of the world. God can use us, even if we don’t quite get how it works at the time.
We are all called by baptism to be co-creators with God in building God’s kingdom on earth. We know that God desires that this is a kingdom of mercy and justice, peace and compassion. We know that we are called to love God and love our neighbor. We have Jesus, Emmanuel, God who is with us to show us how to be in this kingdom. We do not have to be perfect in our efforts. Those who went before surely were not! Sometimes we are like Simon and Andrew and James and John who did respond immediately but then spent most of the rest of their discipleship career bumbling along, well-intentioned but often confused, trying to figure out just what it was that this Jesus was asking of them. Hearts in the right place, but often feeling just a half bubble off in trying to do the will of God.
The world as we know it is in great darkness. We are called to be the bringers of the only light that can truly shine through…. Sharing the message of God’s unending love and presence, standing for justice, being peacemakers, bringing mercy to those in need, speaking for the voiceless, healing… feeding.. clothing…tending….All these ordinary acts in our ordinary lives, can bring about extraordinary transformations….people sitting in darkness seeing light….God’s kingdom right here and now.
So whatever it means to us… stretching ourselves to try to see beyond our own small worldview to try to see with God’s eyes, or perhaps turned in a new direction entirely we simply turn our lives "in the same direction as God's life" and let "our wills spill into the will of God" in Barbara Brown Taylor’s words, we have an opportunity follow him, too.
So on an ordinary day, if he came, and he said, “YOU are the light; will you come and bear it into the darkness with me?” Would we drop our nets and go?
It’s just an ordinary day, and you’re going about the business of your life. Maybe at work, or in an aisle at Hy-vee trying to decide between the corn and peas, vacuuming a rug, shoveling snow, chatting on-line….and suddenly, there is this person you have never seen before and he stops in front of you and says, “So…. Kate or Sally, Rick or Jim…. Drop everything you’ve got going on there, your tasks, your work, whatever it is and follow me.” Yeah, what would we think, what would we do? Well, that’s the story this morning. Jesus is passing by the Sea of Galilee and he sees Simon and Andrew fishing, doing their every day, regular jobs, and he says “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And “immediately” just like that, no questions asked, as Matthew tells the story, they leave their nets and they follow him. And so, too with James and John. He calls to them and “immediately” they, too leave their boat, their nets, and their father and off they go with him. Ordinary people doing the ordinary tasks of their day until this extraordinary thing happens to them that changes not only their lives but the whole course of history. So do you ever wonder…what made them go? What was it that made them “immediately” drop what they were doing, leave their livelihood, their worldly goods and family member behind and go off with this iterant preacher?
Maybe it was something about Jesus. In John’s Gospel last week we heard another version of this same story. On that story too, the people whom Jesus called to him were transformed by abiding with him, experiencing him.
Perhaps it was God’s power at work. Theologian and writer Barbara Brown Taylor agrees with this. She says that we tend to forget about God’s ability “…. to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory.”
The truth is we don’t really know what made them do it. What we do know is that they were nothing special as people go. Not wise, or educated, or by any reports even particularly religious or holy people. Just your average folks. Ordinary people called to an extraordinary task of becoming the ones, right along side Jesus of bearing God’s message, of bearing the light. John says Jesus is the light… not much further along in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, "You are the light of the world. . . Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). And that’s a big inclusive “you”…not just directed to a few disciples on a mountain over two thousand years ago.
Those disciples can give us a lot of hope, though. Here they were, right up close and personal with Jesus, with him every day as he taught and healed and lived out his mission and even so, they didn’t always quite “get” Jesus or his mission. While the Gospels give them their bright and shining moments, we also see them in their all-too bumbling humanity. And yet, they have become our spiritual ancestors, part of that great cloud of witnesses that remind us who and Whose we are. They help us remember that this is God’s work we are being tapped for, called up out of our lives for, that it is God who supports us with what we need as we leave our particular boats and our nets to follow Jesus, and that we can bring whatever we have, whoever we are and that God can make use of us to transform our little corner of the world. God can use us, even if we don’t quite get how it works at the time.
We are all called by baptism to be co-creators with God in building God’s kingdom on earth. We know that God desires that this is a kingdom of mercy and justice, peace and compassion. We know that we are called to love God and love our neighbor. We have Jesus, Emmanuel, God who is with us to show us how to be in this kingdom. We do not have to be perfect in our efforts. Those who went before surely were not! Sometimes we are like Simon and Andrew and James and John who did respond immediately but then spent most of the rest of their discipleship career bumbling along, well-intentioned but often confused, trying to figure out just what it was that this Jesus was asking of them. Hearts in the right place, but often feeling just a half bubble off in trying to do the will of God.
The world as we know it is in great darkness. We are called to be the bringers of the only light that can truly shine through…. Sharing the message of God’s unending love and presence, standing for justice, being peacemakers, bringing mercy to those in need, speaking for the voiceless, healing… feeding.. clothing…tending….All these ordinary acts in our ordinary lives, can bring about extraordinary transformations….people sitting in darkness seeing light….God’s kingdom right here and now.
So whatever it means to us… stretching ourselves to try to see beyond our own small worldview to try to see with God’s eyes, or perhaps turned in a new direction entirely we simply turn our lives "in the same direction as God's life" and let "our wills spill into the will of God" in Barbara Brown Taylor’s words, we have an opportunity follow him, too.
So on an ordinary day, if he came, and he said, “YOU are the light; will you come and bear it into the darkness with me?” Would we drop our nets and go?
Friday, January 14, 2011
Epiphany 2
A reflection on Epiphany Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42 by The Rev. Jacqueline Schmitt
Prophets bring us good news that is wrapped up like fish and chips in the bad news of yesterday’s newspaper. After such a week as this, a week of shootings, deaths, violence, floods, riots, epidemics, the anniversaries of earthquakes, and endless punditry on civil discourse, or the lack thereof, gun control or the lack thereof, crosshairs as emblems of surveyors instruments or automatic assault rifles, we NEED good news. We’ll take it wrapped up in anything.
This week we have three readings and four prophets: John the Baptist, Jesus, Isaiah, and our American prophet of Monday’s commemoration, Martin Luther King, Jr. – three out of those four killed for bringing God’s message of hope and possibility and new life.
Last week we read Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan. This week, we read the version of this same story in the Gospel of John. There is no crowd scene here; John is alone as Jesus approaches. He admits that he had not met this person Jesus before, but recognizes him immediately: “Behold the Lamb of God!” Nor does John actually baptize Jesus: “I saw the Spirit descend as a done from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Baptism and witness: the crux of this story of Jesus’ baptism is that from now on all creation is under a new reality, and John, and all of us who read this gospel, are to be witnesses to it. This very act re-creates creation; the water itself is made new. As Jesus says elsewhere, you cannot put new wine into old wineskins. Jesus is not the “cleanse” here, but the cleanser. Jesus whooshes in from God, making the creation come alive in the way God intended it to be. This “Lamb of God” is not the temple sacrifice offered up by flawed and sinful human beings in hopes that God will forgive. This is the Lamb OF GOD, sent BY GOD to break all those old wacky patterns and to bring sinful human beings back into a relationship with God. Come back, God is saying to us. Come back. I offer YOU the Lamb as a way to begin the restoration of OUR relationship.
The passage from Isaiah also speaks of God’s yearning for a restored relationship with humanity. This reading is from Second Isaiah, the author of chapters 40 through 66, writing to the people Israel, still in exile in Babylon but about to be released and sent home to Jerusalem. Cyrus of Persia has conquered the Babylonians, and to Isaiah, he is God’s agent of redemption, even though a non-believer.
The Good News which Isaiah proclaims is that Israel’s suffering is over. The exile was God’s punishment for the people’s faithlessness, but their agony has exceeded their guilt. The graciousness of God now triumphs and what pains they now feel, as they head home, are the birth pangs of the new Jerusalem. If older prophets were harsh with the people for their failings, this one wants to strengthen and comfort these weary people, and to encourage them to be the people God created them to be: the people who seek justice, who live righteously, who are witnesses to the nations of how God intended the world to be.
God’s revelation continues. God still says new things to all of us. God still sends prophets. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood his call to be God’s agent in a troubled time in our history. To a nation that in part understood itself – ourselves – as the new Israel, the city on the hill, to which the nations will flock, a beacon of righteousness, Martin Luther King’s message and words resonated. Some believed God sent him with a message of hope; to others, his words were dangerous and destructive, or rash and impudent. In the most simplistic terms, King the prophet was calling our nation to live up to God’s expectations for us – and even our expectations for ourselves – for our civil society, for our abundance, our justice, our fairness, our openness. For Christians, theologian James Cone writes,
i James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (New York: J.P. Lippincott Co., 1970), p. 92
Prophets bring us good news that is wrapped up like fish and chips in the bad news of yesterday’s newspaper. After such a week as this, a week of shootings, deaths, violence, floods, riots, epidemics, the anniversaries of earthquakes, and endless punditry on civil discourse, or the lack thereof, gun control or the lack thereof, crosshairs as emblems of surveyors instruments or automatic assault rifles, we NEED good news. We’ll take it wrapped up in anything.
This week we have three readings and four prophets: John the Baptist, Jesus, Isaiah, and our American prophet of Monday’s commemoration, Martin Luther King, Jr. – three out of those four killed for bringing God’s message of hope and possibility and new life.
Last week we read Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan. This week, we read the version of this same story in the Gospel of John. There is no crowd scene here; John is alone as Jesus approaches. He admits that he had not met this person Jesus before, but recognizes him immediately: “Behold the Lamb of God!” Nor does John actually baptize Jesus: “I saw the Spirit descend as a done from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Baptism and witness: the crux of this story of Jesus’ baptism is that from now on all creation is under a new reality, and John, and all of us who read this gospel, are to be witnesses to it. This very act re-creates creation; the water itself is made new. As Jesus says elsewhere, you cannot put new wine into old wineskins. Jesus is not the “cleanse” here, but the cleanser. Jesus whooshes in from God, making the creation come alive in the way God intended it to be. This “Lamb of God” is not the temple sacrifice offered up by flawed and sinful human beings in hopes that God will forgive. This is the Lamb OF GOD, sent BY GOD to break all those old wacky patterns and to bring sinful human beings back into a relationship with God. Come back, God is saying to us. Come back. I offer YOU the Lamb as a way to begin the restoration of OUR relationship.
The passage from Isaiah also speaks of God’s yearning for a restored relationship with humanity. This reading is from Second Isaiah, the author of chapters 40 through 66, writing to the people Israel, still in exile in Babylon but about to be released and sent home to Jerusalem. Cyrus of Persia has conquered the Babylonians, and to Isaiah, he is God’s agent of redemption, even though a non-believer.
The Good News which Isaiah proclaims is that Israel’s suffering is over. The exile was God’s punishment for the people’s faithlessness, but their agony has exceeded their guilt. The graciousness of God now triumphs and what pains they now feel, as they head home, are the birth pangs of the new Jerusalem. If older prophets were harsh with the people for their failings, this one wants to strengthen and comfort these weary people, and to encourage them to be the people God created them to be: the people who seek justice, who live righteously, who are witnesses to the nations of how God intended the world to be.
God’s revelation continues. God still says new things to all of us. God still sends prophets. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood his call to be God’s agent in a troubled time in our history. To a nation that in part understood itself – ourselves – as the new Israel, the city on the hill, to which the nations will flock, a beacon of righteousness, Martin Luther King’s message and words resonated. Some believed God sent him with a message of hope; to others, his words were dangerous and destructive, or rash and impudent. In the most simplistic terms, King the prophet was calling our nation to live up to God’s expectations for us – and even our expectations for ourselves – for our civil society, for our abundance, our justice, our fairness, our openness. For Christians, theologian James Cone writes,
“God’s revelation has nothing to do with white suburban ministers admonishing their people to be nice to black people. It has nothing to do with voting for open occupancy or having a memorial service for Martin Luther King, Jr. God’s revelation means a radical encounter with the structures of power which Martin King fought against to his death.”As I write this, I can only imagine the barrage of words we will get this weekend, as pundits on the left and right claim the legacy of King and pronounce what they tell us is the (or at least their) final word on the dreadful shootings in Tucson. These pundits will not likely notice, as James Cone does, that what happens is not about them. They won’t get it that what Martin Luther King did and said is not about them, either. What happened last week was a horrible rupture in the relationship God yearns to have with us, the relationship that God has been working on and yearning for since creation. At the end of the above quote paragraph, Cone asserts,
“In a word, God’s revelation means liberation, nothing more and nothing less.”This is the prophets’ good news, wrapped up in all the troubles the world can dish out.
i James Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (New York: J.P. Lippincott Co., 1970), p. 92
Monday, January 10, 2011
Hope for Our Souls
This is a special edition to the Feminist Theology blog,originally written for and posted on my personal blog, but crossposted here at the suggestion of Janine, who wrote her reflection on the Baptism of Jesus before the violent events in Tucson unfolded.
I didn't preach today but I did go to church. I went wondering what words of comfort or wisdom I would hear to help me understand the violence, anger, and insanity, that fed the shootings in Tucson on Saturday. I know this shooting feels particularly personal to me because I lived there for a time and I have been to several events with Congresswoman Giffords. I hold her in high regard. When I heard the news yesterday I was stunned and profoundly saddened.
Having lived there, I know first-hand the propensity toward anger, prejudice, and violence that exists. Alarmingly, these have been increasing over the last few years,particularly in that region of Southern Arizona. It was disturbingly high and chronic in the small community I lived in south of Tucson. While it's true that members of the congregation carried concealed weapons which were always a concern, there were more pronounced issues to contend with. These included chronic, unresolved anger,a pronounced sense of entitlement, a high tolerance for inappropriate acting-out without consequences, and a higher than average level of depression and substance abuse. All of these were further fueled by systemic prejudice and fear.
On this Sunday morning when we gathered to celebrate the feast day of the baptism of Jesus, what sense could we make of the violence yesterday? Eighteen shot, six dead including a Judge and a nine year old girl, and a loved Congresswoman in critical condition, shot point blank in the head.
We didn't baptize anyone in the church I went to today, nor did we renew our baptismal vows, nor did the preacher talk about the meaning of baptism. It was a fine sermon., for another time. It just was not what I needed to hear on this day, the day after that tragedy.
Perhaps, if we had taken some time reflect on the Baptismal Rite, I may have found a bit of what I was hoping for, some understanding, some hope, some accountability?
Yes, accountability.
I know a young man shot these people...but we will fail to learn from this if we minimize this to him and his apparent “mental instability.”
We are a people who have gone astray. We are a people who have forgotten how to live in kindness. We are a people who have forgotten what it means to sin.
Then the Celebrant asks the following questions of the candidates who
can speak for themselves, and of the parents and godparents who speak
on behalf of the infants and younger children.
Question Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?
Answer I do.
Question Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
Answer I do.
Question Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?
Answer I do.
Do we really understand what we are saying here? What sin is? What evil is? Do we even really believe that there are such things as sin and evil? Or do we think the Church made them up just to make us feel ashamed and submissive?
As a society we tend to relegate sin to a set of cultural bound moral behaviors. This complicates and minimizes sin because these cultural bound moral behavior(s) deemed "sinful" change over time. Take divorce and remarriage, for example. The Church has enforced the idea that marriage is forever, regardless of how unhealthy a marriage is. The Church has said that divorce is a sin and remarriage is also a sin. In some churches today divorced and remarried people cannot receive Holy Communion.
Sometimes a marriage needs to end because the marriage is causing brokenness and harm. Sometimes marriages need to be worked on, for each party to examine the brokenness and work for reparation and reconciliation and forgiveness. Sometimes we just have to live our marriage vows, to love faithfully through good times and tough times, to work toward wholeness of self and other, instead behaving in ways that cause further brokenness.
The thing is, sin is about behavior - any behavior that causes harm to another and produces broken relationships with God, self, and other human beings. Looked at this way, as broken relationship, we can redirect our efforts from reducing sin to something it is not and toward what sin is.
I tend to define sin as any behavior that causes brokenness between God, self, and others. By this I mean anything that causes me to become broken with God, or broken with myself, or broken with others. Evil is the root that causes that brokenness. Evil is the force that tempts us. Evil is the power that draws us and pulls at us, distorting how we think and see, fooling us into self-deception, encouraging us to act upon self-deprecation, or grandiosity, arrogance, entitlement, and or violence. Evil is real and so is sin. Just look at how broken our world is. How lost we have become. How even basic civility has been pushed aside, how we have lost the ability to assume the best in others.
As a Christian I believe that we humans have souls. It's even possible that there is a “communal soul,” of sorts, that forms in congregations, in communities, in countries. The soul, individually and corporately, responds to how we nourish it and care for it, or neglect it. If we feed the soul with care and compassion we will show care and compassion to others. If we feed the soul with anger and mean-spirited words, we will become angry and mean spirited people. Yes, words matter.
Perhaps that is why the baptismal rite has the entire community listen to those taking these vows and then asks the community to respond with their support:
Celebrant Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?
People We will.
We are all responsible. We all need to renounce evil and embrace compassion, renounce sin, and embrace love, renounce fear and embrace trust, renounce anger and embrace hope. We need the redemption that can only come from turning away from behaviors that cause brokenness in the world, with God/self/others, and turning toward reconciliation. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking this is something we can do on our own - but we can do it with God's help.
In the Episcopal Church the baptismal covenant reminds us of this:
Celebrant Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the
prayers?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People I will, with God’s help.
So, here is what I wanted to hear: we are all accountable for the sins and evils of the world we live, including the violence yesterday. We are accountable by things we have done and things we have not done. We are accountable by participating, in any way, in acts that have caused brokeness instead of acts that seek wholeness. We all need to turn and return to God, to seek absolution and reconciliation, and to move forward - with God's help - to live as God would have us live.
And, perhaps, with that, turning to God and with God's help living as God would have us, we will find hope for our souls.
Crossposted on SeekingAuthenticVoice
I didn't preach today but I did go to church. I went wondering what words of comfort or wisdom I would hear to help me understand the violence, anger, and insanity, that fed the shootings in Tucson on Saturday. I know this shooting feels particularly personal to me because I lived there for a time and I have been to several events with Congresswoman Giffords. I hold her in high regard. When I heard the news yesterday I was stunned and profoundly saddened.
Having lived there, I know first-hand the propensity toward anger, prejudice, and violence that exists. Alarmingly, these have been increasing over the last few years,particularly in that region of Southern Arizona. It was disturbingly high and chronic in the small community I lived in south of Tucson. While it's true that members of the congregation carried concealed weapons which were always a concern, there were more pronounced issues to contend with. These included chronic, unresolved anger,a pronounced sense of entitlement, a high tolerance for inappropriate acting-out without consequences, and a higher than average level of depression and substance abuse. All of these were further fueled by systemic prejudice and fear.
On this Sunday morning when we gathered to celebrate the feast day of the baptism of Jesus, what sense could we make of the violence yesterday? Eighteen shot, six dead including a Judge and a nine year old girl, and a loved Congresswoman in critical condition, shot point blank in the head.
We didn't baptize anyone in the church I went to today, nor did we renew our baptismal vows, nor did the preacher talk about the meaning of baptism. It was a fine sermon., for another time. It just was not what I needed to hear on this day, the day after that tragedy.
Perhaps, if we had taken some time reflect on the Baptismal Rite, I may have found a bit of what I was hoping for, some understanding, some hope, some accountability?
Yes, accountability.
I know a young man shot these people...but we will fail to learn from this if we minimize this to him and his apparent “mental instability.”
We are a people who have gone astray. We are a people who have forgotten how to live in kindness. We are a people who have forgotten what it means to sin.
Then the Celebrant asks the following questions of the candidates who
can speak for themselves, and of the parents and godparents who speak
on behalf of the infants and younger children.
Question Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
Answer I renounce them.
Question Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?
Answer I do.
Question Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?
Answer I do.
Question Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?
Answer I do.
Do we really understand what we are saying here? What sin is? What evil is? Do we even really believe that there are such things as sin and evil? Or do we think the Church made them up just to make us feel ashamed and submissive?
As a society we tend to relegate sin to a set of cultural bound moral behaviors. This complicates and minimizes sin because these cultural bound moral behavior(s) deemed "sinful" change over time. Take divorce and remarriage, for example. The Church has enforced the idea that marriage is forever, regardless of how unhealthy a marriage is. The Church has said that divorce is a sin and remarriage is also a sin. In some churches today divorced and remarried people cannot receive Holy Communion.
Sometimes a marriage needs to end because the marriage is causing brokenness and harm. Sometimes marriages need to be worked on, for each party to examine the brokenness and work for reparation and reconciliation and forgiveness. Sometimes we just have to live our marriage vows, to love faithfully through good times and tough times, to work toward wholeness of self and other, instead behaving in ways that cause further brokenness.
The thing is, sin is about behavior - any behavior that causes harm to another and produces broken relationships with God, self, and other human beings. Looked at this way, as broken relationship, we can redirect our efforts from reducing sin to something it is not and toward what sin is.
I tend to define sin as any behavior that causes brokenness between God, self, and others. By this I mean anything that causes me to become broken with God, or broken with myself, or broken with others. Evil is the root that causes that brokenness. Evil is the force that tempts us. Evil is the power that draws us and pulls at us, distorting how we think and see, fooling us into self-deception, encouraging us to act upon self-deprecation, or grandiosity, arrogance, entitlement, and or violence. Evil is real and so is sin. Just look at how broken our world is. How lost we have become. How even basic civility has been pushed aside, how we have lost the ability to assume the best in others.
As a Christian I believe that we humans have souls. It's even possible that there is a “communal soul,” of sorts, that forms in congregations, in communities, in countries. The soul, individually and corporately, responds to how we nourish it and care for it, or neglect it. If we feed the soul with care and compassion we will show care and compassion to others. If we feed the soul with anger and mean-spirited words, we will become angry and mean spirited people. Yes, words matter.
Perhaps that is why the baptismal rite has the entire community listen to those taking these vows and then asks the community to respond with their support:
Celebrant Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?
People We will.
We are all responsible. We all need to renounce evil and embrace compassion, renounce sin, and embrace love, renounce fear and embrace trust, renounce anger and embrace hope. We need the redemption that can only come from turning away from behaviors that cause brokenness in the world, with God/self/others, and turning toward reconciliation. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking this is something we can do on our own - but we can do it with God's help.
In the Episcopal Church the baptismal covenant reminds us of this:
Celebrant Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the
prayers?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People I will, with God’s help.
So, here is what I wanted to hear: we are all accountable for the sins and evils of the world we live, including the violence yesterday. We are accountable by things we have done and things we have not done. We are accountable by participating, in any way, in acts that have caused brokeness instead of acts that seek wholeness. We all need to turn and return to God, to seek absolution and reconciliation, and to move forward - with God's help - to live as God would have us live.
And, perhaps, with that, turning to God and with God's help living as God would have us, we will find hope for our souls.
Crossposted on SeekingAuthenticVoice
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)