Many years ago, I was having a conversation with someone (a good friend) who was telling me something too good to be true. I wanted what he was saying to be true. But we both knew that it wasn’t.
And I thoroughly surprised myself with the thought: “Get behind me Satan.” (I didn’t say it out loud, ha) But: that was perhaps the first moment I integrated this somewhat strange teaching. I call it a teaching, because it isn’t just a story about Jesus “calling Peter out”… but it is a story with a deeper call for us to be awake; …To be conscious of our true identities. In Matthew’s Gospel we hear of the Temptation by Satan in much more explicit terms than in Mark’s Gospel. Our version was very brief this year - and doesn’t tell us of the three temptations to power, wealth and control. In this year’s cycle of readings we are given this story. Jesus is not really calling Peter Satan. He is hearing the temptation through Peter’s plea. The temptation is directed at Jesus. It is Jesus who is primarily being tempted… and he recognizes the voice explicitly. Notice he doesn’t shout “get behind me Satan” at Peter. “But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said ‘Get behind me Satan.'” Jesus turns. Jesus recognized the voice because he spent time in the desert listening to the voice of God as well as this voice that showed up. He learned of his true identity: beloved; both human and divine. Jesus spent time learning about his strengths and his weaknesses. He grappled with these challenges and temptations. When Jesus hears that voice that would once again attempt to pull him from his true identity he turns. He does an about face. (And he turns his face toward Jerusalem, as they say.) He is aware of the struggle ahead of him. He is awake. Our challenge is to also stay awake to our true identities. There are a lot of forces that wish to pull us this way and that way in society. Forces and voices that tell us: We have to keep up with the Joneses. We have to live up to someone else’s version of ourselves (who they believe we are - or want us to be). And society is calling us constantly to this pull: to wealth, power, and control. Let’s just face it… The Bible may call them temptations, but these attributes are what most humans aspire to. We grow up believing this is how to succeed in life. But Jesus says: “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” True life - your true identity; This story is about Jesus’ identity - which has a lot to do with who we are as his followers. The Christ/Messiah that the disciples want and Peter wants is still a version of the powerful, domineering kind who is coming to save them from Roman imperialism. They do not want to hear about the suffering servant. Jesus goes on to say: My followers will “…take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” __ Jesus asks us to give up our life to save it. This is also a strange and paradoxical teaching. And to pick up your cross is certainly shocking. The cross was a torturous execution tool of the Roman government used especially for rebels. Jesus’ current following knows this. So what is Jesus saying here? I believe he is saying: deny what this imperial life stands for because, The Gospel (the Good news) is that the Kingdom of God reigns. Apparently “For my sake” is not in some of the earliest manuscripts of Mark. Mark was written just after the fall of the Temple. 70 CE about 40 years after Jesus’s death. The community hearing this message is largely Jewish. And the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire did not succeed. Mark is writing to a group who are afraid and angry and grieving; who are trying to pick up the pieces. Jesus talking about suffering and sacrifice is very real for this group who are doing just that - and struggling to maintain their identity. He is saying in order to follow him, we must stay true to our identities and stay true to the Gospel message that the Kingdom of God reigns. Lent is not about suffering in order to somehow pay back Jesus because he suffered for us. Lent is about the sacrifices we make or the practices we take on in order to know ourselves and know God better. That is what Jesus was doing in the desert… and that is what this community of suffering Jews are doing out of necessity. So what does that mean for us today? Does the Good News still need to be proclaimed? We know too well the imperial powers are causing mass destruction across the world through policies and wars. What can we do today? Stay true to your identity. (The first part of this passage.) Don’t let someone feed you lies because it sounds good- less challenging - less painful. You are the beloved. You are a follower of Christ. Our message is one of peace. Jesus gives us his peace at the Last supper. That is one of the most challenging aspects of our identities. To follow Jesus, we are to share peace. So if that means sacrificing your ego this Lent, then try it out. If that means standing up for the good news when you’d rather not face your friends or society… try it out. We are still living in a time when dominance rules. As you can see from this gospel: ”When in Rome do as the Romans do” is not always a positive catch phrase. “When you can’t beat ‘em - join ‘em” is not always a positive catch phrase. It is up to you to be awake and to remember: Who am I? - I am the Beloved… I believe in a higher power. And I will continue to turn to this good news for the sake of my family, my friends, and the World.
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Ashes to ashes and dust to dust feels very poignant to many of us right now. We are burying friends and loved ones. The reality of our frailty isn’t hypothetical.
To live into this reality during Lent is to let go of the World’s call - and turn to God’s call "whose power in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” The call to repentance - to turn to God is our daily practice, but as you know, Lent offers us a period of time set aside in our calendar to reflect on our life in God. We aren’t doing this to self-flagellate. We are doing this to self-regulate. While we know Lent as a time of penitence, it is also a time for bringing ourselves into balance: Self-regulating. (Just to use a silly example: Lent should not be about giving up chocolate for a month. If it really is your issue, then Lent should be about changing your relationship with chocolate.) Sacrifice is not about giving something up momentarily. Sacrifice leads us somewhere. It is about change. Jesus’ sacrifice changes us by showing a way into forgiveness and love, union with one another; an understanding of ourselves as the Beloved. Walking these 40 days in the desert with Jesus is about coming to terms with how we are are challenged by the World, tempted to fall into those behaviors which are self-seeking, controlling, manipulative… because ultimately these behaviors are what makes us feel “wretched” as the Collect says. But sacrifice as a way of re-balancing ourselves is a very useful practice. Athletes practice to change and better themselves. I was quite taken recently when I realized that athletes who function at a high level share some of the language that we use in the Spiritual life. My friend who is a masters swim coach and a marathon runner used some of that recently in a conversation. When there is a balance between tension and letting go it’s as if there is another body living within me. It requires the right attention and being grounded. Then there is a contact with a life force; a wellspring from which this force flows and returns. (1) This is the flow that athletes describe! This is also a description of meditation. And the flow that comes from consistency in prayer life. In Lent we are practicing letting go with a higher purpose. It can be a type of practice that we take on - or a type of practice in self-imposed sacrifice. When we practice either approach, we come to understand ourselves and our inner workings. We also become a little more awake - a higher flow of energy arrives. It is a way to “Know thy self.” Participating in the 40 days of intentional prayer, reflection, or a type of fasting attunes us with the journey Jesus was pursuing. Jesus was fasting and praying to attune himself with God. Know thy self. What balance do I want in my life, not just for forty days, but something I can practice with God now - that will continue to enhance my life into the future? Engaging the Spiritual Life is about movement. It is leading us to “know thyself" in the context of a higher flow - a life in God. For all of our frailty and our weakness, we do have access to this wellspring of life in the Spirit - - finding this flow with God allows us to bear all things, endure all things, and do “infinitely more than we could ever ask or imagine.” My friend Rosalie Richards came to see me last weekend. You may remember, she preached at my celebration of ministry. We had a couple of nice days together, both late nights of chatting as well as a shared day of meditation and reading (kind of like parallel play!)
Rose shared with me that the eighth ecumenical council of 869 held in Constantinople was concerned with whether we are body, soul, and spirit - or simply body and soul. The Ecumenical Councils, held in what is now Turkey, included Christian Bishops of varying faiths that came together to agree on universal Church doctrine, to create peace, and were attended by anywhere from 150 - 500 leaders depending on the year. Different faiths today recognize different meetings as legitimate. There have been 21 gatherings over nearly 1900 years… But getting back to 869: apparently the decision was made that we are body and soul. (Removing Spirit) And perhaps this theological decision has influenced us much more than we know. Making us Two-fold rather than three-fold (paraphrasing Rosalie Richards). We say that “praying shapes believing”… and while it may sound backwards… I’m sure many of us feel that how we were taught to pray as children had a big effect on what we came to believe about God - or even pushed us to stop believing for awhile… We talk about God as being a Trinity - but we think of ourselves as body and soul… But we actually struggle so much with this duality. We often expect our body to just do its thing and play along. If we yearn for a healthier body we delve into discipline: mind over matter. We live in a world of duality: things are easier when they are black and white, partisan, this or that… God is in Heaven…while we are on Earth… The particularity of Spirit as part of our humanity may challenge us. Spirit belongs to the realm of the Kingdom. It is mystical. And that makes us uncomfortable (R.R.) because after all we are grounded here on Earth… right? It is why the transfiguration can feel challenging. The Transfiguration of Jesus is a mystical experience. We aren’t that comfortable with it - even though we say we believe in the Holy Spirit. The Transfiguration is about a cosmic frame of reference, a reference to the Kingdom that does exist. Something that fills us with Awe… and like the disciples, may also terrify us. I was taken by this moment of terror. It is the first time that I focused on Jesus’ response. I do not recall ever noticing that Jesus doesn’t know what to say! (Jesus always seems to have something to say.) “He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” Jesus doesn’t know what to say. But he models listening. Then what Jesus does say to Peter, James, and John is: Don’t tell anybody! Not until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead. He wants the people to listen to him as a man; as one of them, as the Son of Man. The disciples’ mystical experience might terrify others too - or worse confuse Jesus’ message: interpret Jesus' healing message with a message of power. Jesus was avoiding human power; the temptation. Don't tell them yet - not before the deeper understanding of his identity - and the identity of his followers as the Body of Christ. —- Yesterday, I was at the installation of our new Bishop, Matthew Heyd, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It was a packed house, which means a couple thousand (at least) were in attendance. The body of Christ. We are the church. The guest preacher, Winnie Varghese’s sermon had one theme. The Question: “Does the Church have anything to say to the world at this time?” We cannot presume to know what God is saying, but we as the Body of Christ, the Church do have something to say. The Body of Christ has existed for two thousand years - and it evolves and grows and shifts and changes, as it must. God is not static and our lives in God are not static. Thank God! God the Trinity is moving, always filling up, and self emptying in a dynamic flow of giving and receiving: God to Human Son, to Spirit. What does this dynamism look like today in our lives - in the church, and in the world? I would disagree with the decision of 869. If we are made in the image of God - then we are also three-fold. We also belong to the Kingdom in this mystical relationship that recognizes spirit as energy… the spirit in and of our lives. What are we being called to? Are we listening? What does the church have to say at this time? It’s not about telling the world who God is - What God says…it’s about listening for the Spirit of God in our hearts - and in this generation - What do we have to bring to this generation? ——- In our diocese there is a five year mission review that the diocese is undergoing, now that we have a new Bishop - and they put out two questions for us to consider at our annual meetings. They want us to answer these questions as a group ( if possible) so while you’re sitting at your tables, maybe eating, and you have a few minutes you could look at these - Just two questions. I’ve put them on the flip side of the agenda.
We’re gonna collect them - I’ll compile them. They want me to send them to the diocese. They really just want a one sentence answers… …based on your listening, your witnessing to the needs of this generation… If you all have the energy to do that, please do. and consider …what the spirit of our church has to offer in service to the dynamism of God, working in our lives. So if we can let go of the fear - perhaps the terror - What would you have the church say to the World today? There is a story from the desert fathers:
“Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation, and contemplative silence; and, according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do? The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became lit like ten lamps of fire. He said: Why not become fire? [1]” This story was shared recently in a meditation by Spiritual writer Christine Valters Paintner. She goes on to say: “I love the story from the desert fathers.. In the spiritual life we keep our practices, spend time in prayer, seek God in all things, and yet at some point even all this is not enough—and we are asked to become fire. Becoming fire means letting our passion for life and beauty ignite us in the world…. We are called to set the whole world on fire with our passion for God.” Now in our reading from Mark, which is a very brief reading… A lot happens: There is a lot of passion! John the Baptist baptizes Jesus; the Holy Spirit descends, God speaks; and the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan; John the Baptist is arrested and Jesus begins his ministry. All in six stanzas. Wow. That’s a lot of activity, feelings, passionate work and prayer. All of this for seeking and sharing this passion for God. This morning we hear from Genesis - about God’s wild and passionate irrational behavior… and God’s passionate promise to a covenant relationship. And Jesus’ very life is another covenant relationship. In Genesis God is promising to never respond with rage and destruction against the World ever again. And God promises all of the World, all of the creatures. And Jesus is the covenant which says that God forgives us all of our trespasses, all of our failings. Again God makes this promise through Jesus for the entire World. As we say in the Eucharist: “This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus’ life was the covenant, not simply his death and resurrection. When we speak of the Glory of God - the passion of Jesus the Christ…. I believe that passion goes all the way back to this moment in the river with John (and probably years beforehand). But in these six stanzas Jesus makes his contract with God; through his baptism, through his time of self -reflection and temptation in the desert - and into his ministry. There are great comparisons between the opening of Genesis and Mark’s very opening lines: “This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.a 2As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:b" And as we know Genesis famously opens: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Jesus shows up at the river with the Spirit hovering. There were also a lot of other people clamoring to the Jordon. John the Baptist had a much larger following than Jesus. (And wisdom says) If you are seeking God, that relationship - you are already on your way. We are here “on the way” along with those 1st Century Jews seeking… Seeking forgiveness and communion. Lent is a time set apart in our calendar to reflect on our lives in God. It is traditionally a time of penitence. To many of us, this is about giving up bad habits. But traditionally Lent is a time when people prepared for Baptism. It was also a time when those who had been separated from the Church were reconciled and forgiven. Lent is turning and returning to God. It is a great reminder that we were baptized into Christ as his own - and we are forgiven in Christ as the beloved. So I have set the font out for us as another reminder of our baptism. This sacrament is our individual and communal covenant relationship with God: The Baptismal Covenant. In the end of that service we say: “Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” This penitential time of Lent is not about self-flagellation, but about self-regulation. It is about finding the balance we seek using practices and prayer and fasting. It is a way to reflect on our human nature. It is a time to inquire, and discern. It is a time to awaken our divine nature to understand that we can persevere…with the knowledge that God's "power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine." (The Book of Common Prayer, p.102) Taking on practices during Lent is a way to follow Jesus into that forty day pilgrimage. Don't forget: Jesus' time in the desert with the wild beasts and Satan also included angels. Jesus was not just getting to know his human side (and the beasts that tempt our human egos). His deep dive into the desert was attended by angels who helped show him his divine nature. I love that John the Baptist tells us in Matthew’s gospel that he is baptizing with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. I like to think of this fire as the power of the holy spirit to burn away that which is no longer necessary. That is what we are attempting to do in our prayer lives especially in Lent. But also like Jesus, this fire -is a fire that burns with passion. It is the passion in our hearts for the love of God and for the love of the world. “Why not become fire?” Demons sound completely foreign to us in this day and age, but in the time of Jesus, there was a belief in a whole structure of systems both in Judaism and the Greek world that impacted humans and human consciousness.
I began looking into this in 2009 when I wrote my thesis on Mary Magdalene (who was healed of seven demons by Jesus). The Roman Greco world believed that we had eight parts that made up our Souls. We had a commander, and then seven senses that could be dominated by demons. The goal in life was to have these parts unified and freed of the demons that would prey on our senses. The casting out of demons was a way to liberate us, to heal those parts of us that were not in harmony. A particular illness perhaps not identified yet through early medicine but was very much preying on someone’s health was demonic. It sounds a bit more like medicine rather than myth when we can think of it this way. Now Mark puts us on a fast track. Mark is our first Gospel written about 70 years after Jesus’ death. It is within the very first chapter of Mark that we hear Jesus came to heal the people and cast out demons. The other Gospels take us through incredible stories of healing journeys - and in Mark it is one healing after another. There is no birth narrative, but the immediate recognition by John the Baptist that Jesus is the one sent by God - and Jesus’ mark (literally) is healing. How has the message of Jesus Christ been so convoluted through the years… that people do not know this! Power and corruption - and the use of bad theology to guilt people into submission has marked our Christianity. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians may sound obscure taken out of context - but he is in fact emphasizing that spreading the Gospel should be done “not for building up the self” - not for control…but for the truth of the Word itself. Jesus the Word came to heal, show inclusiveness and forgiveness. He was the literal manifestation of Love. Our outline of faith (the catechism) states that Jesus came to show us that the nature of God is Love. The demons that see Jesus and want to name him… are a threat to Jesus so early in his ministry. They are a threat because they represent the temptation of Power and Corruption that Jesus wishes to avoid in his ministry (for himself and others). He wants others to see this is his ministry and not as his power. How he deals with this tremendous challenge - is to pray. The disciples go looking for him. “Everyone is searching for you.” The people are searching. They want to “see.” We are not so very different from them. We also want to “see.” We want to know this healing energy up close - and working in our lives. Why are we separated from God - and how do we find our way back? Now our collect says…. “Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in Jesus…” “Sin” is also a term like “demon” that we struggle with today. Theologically “Sin” means separation from God. The idea of “original sin” is marked in many of our heads - and makes us scared and angry…often because the term was abused by the corruption and power of spiritual leaders… Last week Fr. Mac spoke a bit about sin and Adam of the Garden - and about Jesus being the “second” Adam. Adam of the Garden is our mythology that explores why we are here on Earth and feel so separated from union with God. (Otherwise termed original sin)…It is our way of making meaning for why we became separation from God; “subject to sin and death.” Jesus the Second Adam is the way into reunion with God through Love. The aspects of Jesus’ healing ministry available to us are love and forgiveness. While we may not be able to heal others or ourselves of disease, we can heal “dis -ease” by opening to others. When we find it in our hearts to open to others - we heal. There is an immediate sense of resistance when we are irritated or hurt by another. But if we can find it in ourselves to remain open and take a moment to breathe - say one line from a prayer you love, one word - to pray as Jesus does - into this tension, into this resistance… we will find that the temptation to exert our own control and power over the circumstances lessens. When we do this, we open up to help others be “seen.” We then can also see more clearly. Perhaps not immediately, but the pause gives us reflection… and that reflective time will continue to open us to the porousness of the Spirit. We do not need to be in control of every circumstance. The Spirit of Love and understanding grows in these moments… That is a big task for many of us because we are faced with big challenges. But on the other hand, what more is there to do in a life, but to keep moving forward through a love that transcends us. This is the “saving" that Paul speaks of. He has “become "all things to all people, that he might by all means save some.” We all need to be saved by the reminder that the Gospel - is about healing. Many of our friends have been hurt by the power of the church and the corruption of the message. Let’s try through our actions, one breath, one prayer at a time to spread the True word.. The Good News of Love to others! Amen. When we think of AWE, often it is in the context of a vacation to the Grand Canyon…We are struck by the immensity and beauty - Have you had that?
Or sometimes it is in the small details of a snow-flake on the cheek… and we feel awakened by the power of creation. When we tune into this feeling and keep it present before us, we may find we have Awe at the warm water from the faucet - or the birds singing when shoveling snow…This week I was finding the thread of AWE throughout our readings… We begin with the Awesome compassion of God. Nineva! Nineva was a city that terrified and insulted the people of Israel. Nineva was the capital of Assyria and the long-time enemy of Israel. Jonah did not want to go there. And it is only after his second call from God (and being swallowed by that fish) that he eventually does. Jonah also did not want God to forgive Nineva. But he is the very agent who helps God express great compassion by preaching to a people to change their ways and turn to God. God’s great compassion, contrary to popular belief, is found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures… time and time again, we hear that God forgives. When reading the Hebrew Scripture, we often associate God with Awe: the fear and trembling, but we also hear time and time again of another AWE: God’s great mercy and compassion… 7 He alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken. 8 In God is my safety and my honor; * God is my strong rock and my refuge.” God’s compassion to move the hearts of people then and today is awe-inspiring. God’s great compassion helps open us up to AWE; recognition of this magnificent power of creation encompassing us. And in turn the mystery of the power of AWE opens us up to compassion for others, by helping us recognize that we are bound up in a life that is much bigger than anything our minds can completely comprehend. In the letter of Corinthians, Paul is writing to a community who are in a lot of disarray, quarreling with one another about relationships basically. Who should be married, how should we behave in a small Christian enclave within a Greek society? Paul is trying to gather this group into a space of unity - while he is also feeling an intense urgency - that the Kingdom is near - He doesn’t want them to miss the importance of the moment, the AWE before them. He doesn’t want their attention to be so concerned with worldly affairs. His urgency may sounds strange to us 2,000 years later, but his very next statement (not included here) is: “I want you to be free from anxieties.”… “From now on, let those who deal with the world be as though they had no dealings with it…For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties.” He is trying to relieve anxiousness about worldly life- and have people turn their hearts and attention to God, the source of life. Right now we have a lot of anxiety and urgency. We are facing illness and some of us are experiencing intense grief and loss. This kind of experience makes time itself seem very strange - and perhaps helps us relate to Paul’s urgency. He expected everything to pass away quite imminently. The preciousness of life becomes acute! The prescription for Love is vital. At the same time for those of us struggling with grief and loss and illness - we may feel some gap - a sense of a space between ourselves and the World. We are not living quite in step with others, or in our regular rhythms. So we require that space to journey into an awareness of God - and into our healing. This is one experience of AWE; Coming face to face with this great mystery - suddenly we are in it - in a cloud of unknowing. Turning to God as “strong rock and refuge” through the foggy space brings us into an immediacy of that Awe… “in its fear and trembling,” yes… but also in its magnificence and steadfast comfort. AWE is another form of life-giving. It gives to us: magnificent wonder; a recognition of our life in God - and our everlasting life in God. For others who are starting families (and expecting the Newness of life in a child), they are also met with an urgency - and the necessity of making space: Space in the house, space in the rhythm of family life, and ultimately, space for God’s compassion to quell anxieties, and God’s compassion to be made manifest in the Spirit of a home. This space - a space of expectation is different from those of us emerged in spaces of loss, yet both inspire that incredible experience - the fear and trembling of AWE. (I have not yet met a pregnant woman who hasn’t experienced fear and trembling.) Awe encompasses both sadness and joy. It is overwhelming and mysterious in its power. AWE is not only present in a majestic view, a trip to the Grand Canyon, or a profound shift in our life. AWE is present in the very minute details of our every day life. It can be found in slowing down to wash the dishes, to find yourself present to your chores - to your senses - to your breath. The importance is always to see the gift of it before us. And to follow in its way. The call for us in these days, is like Jesus who calls the fishermen to follow it. It doesn’t mean to give up everything of who you are and what you have been. But to tune into God no matter what we are dealing with in the world; …to try to remain present to God’s ever creative energy working with us as Holy Spirit and rock of comfort… …Always keep in front of us the preciousness of each life, the majesty of creation itself and the magnificence and mystery of our existence. If we can keep AWE at the forefront of our lives, if we can hold this space, it will quell our anxieties. If we hold it in our every day chores, and in our life with others, it will help us heal our relationships. The compassion of God shows up in the experience of AWE and the space that we make for AWE in our lives. In our "dealings with life," anxieties are appeased when we allow this experience to soften us… to make us awake to the present, to the source of life…. It helps us be more forgiving of ourselves and of others. It allows compassion to grow - and love to grow. It IS urgent. It is prescriptive. Awe as the balm of God comes to us wherever we are - and calls us like Jesus to follow, and to share this good news. Amen. Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139 is perhaps one the most beautiful images of God’s tender love of human kind - and a mutual acknowledgement of God - our life in God. 12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; * you knit me together in my mother's womb. There is such a mutual love being expressed literally formed - in this incarnational language of the womb. We are bound with God through our very being. In the season of Epiphany we are celebrating the incarnation. And our passages today are full of images of the body - and this discerning spirit of God in our midst knowing us - calling us - and our response to that call. Our theology and our Eucharist is incarnational. We have sacraments that express, as we say, “an outward sign of an inward grace.” This is why we come to the table to share in communion. We are expressing that we are united to God and to one another through the love of Christ. It is very physical! What does it mean to be incarnational people? Well of course we are. That sounds kind of redundant, right? …BUT we forget our true selves often because of our very physicality - we can easily be asleep to our beautiful and mystical identities. Because we have so much that we just have to deal with in these bodies. Right now I’m happy to acknowledge that we have all types of bodies in our congregation. -We have toddlers who are learning how to be in their bodies. - We have a few children on the brink of change; experiencing whole new sensations - and are going to have to learn, all over again, how to manage what they feel in their bodies… -And many of us are dealing with aging bodies and illness that constrain us - our bodies no longer do what they used to do - and we are having to learn again how to be…. How to be: How to recognize our true selves (not apart from these bodies, but apart from the identification of self with what a body does or doesn’t do: support us - or struggle to support us, anger us, confuse us)… Our passages today remind us that through all of it: God is with us - and manifested through us as our "true selves” incarnate through Christ. Christian community is a place where we come together to recognize that we are not separate bodies, but a fellowship with one another - united. Our true selves are Spirit - Spirit is energy and Spirit is felt deeply in the emotions, in the mind, and in the body. This past week I was with my best friends in Maine. We went for some long hikes in the snow. I forgot how exhilarating it can be having snow pelting me in the face, at the same time I was shedding layers from the warmth of the hike, and the warmth of conversation with friends who have been with me - seen me at so many stages of my life. To be seen. It was a full body experience. Incarnational…I felt known completely: My true self. This is the exhilaration that Nathanael felt when Jesus knew him. And called to him. Nathanael didn’t hesitate to recognize Jesus right back as “Messiah." This was a mutual knowing… a calling to one another. One deep to another. But Nathanael hadn’t physically been with Jesus as I have been with my friends sharing so many changes over the years: heart ache, growth, new ideas, arguments with parents, struggling to pay rent, late nights of introspection - or dancing in the kitchen - navigating marriages, babies, deaths. So what’s going on with Nathanael? Nathanael knew Jesus because he knew that God was with him through all of it - That is the message of this passage. Their interaction is recorded with such brevity… But it speaks volumes. God is with us - and had been with Philip - and has been with me - and with you - navigating all of it. 2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways. It helps to have a group of friends or another person to remind us of that bond with God - who we really are: to remind us to listen for it, like Eli does for Samuel in our reading from the Old Testament. Samuel is young and hasn’t yet come to realize his intimate relationship with God. His mentor Eli tells Samuel to lie down (ie surrender). Surrender and Listen. Listen for that call that makes you whole. Your true self is infused with God. That’s what we do in Christian community. We are here to see one another, one deep to another deep; to listen, and remind one another that our lives are infused with God. All of us. And our mission is to spread that to others. While Samuel went on to become a priest and great Judge, our life in Christ does not make us a judgmental group - but rather a discerning group like a sound judge. We will support and nurture the divinity that we all hold - knit in the womb; seen and loved; wonderful and marvelously made. Incarnate. John came to testify to the light, so that others would believe, that God was in the world!
Not somewhere out there. But God with us. And those who believe in the light, ‘the light that enlightens everyone” - are free — free to know they are children of God (not because a person wills it; not because they were born into it by privilege —but that they (and we) are heirs of God’s inheritance… Freely given… We are the Beloved. These are not just words, but words to live by. It is difficult to integrate something so tremendous. It is difficult to even articulate - let alone have it penetrate your knowledge of self. Loving self - imagining yourself as The Beloved is part of the spiritual journey that Jesus asks of us. It’s what helps us be receptive to a greater love, so that we can in turn be a receptacle for others. As proverbs says, “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part. -Proverbs 20:27 Light and metaphors for light accompany discernment in the Bible; Seeing clearly, Keeping awake, knowing thyself. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path -Palm 19:105 Light when directed, as through a magnifying glass, has the power to burn a hole in a piece of paper or leather. Light has the power of fire. God’s light that illumines and transforms us - and brings us into new life is an essential part of understanding the Holy Spirit and Baptism. John the Baptist prophesied saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is Coming… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” We believe through Baptism the Holy Spirit is abiding in us. It’s that gift for discerning that God is with us - God incarnate. Enkindled in our hearts (as the collect says). This light, is the light of mankind. On fire… It is a purifying fire, that if we pay attention, if we direct our focus will help us burn away that which is not loving, that which is not life-giving, It helps us burn with truth and understanding. It is our inheritance! John’s Gospel does not even have a birth narrative. John begins with the light. And will go on…to say… “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” We need light for growth. For our very life. Christmas and the Solstice are closely associated for this very reason. The light of the solstice and the Christmas Story do not cancel one another out, rather they embellish one another. We have the light of the incarnation of the world; physically THE Creation -- And Christmas provides the story of the light of mankind the incarnation of God with us. - woven together perfectly. The light coming into the world feeds us literally growing plants - giving us warmth… But the light, that is to enlighten everyone with the birth of God feeds our hearts…and needs to be fed. It is a new level of awareness. We wish putting on the armor of light would come as naturally as the sun returning for longer hours in December… but for most of us it takes that inmost work; Working to discover the truth of ourselves in our lives with God. Integrating our “Belovedness” so that we may love others more fully. The physical darkness of this Season is much easier for us to bear in modern times. But we are all facing darkness in our own personal lives. And we are facing darkness in our world. As I spoke of in my Christmas Sermon, the plight of Israelis and Palestinians is very real today. It is mirrored in our story. And we see how the story of Christmas and new light and life is relevant to today; The Mother Mary and her birth in distress mirrors what others are experiencing today in the Holy Land. And we hope for the light of God to enlighten all of us. The birth narrative and the canticles are relevant to today. The psalms are relevant to today. And you can use them quite personally. They may appear to be spoken from a people crying out from long ago. But in my mind and in my recitations, Israel is us. Zion is my heart - it is the kingdom of Heaven…and my enemies (as are often spoken of) are things that surround and drown me in sorrow. Our enemies are not necessarily people, but the things that obstruct the light, our growth - and our life: Be it habits or trials that we seek to overcome. So use these prayers. They are cathartic. They are yours, freely given because you are the Beloved We pray for all of those who are in distress in our World. We pray for Gods light to enlighten everyone; God’s light incarnate in the world… …Hold fast to it, enkindled in your very heart. “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
We hear this passage every year… Dreamy Shepherds, singing Angels, brave Mary… But Think about how radical it is: A messenger from God bringing good news for the entire world?! And the message doesn’t come via the press, it doesn’t come as a political appointment, and it doesn’t come to the privileged. It comes to the shepherds. And the angel comes with a host of other angels. Now if you’ve ever looked at images or icons of angels, they are often in military dress. A “host" means a troop; it means an army. An army of Angels comes to the shepherds. An army of Angels who are singing. This week I spent some time with my parents upstate. One of our projects was getting the large round hay bales out in the fields for the cows for winter. My job was to cut and collect the blue twine from each one as my dad went back and forth to the long shed with the tractor. It gave me a couple of hours to think about the shepherds. When you are out in the fields you have time, and the sky. It is meditative to do this kind of work. I imagine over many days, and over large areas of field it might feel very solitary, quiet; no tractor sounds. There’d be a lot of faith - and a lot of hope that the next task would go well, your friends would show up, you’d have a warm meal; your animals would stay healthy. You would make up many games. And I imagine you would sing. Our story tells us that King David made up many songs while he was a shepherd. When we refer to the “Psalmist singing” that’s what we mean. We have these early, early songs that "endlessly give themselves to us "(1). When I hear this passage, I imagine this host of angels mirroring this group of shepherds, each band singing a song. "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” The announcement and the birth of Jesus that we tell each year is our story. It mirrors us, as the angels mirror the shepherds…It is our dream of the promise. It is important for us to retell it. It is not repetitive, but "endlessly gives to us" like the psalms, incrementally we receive it more deeply as we grow and age. It is a story about love, about love incarnate, and about a promise of peace for all the world. Right now in Gaza shepherds are forced to abandon their animals. In a small strip of land adjacent to Egypt, women are forced to give birth in cars and in tents without any medical care. It is 2023. Their stories with terrifying and dangerous circumstances mirror the Mother Mary’s forced journey - and a treacherous birth unaccompanied by midwives. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, a pregnant woman named Sara in Gaza shared her plight. “It’s possible Sara and her family could be forced into exile in the Sinai Desert. (3) But she fervently hopes a cease-fire will be called before a mass exodus of Palestinians could happen. For Sara, her faith in God’s will remains unshakable: ‘I trust he will always be there for me’.” Equally radical, like Sara, Mary believed wholly what Jesus was going to teach… she expressed in her song: He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation. he has scattered the proud in their conceit. and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty. Mary: radical lady - and Mary is with us in Palestine today. Recent theologies want to point out that the nativity story has taken out the messy and difficult, painful and carnal aspects of childbirth. They ask us to look at the real woman in the story. It is always important for us to consider who is left out of our story… and primary- this story retells that God comes to us in times of great turmoil. God comes to us through the victimized and to the marginalized - God is not out there somewhere, but in the hearts and bodies of people - and people on the edge… and that people like Sara and people like Mary. To be a God bearer, a love bearer is our call. This idea that God is born in flesh, the incarnation, is radical - and shows us that there is divinity in matter. God is enfleshed; God’s DNA is in every living thing. And that requires of us true responsibility for one another and everything and everyone on our planet. I recently heard the term “post Christendom” used to describe the cultural shift in our society. But we have to remember that the earliest Christians were also small counter-cultural communities living in a pre-Christendom. …grounded in love. It was not yet seduced and manipulated by empire and control. So, we continue to tell our story… Because it is important. Not because it is the only Story, but because it is a living story that gives to us endlessly: It’s important because we hope, like the shepherds, for the promise of Peace and safety; We hope for armies of guardian Angels rather than armies of War. It’s important because we believe like Mary "in the tender sheltering of mercy that restores relationships." (3) And we believe that to be like Jesus is to birth God’s love, at the very core of our being - in us and spread through us. Singing and …”bringing good news of Great Joy for all the World." Merry Christmas! 1. Finley, James. (Host). (2023, October 2nd). Dialogue II A loving Exchange (No. 5 of Mechthild of Magdeburg). In Turning to the Mystics, Center for Action and Contemplation. https://cac.org/podcasts/dialogue-2-a-loving-exchange/ 2. Baker, Catherine and Shahd Safi. Dec. 22, 2023 3:03 AM PTLos Angeles. Opinion: Not far from Bethlehem, the plight of pregnant women in Gaza evokes a biblical story. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-22/gaza-israel-hamas-pregnant-women-christmas-bethlehem 3. Bourgeault, Cynthia. (2023, December 22) Words from the Desert Fathers and Mothers for Advent and Christmas. Spirituality and Practice E-course, Claremont, California. https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works…
Make room in your hearts and for the World… It seems to me that this is the message we get from today’s readings. Make room in your hearts for God and for the World Today’s Gospel is tough to hear. Why would Jesus sound SO harsh. The Gospel of Matthew is a Gospel written to an early Jewish-Christian community. They are primarily Jews - and a lot of the emphasis in this Gospel, is that the message of Jesus Christ is not solely for the Jewish community, but is made for the whole world. This Gospel includes the feeding of the 5000 as well as the feeding of the 4000. They are nearly identical stories, yet the second gathering of the 4000 is in a Gentile region. I also always love numbers when they appear in scripture. They often give us clues. In the feeding of the 5000 Jews we have 12 baskets left over. While in the feeding of the 4000 Gentiles we have 7 baskets left over. It is very likely that the 12 baskets represent the fulfillment of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus was going after the lost sheep of Israel. Now the number seven is almost always used to describe completion. Jesus message is not complete until he has gathered all of the peoples of the Earth. (Seven baskets). This passage with Jesus and the Canaanite woman is the turning point in Jesus’ ministry between these two feeding stories. Now what proceeds their encounter is a teaching about what “defiles.” The strict orthodox tradition believed in certain dietary restrictions and held to purity laws and rituals. And what follows their encounter is the feeding of the 4000; a clear indication that Jesus and his message is meant for more than the select Jewish community. Jesus teaches that it is not what comes into the body that defiles us, but what we harbor in our hearts. “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” Purity is not to be sought from the outside. Purity is an interior state. It is found in the mind and the heart; that singleness of mind and heart, where we perceive unity, rather than separation. From this space love flows. Jesus’ response to the Canaanite woman is an immediate demonstration of this concept. His initial remarks appear very harsh to us. And what happens? We respond with what? Our hearts. “Weren’t our hearts burning within us?” Aren’t we moved? (the disciples and readers of this scene) Aren’t our hearts stirred to cry out in solidarity with the woman?! We know what is called for here… and I believe Jesus knows that we know. A singleness of heart…It is our knee jerk response: Save her! Of course you will save her daughter, of course we know you are the Messiah for the whole world… That is the turning point in the disciples’ ministry. That is the great conversion (not of God’s heart) but of those who listen for the heartbeat of God. His message yet to come is: Your feeding of the 5000 will be completed by the feeding of the 4000 who are Gentiles. Who are “Other” and who are equally deserving! “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” Paul in Romans is also trying to convey this idea, saying, “I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means!” He speaks of this inclusivity in quite odd terms: “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” It sounds strange, but he is trying to put to words the breadth of God’s mercy. Paul is saying, it is not a bad thing that God’s Mercy is meant for all…because it is by the very fact of the need itself, that we come to know that we are all deserving of God’s Mercy. It opens us up personally and to others. It reminded me of The First Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We are looking at this passage in our current book study. Cynthia Bourgealt presents this beatitude from a wisdom perspective: Blessed are we all, who are poor in spirit, because in this state we are actually available to receive the gifts of God. We can be filled with God’s mercy and love. That’s what Paul is getting at here. After all, Jesus said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” If we are filled up with ourselves and our own self- righteousness there is no room for God’s grace. -- The Canaanite Woman offers us an example of this need and this receptivity even while Jesus makes the outrageous claim that she and her daughter are not worthy of healing. He equates them as being as low as dogs… But she immediately responds with a plea that even the dogs eat crumbs from the master’s table. She is ready to be filled… She is famished…in fact: Her yearning is so great. She is an open book, completely receptive. And this conversation is meant to be overheard by the disciples and by us. She has faith that even God’s mercy is powerful enough in a dose …as small as a bread crumb. Does this remind you of anything else? Faith as small as a mustard seed? Faith as small as a mustard seed can indeed bloom into a massive tree. It is that tree in which we are a part, the branches of which Jesus is the central core: the vine “Grafted in our hearts…” The message of Jesus’ is meant for all people. All people who come to him, receptive, Poor of Spirit, and “imprisoned’ as Paul describes it. Faith will set us free. Faith will help us to be healed, fed, and nourished to grow beyond our small exclusive identities… to grow into the knowledge that we are all one: That “singleness of heart” that Jesus describes - and that we pray at the end of every service. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Empty yourself and Open your hearts and minds to the love and knowledge of God. May God be merciful to us and bless us, * show us the light of his countenance and come to us. 2 Let your ways be known upon earth, * your saving health among all nations... Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, * for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth. -Psalm 67 |
AuthorThe Rev. Heather K. Sisk Archives
March 2024
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WE ARE ALL MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD |
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