I have forgotten her name, but I can still remember her face, her home, and the conversations we had. She was 95 years old, had out-lived her husband, her children, and all her relatives - save a nephew in Chicago who was a retired doctor. All of her friends had long since passed. She lived in a distinctive house overlooking the Mississippi River in the small town where I served as rector at the Episcopal Church. She was frail and homebound and so once a month I took communion to her. During these visits we talked about town history or the changing weather or her latest trip to the doctor’s. But no matter what else we discussed, she always, always, always spoke of being ready to ‘go’ – as in to die. She could not understand why she had lived so long and why everyone she loved was gone, but she was desperately lonely and alone. She wasn’t sad or depressed; she had had a good life and now, in failing health and no one to be with, she was ready for the next big adventure.
The other thing I remember about this woman is she was wealthy. Townsfolk estimated her net-worth to be somewhere between 5-10 million dollars. In a small town struggling to get by, that is a lot of money. She was one of only a handful of people with such resources. When she passed, it all went to her nephew from Chicago. He came to town, attended the funeral, made arrangements for her affairs, and left within a week… looking like a lottery winner. “What a shame,” one of the local civic leaders said to me. “With her wealth, she could have endowed the church, the YMCA, the library, the art center, the hospital, the community college, and anything else she cared about. But now, all that money is headed to out of town with a person who doesn’t even need it.” Sadly, no one had approached her about building a legacy while she was of a frame of mind to consider the possibilities.
Curiously, she always comes back to me when I hear today’s gospel reading. The story of the Samaritan woman talking with Jesus is so full and rich I suspect I could preach on it every Sunday in Lent and still not come close to exhausting the possibilities. But notice how it starts. Jesus comes to the outskirts of a particular town called Sychar. It is noontime on a hot, dry day and Jesus, who has been traveling on foot, is tired, hungry, and thirsty. He sits down at a well; and not just any well, it is a well dug by Jacob.
Being Abraham’s grandson, Jacob was one of the founding patriarchs of the Hebrew people. His many sons become the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was through Jacob that God’s promised blessing to Abraham began to take form and shape.
I believe there are two reasons why Abraham, Jacob, and their offspring fared so well when they settled in the land of Canaan. First and foremost, God blessed them. And second, they possessed technological advantages that benefited them over the local population. For example, they knew a great deal about animal husbandry; particularly how to breed for size and strength. And, they knew how to create wells. In a region where water is so precious this gave them a huge edge. Think about the town of Sychar. People had been living in that area for thousands of years, but not until Jacob settled there did anyone know how to make a well.
Jacob’s work must have transformed life in that community. It now had a clean, consistent water source that held up through the ebb and flow of seasonal droughts. Jacob lived some 1,300 years before Jesus. Every day for 1,300 years that well was a source of life, it was a social center, it was a site where people stopped to be refreshed, and it was all made possible by one person’s stewardship.
What have you done that will endure as a service to others? What can you do now that will support the common good, and not only now, but long after you are gone?
It is easy for us to think about that small town, elderly woman and dream of all the things she could have done with her wealth. It is a little more challenging for people with means closer to our level to imagine we too can make a difference. What we can contribute is just a drop in the bucket, but some buckets get filled up that way… one drop at a time.
Last week we joined with Episcopal churches throughout our country in a project called ‘Hope for Haiti,’ which seeks to rebuild the cathedral devastated in last year’s earthquake… and to rebuild it one brick at a time, $10 a brick. Here at St. Paul’s, our goal is to raise money for 300 bricks. Every one of us here this morning has the capacity to be a part of this legacy.
Here at St. Paul’s, over the course of this month, a plumber has come to evaluate all of the church’s water-using fixtures and to make repairs, a roofer has inspected the gutters and will fix leaks, and a new air-conditioning unit is going to be installed to serve the offices. The to-do list around here never ends. Some people grit their teeth when they see the maintenance line item in our annual budget. Couldn’t that money be used for something better than upkeep on this old building? Well, yes and no. Our facilities are a legacy and heritage from the past and every penny we put in to them guarantees that this will be a center of mission and prayer for decades to come. We don’t know what Jacob’s well looked like, but if it used a bucket and a rope to draw water, you can be sure that both needed to be repaired and replaced more than once over 1,300 years. It was up to each successive generation of the people of Sychar to make sure Jacob’s gift kept on giving.
One summer when I was in college I laid cement, mostly for sidewalks. When I go back to that town I can still drive past houses where I did a job and see the work I did. It is a legacy of sorts, but it is not much nor is it very impressive. Certainly, 1,300 years from now there will be no trace of what I did. I am OK with that and I’ll tell you why.
When I hear today’s gospel reading I recognize that some legacies take a material form – a building, a work of art, perhaps a composition of poetry – that will endure across the ages. Other legacies are financial – gifts given that properly stewarded will yield income in perpetuity. But some legacies are of the heart. There is no way to measure them. There is no way to trace their impact. But their value is real, even if it is unseen.
Here we gather 2,000 years later, and Jacob’s well is an afterthought. I don’t even know if it exists any more. But today people all over the world are gathering in Christian churches to hear again the conversation between Jesus – the Lord of life – and woman who went to a well to draw water. Yes, she filled up her water jars, but even more she drank of the water of Life. Jesus touched her in a way that created a legacy of the heart. It is a gift that does not show up on a balance sheet. You cannot put a plaque next to it for all to read. It is spiritual, but it endures, doesn’t it.
No matter who you are, no matter what your means, you have the capacity to leave this kind of legacy; perhaps with your children, or with your friends, of with the members of your church, or with the most desperately needy people in town. When I think back to those monthly conversations with that elderly woman, I now understand she was telling me something very important, but I didn’t recognize it at the time. The thing that was so crippling for her was not that she was old, not that she was ill, and not that she was alone – although being alone was an important clue. Her struggle had everything to do with the belief she no longer could touch the heart of another. She had no one to comfort, no one to support, no one encourage. She believed there was no one who could benefit from what she had to offer, and thus she was ready to move on.
So, about a reading that I could preach on for a month and not exhaust all it has to offer, let me say just two things. First, you can do something with your resources that will bless and refresh generations to come. And second, whenever we gather with another person we always touch each other, even if ever so lightly, so that some trace of the encounter transforms our hearts and souls in a way that endures. Legacies of our hands and legacies of our hearts move this world ever so closer to God’s dream for all people.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Blessing as a Call to Mission
Let me publically thank that paragon of spirituality, Carrington Pinner, for inviting me to be a part of his on-line NCAA bracket tournament. As of this morning, I am in first place with Carrington & his friends nowhere to be seen. Most people in this country can’t get enough of these bracket challenges. Currently there are contests to determine our favorite candy, rock band, and female entertainer over forty (known as ‘cougars’). There is even a competition to determine the most popular saint. In the opening round, C.S. Lewis is squaring off against Augustine’s mother, Monica, Patrick is up against someone named Constance (that should be a blow out), and William Wilberforce (who led the movement to abolish slavery) is up against Chad (a humble and popular bishop who served various dioceses in northern England). All told, 32 saints are in the running for this year’s Golden Hallo award, won last year by the English priest and poet George Herbert.
All of this got me to thinking it would be interesting to set up a bible verse bracket challenge. If you had four regions, surely strong contenders for top seeds would be these:
• The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,
• What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God
• And, from today’s reading… For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not parish but have eternal life.
John 3:16. It is iconic, made famous by the man with rainbow hair who put it on a poster board and managed to get himself on TV at an incredible number of sporting events. It has been called ‘the gospel in a nutshell.’ I remember my youth minister preaching on this verse years ago. He said it was the greatest verse in the bible:
• For God - God, the greatest Being there is,
• so loved - the greatest virtue,
• the world - the greatest thing God has created,
• that he gave - giving, the greatest act,
• His Son- the greatest gift,
• that whoever - the greatest number of people possible,
• believes - the greatest act of faith,
• in Him - the greatest certainty,
• should not perish - the greatest fear,
• but have everlasting life - the greatest hope and end.
Yes, I think John 3:16 could go deep into the tournament. The next verse, John 3:17, is kind of like the younger brother whose high school exploits never quite match the achievements of his three-sport star, valedictorian, older brother. But in my mind, it is always linked with the verse before it:
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Taken together these two verses form a very powerful narrative about the Christian faith and empower us with a sense of mission. By narrative, I mean they give us the Gospel in a nutshell and by mission I mean that they give us something to do. Yes, God sent the Son into the world to save the world, but we - the Church - are now Christ’s body and thus the agents through which God’s love for the world is manifested.
The Church has not always read the bible in this way. There was a time when we heard it say that God offers salvation to all and those of us who respond in the ‘right way’ are then blessed. Those who do not respond or who do not respond in the ‘right way’ are forever cursed. Some thinkers even took this to the extreme of holding God decides who will respond correctly and who will not.
This notion is rooted in a misunderstanding of the Genesis story where God chooses Abraham from all the people of the earth. More and more, as we read the bible we are noticing that God did so not so much give to Abraham an exclusive blessing, but gave him a special mission. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.” “In you,” God tells Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the beginning, God establishes a direct link between blessing and sending; between choosing and mission. God gives to Abraham, not because he is special or better or deserving, but because God wants him to spread God’s blessing to all people.
In some Christian circles there is a notion that faith is a one-on-one thing; something between God and the individual. Perhaps the best analogy to this relates to the stuff that keeps showing up in my mailbox, like ads for replacement windows. The offer comes to me on a regular basis as it comes to every house on the block. Most often I do what everyone else does, I throw it away without even opening it. But every now and then, someone opens that letter, reads it, and signs up for new windows. Some people understand God’s work of salvation to be like this. God’s offer comes to each one of us individually over and over again, but most ignore it. Those few who sign up will be blessed and rewarded. Those who don’t, well, they are going to have a very long, hot, unpleasant eternity, one which in my mind at least probably involves a Starbucks.
Thankfully, this old paradigm is passing away to one more akin perhaps to a parade. If God’s love is like a parade, then you and I are invited to join in. You can march or dance or sing or be on a float or ride your horse or petal your bike or drive one of those crazy little cars or do anything else that makes the parade of God’s blessing known to the world. The point is we are called into the parade of God’s love and we are to take this parade to all people, blessing them and inviting them to join us. You see, blessing as a call to mission.
Today we are launching a new short-term, outreach project here at St. Paul’s. We are raising money to help rebuild Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti one brick at a time, $10 a brick. This is an effort of the entire Episcopal Church because the Diocese of Haiti is the largest diocese in our church and because its many churches and schools, destroyed in last year’s earthquake, were great mission centers of God’s love for a desperately needy country. In a very real sense, rebuilding the church in Haiti is rebuilding the country.
Our goal here at St. Paul’s is to raise enough money for 300 bricks. I want to challenge each of you not just to write a check, but to do something to ‘earn’ $10. I have several buttons I need sowed. I’ll pay someone to do it. Do you have a ceiling lightbulb that needs changed or a smoke detector that needs a new battery? I’ll come to your house and do it for a dollar a bulb or battery. Call or e-mail the office either with something you need done or something you can do. We’ll post a list that you can check out each week. I’ll gladly buy a batch of homemade, chocolate chip cookies for $10 – hint, hint. If your name is Carrington Pinner, for $10 I’ll give you advice on filling out your bracket. You can check out the bulletin board in the Parish Hall for more information about this project. You can also talk to Roy Waller who I have asked to spearhead it, or call Amy in the office during the week. She has done a lot of legwork on the project with him.
I don’t know about you, but for me, I am not very excited about a Christian theology that espouses elitism – a notion that we who believe are somehow special, somehow above everyone else. I do get excited about a theology of mission – an understanding that we who have responded to God’s call have been given a dynamic, life-changing, fulfilling purpose. We are agents of God’s love for the world, seizing one opportunity after another to demonstrate the great compassion that gave the Son, not to condemn, but to save.
All of this got me to thinking it would be interesting to set up a bible verse bracket challenge. If you had four regions, surely strong contenders for top seeds would be these:
• The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,
• What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God
• And, from today’s reading… For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not parish but have eternal life.
John 3:16. It is iconic, made famous by the man with rainbow hair who put it on a poster board and managed to get himself on TV at an incredible number of sporting events. It has been called ‘the gospel in a nutshell.’ I remember my youth minister preaching on this verse years ago. He said it was the greatest verse in the bible:
• For God - God, the greatest Being there is,
• so loved - the greatest virtue,
• the world - the greatest thing God has created,
• that he gave - giving, the greatest act,
• His Son- the greatest gift,
• that whoever - the greatest number of people possible,
• believes - the greatest act of faith,
• in Him - the greatest certainty,
• should not perish - the greatest fear,
• but have everlasting life - the greatest hope and end.
Yes, I think John 3:16 could go deep into the tournament. The next verse, John 3:17, is kind of like the younger brother whose high school exploits never quite match the achievements of his three-sport star, valedictorian, older brother. But in my mind, it is always linked with the verse before it:
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Taken together these two verses form a very powerful narrative about the Christian faith and empower us with a sense of mission. By narrative, I mean they give us the Gospel in a nutshell and by mission I mean that they give us something to do. Yes, God sent the Son into the world to save the world, but we - the Church - are now Christ’s body and thus the agents through which God’s love for the world is manifested.
The Church has not always read the bible in this way. There was a time when we heard it say that God offers salvation to all and those of us who respond in the ‘right way’ are then blessed. Those who do not respond or who do not respond in the ‘right way’ are forever cursed. Some thinkers even took this to the extreme of holding God decides who will respond correctly and who will not.
This notion is rooted in a misunderstanding of the Genesis story where God chooses Abraham from all the people of the earth. More and more, as we read the bible we are noticing that God did so not so much give to Abraham an exclusive blessing, but gave him a special mission. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.” “In you,” God tells Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the beginning, God establishes a direct link between blessing and sending; between choosing and mission. God gives to Abraham, not because he is special or better or deserving, but because God wants him to spread God’s blessing to all people.
In some Christian circles there is a notion that faith is a one-on-one thing; something between God and the individual. Perhaps the best analogy to this relates to the stuff that keeps showing up in my mailbox, like ads for replacement windows. The offer comes to me on a regular basis as it comes to every house on the block. Most often I do what everyone else does, I throw it away without even opening it. But every now and then, someone opens that letter, reads it, and signs up for new windows. Some people understand God’s work of salvation to be like this. God’s offer comes to each one of us individually over and over again, but most ignore it. Those few who sign up will be blessed and rewarded. Those who don’t, well, they are going to have a very long, hot, unpleasant eternity, one which in my mind at least probably involves a Starbucks.
Thankfully, this old paradigm is passing away to one more akin perhaps to a parade. If God’s love is like a parade, then you and I are invited to join in. You can march or dance or sing or be on a float or ride your horse or petal your bike or drive one of those crazy little cars or do anything else that makes the parade of God’s blessing known to the world. The point is we are called into the parade of God’s love and we are to take this parade to all people, blessing them and inviting them to join us. You see, blessing as a call to mission.
Today we are launching a new short-term, outreach project here at St. Paul’s. We are raising money to help rebuild Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti one brick at a time, $10 a brick. This is an effort of the entire Episcopal Church because the Diocese of Haiti is the largest diocese in our church and because its many churches and schools, destroyed in last year’s earthquake, were great mission centers of God’s love for a desperately needy country. In a very real sense, rebuilding the church in Haiti is rebuilding the country.
Our goal here at St. Paul’s is to raise enough money for 300 bricks. I want to challenge each of you not just to write a check, but to do something to ‘earn’ $10. I have several buttons I need sowed. I’ll pay someone to do it. Do you have a ceiling lightbulb that needs changed or a smoke detector that needs a new battery? I’ll come to your house and do it for a dollar a bulb or battery. Call or e-mail the office either with something you need done or something you can do. We’ll post a list that you can check out each week. I’ll gladly buy a batch of homemade, chocolate chip cookies for $10 – hint, hint. If your name is Carrington Pinner, for $10 I’ll give you advice on filling out your bracket. You can check out the bulletin board in the Parish Hall for more information about this project. You can also talk to Roy Waller who I have asked to spearhead it, or call Amy in the office during the week. She has done a lot of legwork on the project with him.
I don’t know about you, but for me, I am not very excited about a Christian theology that espouses elitism – a notion that we who believe are somehow special, somehow above everyone else. I do get excited about a theology of mission – an understanding that we who have responded to God’s call have been given a dynamic, life-changing, fulfilling purpose. We are agents of God’s love for the world, seizing one opportunity after another to demonstrate the great compassion that gave the Son, not to condemn, but to save.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wrongly Handling the Word of Truth
Being an American is an immense privilege that provides us with many blessings and opportunities; but these blessings and opportunities come at a cost. Take free speech for example. If I am going to be afforded the constitutional right to express myself then I must defend the right of others to express themselves, even (and especially if) I am deeply offended by what they say. This reality hit home again recently when the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that members of the Westboro Baptist Church have a constitutional right to picket funerals of fallen soldiers.
The Kansas church, with its leader Fred Phelps and a small membership drawn largely from his family, has been picketing and protesting for some time. They where present at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming youth who was beaten to death because he was a homosexual. Westboro members sported sign that read “God Hates Fags.” They were present at the 2008 funeral of Gordon Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church where their signs proclaimed, among other things, “God Hates False Prophets.” They were present at the funeral of Michael Jackson and used the occasion to record a take-off on the song “We are the world”; their version… “God Hates the World.” Ever the opportunists, Westboro members showed up for the funeral of Christine Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the Tucson shootings. They have demonstrated against Jews and Catholics and have disrupted several Episcopal services by throwing blood on worshipers as they entered the church.
In 2006 they picketed the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a U.S. marine killed in Iraq. “Thank God for Dead Marines” one sign read. Another “God Hates the Marines.” It is their view that God is killing our service men and women because God is angry with American’s lax view on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and tolerance of other religions. Matthew’s father, Albert Snyder, was deeply offended by the church’s actions and filed a law suit against them. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where freedom of speech was upheld. Thankfully, freedom of speech means that you and I can also gather at events targeted by Westboro Church and more and more hundreds of people do just that; forming a protective wall around grieving family members so that hate-filled signs and chants are obscured.
I know that we gathered here this morning hold to a wide variety of opinions on various social issues, but there is something very sobering about seeing photographs and videos of placard-carrying ‘Christians’ with signs that read “God Hates Fags,” “God Hates Marines,” “God Hates Jews,” “God Hates America,” and “God Hates the World.” Are you like me when you see this? Do you wonder how a person can read the bible and do such a thing?
Two of our readings this morning highlight the perils associated with understanding God’s word to us and communicating to others. In the passage from Genesis we hear again the very familiar Garden story. God charges the man to till and keep the garden and then says,
“You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat it you shall surely die.”
So along comes the serpent who probes the woman’s understanding by asking,
“Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Notice that God did not speak directly to the woman, but to the man. It follows then that the man passed on God’s command to the woman. The serpent’s testing has everything to do with the woman’s understanding of God’s word as she has received it from the man. And how does she respond?
“We may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”
Well, two things in her understanding are different from what God actually said to the man. What God called ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ the woman now calls ‘the tree in the middle of the garden’. And to the prohibition not to eat the fruit of this tree she has added “you shall not touch it.” Is this what the man told her God said, or has she made these changes on her own? Either way, through these small, but deeply symbolic details the garden story highlights the difficult nature of knowing God’s word and the disastrous effects of getting it wrong.
From today’s Gospel reading we hear again the familiar story of the temptation. After forty days of fasting in the wilderness the one who tests comes to Jesus with three temptations. Jesus resists all three by quoting Scripture. But notice how in the second temptation the devil also quotes God’s word:
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
The devil was not the first person to pick and choose from the bible, taking literally what suited his intentions, nor would he be the last.
The text is very interesting when it says that after Jesus was baptized he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted (or tested) by the devil. This is the first time Jesus is tested, but it won’t be the last. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus encounters various religious figures who ‘test’ Him, challenging His actions by throwing pieces and parts of the bible at Him. Time and time again Jesus refutes their narrow (and often times literal) understanding of the bible; saying in effect, “You can quote it, but you don’t understand it and you don’t seem to want to live it.”
I find it intriguing that God’s Spirit would lead Jesus into temptation. He knew first hand how difficult this experience is because when He taught His disciples how to pray, He included, “Led us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Well, I doubt it is God’s Spirit who leads us to those places where our flesh is tempted. We can do that well enough on our own, thank you. But God’s Spirit can and does lead us to the place of testing where we confront others and allow ourselves to be confronted with God’s word. Surely we are still trying to discern God’s unfolding dream for all people. Surely we are still trying to comprehend the magnitude of God’s love. How and when do we add addendums like “and you can not touch it” to what God has revealed? How and when do we take what God has said and make it out to be something else? How and when do we pick and choose from the bible what we will take literally at the exclusion of the totality of Scripture’s thrust and witness?
Thank God the Spirit has led the Church into temptation, otherwise Gentiles would be considered unworthy of the Gospel (with bible verses to back it up), Jews would be persecuted for killing Jesus (with bible verse to back it up), slavery would be an acceptable institution (with bible verses to back it up), women would be marginalized in society and in the Church (with bible verses to back it up), divorced people would be driven from the Church (with bible verses to back it up), women who give birth out of wedlock would be stoned (with bible verses to back it up), homosexuals and lesbians would be executed (with bible verses to back it up), and people of other faith traditions would be consigned to an eternity of hellfire and damnation (with bible verses to back it up). Thank God that the Spirit has led us to test our understanding of God’s word and will. Thank God that the kingdom of God is emerging in our midst.
The thing that is so sobering about the Westboro Baptist Church is that you can read a verse of the bible here and verse of the bible there and absolutely justify everything they say and do. But the reality is that you cannot read the whole of Scripture and come to the conclusion that they are doing God’s work. Sadly self-deceived, they employ the bible in much the same way the Tempter used it on Jesus.
If you read the bible with a small, narrow, and hate-filled heart your will surely find a god who conforms to your small, narrow, and hate-filled ways. If you read the bible with an open, generous, and loving heart you will find God to be even more open and generous and loving than you imagine. When I read the bible I hear the story of God’s unfolding dream as it has been lived out through a people who have struggled to understand God’ compassionate and merciful ways. Yes, we have struggled, but we are moving in the right direction; moving toward the Kingdom of God. If you are repulsed by the hateful signs and chants of the Westboro Church, then you too are on the right path. Let’s pray to God asking the Spirit to help us pick up the pace.
The Kansas church, with its leader Fred Phelps and a small membership drawn largely from his family, has been picketing and protesting for some time. They where present at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming youth who was beaten to death because he was a homosexual. Westboro members sported sign that read “God Hates Fags.” They were present at the 2008 funeral of Gordon Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church where their signs proclaimed, among other things, “God Hates False Prophets.” They were present at the funeral of Michael Jackson and used the occasion to record a take-off on the song “We are the world”; their version… “God Hates the World.” Ever the opportunists, Westboro members showed up for the funeral of Christine Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the Tucson shootings. They have demonstrated against Jews and Catholics and have disrupted several Episcopal services by throwing blood on worshipers as they entered the church.
In 2006 they picketed the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a U.S. marine killed in Iraq. “Thank God for Dead Marines” one sign read. Another “God Hates the Marines.” It is their view that God is killing our service men and women because God is angry with American’s lax view on issues like abortion, homosexuality, and tolerance of other religions. Matthew’s father, Albert Snyder, was deeply offended by the church’s actions and filed a law suit against them. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where freedom of speech was upheld. Thankfully, freedom of speech means that you and I can also gather at events targeted by Westboro Church and more and more hundreds of people do just that; forming a protective wall around grieving family members so that hate-filled signs and chants are obscured.
I know that we gathered here this morning hold to a wide variety of opinions on various social issues, but there is something very sobering about seeing photographs and videos of placard-carrying ‘Christians’ with signs that read “God Hates Fags,” “God Hates Marines,” “God Hates Jews,” “God Hates America,” and “God Hates the World.” Are you like me when you see this? Do you wonder how a person can read the bible and do such a thing?
Two of our readings this morning highlight the perils associated with understanding God’s word to us and communicating to others. In the passage from Genesis we hear again the very familiar Garden story. God charges the man to till and keep the garden and then says,
“You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat it you shall surely die.”
So along comes the serpent who probes the woman’s understanding by asking,
“Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Notice that God did not speak directly to the woman, but to the man. It follows then that the man passed on God’s command to the woman. The serpent’s testing has everything to do with the woman’s understanding of God’s word as she has received it from the man. And how does she respond?
“We may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”
Well, two things in her understanding are different from what God actually said to the man. What God called ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ the woman now calls ‘the tree in the middle of the garden’. And to the prohibition not to eat the fruit of this tree she has added “you shall not touch it.” Is this what the man told her God said, or has she made these changes on her own? Either way, through these small, but deeply symbolic details the garden story highlights the difficult nature of knowing God’s word and the disastrous effects of getting it wrong.
From today’s Gospel reading we hear again the familiar story of the temptation. After forty days of fasting in the wilderness the one who tests comes to Jesus with three temptations. Jesus resists all three by quoting Scripture. But notice how in the second temptation the devil also quotes God’s word:
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
The devil was not the first person to pick and choose from the bible, taking literally what suited his intentions, nor would he be the last.
The text is very interesting when it says that after Jesus was baptized he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted (or tested) by the devil. This is the first time Jesus is tested, but it won’t be the last. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus encounters various religious figures who ‘test’ Him, challenging His actions by throwing pieces and parts of the bible at Him. Time and time again Jesus refutes their narrow (and often times literal) understanding of the bible; saying in effect, “You can quote it, but you don’t understand it and you don’t seem to want to live it.”
I find it intriguing that God’s Spirit would lead Jesus into temptation. He knew first hand how difficult this experience is because when He taught His disciples how to pray, He included, “Led us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Well, I doubt it is God’s Spirit who leads us to those places where our flesh is tempted. We can do that well enough on our own, thank you. But God’s Spirit can and does lead us to the place of testing where we confront others and allow ourselves to be confronted with God’s word. Surely we are still trying to discern God’s unfolding dream for all people. Surely we are still trying to comprehend the magnitude of God’s love. How and when do we add addendums like “and you can not touch it” to what God has revealed? How and when do we take what God has said and make it out to be something else? How and when do we pick and choose from the bible what we will take literally at the exclusion of the totality of Scripture’s thrust and witness?
Thank God the Spirit has led the Church into temptation, otherwise Gentiles would be considered unworthy of the Gospel (with bible verses to back it up), Jews would be persecuted for killing Jesus (with bible verse to back it up), slavery would be an acceptable institution (with bible verses to back it up), women would be marginalized in society and in the Church (with bible verses to back it up), divorced people would be driven from the Church (with bible verses to back it up), women who give birth out of wedlock would be stoned (with bible verses to back it up), homosexuals and lesbians would be executed (with bible verses to back it up), and people of other faith traditions would be consigned to an eternity of hellfire and damnation (with bible verses to back it up). Thank God that the Spirit has led us to test our understanding of God’s word and will. Thank God that the kingdom of God is emerging in our midst.
The thing that is so sobering about the Westboro Baptist Church is that you can read a verse of the bible here and verse of the bible there and absolutely justify everything they say and do. But the reality is that you cannot read the whole of Scripture and come to the conclusion that they are doing God’s work. Sadly self-deceived, they employ the bible in much the same way the Tempter used it on Jesus.
If you read the bible with a small, narrow, and hate-filled heart your will surely find a god who conforms to your small, narrow, and hate-filled ways. If you read the bible with an open, generous, and loving heart you will find God to be even more open and generous and loving than you imagine. When I read the bible I hear the story of God’s unfolding dream as it has been lived out through a people who have struggled to understand God’ compassionate and merciful ways. Yes, we have struggled, but we are moving in the right direction; moving toward the Kingdom of God. If you are repulsed by the hateful signs and chants of the Westboro Church, then you too are on the right path. Let’s pray to God asking the Spirit to help us pick up the pace.
Monday, March 7, 2011
A Rush to Discernment
In pulpits all across America this morning, in parishes where the Lectionary is practiced, preachers will be giving Peter a pounding (but not with pickled-peppers). He is one of three people to accompany Jesus on a hike up a mountain. He is one of three to observe Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah, foundational figures in the faith long ago deceased. He is one of three to witness the Transfiguration, where for a brief moment our Lord’s divine nature eclipses His human body. But he is the only one to say something to try to make sense of it all. Let’s give Peter credit for perceiving the gravity of what was happening. Indeed, this was a momentous event. Building a shrine to commemorate it was certainly an option worth considering. But Peter ends up on the receiving end of a holy, verbal beat-down: “This is my Son. He was around before creation was called forth. Don’t you think it might be a good idea to get His input!”
And what does Jesus say the disciples should do? He directs them not to tell anyone about it – not a word – until after He has risen from the dead. We might want to consider that Peter’s blunder here was a rush to discernment. He wanted to act before he had absorbed. He wanted to respond before he had reflected. He wanted to enshrine before he understood. He would have been very much at home in our contemporary society with its go-go-go-tweet-comment-send-as-quick-as-you-can approach to life. We too are impatience and impetuous. We act first, dive in, and dash ahead pretty much all the time. Have many times have we thought or said, “I should have stopped and thought about before I did it?”
If the rush to discernment was Peter’ faux paus in this situation, Mary, the mother of Jesus, models the other end of the spectrum. You remember the Christmas story: how an angel appears to her and tells her she will have a son even though she is chaste; how they travel to Bethlehem for the census and the baby is born in a small animal shed because she and Joseph could not find more suitable lodging; and how shepherds appeared in the night to worship the child, telling fantastic tales of an angelic chorus. Do you remember Mary’s response to all of this? She did not suggest that Joseph, a carpenter by trade, might want to convert the barn into a shrine. Scripture says she “treasured these things, pondering them in her heart.” Pondering – the opposite of rushing to discernment.
In the long history of our Christian tradition, discernment is thought to have two major components: attentiveness and discrimination.
Early on, if a person was said to be spiritual, it meant he or she was under the power of God’s Spirit. Even still, a spiritual person understood there were other spirits vying for his/her attention. Some of these are the spirits of the world: those aspects of our culture not aligned with God’s purpose. Others are spirits of the flesh, which include bodily addictions as well aspects of the personality (being self-centered, anxious, or hateful for example). And still other spirits come from the “evil one” as active forces intentionally working against God’s good. (Pay attention to today’s baptism where I will ask the parents and sponsors to renounce Satan, the world, and the self.)
If we are going to avoid a rush to discernment then one thing we must do is take time to be attentive, to look deep within our selves in order to sort out the various motivations for our thoughts and actions. As we pay attention to what is going on around us we need to understand what it going on within us. Our first impulse, a lingering sentiment, and sometimes even a nagging thought are not reflective of God’s desire; they are not always the fruit of God’s Spirit. A few years ago, Win Lewis got my attention when he said this: “More and more we are finding that the single most important characteristic required for a person to be a good priest is self-awareness” – being conscious of who you are and what makes you tick so that you do not act out unaware of how your inner world projects itself on the outer world.
The other component of discernment is discrimination. Developing the capacity to pay attention is important. It helps you to know be aware of all that is happing on the inside and the out. Discrimination is about sifting through and evaluating all that you have gathered through focused attention. We have many allies to help us with this work. We can turn to Scripture. We can seek out the advice of a trusted friend or mentor. We can engage the sensus fidelium – the collected sense of the faithful. We can immerse ourselves in the best writing of our current day as well as the works of saints and sages from the past. We can pray. Discrimination is not the same thing as problem solving or weighing the pros and cons. One writer says it is more like when a flower turns itself to face the sun. Don’t understand that image? Live with it for a while and see what emerges.
Peter must have learned something from the events we read about today because some time after the Resurrection and after the Ascension and after Pentecost, Peter finds himself in a costal city staying with a person named Simon the tanner. Its noon and Peter goes to prayer, but he is hungry. He falls into a trance and has a vision of (for lack of better words) a picnic coming down from heaven. God invites him to go ahead and eat, but Peter protests that the meal consists entirely of food Jews are commanded not to eat. God says in reply, “No one must call unclean what I call clean.” Peter awakes and the text says he is puzzled.
At that very moment, representatives of a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius arrive at Simon’s house. Cornelius was a devout Gentile who wanted to honor God. Days before an angel instructed him to send for Peter. When his emissaries explain their mission, Peter agrees to meet with Cornelius. Once there the two men talk. Peter preaches the Gospel, but he is concerned that his message should only be shared with the children of Israel. Then an astounding thing happens. The Holy Spirit falls on Cornelius and his family just as it had fallen on Peter and the others at Pentecost. Now apostle knows what he must do. He baptizes all who are present into the Christian faith and life.
This time Peter does not rush to discernment. He lives with what puzzles him for several days. Only once all the elements have unfolded and come into focus does Peter speak and act. He has been both attentive and discriminating.
I have found that discernment is both a gift of God’s Spirit and a spiritual discipline I have developed over the course of my life. I am not perfect at it by any means, but do I sense I am better at it now then I was years ago. A part of my prayer life is devoted to reflecting on what is happening in my world and in my being: what am I seeing, what am I missing, what is all of it doing to me, how am I affecting what is happening? And as awareness sets in discrimination begins: what are my options, what is consistent with my sense of integrity, what will give me energy or joy or peace, what is God’s will? Shrines shouldn’t be built at the drop of a hat and when it comes to weighty matters discernment should not be rushed.
And what does Jesus say the disciples should do? He directs them not to tell anyone about it – not a word – until after He has risen from the dead. We might want to consider that Peter’s blunder here was a rush to discernment. He wanted to act before he had absorbed. He wanted to respond before he had reflected. He wanted to enshrine before he understood. He would have been very much at home in our contemporary society with its go-go-go-tweet-comment-send-as-quick-as-you-can approach to life. We too are impatience and impetuous. We act first, dive in, and dash ahead pretty much all the time. Have many times have we thought or said, “I should have stopped and thought about before I did it?”
If the rush to discernment was Peter’ faux paus in this situation, Mary, the mother of Jesus, models the other end of the spectrum. You remember the Christmas story: how an angel appears to her and tells her she will have a son even though she is chaste; how they travel to Bethlehem for the census and the baby is born in a small animal shed because she and Joseph could not find more suitable lodging; and how shepherds appeared in the night to worship the child, telling fantastic tales of an angelic chorus. Do you remember Mary’s response to all of this? She did not suggest that Joseph, a carpenter by trade, might want to convert the barn into a shrine. Scripture says she “treasured these things, pondering them in her heart.” Pondering – the opposite of rushing to discernment.
In the long history of our Christian tradition, discernment is thought to have two major components: attentiveness and discrimination.
Early on, if a person was said to be spiritual, it meant he or she was under the power of God’s Spirit. Even still, a spiritual person understood there were other spirits vying for his/her attention. Some of these are the spirits of the world: those aspects of our culture not aligned with God’s purpose. Others are spirits of the flesh, which include bodily addictions as well aspects of the personality (being self-centered, anxious, or hateful for example). And still other spirits come from the “evil one” as active forces intentionally working against God’s good. (Pay attention to today’s baptism where I will ask the parents and sponsors to renounce Satan, the world, and the self.)
If we are going to avoid a rush to discernment then one thing we must do is take time to be attentive, to look deep within our selves in order to sort out the various motivations for our thoughts and actions. As we pay attention to what is going on around us we need to understand what it going on within us. Our first impulse, a lingering sentiment, and sometimes even a nagging thought are not reflective of God’s desire; they are not always the fruit of God’s Spirit. A few years ago, Win Lewis got my attention when he said this: “More and more we are finding that the single most important characteristic required for a person to be a good priest is self-awareness” – being conscious of who you are and what makes you tick so that you do not act out unaware of how your inner world projects itself on the outer world.
The other component of discernment is discrimination. Developing the capacity to pay attention is important. It helps you to know be aware of all that is happing on the inside and the out. Discrimination is about sifting through and evaluating all that you have gathered through focused attention. We have many allies to help us with this work. We can turn to Scripture. We can seek out the advice of a trusted friend or mentor. We can engage the sensus fidelium – the collected sense of the faithful. We can immerse ourselves in the best writing of our current day as well as the works of saints and sages from the past. We can pray. Discrimination is not the same thing as problem solving or weighing the pros and cons. One writer says it is more like when a flower turns itself to face the sun. Don’t understand that image? Live with it for a while and see what emerges.
Peter must have learned something from the events we read about today because some time after the Resurrection and after the Ascension and after Pentecost, Peter finds himself in a costal city staying with a person named Simon the tanner. Its noon and Peter goes to prayer, but he is hungry. He falls into a trance and has a vision of (for lack of better words) a picnic coming down from heaven. God invites him to go ahead and eat, but Peter protests that the meal consists entirely of food Jews are commanded not to eat. God says in reply, “No one must call unclean what I call clean.” Peter awakes and the text says he is puzzled.
At that very moment, representatives of a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius arrive at Simon’s house. Cornelius was a devout Gentile who wanted to honor God. Days before an angel instructed him to send for Peter. When his emissaries explain their mission, Peter agrees to meet with Cornelius. Once there the two men talk. Peter preaches the Gospel, but he is concerned that his message should only be shared with the children of Israel. Then an astounding thing happens. The Holy Spirit falls on Cornelius and his family just as it had fallen on Peter and the others at Pentecost. Now apostle knows what he must do. He baptizes all who are present into the Christian faith and life.
This time Peter does not rush to discernment. He lives with what puzzles him for several days. Only once all the elements have unfolded and come into focus does Peter speak and act. He has been both attentive and discriminating.
I have found that discernment is both a gift of God’s Spirit and a spiritual discipline I have developed over the course of my life. I am not perfect at it by any means, but do I sense I am better at it now then I was years ago. A part of my prayer life is devoted to reflecting on what is happening in my world and in my being: what am I seeing, what am I missing, what is all of it doing to me, how am I affecting what is happening? And as awareness sets in discrimination begins: what are my options, what is consistent with my sense of integrity, what will give me energy or joy or peace, what is God’s will? Shrines shouldn’t be built at the drop of a hat and when it comes to weighty matters discernment should not be rushed.
Monday, February 28, 2011
The Rule on Poverty
Last week I told you a story about a crooked landlord, so how about we change gears and begin this week with a lawyer. I attended a stewardship conference in the early 90’s where the keynote speaker recalled an event that happened when he was consulting with a vestry. He was with them to talk about stewardship and one aspect of his focus was the biblical notion of the Tithe. He went through scripture after scripture which indicate the starting point for our offering to God is 10% (or the tithe) of our wealth.
Throughout the presentation, one gentleman’s body language became more and more agitated. Finally he spoke up. “I am a lawyer,” he said, “and I make $400,000 a year.” Now that is pretty good money today, but twenty-five years ago it was really good money. “So, based on what you are saying,” the lawyer continued, “I should be giving away $40,000 a year.” “That’s right,” the speaker said, “That would be your tithe.” “Well,” the lawyer responded, “I can’t afford it.” He went on to detail how he had two mortgages, five car payments, three boat loans, college tuition, personal expenses, and on and on and on. In fact, when you tallied all of the lawyer’s financial obligations, he was actually spending more than he was making. The speaker tried to show him how scaling back could help him live within his means, focus on what is essential, be able to offer more to charity, and generally have more peace of mind, but – in the end – the lawyer would have none of it.
That story always comes back to me when I hear the words of Jesus we read just moments ago:
“You cannot serve two masters… You cannot love God and money.”
I have to confess that this teaching brings out all of my most effective defense mechanisms:
• Sure, I have some money, but there are lots of people who are wealthier than me. Obviously Jesus must be talking about them.
• Okay, I have possessions, but I am not dripping with stuff like person X over there.
•And, my new favorite, a significant portion of my tithe is distributed by Uncle Sam.
Somewhere in all these responses, I have lost sight of the truth that Jesus does not heap burdensome commands on us just to test our faithfulness, but rather as a Guide points us toward the path of life; which is to say there is wisdom in what Jesus says that blesses all who heed it. Rather than insolate ourselves from it, we should want to explore it, understand it, and incorporate it into our lives.
Before I was ordained a deacon and before I was ordained a priest, I made silent retreats with the Cowley Fathers, members of the Society of St. John the Evangelist whose monastic community is located on the Charles River just off Harvard Square in Boston. Each member of the community makes the typical monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Now, I would have thought that this would make the brothers something wholly other, different from life as I know it, and unrelated to the world as I experience. In fact, what I found was a group of people who were very much engaged with the world and who, better than me, seemed to have figured out what life is all about. They are not perfect, but they are striving to live into the wisdom that Jesus offers through His teaching.
The Cowley Fathers are guided by a Rule of Life, which speaks to the various vows they make. The Rule says that the brothers embrace poverty as a way of relating to God whose self-giving is seen in the calling forth of creation, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ (through which the Rule says “God broke all the limits of generosity”), and in the Cross, which is the ultimate expression of God’s self-giving nature. Each brother takes a vow of poverty in order to be bound to the same self-emptying nature we find in God. The Rule states that the vow of poverty creates space for God to fill each brother with the richness he needs to give himself away in “a common life of worship, hospitality, evangelism, and service.”
So here is the first insight the Rule offers to us: Either we can focus our life on the Creator or we can focus it on the creation. Think of it this way: When I attended the NSA Art Show I saw several of Betsy Brother’s paintings on display and then I ran into Betsey herself. Now Betsey’s paintings are very nice, but if all I knew of her were her paintings my life would be poorer. Wouldn’t it be strange if I ran around from show to show snatching up all of Betsey’s work, but had little or no interest in her? The Rule encourages us to enjoy the artwork, but even more to love the Artist.
The Rule goes on to describe how sharing everything allows the brothers to be “in harmony with the very being of God whose Triune life is boundless sharing.” It helps them to recognize how a focus on “my” needs, “my” fulfillment, and “my” security is a cultural trap from which we can be set free. Now, the Cowley Fathers community obviously has possessions and it is supported by a large endowment. So each brother has a personal responsibility to care for the community’s possessions and as a group they purchase only what is appropriate and necessary. The Rule even directs brothers to “seek the permission of the Superior to keep any gifts offered” to them as individuals.
All of this suggests a second insight. Each one of our households, whether we live alone or as a couple or as a family or in any number of other possible configurations, is a community. As a community, each member is related to the others. What I do has an impact on every person in the household. The Rule suggests we move from an I want this approach to one where we decide how our resources will be allocated. Each person in the household bears the responsibility of using what is in the household in an appropriate manner. What is purchased is necessary and bought for the common good of all. In a culture where consumption is king, this approach may appear to be rigid and heavy-handed, but it is not. It is a path of life designed to set us free from the clutches of our culture’s worship of material things.
Do you get a sense of how this kind of approach to wealth would begin to simplify your life? The Rule goes on to describe some of the implications of this:
“Simplicity of life finds expression in the way we enjoy and value the goodness of ordinary things and the beauty of creation. As we cherish the essential gifts of life, we grow in freedom from the compulsion to accumulate things, and cease to long for wealth. The movement towards simplicity puts us at odds with our culture, which defines human beings primarily as consumers, and gives prestige to those who have the power to indulge themselves in luxury and waste.”
Even brothers united in this vow experience constant pressure to conform to the ways of the world. They find strength in Jesus’ words today about the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God’s care for us is seen most clearly not as the world defines wealth, but in the things which the world deems to be of little or no value.
So here is a third and final insight. Think back to that lawyer. He had everything of the world that he could afford; in fact, he had more than he could afford. He had it all, and yet he had nothing: no real sense of peace, no real sense of happiness, no real sense of security. He had swallowed whole one of the world’s biggest lies and now he was choking on it.
I will never make as much money as he does, but I know exactly what it is like to be in his position, only on a scale more closely related to my financial means. I can tell you that as I live below my means, purchase only what I need, take care of what I have, and live generously in this world I am happier than when I don’t. I can tell you that as I learn to enjoy the world, rather than to clutch at it for all I can get, as I get free from worldly entanglements and avoid worldly snares, and as I make who I am and what I have available to others, I feel more closely connected to God and I sense I am more like what God intends for me to be as a human being created in God’s image. It is not something I decided to do one time long ago and that was that. It is a daily struggle, but certainly one worth engaging. It is also daily joy full of wonder, surprise, and blessing as I make my way on the path of life.
Throughout the presentation, one gentleman’s body language became more and more agitated. Finally he spoke up. “I am a lawyer,” he said, “and I make $400,000 a year.” Now that is pretty good money today, but twenty-five years ago it was really good money. “So, based on what you are saying,” the lawyer continued, “I should be giving away $40,000 a year.” “That’s right,” the speaker said, “That would be your tithe.” “Well,” the lawyer responded, “I can’t afford it.” He went on to detail how he had two mortgages, five car payments, three boat loans, college tuition, personal expenses, and on and on and on. In fact, when you tallied all of the lawyer’s financial obligations, he was actually spending more than he was making. The speaker tried to show him how scaling back could help him live within his means, focus on what is essential, be able to offer more to charity, and generally have more peace of mind, but – in the end – the lawyer would have none of it.
That story always comes back to me when I hear the words of Jesus we read just moments ago:
“You cannot serve two masters… You cannot love God and money.”
I have to confess that this teaching brings out all of my most effective defense mechanisms:
• Sure, I have some money, but there are lots of people who are wealthier than me. Obviously Jesus must be talking about them.
• Okay, I have possessions, but I am not dripping with stuff like person X over there.
•And, my new favorite, a significant portion of my tithe is distributed by Uncle Sam.
Somewhere in all these responses, I have lost sight of the truth that Jesus does not heap burdensome commands on us just to test our faithfulness, but rather as a Guide points us toward the path of life; which is to say there is wisdom in what Jesus says that blesses all who heed it. Rather than insolate ourselves from it, we should want to explore it, understand it, and incorporate it into our lives.
Before I was ordained a deacon and before I was ordained a priest, I made silent retreats with the Cowley Fathers, members of the Society of St. John the Evangelist whose monastic community is located on the Charles River just off Harvard Square in Boston. Each member of the community makes the typical monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Now, I would have thought that this would make the brothers something wholly other, different from life as I know it, and unrelated to the world as I experience. In fact, what I found was a group of people who were very much engaged with the world and who, better than me, seemed to have figured out what life is all about. They are not perfect, but they are striving to live into the wisdom that Jesus offers through His teaching.
The Cowley Fathers are guided by a Rule of Life, which speaks to the various vows they make. The Rule says that the brothers embrace poverty as a way of relating to God whose self-giving is seen in the calling forth of creation, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ (through which the Rule says “God broke all the limits of generosity”), and in the Cross, which is the ultimate expression of God’s self-giving nature. Each brother takes a vow of poverty in order to be bound to the same self-emptying nature we find in God. The Rule states that the vow of poverty creates space for God to fill each brother with the richness he needs to give himself away in “a common life of worship, hospitality, evangelism, and service.”
So here is the first insight the Rule offers to us: Either we can focus our life on the Creator or we can focus it on the creation. Think of it this way: When I attended the NSA Art Show I saw several of Betsy Brother’s paintings on display and then I ran into Betsey herself. Now Betsey’s paintings are very nice, but if all I knew of her were her paintings my life would be poorer. Wouldn’t it be strange if I ran around from show to show snatching up all of Betsey’s work, but had little or no interest in her? The Rule encourages us to enjoy the artwork, but even more to love the Artist.
The Rule goes on to describe how sharing everything allows the brothers to be “in harmony with the very being of God whose Triune life is boundless sharing.” It helps them to recognize how a focus on “my” needs, “my” fulfillment, and “my” security is a cultural trap from which we can be set free. Now, the Cowley Fathers community obviously has possessions and it is supported by a large endowment. So each brother has a personal responsibility to care for the community’s possessions and as a group they purchase only what is appropriate and necessary. The Rule even directs brothers to “seek the permission of the Superior to keep any gifts offered” to them as individuals.
All of this suggests a second insight. Each one of our households, whether we live alone or as a couple or as a family or in any number of other possible configurations, is a community. As a community, each member is related to the others. What I do has an impact on every person in the household. The Rule suggests we move from an I want this approach to one where we decide how our resources will be allocated. Each person in the household bears the responsibility of using what is in the household in an appropriate manner. What is purchased is necessary and bought for the common good of all. In a culture where consumption is king, this approach may appear to be rigid and heavy-handed, but it is not. It is a path of life designed to set us free from the clutches of our culture’s worship of material things.
Do you get a sense of how this kind of approach to wealth would begin to simplify your life? The Rule goes on to describe some of the implications of this:
“Simplicity of life finds expression in the way we enjoy and value the goodness of ordinary things and the beauty of creation. As we cherish the essential gifts of life, we grow in freedom from the compulsion to accumulate things, and cease to long for wealth. The movement towards simplicity puts us at odds with our culture, which defines human beings primarily as consumers, and gives prestige to those who have the power to indulge themselves in luxury and waste.”
Even brothers united in this vow experience constant pressure to conform to the ways of the world. They find strength in Jesus’ words today about the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God’s care for us is seen most clearly not as the world defines wealth, but in the things which the world deems to be of little or no value.
So here is a third and final insight. Think back to that lawyer. He had everything of the world that he could afford; in fact, he had more than he could afford. He had it all, and yet he had nothing: no real sense of peace, no real sense of happiness, no real sense of security. He had swallowed whole one of the world’s biggest lies and now he was choking on it.
I will never make as much money as he does, but I know exactly what it is like to be in his position, only on a scale more closely related to my financial means. I can tell you that as I live below my means, purchase only what I need, take care of what I have, and live generously in this world I am happier than when I don’t. I can tell you that as I learn to enjoy the world, rather than to clutch at it for all I can get, as I get free from worldly entanglements and avoid worldly snares, and as I make who I am and what I have available to others, I feel more closely connected to God and I sense I am more like what God intends for me to be as a human being created in God’s image. It is not something I decided to do one time long ago and that was that. It is a daily struggle, but certainly one worth engaging. It is also daily joy full of wonder, surprise, and blessing as I make my way on the path of life.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Between Vengeance and Victimhood
A lot of time has passed, but even still it doesn’t take much to get her blood boiling when she thinks about that landlord from long ago. The Rev. Candace Hodge and her husband were sued after leaving an apartment, accused of causing extensive “damage” to the dwelling. Knowing they had left the rental in good condition, the Hodges suspected that the landlord had destroyed the apartment in order to force his former tenants to foot the bill for renovations. Unfortunately they had no proof of this and ended up paying the landlord a huge sum of money in order to avoid court action.
The daily drive from her new home to her job took Candace Hodge past the landlord’s house and as she went by she held up her hand and “saluted him with the international sign of friendship.” She hated him with a perfect hatred whenever she thought about how he lied and cheated and stole from them and got away with it.
I suspect that each of us has “a landlord” in our past, or maybe even in our present. Perhaps it was a boss or a spouse. Maybe it was a friend or even a fellow parishioner. It might have been a peer or a rival. Those of you who have heard me rant on about it might want to chime in here that it could even be a neighbor. Each one of us knows what it is like to be powerless and backed into that corner where we have no options, no way to effect a just outcome, and sometimes even no ability to scream out. It is an awful place to be and the emotional trauma it inflicts on us stays with us for a long, long, long, long time.
It is such a common experience that Jesus speaks directly to it in His teaching:
“Do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other also; if anyone wants to sue you to take your coat, give it to him, and give him your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go a mile, go a second mile.”
This last teaching refers to the common practice of Roman soldiers conscripting civilians to carry their heavy bags for a mile. It was the law of the land and absolutely hated by the local population. Say you are out in the yard playing with your children, or getting ready to sit down to dinner, or resting after a hard day’s work. None of it mattered. At a moment’s notice you could be forced to drop it all and carry a soldier’s luggage a mile down a hot, dirty, dusty road. And once you had done that, you had to walk a mile back home; incensed and humiliated.
I am very much enjoying the daily practice of reading a passage from the Christian tradition. It offers insights from across the ages from men and women so powerful in the faith that if we were to know them in our present day we would know ourselves to be in the company of true godliness. Please don’t be too impressed when, in a sermon, I drop a reference to some obscure church figure. I am not that smart or well read, but I am trying to catch up.
So, on the heels of this disclaimer, let me tell you about something Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th century bishop and theologian, said. He held that God’s law – God’s righteous way for us – always falls in between two extremes. “Virtue,” he said, “is to be discerned in the mean: evil operates either in a deficiency or in an excess.”
Take courage, he says. Cowardice is the deficiency of virtue, while impetuosity is the product of excess. Wisdom lies in a narrow middle way between shrewdness and innocence. Moderation is the middle way between the self-indulgence of pure pleasure seeking on the one hand, and total disdain for the world on the other.
Thinking about this sheds a new and helpful light on the teachings of Jesus we heard this morning. On the surface, turn the other cheek, give your cloak as well, and walk a second mile seem to be very extreme responses, or non-responses. “Jesus,” we want to say, “these things are really hard to do. Why must you make it so difficult?” But what if they are in fact a middle way response between the evil extremes of excess and deficiency, between vengeance and victimhood?
Turning the other cheek is the mean response between retaliation (an eye for an eye) and the complete passivity of allowing yourself to be repeatedly abused because you lack the courage to say enough, no more. Giving you cloak is a middle way response between worshipping your stuff above all and reneging on your obligation to be a steward of what is entrusted to you. Walking the second mile is the mean response between hatred of the other (being consumed with resentment) and hatred of the self (renouncing your human dignity).
Each teaching empowers us to make choices in situations where we feel we have no choice. Jesus says to turn the other check because the perpetuation of violence only begets more violence, whereas complete meekness and helplessness offers no judgment on inappropriate behavior. Turning the other check is an act of the will which shows both restraint where reactivity is expected and action where passivity is the norm. Giving your cloak to the person who takes your coat says that you will not clutch on to your things at all cost, but neither will you stand by idle while everything you own is pilfered. Walking the second mile says that you will not react to an insult either with disdain for the offender or with disdain for yourself.
With regard to the extra mile, early Christians used this particular teaching as a tool for evangelism. As they carried a soldier’s pack they told the story of the Gospel. One of the reasons Christianity spread as far as it did as fast as it did was that converted soldiers, who travelled to the remote ends of the empire, took their new found faith with them. By the grace of God, they found the Gospel as it was lived out by believers who followed the middle way between excess and deficiency, between vengeance and victimhood.
Back to Candace Hodge and her landlord. She began to discern how her hatred was having adverse affects on her life, even though years had passed since the offense. She was lashing at others in anger, displacing her rage on those who did not deserve it. She had a heightened sense of stress and suffered physically and emotionally.
Studies suggest that anger is a human response to injustice that helps a person to gain a sense of control in the face of a situation of powerlessness. One researcher believes that we hold on to grudges because they make us feel more in control and less sad. But studies suggest we enjoy an even greater sense of power as we try to empathize with our offenders; gaining insight into their behavior and doing the hard work of offering forgiveness.
Hodge came to realize that it was difficult to forgive her ex-landlord because she had actually grown to enjoy hating him. But as long as she hated him, he had a power over her. Eventually she got to a point where she was able to write this:
I may not be able to make my former landlord any less of a lying, thieving jerk, but I can control of how I feel about that sort of person. Instead of hatred, I now feel a sense of pity for him. I forgive him now because I know he honestly doesn’t know any other way to behave. He has problems that I can’t begin to understand…
I remember, quite clearly, every detail of the legal hassle with that landlord. But, through the lens of forgiveness, I see it with different eyes. I see a man with little or no conscience, who takes advantage of people. I see him now as a man who schemes and connives, and I take pity on him. I hope one day maybe he’ll become a better person. In the meantime, I must move on with my life, if for no other reason than my own health and well being.
Jesus knew something very important. When we react to injustice from the extremes of excess or deficiency, we tie ourselves to the offender in way that lasts well beyond the offense. Long after the landlord has taken our money or the boss has taken our job or the spouse has destroyed our trust we allow ourselves to be fused to that person and that moment because at the time we could not find a middle way to empower us, nor can we now find the path of forgiveness which allows us to let it go and move on with life.
Jesus offers us teachings, which on the surface appear to be very difficult, but they are in fact the path of life.
The daily drive from her new home to her job took Candace Hodge past the landlord’s house and as she went by she held up her hand and “saluted him with the international sign of friendship.” She hated him with a perfect hatred whenever she thought about how he lied and cheated and stole from them and got away with it.
I suspect that each of us has “a landlord” in our past, or maybe even in our present. Perhaps it was a boss or a spouse. Maybe it was a friend or even a fellow parishioner. It might have been a peer or a rival. Those of you who have heard me rant on about it might want to chime in here that it could even be a neighbor. Each one of us knows what it is like to be powerless and backed into that corner where we have no options, no way to effect a just outcome, and sometimes even no ability to scream out. It is an awful place to be and the emotional trauma it inflicts on us stays with us for a long, long, long, long time.
It is such a common experience that Jesus speaks directly to it in His teaching:
“Do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other also; if anyone wants to sue you to take your coat, give it to him, and give him your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go a mile, go a second mile.”
This last teaching refers to the common practice of Roman soldiers conscripting civilians to carry their heavy bags for a mile. It was the law of the land and absolutely hated by the local population. Say you are out in the yard playing with your children, or getting ready to sit down to dinner, or resting after a hard day’s work. None of it mattered. At a moment’s notice you could be forced to drop it all and carry a soldier’s luggage a mile down a hot, dirty, dusty road. And once you had done that, you had to walk a mile back home; incensed and humiliated.
I am very much enjoying the daily practice of reading a passage from the Christian tradition. It offers insights from across the ages from men and women so powerful in the faith that if we were to know them in our present day we would know ourselves to be in the company of true godliness. Please don’t be too impressed when, in a sermon, I drop a reference to some obscure church figure. I am not that smart or well read, but I am trying to catch up.
So, on the heels of this disclaimer, let me tell you about something Gregory of Nyssa, a 4th century bishop and theologian, said. He held that God’s law – God’s righteous way for us – always falls in between two extremes. “Virtue,” he said, “is to be discerned in the mean: evil operates either in a deficiency or in an excess.”
Take courage, he says. Cowardice is the deficiency of virtue, while impetuosity is the product of excess. Wisdom lies in a narrow middle way between shrewdness and innocence. Moderation is the middle way between the self-indulgence of pure pleasure seeking on the one hand, and total disdain for the world on the other.
Thinking about this sheds a new and helpful light on the teachings of Jesus we heard this morning. On the surface, turn the other cheek, give your cloak as well, and walk a second mile seem to be very extreme responses, or non-responses. “Jesus,” we want to say, “these things are really hard to do. Why must you make it so difficult?” But what if they are in fact a middle way response between the evil extremes of excess and deficiency, between vengeance and victimhood?
Turning the other cheek is the mean response between retaliation (an eye for an eye) and the complete passivity of allowing yourself to be repeatedly abused because you lack the courage to say enough, no more. Giving you cloak is a middle way response between worshipping your stuff above all and reneging on your obligation to be a steward of what is entrusted to you. Walking the second mile is the mean response between hatred of the other (being consumed with resentment) and hatred of the self (renouncing your human dignity).
Each teaching empowers us to make choices in situations where we feel we have no choice. Jesus says to turn the other check because the perpetuation of violence only begets more violence, whereas complete meekness and helplessness offers no judgment on inappropriate behavior. Turning the other check is an act of the will which shows both restraint where reactivity is expected and action where passivity is the norm. Giving your cloak to the person who takes your coat says that you will not clutch on to your things at all cost, but neither will you stand by idle while everything you own is pilfered. Walking the second mile says that you will not react to an insult either with disdain for the offender or with disdain for yourself.
With regard to the extra mile, early Christians used this particular teaching as a tool for evangelism. As they carried a soldier’s pack they told the story of the Gospel. One of the reasons Christianity spread as far as it did as fast as it did was that converted soldiers, who travelled to the remote ends of the empire, took their new found faith with them. By the grace of God, they found the Gospel as it was lived out by believers who followed the middle way between excess and deficiency, between vengeance and victimhood.
Back to Candace Hodge and her landlord. She began to discern how her hatred was having adverse affects on her life, even though years had passed since the offense. She was lashing at others in anger, displacing her rage on those who did not deserve it. She had a heightened sense of stress and suffered physically and emotionally.
Studies suggest that anger is a human response to injustice that helps a person to gain a sense of control in the face of a situation of powerlessness. One researcher believes that we hold on to grudges because they make us feel more in control and less sad. But studies suggest we enjoy an even greater sense of power as we try to empathize with our offenders; gaining insight into their behavior and doing the hard work of offering forgiveness.
Hodge came to realize that it was difficult to forgive her ex-landlord because she had actually grown to enjoy hating him. But as long as she hated him, he had a power over her. Eventually she got to a point where she was able to write this:
I may not be able to make my former landlord any less of a lying, thieving jerk, but I can control of how I feel about that sort of person. Instead of hatred, I now feel a sense of pity for him. I forgive him now because I know he honestly doesn’t know any other way to behave. He has problems that I can’t begin to understand…
I remember, quite clearly, every detail of the legal hassle with that landlord. But, through the lens of forgiveness, I see it with different eyes. I see a man with little or no conscience, who takes advantage of people. I see him now as a man who schemes and connives, and I take pity on him. I hope one day maybe he’ll become a better person. In the meantime, I must move on with my life, if for no other reason than my own health and well being.
Jesus knew something very important. When we react to injustice from the extremes of excess or deficiency, we tie ourselves to the offender in way that lasts well beyond the offense. Long after the landlord has taken our money or the boss has taken our job or the spouse has destroyed our trust we allow ourselves to be fused to that person and that moment because at the time we could not find a middle way to empower us, nor can we now find the path of forgiveness which allows us to let it go and move on with life.
Jesus offers us teachings, which on the surface appear to be very difficult, but they are in fact the path of life.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Pull It Out & Cut It Off
This year’s Epiphany season Gospel readings have us hearing Jesus’ teaching in a section of Matthew’s Gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is really a collection of teachings, a basic summery of what Jesus must have told people over and over and over again everywhere He went. It begins with the Beatitudes, which we heard two weeks ago. Here, Jesus defines what happiness is all about: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the earth.” Last week we heard Jesus tell His followers “you are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.”
Last week’s reading ended with Jesus telling folks He had not come to abolish all that the Law and the prophets had taught, but to fulfill it. He said that not one little dot of what had come before should be erased. He said that we must both keep the law and teach the law, which I take to mean we are to embody the Kingdom of God by so letting it inhabit us that our lives shout out the Gospel.
Now today, we hear Jesus begin to address specific issues of how the Law and the prophets were being taught and lived out in His own day. We can summarize His teaching by saying that Jesus both intensifies and internalizes the Law. It is no good for you to refrain from expressions of anger, but seethe within. It is no good for you to refrain from improper relationships, but still be racked with lust. Half-hearted commitments and vague promises will not do.
Jesus’ teaching could not be more clear. If you have wronged someone, go work it out. If you are being drawn toward something that is wrong, do whatever it takes to stay away. Remain faithful to your sacred commitments. Speak your intentions plainly. The teaching is clear, but we all know that following through is not. These are easy laws to pass along to others, but embodying them is another thing altogether.
Certainly the most vivid image Jesus uses is this: if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Now we know that Jesus is speaking metaphorically because plain sense and scripture tell us so. Surely Jesus did not want His followers to maim themselves and we do not have one instance where He specifically instructs a person to do so, although we have several instances of His disciples sinning. Think of Peter: “I will never deny you,” he tells Jesus. But of course, he does… three times. When Jesus greets Peter after the Resurrection, He does not say to him, “Peter, about that denying problem you have… cut out your tongue and that will never happen again.” What He says is, “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.”
So Jesus is not telling us to pull out our eyes if we have lustful thoughts when we see someone attractive, nor is He telling us to cut off a hand if we are tempted too often to dip into the cookie jar. But these powerful, evocative images tell us something straightforward that is very important: we are to do whatever is necessary to stop our self-destructive tendencies and ways and we are to do whatever it takes to put an end to the damage we do to others. Again, this is easier said than done.
In our day and age self-destructive behavior takes many forms: addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, and over-eating are far too common. Some over spend, over-manage, and/or live life at a breakneck speed by being over-committed. Some of us are angry at the world. It becomes our default filter to process everything that happens, be it in our lives, in our families, in our community, or in our world. Others turn anger inward; torturously blaming the self for each and every little way they perceive themselves to be lacking. All of these too are types of addiction: self-destructive patterns of behavior that become so much a part of who we are and how we operate that it becomes difficult to believe we have the power to change.
Why is it so hard to pluck out the eye or cut off the hand of self-destructive or hurtful behavior? It is hard because we get insulated behind a wall of delusion and denial.
• There is a disconnect between how we see ourselves and our actual behavior.
• We repress the memory of painful events in order to escape the emotional consequences.
• Certain types of behavior, especially substance abuse, actually alter the chemistry in our brains in a way which either compromises or blocks our memory. For instance, a person under the influence of alcohol can perform complicated tasks, such as flying a plane or performing surgery, and have no recollection of the event.
• And finally, after time passes, we may experience what is known as “euphoric recall” where the memory of behavior is faded, but memory of the pleasure is heightened.
The more destructive our behavior becomes the more defensive and isolated we become. We shut ourselves off from those who know us best, who see us for who we are, and who love us unconditionally. And we shut off ourselves from God; hearing in His message harsh words of judgment and condemnation. But what God desires for each one of us is salvation. Our modern day understanding of salvation revolves around entrance into heaven, but the biblical notion deals more with health in the here and now. What God desires for you, what God yearns for you, what God offers to you, is health and fullness of life today.
I think we each hold on to a notion that God says this is who you are supposed to be. Sometimes we see ourselves clearly enough to know that there is a disconnect between who we are called to be and who we really are. Other times we are blind to the difference or in denial of it. To the degree that we recognize in ourselves behavior that is in conflict with our values we experience shame, guilt, fear, remorse, self-hatred, and feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. We deal with all of this spiritually as human beings have from the beginning of time. Do you remember what Adam did after he had eaten the apple? He covered himself and hid from God.
The Monk at Farne is a mystic English figure from the 14th century. I think he says something important to us today if we hide from ourselves or if we try to hide ourselves from God:
What then shall separate me for the love of Christ, and prevent me from casting myself into His embrace, when He stretches out His hands to me all day long? Shame at the sinfulness and impurity which defile me? No, indeed; a shame that would separate me from my Lord would be fatal. I will rather run to Him as He beckons me to come, and by touching Him I shall be cleansed from all impurity of body and soul…
I will gladly run to Thee albeit a sinner, albeit unclean, for with Thee there is merciful forgiveness; Thou wilt wash me in Thy blood, and I shall be made whiter than snow. I will enter into Thee and not stay without, for outside Thee there is no salvation.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus does not so much lay down the Law as He points the way to health and fullness of life. He doesn’t so much tell us to hide in shame and fear as He implores us to do whatever it takes to master our destructive and hurtful tendencies. In my experience, this is not a journey many of us undertake well when we undertake it on our own. We need allies, friends, supporters, professionals, and power from a Higher Power. Happiness lies down this path and this path alone. Hiding will not get you there. Do whatever it takes to begin this journey. There is nothing in life worth keeping if it costs you your life and the love of those who love you.
Last week’s reading ended with Jesus telling folks He had not come to abolish all that the Law and the prophets had taught, but to fulfill it. He said that not one little dot of what had come before should be erased. He said that we must both keep the law and teach the law, which I take to mean we are to embody the Kingdom of God by so letting it inhabit us that our lives shout out the Gospel.
Now today, we hear Jesus begin to address specific issues of how the Law and the prophets were being taught and lived out in His own day. We can summarize His teaching by saying that Jesus both intensifies and internalizes the Law. It is no good for you to refrain from expressions of anger, but seethe within. It is no good for you to refrain from improper relationships, but still be racked with lust. Half-hearted commitments and vague promises will not do.
Jesus’ teaching could not be more clear. If you have wronged someone, go work it out. If you are being drawn toward something that is wrong, do whatever it takes to stay away. Remain faithful to your sacred commitments. Speak your intentions plainly. The teaching is clear, but we all know that following through is not. These are easy laws to pass along to others, but embodying them is another thing altogether.
Certainly the most vivid image Jesus uses is this: if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; if you hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Now we know that Jesus is speaking metaphorically because plain sense and scripture tell us so. Surely Jesus did not want His followers to maim themselves and we do not have one instance where He specifically instructs a person to do so, although we have several instances of His disciples sinning. Think of Peter: “I will never deny you,” he tells Jesus. But of course, he does… three times. When Jesus greets Peter after the Resurrection, He does not say to him, “Peter, about that denying problem you have… cut out your tongue and that will never happen again.” What He says is, “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.”
So Jesus is not telling us to pull out our eyes if we have lustful thoughts when we see someone attractive, nor is He telling us to cut off a hand if we are tempted too often to dip into the cookie jar. But these powerful, evocative images tell us something straightforward that is very important: we are to do whatever is necessary to stop our self-destructive tendencies and ways and we are to do whatever it takes to put an end to the damage we do to others. Again, this is easier said than done.
In our day and age self-destructive behavior takes many forms: addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, and over-eating are far too common. Some over spend, over-manage, and/or live life at a breakneck speed by being over-committed. Some of us are angry at the world. It becomes our default filter to process everything that happens, be it in our lives, in our families, in our community, or in our world. Others turn anger inward; torturously blaming the self for each and every little way they perceive themselves to be lacking. All of these too are types of addiction: self-destructive patterns of behavior that become so much a part of who we are and how we operate that it becomes difficult to believe we have the power to change.
Why is it so hard to pluck out the eye or cut off the hand of self-destructive or hurtful behavior? It is hard because we get insulated behind a wall of delusion and denial.
• There is a disconnect between how we see ourselves and our actual behavior.
• We repress the memory of painful events in order to escape the emotional consequences.
• Certain types of behavior, especially substance abuse, actually alter the chemistry in our brains in a way which either compromises or blocks our memory. For instance, a person under the influence of alcohol can perform complicated tasks, such as flying a plane or performing surgery, and have no recollection of the event.
• And finally, after time passes, we may experience what is known as “euphoric recall” where the memory of behavior is faded, but memory of the pleasure is heightened.
The more destructive our behavior becomes the more defensive and isolated we become. We shut ourselves off from those who know us best, who see us for who we are, and who love us unconditionally. And we shut off ourselves from God; hearing in His message harsh words of judgment and condemnation. But what God desires for each one of us is salvation. Our modern day understanding of salvation revolves around entrance into heaven, but the biblical notion deals more with health in the here and now. What God desires for you, what God yearns for you, what God offers to you, is health and fullness of life today.
I think we each hold on to a notion that God says this is who you are supposed to be. Sometimes we see ourselves clearly enough to know that there is a disconnect between who we are called to be and who we really are. Other times we are blind to the difference or in denial of it. To the degree that we recognize in ourselves behavior that is in conflict with our values we experience shame, guilt, fear, remorse, self-hatred, and feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. We deal with all of this spiritually as human beings have from the beginning of time. Do you remember what Adam did after he had eaten the apple? He covered himself and hid from God.
The Monk at Farne is a mystic English figure from the 14th century. I think he says something important to us today if we hide from ourselves or if we try to hide ourselves from God:
What then shall separate me for the love of Christ, and prevent me from casting myself into His embrace, when He stretches out His hands to me all day long? Shame at the sinfulness and impurity which defile me? No, indeed; a shame that would separate me from my Lord would be fatal. I will rather run to Him as He beckons me to come, and by touching Him I shall be cleansed from all impurity of body and soul…
I will gladly run to Thee albeit a sinner, albeit unclean, for with Thee there is merciful forgiveness; Thou wilt wash me in Thy blood, and I shall be made whiter than snow. I will enter into Thee and not stay without, for outside Thee there is no salvation.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus does not so much lay down the Law as He points the way to health and fullness of life. He doesn’t so much tell us to hide in shame and fear as He implores us to do whatever it takes to master our destructive and hurtful tendencies. In my experience, this is not a journey many of us undertake well when we undertake it on our own. We need allies, friends, supporters, professionals, and power from a Higher Power. Happiness lies down this path and this path alone. Hiding will not get you there. Do whatever it takes to begin this journey. There is nothing in life worth keeping if it costs you your life and the love of those who love you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
