Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 56: 1-8 (NRSV)
John 5: 33-36 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
One week from today will be two days before Christmas Day. The Advent Season will be behind us for another year and we will celebrate the arrival of God's perfect revelation of Self in the Person of Jesus Christ.
A week before we are there, we are at this point with Jesus in his conversation in the Gospel of John. As was the case yesterday, Jesus continues to praise the work of John the Baptist. Jesus says of John the Baptist: "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light."
This is like being outside in the cold weather for a while, only to find some warmth coming from a heater vent near by. We want to stay by that heater vent and feel the warmth changing the cold temperature of our bodies that are out in the elements of ice cold weather. Imagine what it would be like if that was the only warmth you can find for an entire day, because you have no home to go to and stay warm for the night.
Here is Jesus, even more rejected than John the Baptist. The message of hope that Jesus brings is greater, because of his intimate relationship with God. A message of the desire to heal broken relationships. That there is forgiveness of our sins through Jesus. The world was changed because God entered into the human experience in Jesus and taught us that the marginalized do have a place in God's heart. A place where thinking that God hates us, just is not true.
In the reading from Isaiah we read that the eunuch (the gay men of Biblical times) thought of himself as "just a dry tree." Yet, God through the Prophet Isaiah is saying that the eunuch will be a monument and have a name that will never be cut off. Those thought to have no place in God's house are honored as being models of hope and generosity.
In today's Morning Prayer, Psalm 40: 13 the Psalmist says: "For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me."
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people experience the kind of grief of the Psalmist. When we hear of the Catholic Archbishop's prayer to be used at masses to end the hope of marriage equality in Minnesota, many of us feel like we have innumerable troubles. Our justifiable anger, becomes too much and we give into hate for one who is so prejudiced towards us. Our Christian Faith tells us that being angry at evil is a good thing. Becoming evil through justifiable anger by giving in to a new hate does not serve the cause of equality or the hope of salvation. It is very difficult for me not to go there when the hurt and feeling of betrayal is so great.
The Psalms are not only a place where we lament our sins and recognize our need for salvation. In the Psalms we also find reason to rejoice in the hope that "Though I am poor and afflicted, the Lord will have regard for me. You are my helper and my deliverer; do not tarry, O my God." (Psalm 41: 18-19, BCP page 641).
I believe that central to the message of Advent we are now in and the Christmas Season that will be upon us in one week, is that God comes to us, to all of us. God comes in a special way to those marginalized and branded as troublesome and worthless by society and the Church so that they can have hope in God's incarnation in Christ. In Jesus we see that there is no person or situation that is so detestably gross that God will not go there and be our companion and hope for salvation. God comes to us as we are, rejected and pushed aside and looks to heal our brokenness that we may become "wounded healers" (by Henri J.M. Nouwen).
As LGBT people and others marginalized by the Church and society, we can become burning and shining lamps. We can take the message and example of Jesus Christ that comes from God, and be part of changing both the Church and society for the better of all people. For Jesus has made us monuments and given us names that God will not cut off. Many others who are foreigners in a strange land will find their way to God and keep God's name sacred by knowing that we were all included as being among the "least of those who were members of [God's] family." (See Isaiah 53: 5,6 and Matthew 25: 40).
These are the seasons of good news for all who are rejected and marginalized. We have our place in God's house, where everyone is welcome. We are the lights of hope because of God's marvelous grace through Jesus who is the Word made flesh.
Prayers
Isaiah 56: 1-8 (NRSV)
Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
Happy is the mortal who does this,
the one who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and refrains from doing any evil.
Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’;
and do not let the eunuch say,
‘I am just a dry tree.’
For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give, in my house and within my walls,
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.
John 5: 33-36 (NRSV)
You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
Blog Reflection
One week from today will be two days before Christmas Day. The Advent Season will be behind us for another year and we will celebrate the arrival of God's perfect revelation of Self in the Person of Jesus Christ.
A week before we are there, we are at this point with Jesus in his conversation in the Gospel of John. As was the case yesterday, Jesus continues to praise the work of John the Baptist. Jesus says of John the Baptist: "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light."
This is like being outside in the cold weather for a while, only to find some warmth coming from a heater vent near by. We want to stay by that heater vent and feel the warmth changing the cold temperature of our bodies that are out in the elements of ice cold weather. Imagine what it would be like if that was the only warmth you can find for an entire day, because you have no home to go to and stay warm for the night.
Here is Jesus, even more rejected than John the Baptist. The message of hope that Jesus brings is greater, because of his intimate relationship with God. A message of the desire to heal broken relationships. That there is forgiveness of our sins through Jesus. The world was changed because God entered into the human experience in Jesus and taught us that the marginalized do have a place in God's heart. A place where thinking that God hates us, just is not true.
In the reading from Isaiah we read that the eunuch (the gay men of Biblical times) thought of himself as "just a dry tree." Yet, God through the Prophet Isaiah is saying that the eunuch will be a monument and have a name that will never be cut off. Those thought to have no place in God's house are honored as being models of hope and generosity.
In today's Morning Prayer, Psalm 40: 13 the Psalmist says: "For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me."
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people experience the kind of grief of the Psalmist. When we hear of the Catholic Archbishop's prayer to be used at masses to end the hope of marriage equality in Minnesota, many of us feel like we have innumerable troubles. Our justifiable anger, becomes too much and we give into hate for one who is so prejudiced towards us. Our Christian Faith tells us that being angry at evil is a good thing. Becoming evil through justifiable anger by giving in to a new hate does not serve the cause of equality or the hope of salvation. It is very difficult for me not to go there when the hurt and feeling of betrayal is so great.
The Psalms are not only a place where we lament our sins and recognize our need for salvation. In the Psalms we also find reason to rejoice in the hope that "Though I am poor and afflicted, the Lord will have regard for me. You are my helper and my deliverer; do not tarry, O my God." (Psalm 41: 18-19, BCP page 641).
I believe that central to the message of Advent we are now in and the Christmas Season that will be upon us in one week, is that God comes to us, to all of us. God comes in a special way to those marginalized and branded as troublesome and worthless by society and the Church so that they can have hope in God's incarnation in Christ. In Jesus we see that there is no person or situation that is so detestably gross that God will not go there and be our companion and hope for salvation. God comes to us as we are, rejected and pushed aside and looks to heal our brokenness that we may become "wounded healers" (by Henri J.M. Nouwen).
As LGBT people and others marginalized by the Church and society, we can become burning and shining lamps. We can take the message and example of Jesus Christ that comes from God, and be part of changing both the Church and society for the better of all people. For Jesus has made us monuments and given us names that God will not cut off. Many others who are foreigners in a strange land will find their way to God and keep God's name sacred by knowing that we were all included as being among the "least of those who were members of [God's] family." (See Isaiah 53: 5,6 and Matthew 25: 40).
These are the seasons of good news for all who are rejected and marginalized. We have our place in God's house, where everyone is welcome. We are the lights of hope because of God's marvelous grace through Jesus who is the Word made flesh.
Prayers
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come
among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and
the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (Third Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, page 212).
O God, you led your holy apostles to ordain ministers in every
place: Grant that your Church, under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, may choose suitable persons for the ministry of Word
and Sacrament, and may uphold them in their work for the
extension of your kingdom; through him who is the Shepherd
and Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen. (Ember Day Prayer, Book of Common Prayer, page 246).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).
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