Today's Scripture Readings
Jeremiah 15:15-21 (NRSV)
Psalm 26 (BCP., p.616).
Romans 12: 9-21 (NRSV)
Matthew 16: 2-28 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
At times, you have to wonder if Christians give any thought to what we look like to those who observe us. We say our prayers, recite our creeds and receive the Sacraments. We boast of the word of God. We say we believe in the love of God, neighbor and self. Yet, what so many see, are Christians clinging to a faith without evidence of reality. The more Christians are viewed as supporting injustice and oppression, including violence and prejudice the less real our Christian Faith appears to those looking from the outside in.
Just this past week, there was a horrible story about two Christian parents who beat up their gay son, after they disowned him. Just the notion that a Christian would justify an act of heinous violence is frightening to say the least. Not only does the Name of Jesus Christ become profaned by things like this, but the hope that Jesus could make a real difference in the life of that young man might very well be crushed. In the son's case, any effort to embrace God with the reality of who he is, will seem like that God is just against him. What he may never know, is that God's love for him does not stop because he is gay.
As I read from the Prophet Jeremiah, I think he must have felt like that. Jeremiah was speaking the truth about God to God's people. They had indulged in acts of injustice. They had forgotten all the wonderful things God did through out their history. He was doing the work God gave him. Yet, all he found was resistance, threats against his life, and those who ignored him. God in this reading does not promise to take him away from all that is happening to him, God promises to be with Jeremiah and that in the end, God's will will prevail for Jeremiah and for God's people. God gives Jeremiah hope to face his sufferings and his salvation.
When Jesus tells Peter and the other disciples about His coming death, Peter did what I believe we all would have done. If a man knows he is about to be killed, the proper thing to do is to try to save his life. How could Peter and the others, get to know this amazing man, see his miracles, hear his words and just let him die? That would be the case, except Jesus was God's perfect revelation of God's Self. Jesus came to redeem us from our personal and spiritual immaturity, and return us to our Divine relationship with God. Our redemption in Christ not only returns us to friendship with God, but also restores the relationship of humankind with the human community. To experience the contemplative vision into ourselves, with a renewed view of the world around us.
Jesus accomplishes all that He sets out to do, through the Cross. Our hope of knowing Christ in our own lives and sharing Him with others, is when we accept our crosses and follow Him in obedience to the will of God out of love. Our cross as Christians, comes because we see past human labels, the suggestion that some people are first class citizens, and others are secondary and we embrace Jesus Christ and Him crucified as we embrace others because of Christ's love for us. The love of God comes through laying down our lives for others. In our relationships, in our communities, in those places where life is anything but certain. Jesus Christ and His Cross lovingly saves us from our own sense of certainty. We are saved to live with open hearts, minds and arms to love others as Christ has loved us.
If you are like me, you can read these words and even repeat them. But, to live them means we have to face our own prejudices, and displace our comfort zones. To do what this Gospel reading is about, we must let the Holy Spirit lead us away from complacency, so we can be open to conversion. A conversion that wants to see an end to the racism that has lead to the excessive violence in Ferguson, and calls out the injustice for what it is. A change of heart and life, that rejects heterosexism that breeds a hate so violent that the beating described above, ex-gay groups and so forth is condoned, and Christianity continues getting a very bad name.
As we journey from the summer into Labor Day weekend, may be all pray and work together so that we may fulfill the vows of our Baptismal Covenant, and bring the honor and glory due the Name of Jesus Christ. May our efforts be blessed by the Holy Spirit, and what we accomplish give evidence of God's transforming grace.
Amen.
Prayers
Jeremiah 15:15-21 (NRSV)
- O LORD, you know;
- remember me and visit me,
- and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
- In your forbearance do not take me away;
- know that on your account I suffer insult.
- Your words were found, and I ate them,
- and your words became to me a joy
- and the delight of my heart;
- for I am called by your name,
- O LORD, God of hosts.
- I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
- nor did I rejoice;
- under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
- for you had filled me with indignation.
- Why is my pain unceasing,
- my wound incurable,
- refusing to be healed?
- Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
- like waters that fail.
- Therefore thus says the LORD:
- If you turn back, I will take you back,
- and you shall stand before me.
- If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
- you shall serve as my mouth.
- It is they who will turn to you,
- not you who will turn to them.
- And I will make you to this people
- a fortified wall of bronze;
- they will fight against you,
- but they shall not prevail over you,
- for I am with you
- to save you and deliver you,
- says the LORD.
- I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
- and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
Psalm 26 (BCP., p.616).
Romans 12: 9-21 (NRSV)
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Matthew 16: 2-28 (NRSV)
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
"For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
Blog Reflection
At times, you have to wonder if Christians give any thought to what we look like to those who observe us. We say our prayers, recite our creeds and receive the Sacraments. We boast of the word of God. We say we believe in the love of God, neighbor and self. Yet, what so many see, are Christians clinging to a faith without evidence of reality. The more Christians are viewed as supporting injustice and oppression, including violence and prejudice the less real our Christian Faith appears to those looking from the outside in.
Just this past week, there was a horrible story about two Christian parents who beat up their gay son, after they disowned him. Just the notion that a Christian would justify an act of heinous violence is frightening to say the least. Not only does the Name of Jesus Christ become profaned by things like this, but the hope that Jesus could make a real difference in the life of that young man might very well be crushed. In the son's case, any effort to embrace God with the reality of who he is, will seem like that God is just against him. What he may never know, is that God's love for him does not stop because he is gay.
As I read from the Prophet Jeremiah, I think he must have felt like that. Jeremiah was speaking the truth about God to God's people. They had indulged in acts of injustice. They had forgotten all the wonderful things God did through out their history. He was doing the work God gave him. Yet, all he found was resistance, threats against his life, and those who ignored him. God in this reading does not promise to take him away from all that is happening to him, God promises to be with Jeremiah and that in the end, God's will will prevail for Jeremiah and for God's people. God gives Jeremiah hope to face his sufferings and his salvation.
When Jesus tells Peter and the other disciples about His coming death, Peter did what I believe we all would have done. If a man knows he is about to be killed, the proper thing to do is to try to save his life. How could Peter and the others, get to know this amazing man, see his miracles, hear his words and just let him die? That would be the case, except Jesus was God's perfect revelation of God's Self. Jesus came to redeem us from our personal and spiritual immaturity, and return us to our Divine relationship with God. Our redemption in Christ not only returns us to friendship with God, but also restores the relationship of humankind with the human community. To experience the contemplative vision into ourselves, with a renewed view of the world around us.
"The function of prayer is to change my own mind, to put on the mind of Christ, to enable grace to break into me. When prayer is privatized religion on a spree, it's not prayer. Contemplative prayer, converting prayer, is prayer that sees the whole world through incense--a holy place, a place where the sacred dwells, a place to be made different by those who pray, a place where God sweetens living with the beauty of life. Contemplative prayer is prayer that leads us to see the world through the eyes of God." (Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, Wisdom Distilled From the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today. p.35).
Jesus accomplishes all that He sets out to do, through the Cross. Our hope of knowing Christ in our own lives and sharing Him with others, is when we accept our crosses and follow Him in obedience to the will of God out of love. Our cross as Christians, comes because we see past human labels, the suggestion that some people are first class citizens, and others are secondary and we embrace Jesus Christ and Him crucified as we embrace others because of Christ's love for us. The love of God comes through laying down our lives for others. In our relationships, in our communities, in those places where life is anything but certain. Jesus Christ and His Cross lovingly saves us from our own sense of certainty. We are saved to live with open hearts, minds and arms to love others as Christ has loved us.
If you are like me, you can read these words and even repeat them. But, to live them means we have to face our own prejudices, and displace our comfort zones. To do what this Gospel reading is about, we must let the Holy Spirit lead us away from complacency, so we can be open to conversion. A conversion that wants to see an end to the racism that has lead to the excessive violence in Ferguson, and calls out the injustice for what it is. A change of heart and life, that rejects heterosexism that breeds a hate so violent that the beating described above, ex-gay groups and so forth is condoned, and Christianity continues getting a very bad name.
As we journey from the summer into Labor Day weekend, may be all pray and work together so that we may fulfill the vows of our Baptismal Covenant, and bring the honor and glory due the Name of Jesus Christ. May our efforts be blessed by the Holy Spirit, and what we accomplish give evidence of God's transforming grace.
Amen.
Prayers
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good
things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in
us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth
in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 17. The Book of Common Prayer, p.233).
Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another
that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide
us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but
for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for
our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of
other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out
of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen. (Collect for Labor Day, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 261).
Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 260).
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