Tuesday of the First Week in Lent: Holy Foolishness, Forgiveness and the Cross

Today's Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 1: 20-31 (NRSV)

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ 

Matthew 6: 7-15 (NRSV)

‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
 ‘Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven.
   Give us this day our daily bread.
   And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial,
     but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

Blog Reflection

Think very carefully.  LGBT Christians who accept themselves as they are, love their significant others in the midst of Christianist hate rhetoric and spiritual violence are pretty foolish.  Every passage of a marriage equality bill in places like Washington State and Maryland, is immediately opposed by anti-equality hate groups who begin collecting signatures for a ballot referendum. Yet, LGBT individuals and couples celebrate and make plans to marry the person they love. 

Last July, when marriage equality became legal in New York there was an entourage of hate messages all over the State, protesting the marriage of same-sex couples.  Yet, churches and State officials with the power to pronounce holy unions, did them.  As to be Cardinal Archbishop Tim Dolan ranted and complained with false claims of limits to religious freedom; Episcopal Bishops, Priests, and those of other welcoming and affirming churches and houses of worship, celebrated the historic event.  Pretty foolish, huh?

Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth tells them that God has chosen the foolish to shame the wise.  Suggesting that God chose what was considered low and despised by the world, but are not, "to reduce to nothing, the things that are."  Those who are weak shame the strong.  All of this sounds like Paul's version of Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1: 46-55.  Perhaps the idea of changing the definition of marriage to include LGBT couples and families is one of those things to "reduce to nothing, the things that are" with a renewed and inclusive understanding.

Earlier in 1 Corinthians 1: 18, Paul writes: "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

At the cross is where all foolishness finds its meaning.  Everything that should not be, simply is. God who is eternal and infinite, gives of God's Self in the humanity of Jesus Christ the Son of God, as he gives his life and blood for the salvation of the world.  The King who should have gotten a royal welcome as he rode into Jerusalem, instead sits on a donkey and is welcomed with the words: "Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord" (Mark 11:12). The One who should have been given the throne, with all power and wealth at his disposal, with people subjected to his rule, instead hangs on the Cross as his throne and serves as the least among us.

In so doing, God shows that the greater strength comes from a recognition of our deepest weakness. We are exalted when we humble ourselves.  We become a leader, when we serve.  Goodness is brought out of the greatest of evils.  The hope of life, comes from the inescapable reality of death.

As we turn our attention to St. Matthew's Gospel, we are presented with the famous Lord's Prayer.  In this prayer is the greatest privilege of being able to call upon God in a Paternal relationship as Jesus unites his prayer with ours. In Jesus, God adopts us as God's own and we are invited by Jesus to address God as such. To give praise and thanks to God and to ask for the grace to accept God's will here and now, and in the state of God's holy and eternal presence. 

In The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 13 we read of how seriously he takes the words: "forgive as we forgive."

Assuredly, the celebration of Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Vespers (Evening Prayer), must never pass by without the superior's reciting the entire Lord's Prayer at the end for all to hear, because thorns of contention are likely to spring up.  Thus warned by the pledge they make to one another in the very words of this prayer: forgive us as we forgive (Matt. 6: 12), they may cleanse themselves of this kind of vice. (Verses 12 and 13).

Here St. Benedict though he was writing his Rule for Monks, is giving to all of us who live with another (or others) a really good word of advice. 

You see, Monks who live in a Monastery, live with one another 24/7.  Unlike those of us who may live with only one other person, a roommate, significant other, with or with out children, find ourselves with challenges that are very minimal compared to Monks in community.  For one thing, in a Monastery there can be as many as 100 other brothers, and as few as 10.  An individual Novice or Senior member of the Community might be given the task of sweeping and cleaning the floors of the Monastery for a given period of time.  Mean while, he will have to live with every member who probably muddies up his floor before, after and during cleaning. He will eat across the table from them, pray next to them in choir and give them the greeting of peace at Mass.  There is no running away.  They will wake up the next morning and see each other. 

What St. Benedict is doing for Monks is something we need to do for each other. Ask forgiveness as we forgive.  It is all too easy for some word that was said out of place, or too harshly to feed anger or resentment very quickly for another. A simple request: "TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE" said in an angry, harsh tone can instantly send a message of one person over powering another, and holding another weak at our strength. St. Benedict calls for Monks as well as us to ask forgiveness before things get so out of control with contention and/or no possibility of return, by ending the conflict at it's outset. He also calls on those who are victims to be ready to forgive. 

Being forgiven and asking for forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts that Christians have.  It is a moment to encounter our "unfinishedness" (See Pilgrim Road, A Benedictine Journey Through Lent, by Albert Holtz, O.S.B. pages 25-28).  It is an opportunity for God to meet us at our point of hurt, rejection and anger to help us experience healing, mercy and grace.  When we realize that we cannot by ourselves forgive, for whatever reason, we can call on God to come to us where it hurts most, and trust in Jesus to lead us out of there as our Good Shepherd to the green pastures of forgiveness and wholeness.  If we try to sit there by ourselves, without our openness to God going there with us, all that will happen is the resentment and grudge will just build and hold us down, and destroy us from the inside out.

One of the things I have begun doing since this past Advent, is taking at least one day out of about 8, to sit during my personal Lectio Divina with the words; "forgive, as we forgive."  I have had a lot of hurts over these many years.  I have experienced rejection, betrayal, abuse, and unbelievable pain at the hands of others.  When I take the time to be with God in a space of uninterrupted silence with those words: "Forgive, as we forgive" I find God coming to me and asking me the question: "What is it and who is it you are asking me to forgiven?"  Many times in our lives, the person we need to forgive more times than not, is ourselves.  Forgive ourselves for those times in which we found ourselves so helpless, that we gave ourselves over to the power of someone else, who had no right or business having it in the first place. I find that only when I face that reality, with God's Holy Spirit there to lead me into it, and lead me out of it, can I find within myself God's grace and peace to truly forgive. 

As we continue during Lent, let us be willing to engage in a little holy foolishness.  Let us go with Jesus to the Cross and ask for God's grace to say with Him: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing" (Luke 23: 34).


Prayers

Grant to your people, Lord, grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you the only true God: through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Tuesday in First Week in Lent, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 37).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).


Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for First Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).


O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Our Enemies, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).

Monday of the First Week in Lent: Who Do You Go to the Desert With?

Today's Scripture Reading

Mark 1: 1-13 (NRSV)

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. 

Blog Reflection

Henry J. M. Nouwen in his book, The Wounded Healer writes: "The great illusion of leadership is to think that a man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there" (p. 72).

During this Season of Lent we are being led into our time in the desert, by One who knows all too well what it means to be out there.  Unlike, the scene a couple weeks ago of a group of men testifying before a Congressional House Panel about the dangers of contraception for women, when they have no understanding of the experiences of women; Jesus has actually been in the desert and witnessed the dangers and knows exactly what we are getting into.  He knows what it is to be a Baptized believer set loose in a world of spiritual, physical and psychological challenges.

We can infer from the reading from St. Mark's Gospel, that Jesus' experience of the desert follows the experience of John the Baptist.  Therefore, is it possible that Jesus looked to the experience of his baptizer as his model for going into the desert with complete trust in God?  How else could Jesus have known that it was the Spirit who led him out there, and that there would be angels waiting on him as he faced the wild beasts?

In today's commemoration of the Priest and Preacher George Herbert, the Episcopal Church gives us the Gospel reading of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5: 1-10.  This Gospel reading follows Matthew's account of Jesus' temptation.  How else might Jesus have known that it was the poor in Spirit who would inherit God's reign if he had not faced his own Spiritual poverty and need for God, as he hungered for food, was tempted by the illusion of world domination, and putting God to the test?    

Jesus' experience of his temptation in the wilderness is our model during this Lenten Season.   Jesus knows of what we face, and by God's Holy Spirit, Jesus attends to our needs by the assistance of angels just as they attended to him.  

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer Christians, we are led by the Spirit into the wilderness of a Church and a world where the wild beasts of those afflicted by attitudes and behaviors of prejudice and violence are waiting.  They wait with their erroneous interpretations of Scripture, the untested version of Church Tradition, and a blind understanding of Reason to attempt to harm us.  They would rather stay in their own cocoons where they are protected from a more educated and critical understanding of the Bible, the history of the Church, and the actual experiences of others, through which Reason is applied to a renewed understanding of human sexuality and gender identity/expression. 

At the same time, if we as LGBT Christians do not leave the illusionary world of "by the bars and internet alone will we find love," or of unhealthy and uncontrolled sexual appetites, to allow the Gospel to heal our hurts and forgive ourselves and others; we become only an extreme version of those who hate us, on the our own side of the social and political isle.  We are challenged by the Gospel and the Cross, do to a lot better than that.

The Holy Spirit may be challenging a number of us LGBT Christians to recognize the goodness that exists in our hearts and our desire to share our love with another person physically and romantically.   To do that, we must go with the Spirit into the wilderness where we will face the wild beasts of oppression and prejudice and resist the temptation to respond to them with the same attitudes and biases that feed separation and segregation.  We can go there with Jesus who knew what it was like to be around people in his own country who did not accept him, but loved them any way.  We can look for others who are marginalized and oppressed and become part of the missionary work of showing that God does not hate or reject anyone.  But, welcomes everyone and gives them the opportunity for healing and reconciliation.

This Lent, we are challenged to go in to the desert with Jesus and trust in the Holy Spirit to help us face the wild beasts, and experience being waited on by the angels.  So that we may come to the celebration of Easter as God's risen people, ready and able to do the Apostolic work of new life in Christ in our world.


Prayers

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (First Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).

Our God and King, you called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (George Herbert, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 247).

O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for our Enemies, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).    

First Sunday in Lent: Covenant, Baptism, Temptation, Inclusion

Today's Scripture Readings

Genesis 9:8-17 (NRSV)

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Psalm 25 (BCP, p.614).


1 Peter 3:18-22 (NRSV)

Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you-- not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Mark 1:9-15 (NRSV)

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." 

Blog Reflection

The Genesis story of Noah, the flooding and the Covenant that God establishes with humankind, has some major problems.  It is highly doubtful that the story is an original. Pieces of the narrative have very similar themes, events and endings as the Mesopotamian flood hero Utnapishtim, a principal character in the Gilgamesh Epic.  The story may be factual.  It might also be a mythological tale taken from other literature of the day.   

Part of the problem with the narrative is that it is comprised of two different versions woven together.  Some of the details appear to have been from a Priestly version, such as the first account of Creation in Genesis 1.  Other parts of the account are provided from the Yahwists perspective such as the case in the second story of Creation in Genesis 2.   The two versions of the story, leave the reader quite confused as to which version has it's facts in order.  The text in and of itself does not give us a very good picture.


The issue of it's origination is not finally the point.  What the story is saying to us as we are on this journey of Lent cannot be overlooked.  

In this Year of 2012, it is really difficult for us to imagine a scenario in which a "loving and merciful God" would decide to destroy all that God had created, because it had gone corrupt.  After all, it was God's creation.  Is it possible that the corruption was the fault of God, with something God got wrong? 


The narrative challenges us to consider the question: Does God change?


I am of the opinion that God's unconditional and all inclusive love and forgiving mercy do not change. Given that God is One who has  been consistently active in the events of the world, I do think that God meets us in the changing course of things, with a willingness to be the origin and destiny of all changes.  I think God works as much with science including the theory of evolution as a possible explanation of what the Creation story actually means. God works through the technological and medical advancements of the modern age. God is present  and active even in politics, as much as God influences religious communities and theological geniuses.  God is not a stagnant Being, but as the One in Whom all that is good originates and ultimately ends.   The concept of "God" is one that human beings have been struggling with ever since time began.  Humankind will continue to come short of being able to fully understand who God is, or what God does, well after our lifetime.

What I believe the Genesis story says to us quite clearly, is that whatever happened in the flood, God made a covenant by which God has to be accountable.  John C. Holbert in a commentary our reading from Genesis today, provides some insight into what he thinks the rainbow covenant means.

"I am about to establish (or "set up") my covenant with you (pl) and with your (pl) seed after you, and with every living creature with you, the birds, the domestic and wild animals, all those that left the ark, every last creature" (9:9-10). The grammar of this sentence is somewhat tortured in Hebrew, but the implication is extremely important: the covenant, the contract between God and God's vast and disparate creation, poised on the divine tongue, is thoroughly and completely inclusive of all those made by God in Genesis 1. No one is excluded; no one is left out. The horrors of the cataclysmic flood are never to be repeated. "I now set up my covenant with you that never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood and that never again will a flood corrupt the earth" (9:11).

Two words from that last sentence contain large ironic resonance. First, the word "cut off" is regularly used in other places in the tradition to describe the very act of making covenant! It is often said that a covenant is "cut" (this same verb), possibly referring to the ancient practice of cutting animals for proper sacrifice by way of symbolizing the covenant being made (see, for example, Gen 15's covenant between God and Abram). This covenant, though it might be said to be "cut," will stop any future "cutting off" of the world's creatures.

The second ironic word is "corrupt." God says that no flood will ever again "corrupt" the earth; it is this same word that in Gen 6:11 describes one of the very reasons for the unleashing of the flood in the first place! Human "corruption" may have grieved the heart of God, but now after the flood, God vows never again to bring divine "corruption," despite the continuous presence of human evil.

The Covenant God establishes is inclusive.   This in and of itself implies that the separations that many Christianists make with regards to women, LGBT, people of differing religions, races, cultures and languages, etc., is a distinction that is human made. Not God ordained or sanctioned. Such are not an exception being made by God.

This brings us to the reality that as Christians, the story of Noah and the Covenant prefigures what Baptism means for us. 

The Gospel narrative from Mark begins with Jesus' Baptism.  So begins Jesus' public ministry.  Baptism  is our starting point, through which we are adopted as God's own.  We, like Jesus and because of Jesus, are Beloved of God, with whom God is well-pleased.  In our Baptism, not only do we receive our name as God's beloved, but we also die with Christ on the Cross, and rise with Christ on Easter Day. (See Romans 6: 1-11).

As sure as the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness among the wild beasts to be tempted, and was waited on by angels, so God does not leave us alone in our desert journey.   God was guiding  Jesus and helping him to know that God was the One by which he would survive and be saved.

Jesus then begins proclaiming the Good News, by saying that the Reign of God was at hand, so repent and believe.

As God's beloved, with whom God is well-pleased, we can trust that God is with us through our journey's of life and faith.  As LGBT Christians, we too are claimed as God's beloved.  In Jesus Christ we have been redeemed and forgiven for our sins. 

Our sins of having denied the reality of who we are by living in closets of death and deception.  Our sins of lying to God, others and ourselves about who we are.  Our sins of trying to fool others into thinking we are someone other than who we really are.  The sin of allowing ourselves to be caught up in the false teachings of a so called Bible-belief that our being LGBT and acting on it with in loving relationships would some how mean, that God damns us and hates us.  

Those signs with the words: "God Hates Fags!"  Those signs are blatant lies, not actual truths.  Those who write them know what the Bible reads, but they do not know what it actually says or means.  If they did, they would never write such horrible words.

The faith that we profess during this season of Lent, is by which God embraces everyone.  Even those with whom we disagree.  This morning, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral had the privilege of having as our Preacher. the Rev. Canon Peg Chamberlain, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.  During her outstanding sermon, she asked us to participate in an activity that a colleague of his uses, whenever he visits a Baptist church.  He tells every person to turn around to the person and say: "God loves you, and so do I, and there is nothing you can do about it."

What would happen if all of us Christians learned to act in such a way that we turned to everyone we meet with the attitude of "God loves you, and so do I, and there is nothing you can do about it?"   Do you think that at last people might actually see peace as the acceptable alternative to war?  Would people who prefer discrimination and violence, begin to realize that all are children of God and that hospitality and reconciliation is the only acceptable form of relating to others?

Today's message for us in 2012, as we are on this journey of Lent, is whether you are tempted, or in sin, or feeling like you have been excluded because of someone's poor judgment and/or behavior, or that no one really cares about you, is that God loves you, so do I, and there is nothing you can do about it.


Prayers

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (First Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).


Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Prayer for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).


O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.  (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p. 818).

Saturday After Ash Wednesday: The Marginalized are Called to Partnership with Christ

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 58: 9b-35 (NRSV)

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
   you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
   the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
   and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
   and satisfy your needs in parched places,
   and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
   like a spring of water,
   whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
   you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
   the restorer of streets to live in.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
   from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
   and the holy day of the Lord honourable;
if you honour it, not going your own ways,
   serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
   and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Luke 5: 27-32 (NRSV)

After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ 

Blog Reflection

This Lent, I chose for my seasonal reading the book entitled: Pilgrim Road: A Benedictine Journey Through Lent, by Albert Holtz, O.S.B.  On each day of Lent, Holtz has written a page about his sabbatical pilgrimage that took him from Newark Abbey in New Jersey through England, to Bolivia, Amsterdam, and just about all over the world.  He completes his story of what he saw on a particular day's trip with a reflection for our Lenten observance.

On the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, Holtz recalls his Euro-star train journey from Paris' Gare du Nord at 8:09 a.m., through arriving at 10:35 a.m. in Waterloo Station in London.  As Holtz writes, he paints for the reader a magnificent picture of what he is seeing and experiencing from the beginning of that train trip to the end.

At one point, he writes of the following experience.

10:20 a.m. Out of the tunnel...Syndenham, Hill station...Herne Hill....apartment buildings and row houses...worn-out neighborhoods of brick and asphalt...rough, rough, shuddering tracks... A double-decker bus below...a wide river alongside--probably the Thames.

I think about the little man in the gray cap, and a snatch of Scripture from the prophet Jeremiah comes to mind.  God's chosen ones, he declares, "will be like a well-watered garden." Hmm... What if we were less like a speeding train and more like a watered garden?

If my life were a garden, then my heart would be a place of calm, patient waiting for things to come in their own due time: seasons of blossoms, seasons of plenty, and seasons of sleet and snow and seeming sterility.  If my life were a garden to be tended, then my desire to control everything would no longer make sense, because a garden can't be forced or pushed or hurried along; a garden needs to be nurtured, not driven headlong like a train on a track.  Then my efforts at prayer or work would take on a different meaning, because anything that a garden produces comes not as my accomplishment but as a mysterious, beautiful gift of nature's bounty (p. 9-10).

At his reflection point for all of this, Holtz writes:

If your life is like a garden, then Lent is not a project to be accomplished, but rather an opportunity to let God help you to look carefully at your garden and help it to be more fruitful.  Prayer, fasting and works of charity are traditional ways of doing this.  If your life is a garden that needs to be watered and weeded but cannot be forced or controlled, ask the Lord to help you this Lent to let go of your need to control, and to teach you how to be patient with the God's slow way of doing things (p. 10).

Lent is a period of tending to our gardens. Our lives are full of seeds that have been planted.  Some by God, some by those who have inspired us, and those particular things that are part of the natural law called: life.  As we receive the gifts of faith, hope and love from these seeds comes the life of God's creative beauty that will bring forth something wonderful, that shall grace the sky with dazzling new colors and flavors that will please the most discerning of palates. 

There will also be the weeds, that come through sin and the difficulties of life.  Many of these will be planted by the biological realities of our D.N.A. Many weeds will grow from our families and the behaviors they teach us by word and example.  There will be many pains and hurts that will give life to the weeds, which seek to weaken what grows from the seed.  Many of them will come through no fault of our own.  Some will come as we harbor grudges and find it difficult to forgive those who cannot tell the difference between good vegetation from healthy seeds vs. the weeds.  Such people often insist on trying to pull the weeds out for us, because of what they do not understand.  Others will insist that the weeds along with the product of the seed must be burned, suggesting that the whole garden is contaminated.  What they do not see, is that while the seeds are sprouting, and the plants are growing, that through some are being challenged by the weeds, they are discovering a fuller knowledge of themselves. They really only need help to work past the effects of those weeds, to become a mature and healthy food that will provide nourishment and hope for generations to come.

The tax collectors in Jesus' day were presumed by those of their time, to be sinners.  They were marginalized "because of the dishonesty and injustice associated with their profession. Jesus does not talk to Levi privately, but calls him in the midst of his business, and goes to a public banquet where a "large crowd" of tax collectors and other friends are present.  The Pharisees emphasize the impropriety of sharing a meal with these people, who, besides being sinners, would have contact with the Gentiles and thus been ritually unclean.  Jesus uses a proverb to explain his stance: he has come to help those in need and will go out to them.  Those who will not recognize their own need are not ready for the doctor" (Jerome Kodell, O.S.B. Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament Volume, p. 947).

Once again, we see that Jesus goes to those presumed to be "ritually unclean" because of what they do.  Jesus, not pleased with that kind of thing, does not waste time trying to reason with those who have already written them off.  Instead, Jesus goes and makes a partnership with them, to welcome them (hospitality) as part of God's family first, and to show God's mercy and forgiveness (reconciliation) for them second.  Jesus does not see individuals as "ritually unclean", alternatively, he includes them to be part of the work God has sent Christ to do.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer individuals, along with other marginalized persons, have experienced being set aside by those who consider us to be "abominations." This is their way of suggesting that we are "unclean."  The injustices experienced by Native Americans at the hands of white, Christian, men who insisted that their cultural identity and religious values made them such a superior class that they thought of themselves as "commissioned" to exploit and dispose of others who were not like them; is a shameful chapter in American history. This attitude brought by through colonization, resulted in many cultures, traditions and peoples being subjected to the most cruel and unacceptable means of stigmatization and prejudice.  This is something that we as Americans and Christians should not be proud of.

Lent is a time for us to take an honest look at what has been happening in our garden.  As we grow in the company of people of diverse sexual orientations, genders, gender identities/expressions, classes, races, cultures, languages, health statuses, wealth statuses, religions and so on and so forth; what are we declaring to be "unclean" when it is in fact a product of God's Holy Spirit?  Are we looking at other plants recognizing their unique contributions to the work of God among us? Or, are we declaring them weeds because, well, they are just not like us?  

God has come in Christ to make us part of a partnership for the expansion of the reign of God among all people.  We, as Christians, are just one particular flavor, or product of what God is growing in the great garden of life.  It is God's job to determine what no longer bears good fruit.  Not ours.  Our partnership with God, is to participate in loving everyone who is part of God's garden. Each person is created in God's image and likeness, and have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That includes us.  That includes those that we have arrogantly decided are weeds. 

During this Lent, let's allow God to have control over our own gardens, and leave those of others to the care of God as well.  

When we work with God by letting the goodness of the seeds of our own faith, to be nurtured by unconditional and all-inclusive love; the awesomeness of God's transforming grace becomes visible to others so that they can add their God created flavors to the diverse garden of God's holy and life-giving people. 


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth your right hand to help and defend us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 35).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217),


O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).

St. Matthias the Apostle: Love Others as God Love Us

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 1:15-26

Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus-- for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) "For it is written in the book of Psalms,

`Let his homestead become desolate,

and let there be no one to live in it';

and

`Let another take his position of overseer.'

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us-- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection." So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Philippians 3:13-21 (NRSV)

This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

John 15:1,6-16  (NRSV)

 

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Blog Reflection

If you had been a person who followed Jesus from his baptism, through his death, resurrection and ascension, what might your reaction be to having the lots cast by the Apostles for Judas' successor fall on you?  What would your reaction be if the lot did not fall on you?

When I think of the Apostles casting lots to select their new member, I think of them gathered in a circle with Justis and Matthias standing side by side waiting to see what happens.  Keep in mind that Pentecost had not yet happened. So they were still awaiting the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus promised the Apostles before he ascended.  I am sure there was a slight feeling of panic and anticipation in both Justis and Matthias.

What if you had been either Justis or Matthias? 

If you were Justis, not having the lot fall on you, might have felt like not winning the $10,000.00 prize on Food Network Challenge. You put your heart and soul into doing a good job, with your best out in the open, but you still did not make the cut.  Perhaps we would be still willing to follow the work of the Apostles and take part in their work.  Perhaps Justis was also with the Apostles and received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

If you were Matthias, you would have been very happy and excited. I also believe that you would have some great fears and anxieties about what you had just gotten yourself into. Watching things from a distance, is nothing like finally getting into the game.  Now there is no running away from what your life's work will be.  You have work to do.  You have a community to give your time and attention to. You are now serving Jesus Christ, by proclaiming his message of grace and salvation to a lost world.

I think it is very important to not think of Matthias as on the in crowd, and some how Justis is on the out crowd.  Regardless of whether we are lay people, a Bishop, Priest or Deacon we all share the in the work of representing Christ and the Church in whatever capacity God has placed us.  So says our Catechism or Outline of the Faith on pages 855 & 856 in the Book of Common Prayer.  We are all an order of ministry.  We all have our work to do. 

As we continue through Lent, as we pause on this Friday after Ash Wednesday with this Feast of St. Matthias, we are called to the ministry of hospitality and reconciliation.  We are called to come before God, confess our sins, receive God's grace and mercy and go forth in Christ's Name to love and serve in peace and faithfulness.

What does it mean to live as an enemy of the Cross? 

When we make use of the Cross to suggest that no one but a certain class or type of person should be there unless they fit our standards, our representation is one of hostility towards what the Cross is really about.  It is much too easy to forget that the Cross "pours contempt on all our pride (see Hymnal 1982 #474 verse 1). Pride being our need to exalt ourselves above others who are different from ourselves.

Among the best ways that we honor what the Cross is about, is by taking our place with the tax collector in Luke 18: 9-14, who said: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"  We are all before God's grace as those who follow Jesus Christ, right to the Cross, because we are in need of God's mercy and forgiveness.   Forgiveness for those times when we exalt ourselves, only to be humbled.  We pray that we might be the example of humility, set in Chapter 7 of the Rule of St. Benedict. There he describes our life as a ladder reaching up to heaven.  Our bodies and souls make up the sides of the ladder Not as some kind of dualism, but as one in relationship to the other. We ascend on the ladder in humility. We descend on the ladder when we exalt ourselves.  The vocation of our Baptismal Covenant and the application of the Gospel through out our lives in humility and discipline make up the twelve steps of the ladder.

The point here, is to live with an awareness of God in such a way, that the only thing in life that really attracts us is to love others as God loves us.  To love in such a way, that we seek the common good of all people, even those who are unique.  To love each other with a sacrificial love, as Christ loves all of us, is the way of the Cross,and is what humility is all about. We are ready to give of ourselves as a token of love so that no one may go away thinking that they are not included, valued and desired by the heart of God, in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, along with women, individuals of diverse classes, races, health levels, languages, cultures, income levels, immigrant statuses have all experienced some level of being "outside" the possibility of a true Christian vocation, unless they embrace the ideals of white, Christian, European/American society.  It is a litmus test to being included in the ministry and life of the Church that every person not be different than that set of criteria by which we classify other people. This kind of thing, which sadly is not totally gone from our contemporary Church, shows us to be enemies of the Cross. By which our "god is our belly and our glory is our shame, our minds are set on earthly things. Though our citizenship is in heaven."       

This time of Lent and this Holy Day, remind us that any one of us can be chosen by God to serve others by our willingness to love others as Christ loves us.  The question we all must ask and answer is; are we willing to let God take off the limits we place on ourselves with such high expectations, which we project on to others?   As God accepts and loves us, so should we be willing to learn to love others. 

Where are we on answering such questions?


Prayers

Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful
servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that
your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always
be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors; through
Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (St. Matthias, Book of Common Prayer, p. 239).


Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).


Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p. 97).


Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p. 101).

Thursday after Ash Wednesday & Polycarp: The Cross and Martyrdom

Today's Scripture Readings

From the Commemoration of St. Polycarp

Revelation 2:8-11 (NRSV)

John heard the voice say, "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:

"I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death."

Psalm 121 (Book of Common Prayer, p. 779) 


Matthew 20:20-23 (NRSV)

The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."

From the Lectionary for Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Luke 9: 23-25 (NRSV)

Then Jesus said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? 

Blog Reflection

Today is one of those days where we have excellent choices from Holy Scripture for both the Thursday after Ash Wednesday and for today's commemoration of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr.   This is also one of those very rare occasions when the Gospel from both Lectionaries can easily speak to and/or about one another.

Polycarp was a pupil of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist.  According to the short biography on page 238 of Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Polycarp was appointed a Bishop by "Apostles in Asia."  He was very firm in his Faith in Jesus Christ.  It is believed that he was executed by being burned at the stake on February 23, probably in the year 156 in the amphitheater at Smyrna.   It was a day, when many Christians had been fed to the wild beasts at the request of many who found the Christians to be a nuisance.  Polycarp went to his death saying a prayer of absolute faith in Jesus Christ, to the point of thanking God for having found him worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ.

The Gospel readings for his commemoration and on this Thursday after Ash Wednesday are an invitation to examine our own commitment to God's call on those who follow Jesus Christ.  Both narratives can be summed up in the understanding that being a disciple of Jesus Christ will call upon us carry our cross through self-denial and the handing over of ourselves to be transformed by the power of God's redeeming grace.

What does this mean for us as we begin Lent 2012?  How are we being called to "deny ourselves?"   What is it that God might be calling us to "lose" for the sake of Jesus Christ?

I cannot answer these questions for every person.  They have to be answered by each person, as God calls each of us to their own observances of Lent.

As for myself, this past week my eyes have been opened and my hardness of heart softened.  Last weekend, while Jason and I were walking around the Mall of America, we wondered into Barnes & Noble.  As we were looking through the Christian Inspiration section, I found a book entitled Jesus Was A Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All by Rev. Scotty McLennan.  As I read through the contents and read little excerpts from a few places, I found myself seeing my own beliefs in a mirror, yet challenged in a way that I have ever so been needing.  That in and of itself was an eye opener.  However, when I started to a short description of the author on the outside back cover, I was stunned to be tied up and gagged. Rev. Scotty is a minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association.  If a bolt of lightening had struck me then and there, I might not have felt a thing.  As I have been reading into the book, I have found myself respectfully disagreeing with the position he has taken with regards to the Divinity of Christ. I also disagree with the denial of the centrality of God becoming human in Christ that Rev. McLennan has arrived at.  However, what he has written about with regard the Person of Jesus Christ and the mission that Christians are called to by virtue of who Christ was; as those who are to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Jesus; there are Christians who say the Nicene Creed without error who could not have written about Christ as well as Rev. McLennan has.

I have been reading with great interest about Rev. Scotty's struggle with the Presbyterian faith that he was raised in. How by the time he graduated from high school he had become an Atheist.  He later found what he learned during his college years at Yale University about science, mathematics, and various world religions, led him back to God.  He recognized the amazing things the Infinite God did through a man named Jesus Christ.  Before he arrived there, he tells his story while he uses quotations taken from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., examining the works of Darwin, Einstein and studying Mohandas Gandhi and the great Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr and many more, that he understood the importance of Jesus' example of seeking the marginalized and the exploited to restore to them that sense of dignity and integrity that comes from being a person created in the image and likeness of God.  McLennan even recognizes that at the core of Jesus Christ, is the God who is Love.

After reading what I have from McLennan, and continuing with my devotion to The Rule of St. Benedict and the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer, and the Scripture readings, I think there are some things that Christians need to take a good hard look at during this Lent.

Among the many things we Christians need to "deny ourselves" of and "lose for the sake of the Gospel" is thinking that we are the center of the universe.  Christians are an important part of the universe of God's creation and redemption, but we are not an end in and of ourselves.  It is really most important that we get our own act together and not concentrate so much on trying to convert every person who thinks, believes and behaves differently than we do.

It is important for us as Christians to hang on to what we believe to be true.  Among them, that God has revealed God's Self in the three distinct Persons known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Or if you prefer, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  The belief that God became one like us in the Word made Flesh in Jesus the Christ. The hope of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit to continue to "lead us into all truth."  To hold to our hearts and minds, and show through our lives that God loves all people unconditionally and inclusively.

It is equally important for those of us who hold these central truths of what it means to be Christian for us, to allow God to transform us first and foremost.

During this time of Lent, we would do well to allow God to speak to those places where we push God out of the center, and make ourselves our own god. We need to recognize that one of the ways we do that is by insisting that everyone who claims to be Christian or a good person who seeks the common good of others, must think, act, dress, love, talk and be what we think they should be.  As for me, I must accept that there are Christians who do not believe as I do. Who pray and think differently. I must learn to see God working in everyone, even those who are different from myself.  I must leave them to God, and be sure I am being faithful and true to who God is to me, and doing what God asks of me.  Yet, I also believe that God calls upon me to reverence the Presence of the Lord in all persons.  Therefore, I cannot look at Jews, Unitarians, Atheists, Muslims, Native Americans and so forth, as being less than who they are.

It is important for Christians, including and especially me, to allow God the Holy Spirit to rip open those Pandora's Boxes that Bishop Gene Robinson refers to in his book In the Eye of the Storm: Pushed to the Center by God.  This means, that Christians need to become informed by sources other than just our Bibles, and other than many of those things that are the product of traditionalism, rather than Tradition.

Rev. Scotty in Jesus Was A Liberal writes:

[The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr.] repeatedly said that Descartes was mistaken when he said, "cognito ergo sum" ("I think therefore I am").  Instead, he should have said, "amo ergo sum" ("I love therefore I am").  Coffin had nothing against thinking per se; he was a graduate of Yale College and the Yale Divinity School. He explained that the Christian preachers he most admired were those who sought to inform minds as much as to engage hearts: "They have tried to link learning with love, intellect with piety, knowing that aroused but uninformed Christians are as dangerous as quack physicians," as he later put in a 1982 book. (p.59. Here McLennan is quoting from two different sources, one is Courage to Love by Coffin, pages 1 and 35, and a biography by Warren Goldstein entitled William Sloane Coffin, Jr. A Holy Impatience).

The Cross calls for us to defend the Gospel as Episcopalians through our Baptismal Covenant to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. With God's help." (BCP, p. 305).

This means preserving and defending the dignity of women from the male privilege that seeks undermine and denigrate them through unjust laws that govern their bodies including their reproductive organs.  This means calling Christians and others in the Church and society to discontinue the rhetoric and violence towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  To seek for just and appropriate laws that welcome immigrants, and protect Native Americans in their cultures and traditions.  To provide health care for all citizens so that they can have an opportunity to be healed and pursue productive lives.  We must serve the poor and the needy and seek economic equality for every person.  To end the constant degradation and exploitation of those who are scraping to get by, by those who have more than their share in the first place.

It is so important for us to live out what the Cross means to us.  Not by preaching it in inappropriate places where we become arrogant pests, just for the sake of being seen and heard for how many Bible verses we can memorize.  When our own lives show a grace that is transforming so that we are at peace with God within ourselves, by denying ourselves for the good of others, the greatest Gospel story will have been told.  Those who will have heard, will only come back wanting for more.


Prayers

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further with your continual help: that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reighs with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.  (Holy Women,  Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 33).

O God, the maker of heaven and earth, you gave your venerable servant, the holy and gentle Polycarp, boldness to confess Jesus Christ as King and Savior, and steadfastness to die for his faith; Give us grace, following his example, to share the cup of Christ and rise to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Polycarp, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, p. 239).

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect from Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 217).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, p. 823).    

Ash Wednesday: Lent is Time for God

Today's Scripture Readings

Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17 (NRSV)

Isaiah 58: 1-12 (NRSV)

Psalm 103 (Book of Common Prayer, p. 733)



2 Corinthians 5: 20b-6: 10 (NRSV)

We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,

"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Blog Reflection 

In her reflection on Chapter 49: On the Observance of Lent from the Rule of St. Benedict, Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B., writes the following in her book The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century.

"Once upon a time," an ancient story tells, "the master had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen.  But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own concerns and giving his own thoughts.

"After a while, the master served tea.  He poured tea into his visitor's cup until it was full and then kept on pouring.

"Finally the visitor could not help it any longer. "Don't you see that my cup is full?' he said.  'It's not possible to get anymore in.'

"'Just so,' the master said, stopping at last. "And like this cup, you are filled with your own ideas.  How can you expect me to give you Zen unless you first empty your cup?" (p. 219). 

Like the visitor to the Zen master, most of us Christians come to God quite full of ourselves.  Myself, especially.  We may sing hymns like "Have Thine Own Way , Lord," by when the time comes for God's way, the only way that appeals most to us, is our own.  We like our place in the sun.   We may as modern day Christians accept Galileo's explanation that the earth is not the center of the universe.  However, we are all too happy to take the earth out of the center of the universe and replace it with ourselves.  It is our way or the highway.  It is as if we we were just about half way there on that highway that John the Baptist prepared for us to make way for the Lord during Advent, and turned right around and ran back to ourselves.

Lent is a time to be reminded that we are just a speck of dust in the world.  As we hear throughout the day in our Ash Wednesday services: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Book of Common Prayer, p. 265).  During Lent we remember that it is not by our own merits that we alone will save ourselves.  It is by God's grace and mercy that forgives us of our sins through the death and resurrection of Christ that we have the hope for eternal life.

However, Lent is not about being most concerned about the end of our lives.  Lent is about taking care of what is here and now.   Paul writes in his 2nd Letter to the Corinthians that the time of salvation is now.  Now, is the hour to be seeking God, and allowing God to change us.  The time for prayer, fasting and alms giving is now.  The time to take ourselves out of the center and put the will of God and and the interests of others before ourselves is now.

For some of us, this will mean letting to of higher expectations upon ourselves.  We do not have to have all of the answers. We are not required to be perfect in all things.  We are called to perfect love of God, neighbor and self. 

Lent is a time for a greater self knowledge.  A time when everything about ourselves that is both good and bad is to be placed into the hands of God, with the permission to allow God to change us through a daily dying to self.  Lent is a joyful time of finding the victory of the resurrection, as we embrace the Way of the Cross.  The contradiction of bringing life out of death, becomes a daily encounter as we make more time for God through following the example of Christ's self-sacrificial love.

For others, Lent is a time of trying once again to quite smoking, drinking, indulging ourselves in practices that are not healthy for ourselves and others around us.  A period of looking for strength from God as we struggle to find opportunities for growth.  A period of looking for new ways to serve God, by giving up old ways that just have not worked.

Lent will present us with moments of facing our own mortality.  We will find ourselves helpless and not sure what to do.  We will find ourselves giving in to those temptations to return to things as they were.  What Lent reminds us, is that in those moments, God is actually closer to us even when we just don't feel like God cares or is interested.  If we will look to God in those times when we don't exactly feel God's presence, but just know that God is there in our minds and hearts, we can and will find the strength to meet our challenges.  If by chance, we mess it all up and fall, we can go to God who is gracious, merciful and forgiving to help us pick up and move on.

Lent is also a time to refocus those energies that we use to concentrate on our problems and needs, by turning our attention to others who need.  As women's reproductive health care and the rights of LGBTQ people, immigrants, voters, the health care and future of the middle class and lower income individuals continues to be exploited and attacked, we can use our time during Lent to discern what our response will be.  We can take an active role in helping those who are experiencing oppression, injustice and prejudice directly through local community support and/or through advocacy on their behalf.   The opportunities for living out our Baptismal Vows during Lent, are exactly the reason why we celebrate this Season of Penitence.  We can pray for the grace during this Lent to do more than just pray and leave it all up to someone else.  We can ask God to "teach us to seek God, for we cannot seek you (God) unless you teach us, or find you until you show yourself to us.  Let us seek you in our desire, let us desire you in our seeking.  Let us find you by loving you, let us love you when we find you" (Prayer of St. Anselm of Canterbury, St. Benedict's Prayer Book for Beginners, p. 118).

During Lent we should ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to help us to open up our limited understanding of God, others and ourselves.  To see God's creative and redemptive activity in those who are different from ourselves.  Whether those differences be race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, health status, language, employment status, personal challenges and so on.  Lent is a time for asking God to remove the blindness that keeps us from seeing God's goodness in diversity so that we may include them, by working for justice and equality.

As we begin this Lent with the ashes, may we proceed from here through the next 40 days that will lead us to Holy Week, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and ultimately Easter Day.  As we prepare to celebrate God's acts of redemption and salvation, may we be about God's saving work in our own lives, in those around us, and for the good those beyond us.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
  and all that is within me, bless God's Holy Name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
  and forget not all God's benefits. (Psalm 103: 1,2, BCP, p. 733).

Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p. 732).

Psalm 51, BCP. 266, 267

1     Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
                                      loving-kindness; *
           in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
 
  2     Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
           and cleanse me from my sin.

  3     For I know my transgressions, *
           and my sin is ever before me.
  4     Against you only have I sinned *
           and done what is evil in your sight.

  5     And so you are justified when you speak *
           and upright in your judgment.

  6     Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
           a sinner from my mother's womb.

  7     For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
           and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

  8     Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
           wash me, and I shall be clean indeed. 

  9     Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
           that the body you have broken may rejoice.

10     Hide your face from my sins *
           and blot out all my iniquities.

11     Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
           and renew a right spirit within me.

12     Cast me not away from your presence *
           and take not your holy Spirit from me.

13     Give me the joy of your saving help again *
           and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

14     I shall teach your ways to the wicked, *
           and sinners shall return to you. 

15     Deliver me from death, O God, *
           and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness,
           O God of my salvation.

16     Open my lips, O Lord, *
           and my mouth shall proclaim your praise. 

17     Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice; *
           but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.

18     The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; *
           a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.