Today's Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 1: 20-31 (NRSV)
Matthew 6: 7-15 (NRSV)
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."
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
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).
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