Today's Scripture Readings
Exodus 3:1-15 (NRSV)
Psalm 63 (BCP., p.670)
1 Corinthians 10: 1-13 (NRSV)
Luke 13: 1-9 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
One of the more devastating consequences of individualism without community, is that social responsibility becomes obsolete. When we adopt a philosophy of "I am an entity in and of myself only" opportunities for the growth of everyone perishes with far reaching and devastating results.
The continual use of chemicals that damage the environment for every living being, is considered an "unavoidable consequence" for the growth of multinational corporations. The punishment of middle class income due to the abuses of Wall Street executives and corporate CEO's, is just capitalism that supposedly protects the working class. One individual becoming wealthier and more powerful, at the expense of those who become poorer and more destitute happens because low income people learn to fend for themselves, because, the government just cannot meet the needs of everyone. It is okay for the government to go into a sequester of spending cuts that hurt education, federal workers, funding for health care, police protection, and immigration reform, is okay, because it is more important to save those tax breaks for only 1% of Americans, or gain the political advantage. If Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia suggests that The Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary because it gives "racial privilege", and racism is somehow a thing of the past.
Our readings for today speak to the issue of social responsibility. There are far reaching consequences of sin. Sin that disrupts the work of justice on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized of society, is not the problem of a few. It carries with it the destruction of the human community for generations to come. Still think this is not the case? Just think of how the Holocaust in Germany and all through Europe that occurred in the 1930's through the middle of the 1940's continues to impact the relationships with Jewish people and non-Jewish people alike. There remains not only a cultural divide, but an atmosphere of distrust between individuals of different races, religions and nationalities.
When the children in our schools are not protected from bullying because of their gender, gender identity/expression, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other reason, no person, no child is really safe. Everyone's true identity as children of God, with whom God is well-pleased becomes corrupted by prejudice and misinformation.
Our Gospel narrative for today tells of Jesus having a conversation with those who have taken some social action, without the thought of what it might mean for others. Jesus' response to them is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The decision of a few to use violence as a means for confronting violence, only results in more violence. The Gospel response to violence is non-violence. Not just for the sake of a few, but for the sake of all. The impact of drone missiles killing families in Pakistan, means that the world is deprived of whole generations of individuals who can make a difference. It is one thing to object to LGBT discrimination by way of peaceful Pride parades, attendance at hearings and participation in lobby days. It is quite the violence to respond to LGBT violence by way of glitter bombing and pie throwing. It is violence by which LGBT people experiencing the effects of the violent rhetoric of Christianists, by opposing all religions individuals and groups and stereotyping them as irrational, etc.
Jesus presents us with another message as part of the first one. Our work as Christians is to produce good fruit not just for us, but for all. A tree that will not produce what it is given life for, can only be good for pretty much nothing. Failing to use the great gifts we have all been given to benefit others and to contribute to the common good of all, is to allow the fruits of all that God has given us to dry up and become tasteless and only good for waste. On the other hand, a tree that is full of good things, that produces fruit that gives life to all, is a tree that gives and gives, and life continues to develop and grow with the culture, as opposed to working against it.
This past week Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, wrote a friend of the courts brief to the Supreme Court asking them to strike down Prop 8. In his remarks that are included in an excellent article in The Washington Post, he wrote:
Our journey through Lent now has three weeks before Holy Week. As we continue our practices of fasting, prayer, and alms giving, perhaps it is a good time to consider very carefully our social responsibility to one another in our behaviors, attitudes and actions. It is a good Season to remember that we are God's children with whom God is well-pleased, and so are others who are different from us. We do not need every person in the world to think like us, act like us, or even agree with us. But, what we do with that, and how we deal with that, reflects not only what is in each of us, but what becomes the narrative of society as a whole.
The Eucharist is about everyone coming from every where to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ. There are no people who are not welcomed to the Table of the Lord. No one is less fit to place themselves to receive the Presence of God and grow into the people that God wants each of us to become. In the Eucharist we should welcome and respect others, because we are welcome and respected by the One who gives of Himself totally and completely for the good of all of us.
Amen.
Prayers
Exodus 3:1-15 (NRSV)
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."
But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM Who I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you':
- This is my name forever,
- and this my title for all generations.
Psalm 63 (BCP., p.670)
1 Corinthians 10: 1-13 (NRSV)
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Luke 13: 1-9 (NRSV)
There were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
Blog Reflection
One of the more devastating consequences of individualism without community, is that social responsibility becomes obsolete. When we adopt a philosophy of "I am an entity in and of myself only" opportunities for the growth of everyone perishes with far reaching and devastating results.
The continual use of chemicals that damage the environment for every living being, is considered an "unavoidable consequence" for the growth of multinational corporations. The punishment of middle class income due to the abuses of Wall Street executives and corporate CEO's, is just capitalism that supposedly protects the working class. One individual becoming wealthier and more powerful, at the expense of those who become poorer and more destitute happens because low income people learn to fend for themselves, because, the government just cannot meet the needs of everyone. It is okay for the government to go into a sequester of spending cuts that hurt education, federal workers, funding for health care, police protection, and immigration reform, is okay, because it is more important to save those tax breaks for only 1% of Americans, or gain the political advantage. If Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia suggests that The Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary because it gives "racial privilege", and racism is somehow a thing of the past.
Our readings for today speak to the issue of social responsibility. There are far reaching consequences of sin. Sin that disrupts the work of justice on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized of society, is not the problem of a few. It carries with it the destruction of the human community for generations to come. Still think this is not the case? Just think of how the Holocaust in Germany and all through Europe that occurred in the 1930's through the middle of the 1940's continues to impact the relationships with Jewish people and non-Jewish people alike. There remains not only a cultural divide, but an atmosphere of distrust between individuals of different races, religions and nationalities.
When the children in our schools are not protected from bullying because of their gender, gender identity/expression, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other reason, no person, no child is really safe. Everyone's true identity as children of God, with whom God is well-pleased becomes corrupted by prejudice and misinformation.
Our Gospel narrative for today tells of Jesus having a conversation with those who have taken some social action, without the thought of what it might mean for others. Jesus' response to them is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The decision of a few to use violence as a means for confronting violence, only results in more violence. The Gospel response to violence is non-violence. Not just for the sake of a few, but for the sake of all. The impact of drone missiles killing families in Pakistan, means that the world is deprived of whole generations of individuals who can make a difference. It is one thing to object to LGBT discrimination by way of peaceful Pride parades, attendance at hearings and participation in lobby days. It is quite the violence to respond to LGBT violence by way of glitter bombing and pie throwing. It is violence by which LGBT people experiencing the effects of the violent rhetoric of Christianists, by opposing all religions individuals and groups and stereotyping them as irrational, etc.
Jesus presents us with another message as part of the first one. Our work as Christians is to produce good fruit not just for us, but for all. A tree that will not produce what it is given life for, can only be good for pretty much nothing. Failing to use the great gifts we have all been given to benefit others and to contribute to the common good of all, is to allow the fruits of all that God has given us to dry up and become tasteless and only good for waste. On the other hand, a tree that is full of good things, that produces fruit that gives life to all, is a tree that gives and gives, and life continues to develop and grow with the culture, as opposed to working against it.
This past week Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, wrote a friend of the courts brief to the Supreme Court asking them to strike down Prop 8. In his remarks that are included in an excellent article in The Washington Post, he wrote:
On marriage equality, our church has traveled on pilgrimage with our culture. Sometimes we have led in advocacy for marriage equality, and sometimes we have learned from the culture and from leaders outside the church. We have developed rites for blessing and marriage for all, and we have extended the support of the church to LGBT people in the form of premarital counseling and the integration of same-sex couples into loving communities of faith. The historic social prominence of The Episcopal Church lays some extra responsibility on us to use our influence for good. Thus we have advocated with courts and lawmakers at every level of government to promote marriage equality.
What about the charge that we have thrown away tradition? Over and over I’ve heard people jokingly (mostly) call our church, “Catholic light,” and claim (this, almost always derogatorily) that The Episcopal Church has no clear moral standards. It is easy for such a church, the argument goes, to irresponsibly accept culturally-led innovations like marriage equality.
The second thing about Episcopalians and marriage equality, then, that is important to say at this moment is that we are a church that believes Christ continues to be with the world, moving with us, helping us find meaning in moments of joy and also loss and pain. The Christ whom we recognize is the one who speaks in John’s Gospel, saying, “There are many things I would teach you but you cannot bear them now … the Sprit will lead you into all truth.” For Episcopalians, tradition is a moving force that is not only dynamic but that changes quality over time, and we might liken the change to be one of more light being cast into the world.
Our journey through Lent now has three weeks before Holy Week. As we continue our practices of fasting, prayer, and alms giving, perhaps it is a good time to consider very carefully our social responsibility to one another in our behaviors, attitudes and actions. It is a good Season to remember that we are God's children with whom God is well-pleased, and so are others who are different from us. We do not need every person in the world to think like us, act like us, or even agree with us. But, what we do with that, and how we deal with that, reflects not only what is in each of us, but what becomes the narrative of society as a whole.
The Eucharist is about everyone coming from every where to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ. There are no people who are not welcomed to the Table of the Lord. No one is less fit to place themselves to receive the Presence of God and grow into the people that God wants each of us to become. In the Eucharist we should welcome and respect others, because we are welcome and respected by the One who gives of Himself totally and completely for the good of all of us.
Amen.
Prayers
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves
to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and
inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all
adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil
thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).
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. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p. 101.)
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know
you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend
us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that
we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of
any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Collect for Peace, Book of Common Prayer, p. 99).
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