Today's Scripture Readings
1 Kings 19: 1-15 (NRSV)
Psalm 42 (BCP., p.643)
Galatians 3:23-29 (NRSV)
Luke 8:26-39 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
Thus far, my studies during my Novitiate have me doing Lectio Divina using Preferring Christ: A Devotional Commentary on The Rule of St. Benedict by Norvene Vest. The text of The Rule that she uses is a version by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB, of St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California. We are given a portion of the Prologue, a Chapter to use for an entire week, so that the words of The Rule can sink deep into our hearts and God can speak to us there and help us grow closer to God. At current, we are still in the Prologue. The words that have been jumping out at me over these last 3 weeks have been about listening. "Listen." "Incline the ear of the heart." "To you therefore, my words are now addressed." "Let us at last arise, since the Scripture stirs us." "let us hear with wondering ears what the Divine Voice admonishes us, daily crying out: Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." "And again, You who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says...." (Preferring Christ, pages 2-5).
All this brings me to the essential element in contemplative prayer. Listening. Contemplative prayer requires us to listen, and "incline the ear of the heart" in order to hear God speaking to us. This is why St. Benedict places such emphasis on silence. Silence is not just about the absence of noise, such as no TV, phones, internet, music, etc. It is about silencing the noise within us. The noise of our anxieties over the plans we are making, what our next meal will be, getting together with a friend, those things that just work us up. To be able to hold a close conversation with God in contemplative prayer, it is essential that we practice a silence that could easily pierce everything that distracts us. In contemplative prayer, we are not seeking to get something we want. We are seeking union with God, to the point of seeing things from God's perspective.
The narrative from the Hebrew Scriptures for this weekend is about a life in peril. Yes. However, it is also about knowing where and how God speaks to our heart and soul. It is not through violence, the mighty fire, and the earthquake. It is through the stillness of our interior selves, by way of the voice of the Holy Spirit calling to us, to seek union with God. Elijah did not just learn this, he experienced it. God wants us to experience that union with God as well. God wants to grow closer to each of us from the point of where we are. All God asks of us, is to quiet our interior selves long enough to be able to listen to what God is saying within us. If we will do that, we will discover that God is so full of love, so full of compassion and a desire for us, that we will wonder why we did not take time to meet God in this way before.
The Psalmist opens with such the appropriate response to what we have heard from the Hebrew Scriptures.
Our hearts and souls long to be nourished by God, by helping us to experience God's abiding presence in the midst of our troubled hearts. God wants us to pour out our hearts to God, and so allow ourselves to be renewed in grace to live holy lives.
The work of Christ's redemption is not merely a legalistic penal code. It is a way of living to the point, that the love of God, neighbor and self becomes the manner by which we exist. All are one in Christ as St. Paul tells us in the reading from Galatians, because of Christ's work of redemption on our behalf. We are all part of Christ, regardless of who we are in terms of gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, employment, language, physical/psychological or developmental challenge. In Christ Jesus, we are all one in His Body, the Church. Each of us come with our peculiar characteristics, behaviors, opinions, and understandings. Some of us are not that well educated, others are very well educated. The point is, none of those things tear us away from being one in Christ. We are one by our common Baptism, and our need of God's grace through Christ. We are united to Christ and one another because of the Holy Eucharist. In our Post Communion Prayer in Rite II we pray:
Now we come to probably one of the most intense Gospel narratives. There are so many messages to be listened to. How do we discern what is really important? By examining some important points.
Mental illness then (and even today), was not handled very well. People who had mental illness issues, often had them as a result of the horrible oppression they lived under at that point in history. They were outcast from the communities. They often were left among the graves, as they were considered good as dead.
When the man in this narrative, who is possessed by an evil spirit says that his name is "Legion" what might he be saying? He is speaking out of the reality of the horror he most likely witnessed when legions of Roman soldiers plundered people, and whole communities right in front of him. He probably saw them all happen when he was very young, and lived with the horror of the great evils that possessed him ever since. Fear. Anxiety. Unconsoled grief. Perhaps even shame.
The swine on the country side are symbolic of what is going on in this narrative. The pigs represent a change in the country in which Jesus was in. He was no longer in no pork eating Israel. He was in a Gentile place. People in that country were so scared of the man, that the pigs on the hill country were more important than the life of the man who lived among the tombs. When Legion asks to be sent into the swine and not the abyss, they are trying to tell us something. The abyss from which they came, is a place where their power over the man came from They begged not to go back for fear of what awaited them should the Son of God send them there. When Jesus finally commands them to go into the heard of swine that runs down the hill into the water to be drowned, it is not animal cruelty as some suggest. It means that the life of the man who was tormented all those years was so important, that if it meant sacrificing the swine to make him well, that is what Jesus was willing to do. It meant that that which had plagued the country at that time was cast out in shame and disgrace, and the man was set free. Once again, Jesus is interested in the dignity of this tormented man. Giving him the freedom of living as one redeemed by God was the most important thing He could do for him. And, Jesus did it.
After Jesus frees the man, he wants to go with Jesus. Jesus tells him and all of us to take care of what we have at home. It might be nice to go off and see miracles, and hear great sermons. But, what God has given us, that which is right in front of us, is what God wants us to pay attention to.
What evils in our time do we settle for, because we want to hang onto other things that are least important?
How about our consistent inattention to the issue of mental illness in our time?
How about uncontrolled wealth at the expense of those who are poor?
How about male-privilege at the expense of the dignity of women, such as the anti-abortion bill passed by the US House this past week? Yet, funding for job training, education, health care programs that benefit women, men and children are continually on the chopping block. How is a woman who is economically challenged suppose to be able to support a child, when she can barely support herself?
How about the looming danger of student loans rates about to go higher than they already are, because some bankers want to make some money off those who already live in poverty?
How about companies polluting rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, the air and out atmosphere in the name of their billion dollar profits and CEO salaries, at the expense of the beauty of the earth and the sacredness of God's creation?
This past week, we have witnessed an incredible event. Alan Chambers, the President of Exodus International, an ex-gay "ministry" is closing it's doors. Chambers has issued a formal apology for how he and the organization have hurt so many people, many of them who unfortunately took their lives because of the misinformation of the organization. He himself has been on an incredible journey by which he appears to be experiencing a great conversion within himself, and those who manage Exodus. While he himself has not had a complete change of opinion about homosexuality, and is unclear about where he should stand on marriage equality at this point in time, he is at least willing to say that his opinions one way or the other, do not mean he has the right to control the laws of the country, or keep them out of houses of worship where they are affirmed and accepted. In fact, he wants to see the Church become a more welcoming place for all. Including those who understand differently than he does. We have yet to see what becomes of all this, but, this beginning is a great sign of progress. It is right that we celebrate it that way.
Could this be a sign of Jesus freeing us from a great evil in our time, so that souls who are still imprisoned in self-internalized homophobia can begin to see that their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression are blessings from God? Not barriers to living holy lives, or loving others with purity of heart.
When Chambers read his apology to a group of ex-gay survivors, many of them told him of their concern about his continued use of language that hurts LGBT people. You can watch the video here.
Our Gospel today, does not have a terribly happy ending. Jesus is asked to leave that area, because the people there recognize who Jesus is, and what He can do. As Jesus often comes to change us from the inside out, to make us a more inclusive Church and society, it is so easy to push Him out in those who are different from ourselves. We make Jesus the new "other" that we must control, manipulate and oppress because of our personal biases. Whatever we might want Jesus to do for us, the last thing we want because of our personal selfishness, is to allow Him to change us.
We are invited this Sunday to sit quietly with God in contemplative prayer, find our oneness in Jesus Christ, and to see Christ's work of mercy among us, as God's justice. All of these have opportunities for us to allow the Holy Spirit to displace us a bit, so that we can grow closer to God, and reverence God's presence in others. The hardest step to take is the first one. It begins with our willingness to listen to God from within ourselves. It continues by our viewing others from God's point of view and not just our own. Spiritual and personal growth manifests God's presence as we are open to what God has to say to us, as we seek union with God in working for justice, equality and true peace for all people.
Amen.
Prayers
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."
He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus."
Psalm 42 (BCP., p.643)
Galatians 3:23-29 (NRSV)
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
Blog Reflection
Thus far, my studies during my Novitiate have me doing Lectio Divina using Preferring Christ: A Devotional Commentary on The Rule of St. Benedict by Norvene Vest. The text of The Rule that she uses is a version by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB, of St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California. We are given a portion of the Prologue, a Chapter to use for an entire week, so that the words of The Rule can sink deep into our hearts and God can speak to us there and help us grow closer to God. At current, we are still in the Prologue. The words that have been jumping out at me over these last 3 weeks have been about listening. "Listen." "Incline the ear of the heart." "To you therefore, my words are now addressed." "Let us at last arise, since the Scripture stirs us." "let us hear with wondering ears what the Divine Voice admonishes us, daily crying out: Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." "And again, You who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says...." (Preferring Christ, pages 2-5).
All this brings me to the essential element in contemplative prayer. Listening. Contemplative prayer requires us to listen, and "incline the ear of the heart" in order to hear God speaking to us. This is why St. Benedict places such emphasis on silence. Silence is not just about the absence of noise, such as no TV, phones, internet, music, etc. It is about silencing the noise within us. The noise of our anxieties over the plans we are making, what our next meal will be, getting together with a friend, those things that just work us up. To be able to hold a close conversation with God in contemplative prayer, it is essential that we practice a silence that could easily pierce everything that distracts us. In contemplative prayer, we are not seeking to get something we want. We are seeking union with God, to the point of seeing things from God's perspective.
The narrative from the Hebrew Scriptures for this weekend is about a life in peril. Yes. However, it is also about knowing where and how God speaks to our heart and soul. It is not through violence, the mighty fire, and the earthquake. It is through the stillness of our interior selves, by way of the voice of the Holy Spirit calling to us, to seek union with God. Elijah did not just learn this, he experienced it. God wants us to experience that union with God as well. God wants to grow closer to each of us from the point of where we are. All God asks of us, is to quiet our interior selves long enough to be able to listen to what God is saying within us. If we will do that, we will discover that God is so full of love, so full of compassion and a desire for us, that we will wonder why we did not take time to meet God in this way before.
The Psalmist opens with such the appropriate response to what we have heard from the Hebrew Scriptures.
As the deer longs for the water-brooks,
so longs my soul for you, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God;
when shall I come to appear before the presence of God. (Psalm 42: 1-2, BCP., p.643).
Our hearts and souls long to be nourished by God, by helping us to experience God's abiding presence in the midst of our troubled hearts. God wants us to pour out our hearts to God, and so allow ourselves to be renewed in grace to live holy lives.
The work of Christ's redemption is not merely a legalistic penal code. It is a way of living to the point, that the love of God, neighbor and self becomes the manner by which we exist. All are one in Christ as St. Paul tells us in the reading from Galatians, because of Christ's work of redemption on our behalf. We are all part of Christ, regardless of who we are in terms of gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, employment, language, physical/psychological or developmental challenge. In Christ Jesus, we are all one in His Body, the Church. Each of us come with our peculiar characteristics, behaviors, opinions, and understandings. Some of us are not that well educated, others are very well educated. The point is, none of those things tear us away from being one in Christ. We are one by our common Baptism, and our need of God's grace through Christ. We are united to Christ and one another because of the Holy Eucharist. In our Post Communion Prayer in Rite II we pray:
Eternal God, heavenly Father,
you have graciously accepted us as living members
of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ,
and you have fed us with spiritual food
in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Send us now into the world in peace,
and grant us strength and courage
to love and serve you
with gladness and singleness of heart;
through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.365).
Now we come to probably one of the most intense Gospel narratives. There are so many messages to be listened to. How do we discern what is really important? By examining some important points.
Mental illness then (and even today), was not handled very well. People who had mental illness issues, often had them as a result of the horrible oppression they lived under at that point in history. They were outcast from the communities. They often were left among the graves, as they were considered good as dead.
When the man in this narrative, who is possessed by an evil spirit says that his name is "Legion" what might he be saying? He is speaking out of the reality of the horror he most likely witnessed when legions of Roman soldiers plundered people, and whole communities right in front of him. He probably saw them all happen when he was very young, and lived with the horror of the great evils that possessed him ever since. Fear. Anxiety. Unconsoled grief. Perhaps even shame.
The swine on the country side are symbolic of what is going on in this narrative. The pigs represent a change in the country in which Jesus was in. He was no longer in no pork eating Israel. He was in a Gentile place. People in that country were so scared of the man, that the pigs on the hill country were more important than the life of the man who lived among the tombs. When Legion asks to be sent into the swine and not the abyss, they are trying to tell us something. The abyss from which they came, is a place where their power over the man came from They begged not to go back for fear of what awaited them should the Son of God send them there. When Jesus finally commands them to go into the heard of swine that runs down the hill into the water to be drowned, it is not animal cruelty as some suggest. It means that the life of the man who was tormented all those years was so important, that if it meant sacrificing the swine to make him well, that is what Jesus was willing to do. It meant that that which had plagued the country at that time was cast out in shame and disgrace, and the man was set free. Once again, Jesus is interested in the dignity of this tormented man. Giving him the freedom of living as one redeemed by God was the most important thing He could do for him. And, Jesus did it.
After Jesus frees the man, he wants to go with Jesus. Jesus tells him and all of us to take care of what we have at home. It might be nice to go off and see miracles, and hear great sermons. But, what God has given us, that which is right in front of us, is what God wants us to pay attention to.
What evils in our time do we settle for, because we want to hang onto other things that are least important?
How about our consistent inattention to the issue of mental illness in our time?
How about uncontrolled wealth at the expense of those who are poor?
How about male-privilege at the expense of the dignity of women, such as the anti-abortion bill passed by the US House this past week? Yet, funding for job training, education, health care programs that benefit women, men and children are continually on the chopping block. How is a woman who is economically challenged suppose to be able to support a child, when she can barely support herself?
How about the looming danger of student loans rates about to go higher than they already are, because some bankers want to make some money off those who already live in poverty?
How about companies polluting rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, the air and out atmosphere in the name of their billion dollar profits and CEO salaries, at the expense of the beauty of the earth and the sacredness of God's creation?
This past week, we have witnessed an incredible event. Alan Chambers, the President of Exodus International, an ex-gay "ministry" is closing it's doors. Chambers has issued a formal apology for how he and the organization have hurt so many people, many of them who unfortunately took their lives because of the misinformation of the organization. He himself has been on an incredible journey by which he appears to be experiencing a great conversion within himself, and those who manage Exodus. While he himself has not had a complete change of opinion about homosexuality, and is unclear about where he should stand on marriage equality at this point in time, he is at least willing to say that his opinions one way or the other, do not mean he has the right to control the laws of the country, or keep them out of houses of worship where they are affirmed and accepted. In fact, he wants to see the Church become a more welcoming place for all. Including those who understand differently than he does. We have yet to see what becomes of all this, but, this beginning is a great sign of progress. It is right that we celebrate it that way.
Could this be a sign of Jesus freeing us from a great evil in our time, so that souls who are still imprisoned in self-internalized homophobia can begin to see that their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression are blessings from God? Not barriers to living holy lives, or loving others with purity of heart.
When Chambers read his apology to a group of ex-gay survivors, many of them told him of their concern about his continued use of language that hurts LGBT people. You can watch the video here.
Our Gospel today, does not have a terribly happy ending. Jesus is asked to leave that area, because the people there recognize who Jesus is, and what He can do. As Jesus often comes to change us from the inside out, to make us a more inclusive Church and society, it is so easy to push Him out in those who are different from ourselves. We make Jesus the new "other" that we must control, manipulate and oppress because of our personal biases. Whatever we might want Jesus to do for us, the last thing we want because of our personal selfishness, is to allow Him to change us.
We are invited this Sunday to sit quietly with God in contemplative prayer, find our oneness in Jesus Christ, and to see Christ's work of mercy among us, as God's justice. All of these have opportunities for us to allow the Holy Spirit to displace us a bit, so that we can grow closer to God, and reverence God's presence in others. The hardest step to take is the first one. It begins with our willingness to listen to God from within ourselves. It continues by our viewing others from God's point of view and not just our own. Spiritual and personal growth manifests God's presence as we are open to what God has to say to us, as we seek union with God in working for justice, equality and true peace for all people.
Amen.
Prayers
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your
holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom
you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, p. 230).
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).
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).
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