Today's Scripture Readings
Genesis 15:1-6 (NRSV)
Psalm 33 (BCP., p.626)
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (NRSV)
Luke 12:32-40 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
I am sure all of us at one time or another have had the experience of looking too far ahead, and not seeing what is directly in front of us. How many of us have bumped into someone because we had our eyes fixed on a different person way off in the distance. In our excitement to get to that person before they leave where they are, we ignore who might be right in front of us. Perhaps we've accidentally caused such a person to trip or lose their own shopping bags, because our regard for her/him is far less than the person in the distance. What is far away is important, but if we are not careful it is we carelessly neglect or damage what is right in front of us. God has us in the here and now for the time being. Our responsibility and charity in what we have at the moment is God's gift to us, how we handle it, demonstrates whether we are paying attention to God, or ourselves.
Abram (who becomes Abraham in the future) is symbolic of all of us. In this first book of the Bible, not only are we told the story of Creation and God's goodness to all people, humankind's immaturity that results in our fall from grace, the flood and Noah's Ark. Genesis, also gives us a look at the behaviors of all humans. Abram is a man of wealth. Here he is depicted in a situation that many of us find ourselves in at one point in our life or another. Like those who have much, he is concerned what happens to his wealth after he dies. He is wanting a child so that he will know that he has an inheritor. God answers Abram's prayer by telling him that his descendents shall be as numerous as the stars of heaven. God is telling Abram about the future, and giving him a peace of mind. Abram could not see what God was going to do in front of him, he had to have faith in God's promise, and trust God in the moment.
God's answers the prayer of Abram by telling him that not only will he have one who inherits the blessings God gave him, but that many, many others will also inherit God's blessings from him. One important aspect of God's answer to Abram's prayer, is that our prayers are not answered for only us, but also for the wider community of humankind. When we see our prayers and the answers we want as only being about us, God is then concerned about the wider picture. The answer often comes in a way that benefits the community, by responding to us individually as part of a greater community of people. What God gives to us as a result of prayer, is given to be shared with others beyond our own walls.
Sometimes in our prayers we are so worried about so many things, it seems like we can never quite communicate with God in the way we would like. We do not seem to understand how much what is in our minds weighs us down. In the Ninth Conference on Prayer by St. John Cassian, chapter 6, he describes the experience of an elder who saw another monk who was suppose to be at prayer. Instead what the elder saw was the monk hitting a rock with a sledge hammer, while another watched and edged him on. In the end, the monk was not able to do anything to affect the rock, His over exerting himself over the rock not only left him empty in terms of taking care of the rock, it also left his relationship with God experiencing a spiritual famine. His prayer life suffered greatly. He was so infatuated with being able to break the rock, that he abandoned his relationship with God. It is so important to be able to put all things into God's hands and leave them there. The rock can easily symbolize anything that we place between ourselves and God in prayer and allow it to have the important place in our lives that only God should have. Only when we trust things into God's hands and work with God's commandments might we be able to successfully break those rocks in our lives. At end of the chapter, Cassian writes:
In the Common English Bible, Hebrews 11:1 reads this way. "Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don't see".
Following the first verse, the writer to the Hebrews writes of the faith of Abraham. The faith written about in Hebrews is not as much about what we believe in, or proclaim in the Creeds. The faith that Hebrews' author writes refers to trust. The same trust I wrote about in conveying St. John Cassian's Ninth Conference on Prayer. It is the trust that lets go of all our securities and things as we think they should be, and walks with faith in God. This is one way by which we move into the future, while taking care of the here and now.
This version of faith is not about looking for a comfortable set of words or thoughts that give us the warm fuzzies. This faith is about following submitting ourselves to God's guidance, even when the path we are led to, seems like it is all wrong. Though the dots are not all connected, nor do all things look like they belong together. God is still in the chaos, guiding us now into where God wants us later on.
In many ways there is a faith that occurs in a woman or man who comes out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer When Christianists continue their crusade of misinformation about same gender love, and the effects it has on children, families and individuals, someone coming out faces all of them and says: "No, I am someone loved by God as I have been created", that takes a great act of faith. Whether the individual puts the Name of God on the experience or not. Faith gives us the strength to face all of the obstacles before us, and do what we know is true and good for ourselves and others. At the same time it is that great love of God that fills us with hope that we can trust in God and be whom God made us to be.
As more States are passing marriage equality laws, the couples who have faced the many obstacles in their way have demonstrated an incredible faith. The faith that tells them that what they and others like them are experiencing is an injustice, and must be challenged. They face their lives being opened by the media, and many groups both supportive and opposed, yet, they keep their sight on achieving equality for LGBT people near and far.
Jesus challenges those hearing him in the Gospel today to keep their attention on the poor and those experiencing oppression right in their midst. While they want to be sure to keep their lamps lit and their doors open for the return of the master, it is important to remember that the master comes in those who are already knocking and looking for relief.
As immigrants seek justice and inclusion so that they can have the opportunity at a decent life for themselves and their children, are Christians keeping our lamps lit for them, and their doors open? Are we ready to receive them in hospitality, and to be a source of healing and reconciliation where racism, and class discrimination continues to suppress and discriminate?
Are we concerned enough about the anti-LGBT violence in Russia to work with the leaders of our own government to take the stand that no violence because of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is worth being sure we get all the gold medals in the Winter Olympics?
Are we too busy thinking about Jesus Christ coming back at the end of time, that we fail to be concerned about Christ growing hungry because of jobs being lost because of the sequester, or becoming sick because of our still corrupt health care system?
Jesus Christ is not only the hope of our salvation into eternal life at the end of our lives or the end of time, He is also the Holy One who works with and through us today, at this moment. Using the same faith that Abraham had, to know that God would do the right thing when Abraham almost sacrificed his son, Isaac, God will also help us with whatever we are facing at this point in time. Even if it means we must sacrifice our very selves for the sake of others, as Jesus did on the Cross, God will still be with us and reward us, because of God's faithfulness to us.
May God help us to trust God, and to follow Jesus as He leads us from this point in time, to whatever and wherever God's will wants us to go.
Amen.
Prayers
Genesis 15:1-6 (NRSV)
The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Psalm 33 (BCP., p.626)
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (NRSV)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
Luke 12:32-40 (NRSV)
Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
Blog Reflection
I am sure all of us at one time or another have had the experience of looking too far ahead, and not seeing what is directly in front of us. How many of us have bumped into someone because we had our eyes fixed on a different person way off in the distance. In our excitement to get to that person before they leave where they are, we ignore who might be right in front of us. Perhaps we've accidentally caused such a person to trip or lose their own shopping bags, because our regard for her/him is far less than the person in the distance. What is far away is important, but if we are not careful it is we carelessly neglect or damage what is right in front of us. God has us in the here and now for the time being. Our responsibility and charity in what we have at the moment is God's gift to us, how we handle it, demonstrates whether we are paying attention to God, or ourselves.
Abram (who becomes Abraham in the future) is symbolic of all of us. In this first book of the Bible, not only are we told the story of Creation and God's goodness to all people, humankind's immaturity that results in our fall from grace, the flood and Noah's Ark. Genesis, also gives us a look at the behaviors of all humans. Abram is a man of wealth. Here he is depicted in a situation that many of us find ourselves in at one point in our life or another. Like those who have much, he is concerned what happens to his wealth after he dies. He is wanting a child so that he will know that he has an inheritor. God answers Abram's prayer by telling him that his descendents shall be as numerous as the stars of heaven. God is telling Abram about the future, and giving him a peace of mind. Abram could not see what God was going to do in front of him, he had to have faith in God's promise, and trust God in the moment.
God's answers the prayer of Abram by telling him that not only will he have one who inherits the blessings God gave him, but that many, many others will also inherit God's blessings from him. One important aspect of God's answer to Abram's prayer, is that our prayers are not answered for only us, but also for the wider community of humankind. When we see our prayers and the answers we want as only being about us, God is then concerned about the wider picture. The answer often comes in a way that benefits the community, by responding to us individually as part of a greater community of people. What God gives to us as a result of prayer, is given to be shared with others beyond our own walls.
Sometimes in our prayers we are so worried about so many things, it seems like we can never quite communicate with God in the way we would like. We do not seem to understand how much what is in our minds weighs us down. In the Ninth Conference on Prayer by St. John Cassian, chapter 6, he describes the experience of an elder who saw another monk who was suppose to be at prayer. Instead what the elder saw was the monk hitting a rock with a sledge hammer, while another watched and edged him on. In the end, the monk was not able to do anything to affect the rock, His over exerting himself over the rock not only left him empty in terms of taking care of the rock, it also left his relationship with God experiencing a spiritual famine. His prayer life suffered greatly. He was so infatuated with being able to break the rock, that he abandoned his relationship with God. It is so important to be able to put all things into God's hands and leave them there. The rock can easily symbolize anything that we place between ourselves and God in prayer and allow it to have the important place in our lives that only God should have. Only when we trust things into God's hands and work with God's commandments might we be able to successfully break those rocks in our lives. At end of the chapter, Cassian writes:
And when the soul has been established in such a peaceful condition, and has been freed from the meshes of all carnal desires, and the purpose of the heart has been steadily fixed on that which is the only highest good, he will then fulfill this Apostolic precept: "Pray without ceasing;" and: "in every place lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing:"[510] for when by this purity (if we can say so) the thoughts of the soul are engrossed, and are re-fashioned out of their earthly condition to bear a spiritual and angelic likeness, whatever it receives, whatever it takes in hand, whatever it does, the prayer will be perfectly pure and sincere.
In the Common English Bible, Hebrews 11:1 reads this way. "Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don't see".
Following the first verse, the writer to the Hebrews writes of the faith of Abraham. The faith written about in Hebrews is not as much about what we believe in, or proclaim in the Creeds. The faith that Hebrews' author writes refers to trust. The same trust I wrote about in conveying St. John Cassian's Ninth Conference on Prayer. It is the trust that lets go of all our securities and things as we think they should be, and walks with faith in God. This is one way by which we move into the future, while taking care of the here and now.
This version of faith is not about looking for a comfortable set of words or thoughts that give us the warm fuzzies. This faith is about following submitting ourselves to God's guidance, even when the path we are led to, seems like it is all wrong. Though the dots are not all connected, nor do all things look like they belong together. God is still in the chaos, guiding us now into where God wants us later on.
In many ways there is a faith that occurs in a woman or man who comes out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer When Christianists continue their crusade of misinformation about same gender love, and the effects it has on children, families and individuals, someone coming out faces all of them and says: "No, I am someone loved by God as I have been created", that takes a great act of faith. Whether the individual puts the Name of God on the experience or not. Faith gives us the strength to face all of the obstacles before us, and do what we know is true and good for ourselves and others. At the same time it is that great love of God that fills us with hope that we can trust in God and be whom God made us to be.
As more States are passing marriage equality laws, the couples who have faced the many obstacles in their way have demonstrated an incredible faith. The faith that tells them that what they and others like them are experiencing is an injustice, and must be challenged. They face their lives being opened by the media, and many groups both supportive and opposed, yet, they keep their sight on achieving equality for LGBT people near and far.
Jesus challenges those hearing him in the Gospel today to keep their attention on the poor and those experiencing oppression right in their midst. While they want to be sure to keep their lamps lit and their doors open for the return of the master, it is important to remember that the master comes in those who are already knocking and looking for relief.
As immigrants seek justice and inclusion so that they can have the opportunity at a decent life for themselves and their children, are Christians keeping our lamps lit for them, and their doors open? Are we ready to receive them in hospitality, and to be a source of healing and reconciliation where racism, and class discrimination continues to suppress and discriminate?
Are we concerned enough about the anti-LGBT violence in Russia to work with the leaders of our own government to take the stand that no violence because of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is worth being sure we get all the gold medals in the Winter Olympics?
Are we too busy thinking about Jesus Christ coming back at the end of time, that we fail to be concerned about Christ growing hungry because of jobs being lost because of the sequester, or becoming sick because of our still corrupt health care system?
Jesus Christ is not only the hope of our salvation into eternal life at the end of our lives or the end of time, He is also the Holy One who works with and through us today, at this moment. Using the same faith that Abraham had, to know that God would do the right thing when Abraham almost sacrificed his son, Isaac, God will also help us with whatever we are facing at this point in time. Even if it means we must sacrifice our very selves for the sake of others, as Jesus did on the Cross, God will still be with us and reward us, because of God's faithfulness to us.
May God help us to trust God, and to follow Jesus as He leads us from this point in time, to whatever and wherever God's will wants us to go.
Amen.
Prayers
Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always
those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without
you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 14, Book of Common Prayer, p.232).
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this
land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as
their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to
eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those
who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law
and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of
us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, p.826).
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