Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 9:1-4 (NRSV)
Psalm 27 (BCP., p. 617)
1 Corinthians 10-18 (NRSV)
Matthew 4:12-23 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
If the reading from the Hebrew Scriptures gives you the feeling of having heard that not too long ago, that means you have been paying attention particularly well. If your response to it is "Oh that again!" It could mean that you might want to look at how you are inclining the ears of your heart to God speaking within you. It is all too easy for any of us to ignore the Spirit calling us again and again. All of us do it. It is the Holy Spirit asking us to open our hearts just a bit more to hear Her speak more to the ears within us.
I think the times we are living in, could be compared to living in a darkness.
The frigid temperatures all over the United States are brutal for everyone.
Unemployment insurance has been left unattended to, many are without funds to care for their needs.
Coptic Christians in Egypt continue to face persecution.
The people in West Virginia and Ohio are living with polluted drinking water. Had the water been polluted as an act of international terrorism, we would be at war with what ever terrorist organization was responsible within days. We wouldn't get a word in edge wise with Congress or even perhaps our President to stop it. However, getting our government to respond with a sense of urgency to hold a multimillion dollar corporation accountable, and deliver clean water and health care, is just held up by politics and corporate lobbyists.
The violence towards LGBT people in Russia, Nigeria, Uganda and in the media in the US continues to be brutal. An amendment to limit the freedom to marry is being debated in the State of Indiana, with all the venum of heterosexism, with all the fury of Biblical literalists continuing full of smear campaigns with false information about LGBT people.
All of these, and others that I cannot list, speak to us of people walking in darkness, needing to see a light in their own hearts and in the world around us. You would think that we never celebrated Christmas a month ago. What has happened?
The Israelites were under assault from surrounding countries in the reading from Isaiah. It was believed that they were being punished by God for not following Yahweh. In many ways, I think then, and now, God really does not need to do too much to punish us for much. We punish ourselves all on our own. God simply watches, cries, and won't intervene so long as we refuse to put our trust in God to lead us to better ways of being, loving and caring for one another. So long as we give ourselves over to attitudes of prejudice towards others, and abuses of ourselves, without reaching out for God for healing and reconciliation, God calls, but God waits for us to answer and walk with the Most High to a time and place, where those of us who walk in darkness, see a greater Light and respond in faith and hope in that Light.
The reading from 1 Corinthians is a bit difficult for us Anglicans. We are the via media. The middle way. Our practice is that we pray in common, even if we do not believe in common. Yet, Paul is calling us to a unity of some kind that is not so much based on what we believe or think, but, Who it is we are responding to. As people who gather for worship with the Eucharist as our center, we recognize that Jesus Christ is the point of our unity. All of us have been baptized into Christ, and we come together as one people in Him. Jesus Christ is the focal point of our prayer, worship and Holy Communion. Through Him, we welcome each other, and that is every one, to join us in praise, supplication and the reception of the Real Presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine that is the Holy Eucharist. Paul is telling us to listen more deeply to Christ within ourselves and one another. So that we may grow in Charity and community in Christ, and serve others in His Name.
We continue in this Year of the Gospel of Matthew who focuses us on the connection of Christ with the prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures. As Christians, we believe that Christ is that Light that we have seen in the darkness. St. John in the prologue to his Gospel describes Jesus as the Light that came into the world, and the darkness did not overwhelm it. (See John 1:1-5, NRSV).
It is not enough that the Light came to deliver us. In the calling of those first disciples, we see that Christ came on the scene to ask us to follow Him. Like many of us, the disciples received their call to follow the Lord while they were busy at the work they were doing. This in and of itself gives us a very important insight. God often calls us to serve Christ in one another, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. It is up to us to be listening for the Lord's call in our lives in the here and now. The response of those first disciples to drop what they had in hand to follow Jesus, is indicative of what obedience is about. When the Lord calls us in the midst of our ordinariness of life, are we listening for Christ, and are we willing to follow Him with a willing and joyful heart?
I can tell you that from the point of being a Novice Monastic, this is as much a struggle for experienced Religious as it is for Novices and those who are ordained clergy. In The Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 5, he emphasizes the importance of obedience with a cheerful and joyful heart. Well, all of us at one point or another, receives a request from a superior of some kind to do something that makes us anything, but joyful. Most of us are much too weak in the soul, and require a lot of work with the Spirit to reform our hearts and attitudes. In the book entitled The Rule of St. Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 4, by Thomas Merton and edited by Patrick F. O'Connell, Merton emphases the importance of using a weakness of our souls as an opportunity to encounter the transforming grace of God. While doing what we are told fulfills the Vow of Obedience, it is important to be honest with God about our "poverty of spirit" that keeps us from following the Lord's will in a spirit of generosity and gladness. And to allow the grace of God to convert and change our hearts to follow Christ willingly through the instructions of another who is appointed above us. (See page 113).
Here is the challenge for Christians, the Church and society in this Year of 2014.
Christ the Light comes to call all of us to serve Him in the poor, the neglected, the unemployed, the LGBT person, the pregnant woman, the person experiencing racism or immigration issues. Christ calls us to serve Him in these, others and each other with gladness and readiness. He also calls on the poor, the LGBT, the pregnant woman, people of different races, religions, languages, etc to serve Christ in the Church and society. We may be tempted to just be doing business as usual, which for some of us is making the Church an exclusive social club. But Christ is most often calling us to make the Church and society into an inclusive and receptive place for diversity. Christ is challenging us to be a voice for those who feel that they have no voice, to pray and act on behalf of others who cannot for themselves. For whatever reason. We are not called to make their burdens greater and heavier. We are called to serve Christ, by walking with them, as He walks with each one of us.
Are we listening for Christ to call us, to be a light for others in the world?
What fears might we be clinging to that keep us from responding to Christ's call in our lives?
Today and the days going forward from this cold, dark, January of 2014, may we answer with the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 27.
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then, shall I fear?
Amen.
Prayers
Isaiah 9:1-4 (NRSV)
- There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
- The people who walked in darkness
- have seen a great light;
- those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
- on them light has shined.
- You have multiplied the nation,
- you have increased its joy;
- they rejoice before you
- as with joy at the harvest,
- as people exult when dividing plunder.
- For the yoke of their burden,
- and the bar across their shoulders,
- the rod of their oppressor,
- you have broken as on the day of Midian.
Psalm 27 (BCP., p. 617)
1 Corinthians 10-18 (NRSV)
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 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.
Matthew 4:12-23 (NRSV)
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Blog Reflection
If the reading from the Hebrew Scriptures gives you the feeling of having heard that not too long ago, that means you have been paying attention particularly well. If your response to it is "Oh that again!" It could mean that you might want to look at how you are inclining the ears of your heart to God speaking within you. It is all too easy for any of us to ignore the Spirit calling us again and again. All of us do it. It is the Holy Spirit asking us to open our hearts just a bit more to hear Her speak more to the ears within us.
I think the times we are living in, could be compared to living in a darkness.
The frigid temperatures all over the United States are brutal for everyone.
Unemployment insurance has been left unattended to, many are without funds to care for their needs.
Coptic Christians in Egypt continue to face persecution.
The people in West Virginia and Ohio are living with polluted drinking water. Had the water been polluted as an act of international terrorism, we would be at war with what ever terrorist organization was responsible within days. We wouldn't get a word in edge wise with Congress or even perhaps our President to stop it. However, getting our government to respond with a sense of urgency to hold a multimillion dollar corporation accountable, and deliver clean water and health care, is just held up by politics and corporate lobbyists.
The violence towards LGBT people in Russia, Nigeria, Uganda and in the media in the US continues to be brutal. An amendment to limit the freedom to marry is being debated in the State of Indiana, with all the venum of heterosexism, with all the fury of Biblical literalists continuing full of smear campaigns with false information about LGBT people.
All of these, and others that I cannot list, speak to us of people walking in darkness, needing to see a light in their own hearts and in the world around us. You would think that we never celebrated Christmas a month ago. What has happened?
The Israelites were under assault from surrounding countries in the reading from Isaiah. It was believed that they were being punished by God for not following Yahweh. In many ways, I think then, and now, God really does not need to do too much to punish us for much. We punish ourselves all on our own. God simply watches, cries, and won't intervene so long as we refuse to put our trust in God to lead us to better ways of being, loving and caring for one another. So long as we give ourselves over to attitudes of prejudice towards others, and abuses of ourselves, without reaching out for God for healing and reconciliation, God calls, but God waits for us to answer and walk with the Most High to a time and place, where those of us who walk in darkness, see a greater Light and respond in faith and hope in that Light.
The reading from 1 Corinthians is a bit difficult for us Anglicans. We are the via media. The middle way. Our practice is that we pray in common, even if we do not believe in common. Yet, Paul is calling us to a unity of some kind that is not so much based on what we believe or think, but, Who it is we are responding to. As people who gather for worship with the Eucharist as our center, we recognize that Jesus Christ is the point of our unity. All of us have been baptized into Christ, and we come together as one people in Him. Jesus Christ is the focal point of our prayer, worship and Holy Communion. Through Him, we welcome each other, and that is every one, to join us in praise, supplication and the reception of the Real Presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine that is the Holy Eucharist. Paul is telling us to listen more deeply to Christ within ourselves and one another. So that we may grow in Charity and community in Christ, and serve others in His Name.
We continue in this Year of the Gospel of Matthew who focuses us on the connection of Christ with the prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures. As Christians, we believe that Christ is that Light that we have seen in the darkness. St. John in the prologue to his Gospel describes Jesus as the Light that came into the world, and the darkness did not overwhelm it. (See John 1:1-5, NRSV).
It is not enough that the Light came to deliver us. In the calling of those first disciples, we see that Christ came on the scene to ask us to follow Him. Like many of us, the disciples received their call to follow the Lord while they were busy at the work they were doing. This in and of itself gives us a very important insight. God often calls us to serve Christ in one another, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. It is up to us to be listening for the Lord's call in our lives in the here and now. The response of those first disciples to drop what they had in hand to follow Jesus, is indicative of what obedience is about. When the Lord calls us in the midst of our ordinariness of life, are we listening for Christ, and are we willing to follow Him with a willing and joyful heart?
I can tell you that from the point of being a Novice Monastic, this is as much a struggle for experienced Religious as it is for Novices and those who are ordained clergy. In The Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 5, he emphasizes the importance of obedience with a cheerful and joyful heart. Well, all of us at one point or another, receives a request from a superior of some kind to do something that makes us anything, but joyful. Most of us are much too weak in the soul, and require a lot of work with the Spirit to reform our hearts and attitudes. In the book entitled The Rule of St. Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 4, by Thomas Merton and edited by Patrick F. O'Connell, Merton emphases the importance of using a weakness of our souls as an opportunity to encounter the transforming grace of God. While doing what we are told fulfills the Vow of Obedience, it is important to be honest with God about our "poverty of spirit" that keeps us from following the Lord's will in a spirit of generosity and gladness. And to allow the grace of God to convert and change our hearts to follow Christ willingly through the instructions of another who is appointed above us. (See page 113).
Here is the challenge for Christians, the Church and society in this Year of 2014.
Christ the Light comes to call all of us to serve Him in the poor, the neglected, the unemployed, the LGBT person, the pregnant woman, the person experiencing racism or immigration issues. Christ calls us to serve Him in these, others and each other with gladness and readiness. He also calls on the poor, the LGBT, the pregnant woman, people of different races, religions, languages, etc to serve Christ in the Church and society. We may be tempted to just be doing business as usual, which for some of us is making the Church an exclusive social club. But Christ is most often calling us to make the Church and society into an inclusive and receptive place for diversity. Christ is challenging us to be a voice for those who feel that they have no voice, to pray and act on behalf of others who cannot for themselves. For whatever reason. We are not called to make their burdens greater and heavier. We are called to serve Christ, by walking with them, as He walks with each one of us.
Are we listening for Christ to call us, to be a light for others in the world?
What fears might we be clinging to that keep us from responding to Christ's call in our lives?
Today and the days going forward from this cold, dark, January of 2014, may we answer with the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 27.
The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then, shall I fear?
Amen.
Prayers
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our
Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News
of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive
the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.215).
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. (Book of Common Prayer, p.818).
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. (Book of Common Prayer, p.823).
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