Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 58:1-9a (NRSV)
Psalm 112 (BCP., p.755)
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (NRSV)
Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
As wonderful as it was that we celebrated The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple last Sunday, we missed the wonderful Reading from Matthew 5:1-12 which would have included the Beatitudes. The central message is that Blessed are those who recognize their need for God. God will satisfy such a need by God's abundant grace. Being poor in Spirit, means relying on God's mercy and faithfulness. Recognizing that all that we could hope for, or need, can be found in God. God's mercy, righteousness, a peacemaker, and those persecuted in Jesus' Name.
Today, we are presented with three interesting images. We are told that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world and that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law of God.
Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. A good interpretation is that we are the seasoning for the Gospel in the world. The Gospel without being transparent in the lives of Christians, can become pretty useless. The Gospel may be full of beautiful stories, sermons, parables and events. But those words alone are not enough to transform the world, if they are left abstract on the page. Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God made real in the world. There is not just a stone that tells us what God has done, or a parchment with a lesson. In Jesus, that which God speaks, lives, breaths, walks, talks, heals and changes the lives of those around Him. Jesus invites us as Christians to live what we are hearing Him teach us. If what we hear Jesus teach us does not become the seasoning that adds a fantastic aroma to our lives, we become tasteless and useless. We become unable to do more than tell a good story, and become a loud mouth know-it-all.
Jesus who is called in St. John's Gospel as the Light of the world, tells us that we are the light of the world. In other words, we are the image of Christ in the world around us. If we take what Jesus teaches and does to heart, and give it life by how we live and worship God in our families, jobs, communities, and homes, that light shows the glory of God. If we allow Jesus to be darkened by our personal prejudices, arrogance and a false sense of self, it is the same as putting a lamp underneath a table where it is of little value to those who need to see light in their lives.
Jesus then identifies Himself as the fulfillment of the Law. The Law of God, is love of God, neighbor and self. Jesus is telling us, that He Himself fulfills this as He is closest to God as God's Son, and that we are also to draw closer to God through Jesus. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. To live the meaning of the love of God, neighbor and self, not just from an exterior experience, but from the inside out.
A month or so ago, I had the opportunity to do Lectio Divina on the beginning of Chapter 4: On the Tools for Good Works, from The Rule of St. Benedict.
My experience of actually spending time meditating on these words in my heart, changed my life. Instead of reading it, or hearing it in a Liturgy, the words become part of me. I am able to meditate on what God expects of me, when God asks me to love God, my neighbor as myself within my own heart. When what we read goes from the head to the heart, it can transform our relationship with God and others.
What St. Benedict is telling us, that the beginning of our doing good in the world, begins with God's commandment to love. To recognize God as the beginning of all love, as well as the purpose and destiny of love. Whatever good we might wish to accomplish, if we are not able to love, we will do so with no good reason if love is not the driving energy of what we do. (See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV).
When Christians make the choice to preach a gospel of hate for people of different races, cultures, abilities, the poor, LGBT people, women etc, it is a gospel that is tasteless, dark and contrary to the Law of God's love.
When Christians suggest that gun owners are being persecuted by a movement such as Episcopalians Against Gun Violence, what is happening is that the Holy Spirit is moving upon people to change their ways with regards to justifying horrible violence as a way to make a political point, and those who are resisting, are running to the "we are being persecuted" as a defense mechanism. The Gospel in this instance, because useless salt and lights that are burning out. Because violence in any form is never the will of God. Not even to defend a particular belief of Christians, or to suggest that all other points of view in Christianity are wrong, while others are completely right.
If Christians are to make a difference in the world, where justice is regularly watered down by corporate dollars for political campaigns, and missionaries of hate transport homophobia to countries like Uganda, Nigeria and Russia, it is so important for us to be true to the Jesus who is compassionate, inclusive and merciful.
In our prayer and work, if we can support a diverse Church and society, the Gospel will be transparent and living, giving salt, light and fulfillment to all who observe and interact with Christ in us.
Amen.
Prayers
Isaiah 58:1-9a (NRSV)
Thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
"Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
Psalm 112 (BCP., p.755)
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (NRSV)
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him" --
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Blog Reflection
As wonderful as it was that we celebrated The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple last Sunday, we missed the wonderful Reading from Matthew 5:1-12 which would have included the Beatitudes. The central message is that Blessed are those who recognize their need for God. God will satisfy such a need by God's abundant grace. Being poor in Spirit, means relying on God's mercy and faithfulness. Recognizing that all that we could hope for, or need, can be found in God. God's mercy, righteousness, a peacemaker, and those persecuted in Jesus' Name.
Today, we are presented with three interesting images. We are told that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world and that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law of God.
Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. A good interpretation is that we are the seasoning for the Gospel in the world. The Gospel without being transparent in the lives of Christians, can become pretty useless. The Gospel may be full of beautiful stories, sermons, parables and events. But those words alone are not enough to transform the world, if they are left abstract on the page. Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God made real in the world. There is not just a stone that tells us what God has done, or a parchment with a lesson. In Jesus, that which God speaks, lives, breaths, walks, talks, heals and changes the lives of those around Him. Jesus invites us as Christians to live what we are hearing Him teach us. If what we hear Jesus teach us does not become the seasoning that adds a fantastic aroma to our lives, we become tasteless and useless. We become unable to do more than tell a good story, and become a loud mouth know-it-all.
Jesus who is called in St. John's Gospel as the Light of the world, tells us that we are the light of the world. In other words, we are the image of Christ in the world around us. If we take what Jesus teaches and does to heart, and give it life by how we live and worship God in our families, jobs, communities, and homes, that light shows the glory of God. If we allow Jesus to be darkened by our personal prejudices, arrogance and a false sense of self, it is the same as putting a lamp underneath a table where it is of little value to those who need to see light in their lives.
Jesus then identifies Himself as the fulfillment of the Law. The Law of God, is love of God, neighbor and self. Jesus is telling us, that He Himself fulfills this as He is closest to God as God's Son, and that we are also to draw closer to God through Jesus. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. To live the meaning of the love of God, neighbor and self, not just from an exterior experience, but from the inside out.
A month or so ago, I had the opportunity to do Lectio Divina on the beginning of Chapter 4: On the Tools for Good Works, from The Rule of St. Benedict.
First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27) (RB 1980, p. 26).
My experience of actually spending time meditating on these words in my heart, changed my life. Instead of reading it, or hearing it in a Liturgy, the words become part of me. I am able to meditate on what God expects of me, when God asks me to love God, my neighbor as myself within my own heart. When what we read goes from the head to the heart, it can transform our relationship with God and others.
What St. Benedict is telling us, that the beginning of our doing good in the world, begins with God's commandment to love. To recognize God as the beginning of all love, as well as the purpose and destiny of love. Whatever good we might wish to accomplish, if we are not able to love, we will do so with no good reason if love is not the driving energy of what we do. (See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV).
When Christians make the choice to preach a gospel of hate for people of different races, cultures, abilities, the poor, LGBT people, women etc, it is a gospel that is tasteless, dark and contrary to the Law of God's love.
When Christians suggest that gun owners are being persecuted by a movement such as Episcopalians Against Gun Violence, what is happening is that the Holy Spirit is moving upon people to change their ways with regards to justifying horrible violence as a way to make a political point, and those who are resisting, are running to the "we are being persecuted" as a defense mechanism. The Gospel in this instance, because useless salt and lights that are burning out. Because violence in any form is never the will of God. Not even to defend a particular belief of Christians, or to suggest that all other points of view in Christianity are wrong, while others are completely right.
If Christians are to make a difference in the world, where justice is regularly watered down by corporate dollars for political campaigns, and missionaries of hate transport homophobia to countries like Uganda, Nigeria and Russia, it is so important for us to be true to the Jesus who is compassionate, inclusive and merciful.
In our prayer and work, if we can support a diverse Church and society, the Gospel will be transparent and living, giving salt, light and fulfillment to all who observe and interact with Christ in us.
Amen.
Prayers
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us
the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known
to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.216).
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten
the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.257).
Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.816).
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