Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: Love is About Our Relationships

Today's Scripture Readings

Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18 (NRSV)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Psalm 1 (BCP., p.585)


1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 (NRSV)

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Matthew 22:34-46 (NRSV)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

`The Lord said to my Lord,
"Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet"'?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Blog Reflection

I have just returned home from spending a wonderful week of Convocation with my Sisters and Brothers in The Companions of St. Luke/OSB.   We met together. We renewed our friendship. We prayed our Offices together. We spent 28 1/2 hours of our time in a silent retreat.  We shared with each other our experiences of our home parishes, families and celebrated the Eucharist together.

One of the misconceptions about Monasticism is that it is not all about our Offices, Masses and being "hidden" away.   The Companions of St. Luke/OSB is part of a new monasticism in that we live the majority of our lives dispersed in our marriages, families, communities, jobs and volunteer work.  Yet, through our praying of the Daily Offices, Lectio Divina (the prayerful reading of Scripture) and living by The Rule of St. Benedict, we have an opportunity to live into our Baptismal Vows more deeply through the traditional and contemporary expressions of our Benedictine Vows of Obedience, Conversion of Life and Stability.  Our lives together and a part are about how we build relationships with our God and with others.

One does not have to be a Monastic to recognize the importance of living more deeply into who we are as Christian people.   Our Baptismal Vows and Covenant begin on page 304 and 305 of The Book of Common Prayer give us something too interesting to miss.   As we go through the questions asked by the celebrant, following the Apostle's Creed; each of the questions become a little bit more difficult.   It is quite easy to continue in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers.  It is a bit more complicated to persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.   It is quite simple to proclaim the good news by word, but it is much more challenging to do so by example.  This weeks Gospel reading is all about seeking to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.  The last one, which as you all know is the meaning of this blog is probably the most difficult.  Particularly in a world that is riddled with violence, prejudice, oppression, injustice and endless political ads about who can pour the dirtiest mud on the other to win.

The Baptismal Vows, the Benedictine Vows and this Gospel reading today are all about love and our relationships. What is written in all of the Scriptures for this weekends Liturgy, is meant to become how we live in relationship because of the extravagant love of God, that extends beyond ourselves to another person.  

All of us are human.  All of us fall short of what it means to love God, neighbor and ourselves to the point of total self-surrender and sacrifice.  The one common element that Christians have that makes us such an awesome and divinely gifted people; is that God showed us how to love God completely in our neighbor and ourselves through the Person of Jesus Christ.  In Jesus Christ we have God loving all of us so deeply that "God did not spare God's own son, but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32).   Because Christians believe this, it makes no sense how we can suggest that God and the Church should marginalize any person for any reason.  We may not suggest it by our words, per say, but we certainly can do it by our actions and attitudes.  

The more Christians pretend not to notice the rise in gun violence, and supports the use of the second amendment as a way to solve our political differences; the whole meaning of loving God, our neighbor and self is lost in the gun powder. 

As long as there are Christians who support LGBT people, yet turn the other way when it comes to immigration reform, racism, sexism and police militaristic brutality; the love of God, neighbor and self is nothing more than a fable.  

Christian love is about our relationships that go beyond the beauty of a Gospel book and a well sung hymn.  It is how we respond to God in our neighbor who is another one of ourselves to the point that anything less than reverence and respect can be compared to throwing the Chalice on the floor and pretending it never happened.

This love does not turn away from the opportunity to love, just because it is more challenging.  On the contrary, the Christian seeks the help of the Holy Spirit to grow in the grace of God, so that we can love more deeply; especially when it is not easy.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer. Pages 102 & 126).


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of
faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you
promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus
Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.235).

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. (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Whose Is It Anyway?

Today's Scripture Readings

Exodus 33:12-23 (NRSV)

Moses said to the LORD, "See, you have said to me, `Bring up this people'; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, `I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth."

The LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, `The LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live." And the LORD continued, "See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

Psalm 99 (BCP., p.728)


1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (NRSV)

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-- Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

Matthew 22:15-22 (NRSV)

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Blog Reflection

Another week has passed us with some amazing history being made before our eyes.   Alaska, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming have been added to the number of States where the freedom to marry for same-gender couples is legalized.   The news that came to our attention this week about the remarkable, albeit small progress in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome, concerning language about LGBT people, divorced Catholics, couples cohabitation and birth control; was no small pill for the more conservative Bishops to take.  The continuing developments at General Theological Seminary.   Last, but certainly not least the Ebola crisis.  For all of these intentions and many more let us pray, Lord, in your mercy.  Hear our prayer.  Amen.

Here we are, with these Bible passages to challenge us in our relationship with God and one another.  

Among the many things to be learned from those who are contemplative, is that God is closer to us through what is going on in our daily lives than we think.  Contemplative prayer is not about seeing things as if there is some great mystery to be solved.  It isn't based on whether or not the mechanical details of how to do it can be understood let alone learned.  Contemplative prayer happens because of God's movement in the human heart, through the every day things that happen in our lives.  In contemplative prayer we are given a vision of the things of this world from God's perspective.  As we listen more and more for the Holy Spirit speaking and moving through those things and places that seem far removed from anything having do to anything about God; we discover God speaking to us in a way that the heart can receive only through faith.

Jesus was being challenged by those who are curious and looking for a way to stump Him.   They saw things going on around Him, and they had an issue with His popularity.   Their case for where Jesus' authority came from was met with a parable about who really is obedient?  The one's who say no, but follows through with doing what is right, or the one who said yes, but did nothing.  Some might interpret the parable of the wedding feast as Jesus trying to get His opponents to think a bit more carefully about what their motives are.  In the challenge to Jesus in this Gospel Reading, Jesus' opponents are trying to make Him trip up using something that could make those who are following Him closely, reject Him as someone who threw them under the bus when the chips were down.  Jesus' answer winds up disappointing everyone.   The issue isn't what you should do, but whose is it in the first place?

This Gospel Reading has a special meaning in the arena of social justice politics.   A few years ago, a group of social and theological conservatives penned the Manhattan Declaration.   Those who wrote it and signed it said that they would go so far as to break the law to make abortion illegal and/or marriage equality from becoming legal.  They cited this Gospel passage saying that marriage and the life of the unborn are "God's" and not "Caesar's" as in the governments to affect by their civil authority.    Since that time, we now have 32 States with legalized marriage equality.  One couple of two lesbians have been together 72 years, and they were finally able to be legally married in their home state.   There are countless stories of couples who are weeping with joy, because they can finally marry the person they love with rights, privileges and responsibilities that protect and provide for their future.  While those who want to take those newly legalized rights away in the name of their understanding of what the Bible "says" about homosexuality; those things that are God's to give to these women and men are healing wounds.   They are opening many eyes that could not see the beauty of God's love expressed through a life of commitment and self-sacrifice between two people of the same gender in a life-long marriage.

In Psalm 115 we can sing "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your Name give glory; because of your love and because of your faithfulness."

Christians have the invaluable opportunity to use all the good things God has given us to do immeasurably more good in this world.   We can make an impact that can make the Gospel a transparent and authentic reality through the radical work of hospitality, healing and reconciliation.   The grace of God has placed so much into our hands that we can use to honor and glorify God in all things.  Perhaps this came through a new relationship, a new job or a different place to live.  Our perspective may be limited because of what we cannot see.  Yet, through those things that elude our senses, faith can become the light that shows us a new path, through which we can know God more completely in new and fresh ways.   Our response to the call of God on our life to give back what is God's is the first step we can take that will help those who are looking for evidence of the presence of God in our lives, find God there.

Let us all pray for one another.  May all of us be thankful for what God has given to us, and respond with the desire to give it back to God.   May an important part of our response to God's graciousness be to give those who have no voice, a voice in which to speak up for justice, equality and peace for all people.   May we all give God the glory for all that God does in and through what belongs to God in the first place.

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed
your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your
mercy, that your Church throughout the world may
persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.  (Proper 24: The Book of Common Prayer. p. 235).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you
all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us
to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those
who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow
into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for
our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Poor and Neglected.  The Book of Common Prayer. p.826).  

Eighteenth Sunda after Pentecost: Welcome to the Wedding Feast. Bring Your Robe.

Today's Scripture Readings

Exodus 39:1-14 (NRSV)

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD." They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, `These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."

But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, `It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, `I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 (BCP., p.741)


Philippians 4:1-9 (NRSV)

My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV)

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, `Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, `The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, `Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, `Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

Blog Reflection

What a week!   I am beginning this reflection after the sweeping victories for the freedom to marry all over the country.  The chosen inaction by the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded the 19 States where marriage for same-gender couples is now legal to 29 States.   The stories just kept coming, and the joys and tears for the couples who can legally marry the person they love were overwhelming.   As is true in such instances, however, those who oppose such moves have also become louder and more ferocious than ever.  

How amazing that this Sunday's Gospel Reading is about a wedding.

The reading from Exodus is crucial too.  The Israelites had grumbled to Moses and God about no water, food, safety and more.  It seems that no matter how much God did for God's People, it was never enough.  Now that Moses was on Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments, they grew impatient with the process and enlisted Aaron to take part with them in worshiping the very kind of image that God had just forbade them to in the Commandments given. 

If we look at this from the view point of our modern age in which everything is pretty much automatic with the dawn of the cell phone, the internet, the microwave oven and more; what is taking place in this narrative seems strange.   In their defense, they may have been in slavery back in Egypt and it was oppressive.  Yet, they also had food, water, a place to live and a stability that they no longer had now wandering through the desert.   They took as much as they could and left everything else behind.  All of their security was gone, and their future was many years away.   It is comparable to a couple who just applied for a mortgage to buy a house. They have filled out the forms and now they are waiting in line for a meeting and/or an answer that seems to take forever.   The phone just doesn't ring.  The hours just slip away.  Everything is on hold.   In situations such as this, such as what Israel was experiencing, it is much more fun and exciting to just chuck it all away, invent your own version and do what you want.    God's anger was because they could not bring themselves to just wait on the Lord after everything that had just happened, and anticipate the greater things that were to come.   There were things by which they would have to make great sacrificies, even more than what they gave up already.   Moses intercedes for the People, and God shows mercy and leads them onward. 

The parable of the wedding feast is very complicated.   The beginning of the parable seems rather simple and user friendly.  When we get to the ending and the servant who did not have a proper wedding garment on was thrown out to a torturous existence, it is quite hard to take.   If you interpret this parable from the point of view that a Biblical literalist would, you might conclude that the one thrown out where those who failed to commit themselves to the Lord with a sincere heart.   If you were to read it from the point of a devout Roman Catholic, the one's who didn't come were the Jewish people, and the Church is new guests who were welcomed and put on the right garment, while the Protestants were the ones that failed to dress more appropriately.   Again, antisemitism is not a response that can be justified.   The injustices upon the Jewish people and Muslims by Christians is horrific and contrary to who Christians are.

A much more accurate study of the words of this parable will help if recall the importance of clothing.  Adam and Eve did not wear leaves and twigs as they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.  "The Lord God made garments of skin for the man and for his wife, and clothed them."  In Ruth 3:9 it reads, "And she answered, "I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin."  When Jesus was crucified in John 19:24 the reference to Psalm 22: "They divided my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots."   The place of clothing in the Scriptures is very significant.

The issue for the servant who was thrown out, because he wasn't wearing the proper garment is suggestive of the attitude behind not wearing what was required.   Did the servant accept the invitation to come to this wedding feast gladly or grudgingly?   Was he offered a robe to participate and did he refuse it, because of who else was there?  Did he come to participate with everyone else, or was he there to stand out and become his own life of the party?   How might all this relate to all that has happened this week?

Here is what I would suggest we reflect on.

The Stonewall riots about 45 years ago began the movement towards a greater equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people has affected so many parts of society in terms of jobs, politics, religion, technological advancements, the visual and performing arts, medical care, government and more.   In terms of the Church specifically, we have gone from a time in which it did not matter what Christian Church you worshiped in, the condemnation of LGBTQ people was every where.  Now there are a fantastic number of Christians who have come out as LGBTQ and have helped many others to learn acceptance and inclusion.   

In the history of more Liturgical churches the wedding banquet is equivalent of the Eucharist.  The celebration of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross is memorialized in the Mass by which we receive the Body and the Blood of Christ because of God's gracious goodness.   God has extended a warm invitation to everyone to come, participate, receive and be part of the transformation.   The Church now has a new garment to offer.  It is God's party and there is no limit to who can come.   As the Church becomes more inclusive, it is changing for the better.   Might the figure of the servant who is not properly dressed be symbolic of the one who is not interested in participating in the new and exciting, inclusive Eucharist?   Might it be those who are there are holding on to grudges because the new guests are arriving and they would rather stay in their favorite old clothing, than join the excitement of what is happening?    On the other hand, could it be that the inclusive Eucharist symbolizes God holding out God's hand to LGBTQ people who have been wounded by the Church in the past, and just won't try to trust God so that they can find healing and peace in God so that they can move on?

I think the call of God in this parable is for everyone to come and celebrate all the wonderful things going on in our lives.   To come with a sincere heart of gratitude and share with everyone else who is there, with true Christian Charity and a desire for life-giving holiness.  God knows that we come with our wounded hearts and angry emotions and yet, God welcomes us there.   God welcomes us to come, but asks for us to put on the new robe of joy and celebration that allows God to truly transform us and the rest of the world around us.   God will transform us and the world around us, as we give over our prejudices and grudges to experience the healing and reconciliation that brings peace to war, justice to the oppressed, and enlightenment where darkness seems to show no mercy.

Are all Christians who confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, ready to come and join in the banquet with everyone else, with a new robe?   The time for weeping and holding on to those things that we need to let go of, is coming to an end.   There is a new Church and society emerging.  We are the disciples through whom Jesus wants to transform the world.  If we will only celebrate with the robe of thanksgiving, joy and hearts full of love; the work of the Reign of God will become a living and beautiful reality.

I think closing with the words of St. Paul from today's Epistle is very appropriate.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Amen.


Prayers

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and
follow us, that we may continually be given to good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Proper 23. The Book of Common Prayer, p.234).


Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have
done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole
creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,
and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best
efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy
and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the
truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast
obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,
through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life
again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and
make him known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.  (A General Thanksgiving.  The Book of Common Prayer., p. 836).

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Love and Justice, Not Entitlement

Today's Readings

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 (NRSV)

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin."

Psalm 19 (BCP., p. 606)


Philippians 3:4b-14 (NRSV)

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 21:33-46 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time."
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures:

`The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes'?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. 

Blog Reflection

This weeks Scripture Readings make me very nervous.  They make me nervous because a careless literary reading of them can lead to a heinous attitude of entitlement.  Christians have been making this error for centuries.  The reading from Exodus about God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  The Psalm, Epistle from Paul and the Gospel of Matthew about what the tenants did, and who "replaces them" have given rise the worst kind of antisemitism.  The readings could not be on a worse weekend than when the Jewish people are celebrating Yom Kipper.

On the flip side, Christians have some important reminders contained in the message of these readings.  As Christians, we are reminded that our Faith sits upon the shoulders of the authors of the Hebrew Scriptures.   Such a statement is made in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in stained glass windows that depict the writers of the Christian Testament perched upon the shoulders of the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures.  If Christians are able to live into a deeper devotion to Jesus Christ because of what is written in the Bible, it is because Christianity without Judaism has no feet with which to walk.   This is why any attitude or action of antisemitism on the part of Christians is an insult to our Savior who is a Jewish Carpenter of Middle Eastern origin.   Oh and by the way, when Joseph and Mary carried Jesus to Egypt to flee Herod's slaughter of all male children up to two years old in Bethlehem; the Holy Family was also an immigrant family.   Today, they would be called illegals.

The Gospel Reading from Matthew is also of serious concern. If we read it and take it at face value, it sounds as if Jesus was saying that because the Jewish people failed to follow God as they were told, Jesus came and entrusted the salvation that was promised to them to the Church.   Other meanings that could be attached to this parable is that anyone who lives in a way that is contrary to how a particular group of Christians interpret it such as women who have and/or support their right to reproductive health choices, LGBT, of who do not support bashing President Obama or the social and political campaign against the Muslim people; that they too would be forfeiting their place in God's promise of salvation.  

All of these Scripture passages are telling us something very different.  They tell us that those who hold God's Name in the highest esteem are best known for their love of God, neighbor and themselves.   That love breaks down the barriers that divide people because of prejudice, makes all forms of violence in the name of any religion a contradiction to who God is; and, brings healing and reconciliation through generous hospitality and personal sacrifice.  Love is the reason for obedience; not fear.  Jesus Christ is the cornerstone for the Church, because in Him is the fullness of God.  A fullness that is served by answering the call of God to serve others because love is our reason and goal.   Our prayers are heard by God, "not because of our many words, but because of our purity of heart, and tears of compunction" (The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 20, vs. 3).   Tears for those who are marginalized by the Church and society, because in both systems money, power, prestige and scapegoating are more important than living the meaning of the Gospel of Christ; while Christians sit idly by and do nothing.

The salvation brought to us in Jesus Christ is because of the love of God and the justice we do unto others who are different from ourselves.   It is not because we are entitled to do what we want, with whomever we want.   It means that even those who are outside of our expectations, ideals, and even those who are very difficult to love, are to be loved.   In The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 27, the Abbot is instructed to care for those who have been dismissed from the Monastery.   The Abbot is told to send a wise Senior who can help the individual turn his life around to be rejoined to the Community.   St. Benedict uses the words of 2 Corinthians 2:8 to say: "Let love be strengthened toward him, and let all pray for him" (vs.4).  Every reasonable effort is to be made to help such a person to better understand their place in the life of the Community.   In such a process, the Abbot and most likely the whole Community learns something together.

We should not get bogged down by the history of the Church, however unchristian it may be.  Neither should we be discouraged because of how we individually find it so difficult to live authentically the love of God, neighbor and ourselves.  We are all encouraged by the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church at Philippi when he writes: "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to
hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire
or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,
and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy
to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus
Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Proper 22, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 234).

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.  (Prayer for the Church, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.  (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 833).