Last Sunday After Pentecost: Christ the King: The Cross: The Reason for Inclusive Love

Luke 23:33-43, NRSV

 

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Today's Blog Reflection

As I have written in previous blog posts this past year, this will be the final blog entry for Br. Anselm Philip's Many Thoughts.  The blog itself will remain up and available for those who wish to read the seven years of posts that are on here.  However, I will not be writing new posts after this one.

I want to thank those who have followed my blog since I began writing it in the Fall of 2009 following The National Equality March.  Thank you if you began reading this blog at any point since then.  Thank you if you just stopped by and read one post or a few.  Thank you if you liked it.  Thank you if you didn't.  There are memories, stories, commentaries, rants, celebrations, lamentations, spiritual direction, etc throughout the blog posts.  They will remain here for you to read.

I will be making regular additions to the other blog I started entitled Simple Reflections for a Deeper Spiritual Life, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent.  By this time next week, it will be it's own domain.  I look forward to sharing with you on that blog.  

In my final installment, I want us to think about what the Cross means to us as Christians.  What does the Cross mean for us in this political environment where racism, sexism, islamophobia, trans-phobia and all the others now have a license to thrive?   How do we see our role as Christians who look to our Lord Jesus Christ as King, who gave His life for us on the Cross?  

I invite all of us to consider the thoughts I am sharing here today.

On the Cross, Jesus our King met scapegoating at its very worst, and pronounced it unacceptable.  It really doesn't matter if every person believes in Jesus in the same way as Christians do.  It really doesn't matter if one is Jewish, Muslim, Native American, African American, white, male, female, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or queer.  It does not matter if we are disabled or able to leap to the moon.  Whether we are rich or poor.  A "legal" or "illegal" immigrant.  What matters for Christians is that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is King for us, declared that sacrificial love as His ultimate power; and no one was excluded from God's love.  Hatred hurled at the Word made Flesh with all fury.  Jesus who was the Son of God and Son of Man (or the Human One), was stripped, beaten, nailed to the cross next to two thieves and even gave over His relationship with God to love the most and the least of us.  At His Resurrection, the story began in new life.

Why is the unconditional and all inclusive love of God in Jesus Christ not the best reason for Christians to love others without exception?  The sin of Christians is not whether we all agree with every installment of the Nicene Creed.  It is our refusal to allow the love of God in Christ to penetrate us to the core of ourselves by way of those who are lonely, weary, different from us and in need of love.  It has something to do with what our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls the Jesus Movement that empowers Christians to make the world a better place.

In The Rule of Saint Benedict ( you didn't think I wouldn't use that in my last blog post did you? LOL), Chapter 53, he wrote "Let all guests who present themselves be received as Christ."  On the Cross, Jesus promised the other thief who mocked him, and suddenly believed in him the promise of paradise.  The thief was the presence of Christ to Christ Himself.  He listened.  He welcomed Him.  He found a place in God's Kingdom even for him.  So Jesus made a place for each of us at His Father's table.

Today, Jesus our King, calls on us from the throne of God's love on the Cross to receive Christ in those who are different from ourselves.  Jesus asks for us to listen to Him speak to us through their stories.  Jesus calls on us to give to Him a place of love.  Jesus seeks someone to love Him in those who are marginalized, beaten and left in the trenches of our social and political system.  He asks us to reach out our hands and voices to support them, give them a place in our churches, our communities and hearts; so that they may find a home with Jesus in this world and the next.  

Imagine what the Church, what society would look like if we met Jesus at the Cross, claimed Him as King and allowed His unconditional and all-inclusive love to transform us and the world around us.  

I am sure many who have read my blog posts over the years have asked if this is possible.  I believe the Angel had something to say about that at the Annunciation.  "With God, all things are possible."

I think this is a good answer.  Don't you?

Amen.

Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all
things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of
lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided
and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together
under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer, p.236).

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (The Book of Common Prayer, p.260).

Sixth Sunday of Easter: Say Those Words Again Jesus! Christians! Listen Up!

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 10:44-48 (NRSV)

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm 98 (BCP., p.727)

1 John 5:1-6 (NRSV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

John 15:9-17 (NRSV)

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Blog Reflection

In all of the Gospel readings we could have, is there one that is more profound and more direct than this one?  Jesus is calling those who follow Him to do more than lip service.  Jesus is telling us in this Gospel passage to do more than gather councils and proclaim doctrines, creeds and legislate morality.  Jesus is telling us that all that He has spoken and done will only do wonders for the world if we love one another as He has loved us.

The love that Jesus calls us to this Sunday, is a love that is ready to give up all of our self interest for the sake of the other.  Jesus is calling us to purity of heart.  To seek to love God through loving one another to give evidence of who Jesus is and what Jesus did.  All the preaching, story telling, labors for social justice and equality for the sake of themselves will lead us to mission accomplished; but for the sake of what?  Even that (whatever it is) is limited so long as we do not heed these words of Jesus.  "Love one another as I have loved you."

Our problem is that we think that because we walk around and call ourselves Christians, it means we are exceptional human beings. We have no accountability to anyone for what we do, say, think and how we respond to others as if we are the only ones who matter.  In these words spoken by Jesus who gave up everything out of love for us all, and taught us how to love our neighbor as ourselves in and through the Paschal Mystery; we have our assignment.  As Christians, we need to not only think, but pray in earnest that all of us will regard each other and those who are not Christians with dignity and respect.  No amount of racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, Islamophobia, etc. has any place to be protected and encouraged.  The love that Jesus commands of us, has no exceptions.  It is about helping Jesus to maintain His good Name as the One who came to serve and not be served. 

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB wrote the following,

Among the ancients there is a story told that confirms this insight to this day:
"What action shall I perform to attain God?"  the disciple asked the elder.
"If you wish to attain God, " the elder said, "there are two things you must know.  The first is that all efforts to attain God are of no avail."
"And the second?" the disciple insisted.
"The second is that you must act as if you did not know the first," the elder said.
(The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century, p.21-22).

The spiritual life of the Christian is not attained by spiritual athletics.  It is lived into as we embrace one another, care about each other and respond to the Presence of Christ in each other.  In our individualistic society that rewards those who continue to threaten our environment with dangerous chemicals with wealth and security, or leaves the poor without the basic necessities of life while those who have double their amount; the message of love one another is only a myth.  Jesus commands us in this Gospel, to make the myth into a living reality.  It is about our relationship to Jesus and each other.  This is a commandment that is worth every effort and spiritual grace to keep on trying to do.  The reputation of the Name of Jesus Christ and the Church needs this now, more than ever before.

Help us, Lord Jesus to love one another as you have loved us.

Amen.


Prayers

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good
things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such
love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above
all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we
can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. The Book of Common Prayer, p. 225).

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed
for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one:
Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and
obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit,
that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your
Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in
the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for the Unity of the Church.  The Book of Common Prayer, p. 255).

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for Social Justice.  The Book of Common Prayer, p. 260).

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).

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).

Sixth Sunday of Easter: If You Love Me

Today's Scripture Reading

John 14:15-21 (NRSV)

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

Blog Reflection

No!  Your eyes are not deceiving you.   I am only using the Gospel reading for this Sunday instead of the entire Lectionary.   I have had a very busy week behind me.   Tomorrow, I leave for the Spring Convocation of the Companions of St. Luke/Order of St. Benedict held at Conception Abbey in Missouri.   I have a full week ahead of me.  So, rather than write a blog on the whole Sunday Lectionary, I felt that using only the Gospel reading was the best way to go.

There are many things written in the Gospel of John that can be difficult to understand, put into action, put into a sermon or blog.  This Sunday's Gospel is not one of them.  Jesus is talking plain talk to those who are following Him with a clear and vital message.

Last Sunday, Jesus told us that the life that He lived is the way, the truth and the life guiding Christians to a meaningful way of living the life and words of Jesus.   They do not make Christianity the only true religion for all of humankind; but, for Christians and those who want to be good examples of Jesus and His holy life, know Him, His words are about our true relationship.    Now, in this Gospel that continues what Jesus began last Sunday, He tells us not just what the way, truth and life is, but how to live into it.  It is simply not enough to know the creeds backwards and forwards, or know every chapter and verse of the Bible by memory for the next hot theological debate.   The life that Jesus points us to, does not make us terribly popular or well liked; but, it is a life that loves very differently than how the world around us shows love.

The so called "love" of the world around us is based on what we can see, know and do.   How wealthy and powerful we can become.  It is a love that has as it's roots commercial and industrial development at the expense of the needs of the human person to the point of deciding whom do we include or exclude.  To love Jesus and to follow His commandments is to love others as He loves each one of us.  Jesus is God's love made to live in the Human Person, by loving God, our neighbor and ourselves inclusively and by seeking justice for all human persons.   It is a love that celebrates all love as being from God, so as to be directed to God through our love of others.   It is a love that is prepared to give of ourselves for the sake of others.   It is love shown by seeking healing and reconciliation where there is oppression, violence and prejudice.

This past week was an amazing week for the LGBT Communities.  The States of Oregon, Pennsylvania and Idaho saw rulings on the freedom to marry that gave same-sex couples the legal right to marry the person they love.   The one that I wish to focus on for a bit as part of this blog reflection on love, is Oregon.  

In his ruling that Oregon's Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, Judge Michael J. McShane wrote what I received was quite the Easter message at the end of his opinion and ruling.   He wrote:  "Where will all this lead?  I know many suggest that we are going down a slippery slope that will have no moral boundaries.  To those who truly harbor such fears, I can only say this: Let us look less to the sky to see what might fall; rather, let us look to each other....and rise."

I think that is what Jesus' message to us in the Gospel today is.  Rather than looking toward a heaven for more storms to come and show us how evil we are for supporting the equal opportunity to marry, let us look at LGBT couples, listen to the stories of their relationships and lives together and rise together with the Risen Christ, and in love, love Christ by loving each other.

Amen.


Prayers

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good
things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such
love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above
all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we
can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.225).

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).

Good Friday: Our False Self Meets Divine Love Crucified For Us

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (NRSV)


See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
Just as there were many who were astonished at him
--so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals--
so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.



Psalm 22  (BCP, p.610).


Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 (NRSV)

The Holy Spirit testifies saying,

"This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,"
he also adds,

"I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

John 18:1-19:42 (NRSV)

Blog Reflection

Thomas Keating in his book The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience wrote the following about Philippians 2:6-9.

To become sin is to cease to be God's son-or at least to cease to be conscious of being God's son.  To cease to be conscious of being God's son is to cease to experience God as Father.  The cross of Jesus represents the ultimate death-of-God experience:  "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"  The crucifixion is much more that the physical death of Jesus and the emotional and mental anguish that accompanied it.  It is the death of his relationship with his Father.  The crucifixion is not the death of his false self because he never had one.   It was the death of his deified self and the annihilation of the ineffable union which he enjoyed with the Father in his human faculties.  This was more than spiritual death; in was dying to being God and hence the dying of God: "He emptied himself, and took the form of a slave...accepting even death, death on a cross!"  The loss of personal identity is the ultimate kenosis (page 62).

All of those things that we think make up who we are, today, meet the Divine Reality.   Even our emotional comforts through which we claim our identity are not an end in and of themselves.  If Jesus Christ did not claim any thing to be the source of His greatness as being God, then our false-selves are really baseless.   

The path to being our true-selves is found in letting go of our false-selves.   Our true-selves are not caught up in useless labels, our belongings or even the things we enjoy.  Those things are all temporary, and they are means to our true-selves.  But, they are not an end.   They are evidence of God's presence in our lives.  However, the moment they become our god, or lead us to making ourselves a god, that is why they are false.  

On this Good Friday we remember that Jesus was crucified for us.  In that agonizing death, with all it's humiliation and injustice, Jesus surrenders everything including His relationship with God into God's hands.  "Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit."   In these words that we pray every night at Compline, we surrender ourselves into God's hands with confidence, because Jesus prayed these words from Psalm 31 on the Cross.

Jesus gave His life out of love for every human being.  One of my favorite prayers I use during Matins (Morning Prayer) so very often is the one found on page 101 in The Book of Common Prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen.   

The crucifixion and death of Jesus is our reason for loving and including all people in the life and ministry of the Church.   There is no justification to scapegoat any person for any reason, if we take seriously what this day means.   All efforts to even suggest that the Jews killed Jesus are nothing more that an attempt to blame others for the fact that our sins are what killed Jesus.   Our refusal to love others as Christ loved us, which by the way is a commandment of Jesus we heard last night; is why Jesus was crucified.   If anyone seriously believes that Christians should lord ourselves over any person because we are Christians, then we have missed the message of Good Friday.   It was not Christ's divinity that He held on to to die to save our sins.   It was His divinity that He crucified and handed over for our salvation and redemption.

In the crucifixion and death of Jesus, our false self meets the divine love of God in Christ.  Because Jesus Christ is our Lord, Savior and Redeemer.  God's love for us in Christ was so strong, the God did not even spare God's own Son, but handed Him over for us all. (See Romans 8:32).   May God's love for us in Christ, be our reason to love others in Christ's Name.

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer. p.221).

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.100). 

Second Sunday in Lent: Faith, Love and Salvation

Today's Scripture Readings

Genesis 12: 1-4a (NRSV)

The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."


So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.

Psalm 121 (BCP., p.779)


Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 (NRSV)

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.


For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

John 3:1-17 (NRSV)

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?


"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.


"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.


"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

Blog Reflection

I think one of my favorite more modern Anglican hymns would have to be David J. Evans 1986 hymn "Be Still, for the Presence of the Lord".    Part of the third stanza says: "no work to hard for him, in faith receive from him, be still, for the power of the Lord is moving in this place."    It is a beautiful tune, and the word suggest sitting in silence and stillness before the Lord, and allowing God to penetrate every fiber of our being.  Giving God the go ahead to take over, and believe beyond all doubt the God can do things beyond our imagination, because of faith.

I think Abram's faith must have been really unique to have trusted that God would make of him a great nation, without even knowing what he might see.  Yet, even today where Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith is spoken of, the name of Abraham is found.  The faith of Abraham became so much more than a vision.  It became a trust in God, that believed that anything God promised, no matter how impossible it seemed, it would happen.  Not only did Abram have great faith in God, but God must have had a lot of faith in Abram.

What kind of shape is our faith in as we continue to witness the unfolding of what is taking place in Ukraine and Russia?   Are we taking every possibility into account of how to stand up against violence and oppression in that situation, without giving ourselves over to more military violence perpetrated by our own nation?

As we are all very disappointed in what has happened with the draconian bill in Uganda that further criminalizes same-gender relationships of all kinds, are we in faith taking seriously the consequences of economic sanctions that further harm the poor and needy in that country?

The Psalmist today, reminds us of where our help comes from as we face the perils and dangers of our lives.   Our help comes not just from any person or place.  Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth.   We may feel at times that God is not as close as we would like God to be.  Yet, God is the designer of the DNA in the cells of our bodies.  The Holy Spirit of God breaths life through our lungs, with hope for our darkest tomorrows.  God has not taken a slumber.  God is watching over us with the help of the Angels who serve God.

In the famous conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, we read about a spiritual rebirth through the Sacrament of Baptism.  This particular passage of Scripture follows the story of the Marriage of Cana in John chapter 2.  Jesus in that Gospel narrative has just given new life to the water and made it into wine.  Just as God breathed the life of creation into water, Jesus renews the power of water, by His own immersion through His own Baptism.  The wine prefigures the Eucharist at which Jesus changes wine into His most precious Blood.   Now in the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus tells us of a spiritual rebirth by the waters of Baptism.  The Baptism that immerses us into His death and resurrection.   St. Paul writes about the relationship of Baptism with the death and resurrection of Christ in Romans 6:1-11. If you attend the Great Vigil of Easter, you will  hear that reading.  

The work of Jesus to save our souls is the result of God's amazing love that gave the gift of God's Son for the sins of the world.   The hymn entitled "And Can It Be" by Charles Wesley, has in it's first stanza those wonderful words.  "Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God, shouldst die for me?"   In the death of Christ, God tastes what every human being experiences in the death of their body.  Yet, the real death and resurrection for Christians, is to experience the death of our false selves and rises with a new true self, devoted in service of Christ and others in His Name.

As Christians who have experienced this saving power of God through Jesus Christ, our response should be one of gratitude and a wholehearted love of our neighbor as ourselves.   During this Season of Lent, our fasting, prayer, alms-giving, and self-denial is to help us deepen that love of God, neighbor and selves.   In our General Thanksgiving that we pray often at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer, we say: "give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days...." (Book of Common Prayer, pages 101 and 125).

Yet, we also know that each of us harbors a prejudice somewhere in our hearts.   Our culture outside and within the LGBT communities, in and outside of our churches is full of biases towards people of different races, cultures, genders, gender identities/expressions, physical/emotional challenges, languages, immigration statuses, religions and more.    Even in those of us who have experienced the discrimination of Christians due to our sexual orientation, many in our LGBT Communities feed a hatred towards all religions, people of color, and different expressions of different peoples.   Even individuals who claim to be politically progressive, often demonstrate bias in their speech and practices within the political structures of their parties.  I once heard one such person who supports immigration reform make a statement about Latino's that was as biased as anyone who thinks that immigration reform is about amnesty.

Jesus challenges all of us today, to be open to a continuing conversion of our hearts, minds and souls.  

"Benedictine Spirituality" Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB writes in The Monastery of the Heart, "is a sacramental spirituality.  It holds all things--the earth and all its goods {and it's people} as sacred."   It recognizes the "oneness of creation, the symphony of life forms that depend on one another to bring the universe, pulsing and throbbing with life, to a wholeness that reflects the full face of God"  (Pages 115, 116).

Jesus wants us to recognizes and honor one another as Sacred Vessels.  Each of us carries within us the image of God, the saving power of Christ and the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit.   This Season of Lent is our opportunity to open ourselves to the presence of Christ in the Sacrament that is revealing God's Charisma emulating from our neighbor's life and soul, and handle each other with reverence, respect and care.   With this in mind, no amount of violence, oppression or injustice in God's Name is without iniquity.  Lord have mercy on us all.

May we all honor the faith, love and salvation of God in one another better this day, and in the weeks and months ahead of us.

Amen.


Prayers

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious
to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them
again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and
hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ
your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.218).

O Lord my God, 

Teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you.   

You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess, and still I do not know you.  I have not yet done that for which I was made.   

Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me.   Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking.  Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.  Amen. (Prayer of St. Anselm, St. Benedict's Prayer Book for Beginners, p.118).

      

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany: Loving Our Neighbor, Even When We Would Rather Not

Today's Scripture Readings

Leviticus 19:1-2,9-18 (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.

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD.

You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

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 119:33-40 (BCP., p.766)


1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 (NRSV)

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

"He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
and again,

"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile."

So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Matthew 5:38-48 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Blog Reflection

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB in her book The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life writes the following in the chapter 17 about Hospitality.

It is possible, of course, to make community out of "our kind of people," out of people who look like us and think like us and have the same backgrounds we do.

But that is not the kind of community the ancient Rule has in mind or a Monastery of the Heart sets out to be.

And with good cause.

When Benedict of Nursia began his new way of living in wild, licentious, sixth-century Rome, he turned that world upside down.

He took into his monastic community the rich and the poor, the slave and the free, the young and the old, artists and craftsmen, peasants and noblemen.  It was a motley crew.

And then, as if that weren't enough, he opened the doors of the monastery to anyone who came, at any time, to anyone who knocked, no matter who they were or where they had been in life along the way.

Most of all, he made of their coming a royal affair.

Guests were to be met by the entire community "united in peace," with prayer and always with the kiss of peace.

Benedict's community met everyone, whoever they were, with friendship and trust and honor.  The pilgrim, the poor, and the stranger all became new new royalty at the monastery door.

"Jesus" the Rule teaches "is to be welcomed in them" (pages 135-137).  

It would be wonderful if we could all live like that.  Welcome everyone, whether or not we like her/him.  No more barriers to being friends with everyone we come into contact with.   Of course, we know that is hardly possible.  Each of us have our point of discomfort with another person.   Someone who doesn't quite "measure up."   As that is the case, is God in our readings this Sunday asking too much of us?

Leviticus is the Book of the Holiness Code.  It was written in the post-Babylonian Exile era.  It was written in hindsight of events that the Israelite people had already experienced.  It is quite possible that it was written with a certain fright that what happened to them in the exile, could reoccur if they did not get their Temple worship together.  The entire book is full of ritual purity in preparation for the worship of God.  Therefore, it is very important to be careful about not exacting specific passages in Leviticus such as chapter 20:13 as condemning all same-gender sexual acts as a moral obligation, when in fact it is a cultural taboo only.

However, what the book is telling us is that our response to God's acts on our behalf, should be nothing less than love and respect for our neighbor.   To the point that we would honor their property, who they are, and what we do with what is on loan to us, to be shared with our neighbor.  It is clear that in this writing from Leviticus, that making room for the strangers among us is evident to living with a heart that is thankful to God.  To disregard the immigrant among us for the sake of hoarding all things for ourselves, is to disregard the Law of God who loves and delivers us.  God's word to us here, is that our society and our communities begin to deteriorate when we leave the hungry, the stranger and the unrecognizable without their full dignity among us.

As we in the United States continue our conversation about Immigration Reform, how are we welcoming the stranger among us?

At what point do we stop identifying immigrants as "illegals" and leave some room for them to find peace, prosperity and hope in our country?

At what point in our discussion, do we stop making silly statements such as "Can I be an illegal?  I could really use the benefits" as our excuse for racism and envy, when we already have more than immigrants can even imagine?

As the States of Kansas, South Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and others like them, consider bills that would legalize discrimination for businesses and services for LGBT people on the basis of "religious freedom," perhaps we should ask ourselves at what point does our "religion" give us the right to discriminate?   If our Faith is about salvation and redemption in Christ, because all are welcome, as they are, who are we to make such exceptions, and justify them?  

The Gospel for this Sunday is probably the most difficult for many of us to consider, let alone apply.   However, what Sr. Joan wrote in the quote I used above, applies as much to our adversaries as it does our closest confidants.  Our problem with this Gospel Reading is our false sense of self.   We think that we are created and even redeemed to be comfortable, at peace at all times, without any conflict, loved by all and that is only where we find God.   We put all our stock in God and ourselves, based on warm fuzziness.

While there is nothing completely bad about wanting to be comfortable and cozy, if we look for our relationship with God in only that, we will be endlessly disappointed.   The reality of this life is, that we can never find total consolation and comfort in the things of this world.  Even those who we love so closely are only but one drop in the bucket of our human experience.

What Jesus is proposing in this Gospel, is also what is meant in the sixth and seventh steps of humility in chapter 7 of The Rule of St. Benedict.

The sixth step of humility is that a monk (or anyone can be inserted here) is content with the lowest and most menial treatment and regards himself a poor and worthless workman in whatever task he is given,,,

The seventh step of humility is that a man (or woman) not only admits with his tongue but is also convinced in his heart that he is inferior to all and of less value, humbling himself and saying with the Prophet: I am truly a worm, not a man, scorned and despised by the people (Psalm 22:7) (Page 36, 37 RB 1980).

Before you close my blog post today at this point, let me explain this a bit better.  St. Benedict here is not talking about walking around with an inferiority complex, nor indulging in self abuse.   He is also not suggesting that we adopt an attitude to be oh so happy to be abused, discriminated against, etc., that is not what he is saying here at all.   What St. Benedict and Jesus are saying, is to find our ultimate comfort and completeness in God alone.  It is quite alright for us to be at the back of the line of human preference.  Not because that's what we are not, but because of all that God is.  All that we are, need, can be, and are about is found in God.   So that even if we are confronted by someone who completely disregards us, we do not justify what they do, or in some cases not speak up, all is not lost for us.   Because, we are to put our hope in God alone, and love our neighbor, even our adversary with complete abandonment of ourselves out of love and reverence for God present in every person.

This past week I engaged in a very interesting conversation with someone about the terrible violence towards LGBT in African Countries.  I maintain that he violence towards LGBT people in Uganda, Nigeria and Russia is unjustifiable.  The conversation I had was with someone who felt that the Anglican voices in the African Countries that are supporting the draconian laws there, should have no voice in our Anglican Communion.   The problem with that is, that if we build up an attitude and policy of prejudice towards someone, because of their prejudice, then anyone with a prejudice can be kept from participating in the life and ministry of the Church.   That in fact, would mean any and all of us.  We will not succeed in changing hearts and minds towards one another, the more we silence the voices in opposition to each other.   We will succeed, because we continue in dialogue with each other and tell our stories to one another, so that we listen to each other, and open ourselves up to the presence of Christ in each other.   No matter, how difficult it is for us to do that.   It means being open to one another, and loving each other, as we struggle to understand and accept each other.   It will mean bearing in our hearts and souls in union with the wounds of Christ on the Cross in prayer for more open hearts and minds in our dialogue.   But, let us not forget that the story of our redemption does not end with the Cross and death of Christ.  It continued in Christ's Resurrection to new life, and sending the gift of the Holy Spirit.   The Holy Spirit is still among us, and "guiding us into all truth" (See John 16:12-13 NRSV).  Therefore, "for God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27 NRSV).

We must, with God's help, learn to recognize in those who harbor a prejudice, our own ability to discriminate against another.  We must pray with compassion as Henri J.M. Nouwen suggests in his book: With Open Hands.  Seeing in our neighbor, our ability to hurt one another, our lack of acceptance and ability to forgive and be forgiven.   If we close off our dialogue with each other, we will miss the opportunity to encounter Christ in one another.

In a week and half we will be at Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  As we pray and prepare ourselves for the season of fasting, penance and alms giving, perhaps we need to pray for each other.  We should pray for one another, that we will be given a special measure of God's grace to receive all God's people with genuine hospitality, with a commitment to healing and reconciliation.   Through our prayers and work on behalf of all God's people, may violence and prejudice become yesterday's ways of dealing with out disagreements.  Instead, today, we want to embrace one another.  We continue in dialogue, listening carefully to God and each other.   May we listen and be silent to hear God speaking to and with us more clearly, with reverence and awareness of God's presence in each other.

Amen.


Prayers

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we
do is worth nothing; Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our
hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace
and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted
dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.216).

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; 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. 260).

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).