Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany: Season, Shine, Fulfill

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 58:1-9a (NRSV)

Thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
"Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Psalm 112  (BCP., p.755)


1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (NRSV)

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him" --

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Blog Reflection

As wonderful as it was that we celebrated The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple last Sunday, we missed the wonderful Reading from Matthew 5:1-12 which would have included the Beatitudes.   The central message is that Blessed are those who recognize their need for God. God will satisfy such a need by God's abundant grace.  Being poor in Spirit, means relying on God's mercy and faithfulness.  Recognizing that all that we could hope for, or need, can be found in God.  God's mercy, righteousness, a peacemaker, and those persecuted in Jesus' Name.

Today, we are presented with three interesting images.  We are told that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world and that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law of God.  

Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth.  A good interpretation is that we are the seasoning for the Gospel in the world.  The Gospel without being transparent in the lives of Christians, can become pretty useless.  The Gospel may be full of beautiful stories, sermons, parables and events.  But those words alone are not enough to transform the world, if they are left abstract on the page.  Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God made real in the world.  There is not just a stone that tells us what God has done, or a parchment with a lesson.  In Jesus, that which God speaks, lives, breaths, walks, talks, heals and changes the lives of those around Him.  Jesus invites us as Christians to live what we are hearing Him teach us.  If what we hear Jesus teach us does not become the seasoning that adds a fantastic aroma to our lives, we become tasteless and useless.  We become unable to do more than tell a good story, and become a loud mouth know-it-all.  

Jesus who is called in St. John's Gospel as the Light of the world, tells us that we are the light of the world.  In other words, we are the image of Christ in the world around us.  If we take what Jesus teaches and does to heart, and give it life by how we live and worship God in our families, jobs, communities, and homes, that light shows the glory of God.   If we allow Jesus to be darkened by our personal prejudices, arrogance and a false sense of self, it is the same as putting a lamp underneath a table where it is of little value to those who need to see light in their lives.

Jesus then identifies Himself as the fulfillment of the Law.  The Law of God, is love of God, neighbor and self.  Jesus is telling us, that He Himself fulfills this as He is closest to God as God's Son, and that we are also to draw closer to God through Jesus.   Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  To live the meaning of the love of God, neighbor and self, not just from an exterior experience, but from the inside out. 

A month or so ago, I had the opportunity to do Lectio Divina on the beginning of Chapter 4: On the Tools for Good Works, from The Rule of St. Benedict.

First of all, love the Lord God with your whole heart, your whole soul and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27) (RB 1980, p. 26).  

My experience of actually spending time meditating on these words in my heart, changed my life.  Instead of reading it, or hearing it in a Liturgy, the words become part of me.  I am able to meditate on what God expects of me, when God asks me to love God, my neighbor as myself within my own heart.  When what we read goes from the head to the heart, it can transform our relationship with God and others.

What St. Benedict is telling us, that the beginning of our doing good in the world, begins with God's commandment to love.   To recognize God as the beginning of all love, as well as the purpose and destiny of love.   Whatever good we might wish to accomplish, if we are not able to love, we will do so with no good reason if love is not the driving energy of what we do.  (See 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NRSV).

When Christians make the choice to preach a gospel of hate for people of different races, cultures, abilities, the poor, LGBT people, women etc, it is a gospel that is tasteless, dark and contrary to the Law of God's love.

When Christians suggest that gun owners are being persecuted by a movement such as Episcopalians Against Gun Violence, what is happening is that the Holy Spirit is moving upon people to change their ways with regards to justifying horrible violence as a way to make a political point, and those who are resisting, are running to the "we are being persecuted" as a defense mechanism.   The Gospel in this instance, because useless salt and lights that are burning out.  Because violence in any form is never the will of God.  Not even to defend a particular belief of Christians, or to suggest that all other points of view in Christianity are wrong, while others are completely right. 

If Christians are to make a difference in the world, where justice is regularly watered down by corporate dollars for political campaigns, and missionaries of hate transport homophobia to countries like Uganda, Nigeria and Russia, it is so important for us to be true to the Jesus who is compassionate, inclusive and merciful. 

In our prayer and work, if we can support a diverse Church and society, the Gospel will be transparent and living, giving salt, light and fulfillment to all who observe and interact with Christ in us.

Amen.


Prayers

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us
the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known
to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.216).

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the
earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those
who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people
everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations
into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten
the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.257).

Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ thy Son our Savior. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.816).

The Fifth Sunday after The Epiphany: We Are Seasoning and Light for Creating Change

To those of you who have been missing my blog writing this week, I have been attending Creating Change 2011 with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.  Together at this conference with people of all faith backgrounds, including atheists, political and cultural activists for change we have been working on a theme of Practice Spirit, Do Justice.  We have been talking a great deal about how we frame our messaging to create movements for change.  It has been an exciting and refreshing journey for me to be on.

During the coming days and weeks you will be noticing some changes to this blog that will reflect much of what I have been learning this week.  I hope that as these changes happen the message to work for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Church and society will become even more focused on working for justice and framed in such a way that others will be inspired to join the movement for this work.   Thank you all for coming back to read.  I hope we can continue to pray, work and journey together.

We all know what it is like to be making a recipe for something good to eat and suddenly finding out that it is without flavor.  It is bland, uninspiring and not really worth eating without something to draw our senses to it.  Salt is added to bring out the flavor of what we are eating even more.  So that we can not only eat to nourish our bodies, but also give pleasure to the experience.   We we give pleasure to ourselves and others around us when we are able to enjoy what we are consuming.  When we see our next friend or co-worker or some one we enjoy talking with after we have enjoyed a good meal that is well seasoned, we enjoy talking about it with others that they may share in our joy.

Seasoning and light are so important in our personal as well as our spiritual lives.  Seasoning (salt) and light (illumination) also enables us to work even harder on something we feel passionate about.   I want to now present the Scriptural basis of this blog entry for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany and talk about how seasoning and illumination is so important to our quest for justice and equality for all who are marginalized, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people.

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Blog Reflection on Seasoning and Light for Creating Change

If I told you that there was no other kind of salt except iodized table salt what would you do?  It might be easier to answer that question if we have not been advancing the seasonings that are available to us.  What if you are someone who because of how your particular nutritional and digestive needs are could not use iodized salt and there was no sea salt?  You would be someone who doesn't use salt and you would find another seasoning that you can enjoy.  Is that okay?  Of course it is.  We all have tastes and nutritional differences that make us who the special unique person that we are, even if others do not share our tastes.   We don't tell someone "there is only one kind of salt (seasoning) and if you are not using it then you are not a good and loving, well fed person."  Why then is it proper for Christians who are against justice and equality for LGBTQ people to say we must be heterosexual or single gender minded or we are somehow useless people to God and the Church? 

A very kind and wonderful lesbian Pastor, who is so passionately committed to the Gospel was asked this weekend "what kind of Pastor are you?"  She answered: "I am a lesbian Pastor of the United Church of Christ."  What was the questioner's response?  "You can only be one or the other.  You cannot be both."   In other words, unless this pastor was a straight female with the same biases against LGBT people as the inquiring individual, she was considered a failure at being a faithful shepherd of God's people. 

The fact of the matter is that in this Gospel lesson of Jesus saying that "You are the salt of the earth" and "light of the world," is that Jesus did was not using the word "you" as a singular, but as a plural.  The "you" is any follower of Jesus Christ regardless of what color their skin is.  Jesus said: "You are the salt of the earth" in what ever capacity God has created and redeemed you in Jesus Christ to be for this often "bland" world of injustice and inequality.   In a Church that claims to be the "Voice and representative of Christ on earth" there must be voices of every kind of flavor and every shade of light if the Gospel is to be proclaimed and lived by all of the diverse followers of the God who is unconditional and all inclusive love.   There is no "Light of privilege" for some in God's spice cabinet, while others are considered stale and useless.   All individuals with their unique "spice" in their race, color, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, economic status, language, immigration status, and so on, are God's loved and delicious flavor in the Church and the world.   Every individual has the most beautiful shade of color to add a light of welcome and affection for all people who still live in the darkness of prejudice, oppression and exclusion.  Every person that God has made no matter who they are, how they love, who they love, adds some new dimension to this world that no one else can offer.

 All of us can glorify God in the good work that we do by being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  LGBTQ people seeking to create change are not only concerned with achieving our equal rights.  As LGBTQ people of faith and good will we are also seeking to collaborate with other marginalized people so that we can all work together to bring racial justice and equality, immigration reform so that all can have the opportunity to work towards equality, for women, the challenged and the number one problem facing America today: poverty.   We too are the salt of the earth and the light of the world that together with all religions, races, cultures, genders and so forth can create opportunities for everyone to be relieved of political and social oppression.  That is why we support the work of today's greatest revolution of our time.  The Egyptian movement for liberation.   When one part of humanity is oppressed, all humanity is oppressed.  When we all take an interest in helping to liberate those living with oppression, all of us will find freedom from being oppressed. 

As the salt of the earth and light of the world, we are agents for creating change.  We are the Epiphany for those wanting to know how those marginalized by society and the Church today can look to a new tomorrow of hope and opportunity.  We can be the new flavor and shade of illumination that will wake up those who insist on not noticing what they have been missing,and inspire them to love doing things that help others see a new light at the end of their tunnel of bitterness and darkness.

May we learn from today's Gospel to appreciate all of the different seasonings and lights that God is calling to service in God's Name. May we all participate with each other in the work of justice, equality and inclusion for all.  Amen.

Prayers 

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, page 216).

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, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).

More Salt and Light Talk

Matthew 5:13-19 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

This great Gospel reading about which I wrote in an earlier blog post, is also one of the optional verses for the alternate opening to Evening Prayer.  It talks about being light to the world and the salt of the earth.  Jesus is saying such wonderful things about those who have chosen to follow him and what they can achieve if we set our mind to it.   Christians have had the awesome opportunity over these past 2000 years to influence whole countries and decades of generations with the good news that God came to save us in the Person of God's Son, Jesus Christ.   In many ways those who came before us such as Leo of Rome whom we commemorate today, did that in such outstanding ways.   But, even those whom we consider saints were not perfect, nor did they do everything exactly right.   They were human beings affected by misunderstandings as many of us are today.   What makes them and us as saints is what we do with what we have here and now.  What's imperfect is something God can use.  What is perfect if it is at all possible, is something that can inspire us to become even better with what is not so on target.

Leo of Rome produced over 90 sermons many of which we still have in print.  He fought heresies within the Church as we do today.  Leo was a man who was challenged by folks within the Church as our leaders need to be challenged by those of us in the House of God now.  The early Church like the Church of today, thinks it has it all together, when there is so much we do not yet know or understand.  That doesn't mean we should discontinue everything that is good to make changes where they need to be made.  It does mean we must take all that we have been given by the saints of yesterday, as saints today for the sake of the saints of the future.   If we Christians do not wake up and begin pursuing justice and equality as important parts of our sharing the Gospel of Jesus, there may not be many who know about God's incredible love in God's perfect revelation in years to come.  That's why equal rights and inclusion of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people is so very important.  Aside from being the right thing to do, it is also very important if Christians of today are to be known as the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  If we Christians are to give glory to God as Jesus is so encouraging us to do, then we need to be sure that the salt and light are there for everyone, including LGBT, women, the unemployed, folks of other races, religions, abilities, languages etc.  If our salt and light can choose who we include and who we exclude, we have a real problem with this Gospel and what Jesus is calling us to.

Yesterday I found a very interesting post on Think Progress, one of my favorite news sources.  Read just a few lines for yourself, and then I have some comments.

North Carolina Rev. Phillip “Flip” Benham’s wild-west antics earned him two years probation yesterday after a judge convicted him for stalking an abortion doctor. Leader of the “unashamedly” Christian, anti-abortion group Operation Save America, Benham distributed old-West style “Wanted” posters earlier this year that “included the names, addresses and photos of four Charlotte, N.C., doctors who perform abortions.”

Next to this post is a photograph of Rev. Phillip "Flip" Benham wearing a red tea shirt with the words: "Jesus Is The Mandate" next to a huge crucifix.  

I have a real problem as I hope many of my readers do with someone wearing a tea shirt suggesting that Jesus is the mandate for a preacher of the Gospel to seek to murder someone.   I know there are a fair number of people who consider abortion to be murder.   I am not seeking to be in a discussion about the good or bad about abortion here.   If we had a cultural climate that respected women better than we do, where women were not still looked upon as the property of men to do what they damn well please with, we might very well not need abortion.   But the fact is not only do we have men who are irresponsible when it comes to women, we also have a group of Republicans, many of whom just got elected last week who do not believe in giving women public health care assistance or other forms of assistance to help them make choices easier.    As long as women continue to be treated disrespectfully and so called "pro-life" folks feel that their right to tell a woman what to do while she is pregnant, but not give a flip about what happens after that child is born, a woman has a right to choose to do what is best for her, as well as her responsibility to that child.  Any man who thinks that a woman making the choice to abort a fetus is a simple decision, does not understand what women go through.   And for this pastor to take it upon himself to decide the safety, life and death of a doctor like that, really has a problem when he wears a shirt suggesting that Jesus is his mandate to kill another human being like that.   When people give Jesus Christ a bad name like that, the salt is bitter and the light bulb has gone out.  It is as black as night.  Not just for that Pastor, but for anyone who thinks that violence like that is some how a "pro-life" attitude. 

Such is the statements that often follow the suicides of LGBT youth who did so because of bullying.  When someone makes a statement that they did that because they knew that they were not normal, and that the LGBT communities tried to recruit them, that's just not right.  That is just not the kind of salt or light that Jesus is talking about here.  

If Christians want that light on a lamp stand so that others can see the Light that is Jesus Christ radiating from we who follow him, then we need to get rid of the prejudices that so many of us cling to.  There is no light or good flavored salt in endorsing violence and cruelty.  The bitterness of salt that looses it's flavor because of attitudes of self righteousness, biases that are masked under personal convictions when they are nothing more than religious based bigotry, is salt that is not effective for Christians.   There is no light to be found in Arizona's immigration law, or Don't Ask, Don't Tell or the decision of Oklahoma against Shari'a Law. The nation wide concern and those organizing for the justice of immigrants, LGBT and Muslims, they are producing light.  Those seeking to further discriminate and legislate equal rights for immigrants, LGBT and Muslims by negatively stereotyping, and suggesting violence is a darkness that cannot be justified. There is no light to be found when people will not allow inclusive language or political correctness to at least help us attempt to treat others different from ourselves with some kind of respect.   The salt of ignorance that won't engage in dialogue with people that we do not know or understand, is bitter, tasteless and useless.  It cannot help any recipe of inclusion of any Bible study about the crucifixion.  The crucifixion is how God showed God's love for all.  When our Bible study leads us to more religious based bigotry, we risk letting the light go out..   

As Christians, we can all do better.  We should all desire to do better.  Some of us can only do so much.  That should not keep us from at least trying.  We just never know how our trying might just light a lamp that fits perfectly on a stand so that everyone can see the brightness of God's love through us.   So let's all work together so that we will all try for the benefit of those who will like the light and salt that Christians have to share.

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 27, Book of Common Prayer, page 236).

O Lord our God, grant that your Church, following the teaching of your servant Leo of Rome, may hold fast the great mystery of our redemption, and adore the one Christ, true God and true Man, neither divided from our human nature nor separate from your divine Being; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Leo of Rome, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 673).

O God our heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race, and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Future of the Human Race, page 828).