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).

Fourth Sunday in Lent: The Younger Son/Daughter, the Elder Son/Daughter and the Father/Mother

Today's Scripture Readings

Joshua 5:9-12 (NRSV)

The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

Psalm 32 (BCP., p.624)


2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NRSV)

From now on, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32 (NRSV)

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So Jesus told them this parable:

"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Blog Reflection

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB wrote the following story.

Once upon a time, the story begins, some seekers from the city asked the local monastic a question.

"How does one seek union with God?"
And the Wise One said, "The harder you seek, the more distance you create between God and you."
"So what does one do about the distance?"  the seekers asked.
And the elder said simply, "Just understand that it isn't there."
"Does that mean that God and I are one?" the disciples said.
And the monastic said, "Not one. Not two."
"But how is that possible?" the seekers insisted.
And the monastic answered, "Just like the sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and the song. Not one.  But not two"  (p.195, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today).

This Lent, my life has been forever impacted by Henri J.M. Nouwen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son.   I read the book as my preparation for this particular blog post.  The book has inspired me to ask myself the question: "Am I the younger son, the elder son or the Father?"  

Before I continue, I would just like all my blog readers to please bear with me as I am staying with the male pronouns that Nouwen uses.   I maintain my support for gender inclusive language.   This is one of those cases where I will ask my readers to see yourself in the gender pronouns, and please pardon me for a walk in the past.

In the past when I have read and/or heard the parable of the Prodigal Son, I have tended to side with the younger son and see the terrific compassion for him.  However, I have often looked past the elder son and just figured he was some conceited whatever, who got what he deserved.   As Nouwen wrote about the elder son in greater detail, I could not help but see myself in the elder son.   The elder son responds to his father's acceptance of the returned younger son, and throwing a big party with elder son allowing his resentment, jealousy and competitiveness to come to a boiling point.   The elder son is finding his obedience to his father to being burdensome.   He is doing everything he is suppose to be doing, and he does not feel like he is getting a return on all of his investment.   He just cannot understand why his brother who took his father's inheritance and has returned is being greeted with such welcome and compassion.  After all doesn't the father owe him everything?

What the elder son could not see, is that he already had everything.  That is why the father's response is so important.   The father welcomes both sons back to him.  In both instances, the father does not dwell on what either son has done.  All he does is welcome them home with great compassion, according to each of his son's personalities.   When the father addresses the elder son with "you are always with me, everything I have is yours"  he is telling the elder son, he is already close to his father's heart and nothing has ever changed that.  All the elder son has to do is put aside his resentment, his distrust, his competition and join his father and his younger brother in the banquet of all of the goodness the father had to offer them.

Nouwen also puts a great spotlight on the role of the Father.  The Father represents the compassionate God, who feels our human pain, suffering and torn selves, in the Person of Jesus Christ.  While the Father experiences the greatest anguish on our behalf, he is also calling us like a Mother to come on home, and experience the all embracing, extravagant love of the Father.   The Father does not ask them to give up their sexual orientation, or to pay back what they owe.  The Father does not shame women about having had abortions or used contraception.  The Father is not interested in their allegiance to a clerical superpower religion or the Republican Tea Party to prove their conversion.  All that the Father does is welcome them home with a warm embrace, gives them new clothes to wear and invites them to share in the heavenly banquet.

I think we have all at some point behaved like the elder son.   How many times have you heard someone say of another person(s) who is getting government assistance by way of cash, emergency assistance, food stamps or WIC, "Look I am working 50 hours a week, and I don't get to eat fresh baked bread at home.  Why should they begetting all this stuff they did not work for?"   Anyone who knows someone who is in need of such assistance, also knows the humiliation, the grief and the self consciousness such people experience.  It can feel degrading, dehumanizing and like there is this stone in the pit of your stomach.

I think for this Lent, this Gospel is asking us about our attitudes of compassion, hospitality and reconciliation with others around us.   Are we taking a page from the Rule of St. Benedict about receiving all guests as "Christ himself"?   Or, are we picking and choosing who we will welcome and be kind to?   Are we willing to reach out our arms to embrace those who are wandering without a spiritual home, ready to accept them regardless of their race, color, economic status, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, religion, cultural practices, etc?    Do we see reconciliation as our opportunity to make things right with God, on behalf of God and by God's grace working in and through us?

Lent still has another two weeks to go.  All of us will be brought face to face with the Cross once again.  We will be asked if we want to embrace the Cross so that we may have a victory over the powers of death, to new life in Christ.   We will be confronted by the decision to embrace the Cross totally and with complete abandonment of our will out of love in obedience to the will of God.  Or will we only pay lip service and leave ourselves at the tomb, like a dead Jesus who never rose again?

The parable of the Prodigal Son is our opportunity to go home to the Father, and to become a compassionate, welcoming and reconciling loving Father/Mother.   We are all welcomed to the banquet.  God is always with us.  Everything God has is ours.  But, let us celebrate with God concerning those who have come home.   We have all been found.  We have all come alive again.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

Amen.


Prayers

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down
from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world:
Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in
him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 219).
 
Gracious Father, we pray for they 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, 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,  Book of Common Prayer, p. 833).

Ash Wednesday: Lent: A Season of Justice and Change

Here we are.  The beginning of Lent.  One of the most beautiful seasons of the year.  Yet, it is also one that has been misused to abuse many marginalized persons, not limited to, but including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people.  An ex-gay group like the Roman Catholic churches Courage likes to make use of Lent to help their members "bear the cross of same-sex attraction" and through prayer, penance and fasting to remain chaste and celibate from loving,committed relationships.  This season of fasting, has become politicized through spiritual malpractice and doctrinal abuse.

Last month at an LGBTQ Coffee house meeting at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, the visiting Priest Rev. Candice Corrigan wrote the following beautiful words in the introduction to her booklet: "An LGBT Lent 2011."  If my readers would like a copy of it, please email me at BearBudMN@yahoo.com and I will send you a pdf file with a copy.   It is uncorrelated and needs to be printed and put in order.  But you are welcome to it.

"My first thought about Lent and the LGBT community was, for sure we don't need any more penitence, sackcloth and ashes!  And that's not how I've come to think the Lenten Season anyway.  I think of it as an opportunity for a spiritual tune-up, a revitalizing of my sense of balance, simplicity, order, focus , and selfhood as a child of God, beloved and wonderfully made--as in the Benedictine sense of how to maximize the fruits of leisure, prayer, work and study."

Lent as I understand it is a time to regroup our spiritual lives.  To focus on God who has fearfully and wonderfully made all of us.  To realize that God's unconditional and all-inclusive love is searching each of us, and asking us to search for God.    We can do that by spending just a few moments of each day quietly sitting and listening to what is in our hearts.  As we listen to what is in our hearts, if we open up the ears of our hearts we can hear God speaking to that longing for fulfillment and joy.  We can find in God's presence that energy and strength that helps us meet the challenges of each day.

I have truly been getting a way from the whole idea of Lent being about "giving up something."  What happens with the "giving up something for Lent" idea, is that it becomes a way for us to restart those New Year's resolutions that went south in about 2 days.  Lent is not so much about losing weight, giving up smoking, drinking or even sex as some literally try to do.   Lent is not really about what we give up.  Lent is about what we do with our time and our lives.   Lent is as much about our work for justice, inclusion and change for equality, as it is our own personal time with God.

Rather than hit us over the head with the usual Gospel for Ash Wednesday, I want to use the reading from Paul.  I think that is a great reading for LGBTQ people in Lent.

Scriptural Basis

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,

"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see-- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

 One individual who knew how urgent his faith was to him, was St. Francis of Assisi. 

St. Francis was the son of a prosperous merchant of Assisi, born in 1182.  His encounters with the poor and homeless caused him to renounce all earthly possessions and live a life of radical poverty.  St. Francis' work led him to place himself among the lowest and most marginalized of society and the Church.  

St. Francis is a good saint for LGBT people. 

The prayer I use often: "Lord, make us instruments of your peace" is attributed to St. Francis.

The peaceful up rising of LGBT people has been one of a call to society and the Church to take seriously those who are left behind due to prejudice and doctrinal abuse.   The Church has a history of proclaiming the God of unconditional love.  Yet the Church also has a history of choosing who to extend that love to, and who to with hold it from.  Many in the Church have used their "pastoral" or places of religious authority and the Bible to support violence in the Name of God.    There really is no sect or denomination of Christianity that is exempt from the history of violence and oppression towards any number of groups of people.

Paul tells us that "now is the day of salvation."  Today is the beginning of a season of opportunities to face God with our sinfulness and ask God to help us prepare for Easter.   We can look inside of ourselves and see those areas where we hold our own prejudices towards others and even ourselves.

LGBT people often experience our own internalized homophobia because of anti-gay politics.  Lent offers to us the opportunity to see our sinfulness in self abuses and to ask God to help us to see ourselves and other LGBT people as "fearfully and wonderfully made."   We can also see within ourselves, God's wish for us to allow another wonderful person to love us, romantically, physically and emotionally.  We can also take this time of Lent to do all we can to not only rid ourselves of heterosexism and homophobia, but also do our part to end it in the government of our nation, state, city or town.

Lent is a good time to do some volunteer work for people living with HIV/AIDS.  

Lent is also a good time to support not only LGBT people who are struggling for inclusion and equality, but also women, people of other races, cultures, challenges, economic statuses, languages etc. 

Today is the day to begin learning to love ourselves and others better than we did yesterday.  Today is the day of salvation, when putting to use those awesome muscles that LGBT people have of calling for justice and equality on all levels of society and religion. 

In about six weeks, our Lenten journey will lead us to where Jesus died for us.  Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice of his life out of love for all of God's children.  We will again hear the crowds that welcomed Jesus with palm branches and clothing, yell: Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!   We will sit and/or stand with the disbelief that people who were so nice a few days ago, became so cruel.  But, when one of God's children is told that there is no place for them at the altars of a church because she or he is LGBT, those nice church people who claim to follow God's "infallible Word" have just yelled "Crucify!" all over again.  

LGBT people celebrate and participate in Lent, because we need to continue to be about the business of challenging Christians attitudes and behaviors.  We cannot accomplish our work for justice, inclusion and equality if we do not spend some time being reminded that we are God's beloved, with whom God is well-pleased.   God saw that God made us, and what God made was very good. 

If we spend this time of Lent doing nothing else, then let us spend it in quiet prayer, reflected that God made us, and that we were made good by God, who continues to love us and at one point offered God's Son to redeem us to live with God eternally. 

Now is the day of salvation.  Amen.

Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, page 217).

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, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).

 

Francis of Assisi: A Reminder to the Church. What Are Our Priorities?

I especially love the First Lesson from today's Liturgy of St. Francis of Assisi.

Jeremiah 22:13-16 (NRSV)

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
   and his upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbors work for nothing,
   and does not give them their wages;
¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house
   with large upper rooms’,
and who cuts out windows for it,
   panelling it with cedar,
   and painting it with vermilion.
¹⁵ Are you a king
   because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
   and do justice and righteousness?
   Then it was well with him.
¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
   then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
   says the Lord. 

The reading calls us to consider what kind of house we are trying to build.  The Church is not great because of the beauty of our buildings as much as I love them, nor the splendor of our Liturgies.  For they never cease to inspire.  The Church is great when justice for the oppressed and care for those who are stigmatized become so important that we would not want to leave them oppressed or alone.   The Scripture in no way suggests that we should always be miserable so as not to celebrate or sing.  As the reading from the Prophet says: "Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness?  Then it was well with him.  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.  Is not this to know me?" says the LORD."

Canon Richard Norman of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral noted during his sermon yesterday that St. Francis was challenging the Church in a day when it was militant, reminding us that we should not neglect those who are marginalized, poor or in distress.   Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer (LGBTQ) people are today challenging the Church in a time when conservative Christians want to be militant about keeping sexual and gender diversity from being included among God's holy people.  Senator Jim DeMint remarked that he believes that gay people and unmarried women should not be teaching in our schools, for example.  The Briggs movement is once again being raised up in our nation by those who claim to be ardent followers of Jesus Christ. 

St. Francis embraced a life that was about simplicity and genuine Christian Charity.  St. Francis believed that unnecessary attachment to earthly things is detrimental to our Spiritual health.  Most of us, including myself have our favorite things that we hold on to for dear life.  We often forget that everything we have and use is on loan for the period of our life time only .  Like everything in this world, things pass away.  The most important things according to St. Paul is "faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love" (See 1 Corinthians 13).   Yet today in Galatians 6:14-18 Paul challenges us to embrace the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  What that cross means to each of us will be different, but each of us will have to come to terms with the cross of Jesus Christ being our cross as well.

May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule-- peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

What if we were to rewrite some of this reading from Paul to say: "For neither heterosexual or non-heterosexual is anything; but a new creation is everything!  As for those who will follow this rule--peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."

As the Church continues to grow and expand through Scripture, Tradition and Reason I hope we are all coming to a place where we realize that many of the things we hold on to, including our prejudices are obstacles to the Gospel becoming known by other people, and keeps peace between people from being a reality.  There is probably no better example of this in this past week than the five gay youth who took their lives.  When we do not allow our understanding of the Bible to expand and grow beyond our prejudices there are those around us who pay the price for our lack of willingness.   Embracing the cross can also mean letting go of our fears about people who are different than ourselves and finding a new peace in the service of the underprivileged of society and the Church.

Matthew 11:25-30 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

St. Francis understood what Jesus knew, that his work was to call unto himself all who were weary and carrying heavy burdens.   LGBTQ youth are most vulnerable to the pressures of a Church and society that does not see sexual and gender diversity as worthy of equality.  When they experience bullying over their sexual orientation and/or gender diversity, the burdens they carry are most painful and weigh them down.  When they hear preachers quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9 out of context to condemn homosexuality when it does not, they are much too likely to take that to heart and condemn themselves should they get physically excited in their high school gym locker room.  Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council,the National Organization for Marriage, the Catholic church and the Archbishop of Canterbury with their statement about homosexuality being "unnatural" and their erroneous use of Romans 1: 26-27 to justify spiritual and political violence towards LGBTQ people can only cause destruction in the lives of those most vulnerable.   When the Church promotes heterosexism, they are not helping to lighten heavy burdens.

St. Francis and Jesus challenges us to put a name and a face on every human person.  To recognize the imprint of God's image and beauty in everyone.  We are challenged by Francis and Jesus to love beyond our comfort zones and to challenge the Church and society to reorganize our priorities.  Doing so will require us to take our place at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ and confess our sins of selfish greed and bias.  We will be encountering a loving and holy God who is always forgiving and merciful. God the Holy Spirit will call us to a new way of living.  She will ask us and help us to put our own personal and spiritual priorities in order.  Recognizing that the work of justice and equality is the work of every Christian in one way or another.  Whether that means taking the time to rethink our understanding about homosexuality in the Bible, or sharing our stories with others so that they may better comprehend what sexual and gender diversity means.  If that means we volunteer at a place that helps those who live with HIV/AIDS, an LGBTQ Youth Homeless Home or helps women recovering from sexual violence, we are still doing the work of St. Francis and Jesus.  Beginning somewhere is better than continuing on a path that is destructive to the Church, Society and ultimately ourselves.

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant your people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of you delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Francis of Assisi, Holy Men, Holy Women, Celebrating the Saints, page 623).


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).

The following is a Litany for Children at Risk from bullying.

A Litany for children at risk from bullying --by Maria L. Evans

O God of justice and mercy, we pray that no more daughters and sons in this world die as the result of bullying simply because of who they are; be it race, religion, sexual orientation, or social awkwardness. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.

That our schools become places of nurturing and hope rather than shame and derision. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.
That our teachers instill values of charity and acceptance in all children so there is no need for one child to feel superior over another. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.
That parents can put aside what they were sometimes taught, in order to promote tolerance and diversity at home. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.
That our communities support children who feel “different from the others” and show them lives that are theirs to claim, lives they cannot begin to imagine to see at home. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.
That all children can grow up feeling self-empowered and truly loved simply as themselves, and not suffer beatings and psychological abuse at home or school. Lord, in your mercy,

hear our prayer.
O Lord, you understand this above all others, for your only Son hung among thieves on a rough wooden cross on a barren hill, just as Matthew Shepard hung from a rail fence on a lonely road. Be our light in the darkness, Lord; protect our children and fill them with the love of your Holy Spirit; hold them in your Son’s loving arms in their most fearful hours, and be with them always.

Amen. 

Also see this from Integrity USA.

Claire of Assisi: An Inspirational Woman's Devotion

Luke 12:32-37 (NRSV)

Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them."

This seems to be the week that we are reading the Gospel of Luke chapter 12, 32 to 37 almost every day.  If you are scratching your head thinking: "Wasn't this just written about this past Sunday?"  Yes, indeed it was.  I also wrote about it as part of yesterday when we commemorated St. Laurence.   Today, we commemorate St. Claire of Assisi, who was a companion to St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Claire was born a rather wealthy girl, and was said to be amazingly beautiful.  Francis and Claire lived in a time when there was tremendous corruption within the Church.  The poor and destitute were every where.  Upon hearing St. Francis, Claire became more and more interested to the point that she took all of her extravagant clothing and offered them on the altar.  St. Claire began a monastery of nuns that would devote themselves to very austere living.  They took the Franciscan vow of radical poverty, slept on mats, wore no shoes and lived a very cloistered life.   St. Claire and her nuns took good care of the poor and offered much of their work to caring for the sick and those who were suffering.  Like St. Francis, they put a name and face on the marginalized and revitalized the Church to the service of those who are so often forgotten.

There is still a great deal of corruption within the Church today.  Sometimes the Church forgets that our mission is not necessarily about defending our dogmas, as much as it is about caring for and about those who are poor, homeless, marginalized and placed in second class citizenship.  What Christians believe is certainly important, but when we ignore Jesus Christ in the homeless, those without equal rights protection, the prisoner, those who fall through the cracks, the unemployed, those without health care, family, friends and the like, then what we believe only matters when we recite the Nicene Creed.  What we pray in the Book of Common Prayer is meant to become who we are as Christians.  What we read in the Gospels is suppose to live in and through our lives.  When we fail to see and love Jesus in one another, but in particular those who are longing to know love in a new and awesome way, the Nicene Creed becomes just an abstraction.  The Gospels are just a legendary story of a group of old guys who really did not do anything that means anything, when we do not welcome and love Jesus Christ in the women, the LGBTQ, the immigrants, the African American, those who are physically, emotionally and economically challenged, the Muslim/Buddhist/Jewish, Hindu, Athiest, the Native American, and so on.  

The devotion of Claire of Assisi was to God and the order that she and Francis created during such turbulent times.  The devotion they had was also known in their service of those who were thought to have no face or name by the Church and society.  The Church today is again challenged by the work of Claire and Francis to remember that when we welcome the stranger who can also be understood as the "unfamiliar" or even the "not so status quo" which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning/queer people, we are welcoming Jesus Christ.  The Church and the United States are really being challenged in these days to work harder to welcoming the immigrant and the Muslim's of our time as well.  The ongoing debate about building Mosques in America and the outrageous discrimination by Christianists like AFA Bryan Fischer, and Pat Robertson is contrary to what America is, as well as to what the Gospel is about.  This is the same Bryan Fischer who has also been quoted saying that adoption by gay and lesbian parents is "inhumane to children".  Those who insist that the "traditional family" must be the standard of society tend to forget that Jesus Christ who was Jewish and is the founder of Christianity was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin mother who was betrothed to a man named Joseph.  Jesus was in a sense conceived out of wedlock.  In the name of "tradition" many Christians have built standards that are not only non binding to Christians or anyone else for that matter, but we have also placed greater burdens on those who already have hardships placed on their shoulders.  Isn't that comparable to placing weights on the cross as Jesus carries it on his way to Calvary? 

If there is one thing that Christians should be coming to a better understanding about is that God has given the poor a very special place in God's heart.  A careful reading of the Psalms as well as the Gospel and we see that God has reached out to the poor who had no one to help them.  (See Psalm 72 for example.)  Jesus even began the Sermon on the Mount with: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" (Matthew 5: 3).  Given the national outrage that came after Arizona passed their "papers please" immigration law, I think that is a good indication that God is hearing their cries.  Given that last Wednesday, Judge Walker ruled Proposition 8 "unconstitutional" is a good indication that God is hearing the cries of lesbian and gay people to be granted the opportunity for marriage equality.   Given that last year the Episcopal Church and the ELCA gave permission to create rites to perform same-sex marriages means that God is hearing the prayers of lesbian and gay people to find sacramental equality within the Church.  It is the work of Jesus Christ, St. Claire and Francis of Assisi being manifested in our time, as the Church continues to be renewed.

Let us continue to pray for each other and the Church.  That we will be more and more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit to be a more inclusive Church that welcomes all people.

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 14, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Clare, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Claire of Assisi, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 521).

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, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).