Third Sunday After The Epiphany: Jesus Calls and Loves Us Where We Are

Today's Scripture Readings

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 (NRSV)

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do.

Psalm 62 (BCP., p.669)


1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (NRSV)

I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Mark 1:14-20 (NRSV)

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Blog Reflection

I often wonder what score those first disciples would have gotten on their General Ordination Exams (GOE).  Who would their facilitators been?  Even more so, who would have been on their discernment committees?   Who would their Formation Masters have been?  If a church body were able to determine their suitability for ministry, what kind of criteria would be used?  What might the Church look like today if a Vocation's Director decided that Peter or John were not qualified to be Apostles?

The readings for today are all about God calling us.  God called Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh.  Paul tells us to go on our way as if we have nothing.  Jesus calls those first disciples from where they are.  In Mark's Gospel, this narrative does not go one with the endless names.  It just gives a few names and says they left what they had in hand and followed Jesus.  It sounds to me like Mark doesn't want to waste any time.

God calls us where we are, because God loves us where we are in Jesus.  Jesus was God's prefect revelation in the human person.  All of our human limitations, potential and promise came to us infused by the Divine Presence in God's Anointed One.  "All the fullness of God's Divinity was pleased to dwell" (see Colossians 1:19) in our humanity in Jesus who came to love us where we are, and call us to do God's work in obedience to God's will in the here and now.  The obstacles we face in our lives including the labels others place upon us, along with whatever our history may say about us; prevent God from bringing us where God wants us, only if we put ourselves in God's way.

Though I am a Monk in training, there are so many ways in which I fail to be obedient, or agree to conversion of my manners, and evade God through instability.  God does not ask me (or anyone) to always succeed.  All God asks of us is to be faithful in responding to Jesus who loves us and calls us from where we are.  The way to holiness of heart and life is through allowing God to love us in the midst of our pain, disobedience and confusion and bring about God's healing and reconciliation in our lives and those around us.  In The Rule of St. Benedict at the end of Chapter 4 On the Tools of Good Works, he writes: "never despair of God's mercy." 

God calls us without discriminating against our gender, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, health condition, disability, language or for any other reason.  It is we who discriminate against ourselves and/or one another.  Each of us are called and loved by Jesus to do in this moment, in this vocation and doing this work what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do.  Whether that vocation is ordained ministry, parents, spouses, manual labor, religious life, lay people, teaching, social justice work and/or administration.  This list is hardly comprehensive.  I have left out a vocation that someone is being called to right now.

Are we listening for God to call us right here and now?

What are we ready to set aside to follow the God who loves us and calls us "by name"?  (See Isaiah 43:1b).

What do we hear God calling us to in the depths of our hearts?

Jesus is calling each of us to let Him love us here where we are.   The sky is the limit with the possibilities that are before us if we accept the love and call of Jesus.  

What will your answer be?

O Jesus, joy of loving hearts,
the fount of life and our true light,
we seek the peace your love imparts,
and stand rejoicing in your sight.
(Hymnal 1980 #649).

Prayers

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our
Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News
of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive
the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Collect for the Third Sunday After the Epiphany.  The Book of Common Prayer, p. 215).

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole
body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:
Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before
you for all members of your holy Church, that in their
vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  (Prayer for Mission, The Book of Common Prayer, p.100).

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.  (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, The Book of Common Prayer, p.255).

Second Sunday After the Epiphany: Listen and Follow

Today's Scripture Readings

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NRSV)

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. The LORD called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Psalm 139: 1-5, 12-17 (BCP., p.794).


1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NRSV)

 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "The two shall be one flesh." But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

John 1:43-51 (NRSV)

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Blog Reflection

A good contemplative loves the story of Samuel and his experience of hearing God's voice.  He is awoken by a voice calling his name.  He thinks Eli called him, but, it was not Eli.  Eli told him what to do the next time Samuel heard a voice calling him.  When God calls on Samuel, he answers with, "Speak for your servant is listening."

These words of Samuel, are among a good set of words to say as we begin the prayerful reading of Scripture (also known as Lectio Divina).   When we say such words as we enter into a prayerful conversation with the Word, we are able to redirect ourselves away from our inner noise and listen more intentionally to God.

Just in the first three weeks of 2015 we have heard about violence in various corners of the world.  The horrific episode in France along with the equally awful responses with rhetoric that stirs up more violence towards Muslims and/or Atheists.   Is there anyone who is willing to listen to God?

This past Friday, the Supreme Court announced that they will hear and decide freedom to marry cases for the States of Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.  On a building in another state was written the words: "No gay marriage, kill them all."  Oh, so charitable.  Is there anyone who is willing to listen to God?

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus calls His first Apostles.  Nathanael is skeptical of Jesus because of where He comes from.  It is only when Jesus tells Nathanael that He has known him on a deeper level, that Nathanael acknowledges who Jesus is.  This exchange of conversation suggests to me that knowing who Jesus is, is intimately personal and communal.  God is seeking a closer union with the Christian through a relationship with Jesus Christ that is known in the depth of one's heart; while being expressed in the love of our neighbor as ourselves.

Why is it so much easier to live into a personal relationship with Jesus within ourselves, than to also live it in community?   Because each of us (myself including) thinks either too highly of ourselves; or, has such a low self-esteem that we try to cover up our inferiority complex by putting others unlike ourselves down.   We identify ourselves and our relationship with God because of how much we pray, what we know, our age, education level, Church vocation, psychologically nice vibes in prayer, etc. 

I have begun to read Thomas Keating's book, Open Minds, Open Hearts.  I am reading the book as part of my formation.  The book is about centering prayer.  Keating suggests that among the reasons that we drift away from God within ourselves and in our relationships with others, is because of how we identify ourselves.  Our thoughts, feelings, labels, images, ideas, etc which are good by themselves; but, when we begin to identify ourselves and our relationships with God through them, we lose touch with God as our personal center.  When we lose our touch with God in our own center, we can so easily begin to become tone deaf to God's presence in others around us.  We place obstacles in our relationships, and we become too self-centered.

Jesus is calling each of us into a deeper relationship with Himself, through our relationship with that spouse who is struggling with addiction issues.  God calls us to follow Jesus in that job that frustrates us to no end.  We are being called by the Holy Spirit to respond to the call of Jesus through the house project that seems to never get done.   If we respond to God calling us in that individual who is poor, sick, labeled beyond second class citizenship, disabled, lonely and without the bare necessities that we take for granted; we need to respond to God with reverence, respect and humility.  A humility that knows we make mistakes, but are willing to learn how to trust God through them to make things right.   What we are unable to do ourselves, we can always ask God for help, and/or for the assistance of others who can better help than we can.

Jesus calls us to listen and follow Him.

What will your response be?


Prayers

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light
of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word
and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's
glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the
ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with
you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.  (Collect for the Second Sunday After The Epiphany.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.215).

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.  (Prayer for the Unity of the Church.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.818).

Third Sunday after the Epiphany: The Light is Calling Us

Today's Scripture  Readings

Isaiah 9:1-4 (NRSV)

There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness--

on them light has shined.

You have multiplied the nation,

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as people exult when dividing plunder.

For the yoke of their burden,

and the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

Psalm 27 (BCP., p. 617)


1 Corinthians 10-18 (NRSV)

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

Matthew 4:12-23 (NRSV)

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:


"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."


From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."


As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.


Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Blog Reflection

If the reading from the Hebrew Scriptures gives you the feeling of having heard that not too long ago, that means you have been paying attention particularly well.   If your response to it is "Oh that again!"  It could mean that you might want to look at how you are inclining the ears of your heart to God speaking within you.  It is all too easy for any of us to ignore the Spirit calling us again and again.  All of us do it.  It is the Holy Spirit asking us to open our hearts just a bit more to hear Her speak more to the ears within us.

I think the times we are living in, could be compared to living in a darkness. 

The frigid temperatures all over the United States are brutal for everyone. 

Unemployment insurance has been left unattended to, many are without funds to care for their needs. 

Coptic Christians in Egypt continue to face persecution. 

The people in West Virginia and Ohio are living with polluted drinking water.  Had the water been polluted as an act of international terrorism, we would be at war with what ever terrorist organization was responsible within days.   We wouldn't get a word in edge wise with Congress or even perhaps our President to stop it.  However, getting our government to respond with a sense of urgency to hold a multimillion dollar corporation accountable, and deliver clean water and health care, is just held up by politics and corporate lobbyists.  

The violence towards LGBT people in Russia, Nigeria, Uganda and in the media in the US continues to be brutal.  An amendment to limit the freedom to marry is being debated in the State of Indiana, with all the venum of heterosexism, with all the fury of Biblical literalists continuing full of smear campaigns with false information about LGBT people.

All of these, and others that I cannot list, speak to us of people walking in darkness, needing to see a light in their own hearts and in the world around us.  You would think that we never celebrated Christmas a month ago.  What has happened?

The Israelites were under assault from surrounding countries in the reading from Isaiah.  It was believed that they were being punished by God for not following Yahweh.  In many ways, I think then, and now, God really does not need to do too much to punish us for much.  We punish ourselves all on our own.  God simply watches, cries, and won't intervene so long as we refuse to put our trust in God to lead us to better ways of being, loving and caring for one another.  So long as we give ourselves over to attitudes of prejudice towards others, and abuses of ourselves, without reaching out for God for healing and reconciliation, God calls, but God waits for us to answer and walk with the Most High to a time and place, where those of us who walk in darkness, see a greater Light and respond in faith and hope in that Light.

The reading from 1 Corinthians is a bit difficult for us Anglicans.  We are the via media. The middle way.  Our practice is that we pray in common, even if we do not believe in common.  Yet, Paul is calling us to a unity of some kind that is not so much based on what we believe or think, but, Who it is we are responding to.  As people who gather for worship with the Eucharist as our center, we recognize that Jesus Christ is the point of our unity.  All of us have been baptized into Christ, and we come together as one people in Him.  Jesus Christ is the focal point of our prayer, worship and Holy Communion.  Through Him, we welcome each other, and that is every one, to join us in praise, supplication and the reception of the Real Presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine that is the Holy Eucharist.  Paul is telling us to listen more deeply to Christ within ourselves and one another.   So that we may grow in Charity and community in Christ, and serve others in His Name.

We continue in this Year of the Gospel of Matthew who focuses us on the connection of Christ with the prophesies of the Hebrew Scriptures.   As Christians, we believe that Christ is that Light that we have seen in the darkness.  St. John in the prologue to his Gospel describes Jesus as the Light that came into the world, and the darkness did not overwhelm it. (See John 1:1-5, NRSV).  

It is not enough that the Light came to deliver us.  In the calling of those first disciples, we see that Christ came on the scene to ask us to follow Him.  Like many of us, the disciples received their call to follow the Lord while they were busy at the work they were doing.  This in and of itself gives us a very important insight.   God often calls us to serve Christ in one another, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives.  It is up to us to be listening for the Lord's call in our lives in the here and now.  The response of those first disciples to drop what they had in hand to follow Jesus, is indicative of what obedience is about.  When the Lord calls us in the midst of our ordinariness of life, are we listening for Christ, and are we willing to follow Him with a willing and joyful heart?  

I can tell you that from the point of being a Novice Monastic, this is as much a struggle for experienced Religious as it is for Novices and those who are ordained clergy.   In The Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 5, he emphasizes the importance of obedience with a cheerful and joyful heart.  Well, all of us at one point or another, receives a request from a superior of some kind to do something that makes us anything, but joyful.  Most of us are much too weak in the soul, and require a lot of work with the Spirit to reform our hearts and attitudes.   In the book entitled The Rule of St. Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 4, by Thomas Merton and edited by Patrick F. O'Connell, Merton emphases the importance of using a weakness of our souls as an opportunity to encounter the transforming grace of God.   While doing what we are told fulfills the Vow of Obedience, it is important to be  honest with God about our "poverty of spirit" that keeps us from following the Lord's will in a spirit of generosity and gladness.  And to allow the grace of God to convert and change our hearts to follow Christ willingly through the instructions of another who is appointed above us. (See page 113).

Here is the challenge for Christians, the Church and society in this Year of 2014. 

Christ the Light comes to call all of us to serve Him in the poor, the neglected, the unemployed, the LGBT person, the pregnant woman, the person experiencing racism or immigration issues.   Christ calls us to serve Him in these, others and each other with gladness and readiness.  He also calls on the poor, the LGBT, the pregnant woman, people of different races, religions, languages, etc to serve Christ in the Church and society.  We may be tempted to just be doing business as usual, which for some of us is making the Church an exclusive social club.  But Christ is most often calling us to make the Church and society into an inclusive and receptive place for diversity.  Christ is challenging us to be a voice for those who feel that they have no voice, to pray and act on behalf of others who cannot for themselves.  For whatever reason.  We are not called to make their burdens greater and heavier.  We are called to serve Christ, by walking with them, as He walks with each one of us.

Are we listening for Christ to call us, to be a light for others in the world?

What fears might we be clinging to that keep us from responding to Christ's call in our lives?

Today and the days going forward from this cold, dark, January of 2014, may we answer with the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 27.

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then, shall I fear?

Amen.


Prayers

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our
Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News
of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive
the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.215).

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).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.823).