Going My Way?

 

There are questions we answer with our lips, and those we answer with our lives. Lent is an important part of our journey. Each step we take has been walked at one time in the gospels. We know that this journey leads us to the cross; to a tomb and “ends” with Easter, (as our lives and journey begin again). In our readings for next Sunday, Luke 4:1-13 the first Sunday in Lent, we are told that “Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”  What do these temptations or tests mean to us in our lives today?

I suppose as a traveler on a journey, we can either be a tourist or a pilgrim. The tourist travels through his journey in comfort, ensuring that his experiences are familiar and safe. He makes sure that he takes “his stuff” from back home with him. There are many vendors along the way who, for a price, would be willing to accommodate the tourist’s expectations and satisfy his needs. After his trip, the tourist returns home with photos, souvenirs, and pleasant memories.

On the other hand, a pilgrim is one who is on a journey to a holy place. His journey into the unknown is embarked upon in hope that something new will be revealed. A pilgrim leaves his “comfort zone” and the attachments of his routine back home in search of something outside the familiar.

Perhaps our lesson  as to how Jesus’ temptations relate to our journey as a pilgrim is for us to leave our comfort zone and share the food we have, instead of waiting for stones to be turned into bread. If the pilgrim’s quest is to meet God, he may have to find Him in strange places, among strange people. As an act of faith, a pilgrimage requires that like Jesus, we place ourselves in the hands of God and surrender to his will by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Can You Hear Me Now?

 

 

One of the significant details of the story that is unique to the account of the transfiguration in Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] is that it occurs in the context of prayer. We’re told that neither Matthew nor Mark mentions that Jesus had gone up on the mountain specifically to pray and neither mentions that Jesus was praying when the transfiguration occurs. This is clearly a point that Luke wants to make.

In reading Luke during the past few weeks, we recognize that prayer is a significant theme throughout his writings. Luke is the only Gospel author to tell us of Jesus praying on this and other momentous occasions. We remember that following his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus while he was praying and perhaps most notably we recall his praying in the garden before his arrest and during his crucifixion.

A point that we may observe in the transfiguration and present in other places, is that prayer for Jesus was not merely speaking words to God but was a spiritual experience of God.

And how do we pray? “…We think of prayer as thoughts of feelings expressed in words, but this is only one of its forms…The Spirit speaks to our conscience through scripture and through events of our daily life. Jesus took the three disciples who were best prepared to receive the grace of contemplation…The voice from heaven awakened their consciousness of the presence of the Spirit who had always been speaking with them, but whom until then, they had never been able to hear...All true prayer is based on the conviction of the presence of the Spirit in us and of his unfailing and continual inspiration.” (Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart)

Is This Mary & Joseph's Son?

And so in Luke 4:21-30 the day arrives…the local boy who has been making quite a name for himself, is coming home. He goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath. He reads from Isaiah. He speaks a few words. The crowd whispers to each other how good he is: "Mary and Joseph certainly raised a good son." But wait, what happened? The crowd is beginning to get a little restless as he goes on. They’ve heard all about the great things he’s done before returning home. Many of the people had gathered to see some great event – a little razzle-dazzle for the home town folks. If Jesus would just do some healings or some other miracle, they would know that God's power was here and now, once and for all, and he would finally drive out the pagan Gentiles and their ungodly influences in the city. But Jesus performs no miracles in Nazareth, and in fact goes out of his way to defy expected convention of the respected in Israel by reaching out to sinners, toll collectors and outcasts. So what started as an initially positive response among the Jews, leads to anger and hatred when his mission opens up to include the Gentiles. The essence of Jesus’ ministry is the love of God for all people. What is it that sparks this abrupt shift from awe to rage for the hearers of Jesus’ words?

As for Jesus, it’s hard enough to live up to anticipated expectations. It’s harder still, of course, to meet up with unexpected rejection. There is a very human dimension to this whole story. When the hometown boy makes good, there are usually more than a few who resent his success. Why? As for us, there are all sorts of people in our lives who call us to compassion and justice. Some of them are very ordinary. What is it about the ordinary that’s so hard to see?

You're So Vain I Bet You Think...

 

 

"Charity begins at home." But, does it really? This view point does well in a world, in which we think that everything that happens is about us. But perhaps when we are strictly focused on our own comfort and well being, our attitudes to larger issues are filtered. This often becomes a reality particularly in our attitude toward stewardship often comes from what is left over and our charity is not primarily focused on the needs of others.

Luke and Paul in our readings (Luke 4: 14-21 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a) use two different approaches to make their point that perhaps can be entitled it’s not just all about me.

When we are faced with events like  Hurricane Sandy or are engaged with guests at Family Promise or involved with feeding people at St. Mark’s kitchen, we are prompted to think about our responsibility to others and our egos must take a back seat as we minister to those whose voices are temporarily muted: it's not just all about me.

Paul lays it all out for us as he gives us an organizational plan for the individual and the community:  “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. The body is centered in the love of God - the Spirit that animates all of life.”

Jesus proclaims in his quote from Isaiah –"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” It is a world of inclusion where our sense of self is other directed rather than “me oriented.” Compassion for the least is the foundation for community life and communal work provide a “place” where we care for the least.

Luke builds on the power of the Holy Spirit that he sees realized in Jesus and Paul tells us that the church is to be a community of mutual care. We gather to remember that we belong to God and remember that as God has blessed us, we are to be a blessing to others.

David Steindl-Rast in his book, Deeper Than Words cites Thomas Merton’s “take” on our connectedness: Because God is love and the love is the Yes to belonging, God’s Holy Spirit is the power that animates the deepest belonging of all to all. Jesus stood up for love, belonging, and connectedness in the Holy Spirit, and so his life—from his very conception-can be understood as CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, as the realization in history of something that God, beyond time CONCEIVED.

 

 

Always Listen to Your Mother

 

The Wedding at Cana is unique to the Fourth Gospel and is the first of Jesus’ seven signs. But, why water into wine? John2:1-11

The exchange between Jesus and his mother seems so familiar and somewhat humorous, to me at least. Mary, who John never refers to by name senses the humiliation of the wedding hosts and tells him that they have run out of wine. Jesus’ response is that they should have hired a better wedding planner. But then, without paying him any mind, she tells the servants to do whatever he says. I have this image of my mother encouraging me to get on the diving board for the first time: “Come on, you can do it! I know you can!” But, I wonder what Mary saw at that moment. What had Jesus revealed to her that would cause her to believe that such a miracle was possible? How did she know that this was his time?

In many ways the exchange between Mary and Jesus is somewhat reminiscent of the unspoken “dialogue” between Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Her refusing to yield her seat to protect her and her people from humiliation provoked King whose time perhaps, had not yet come, to transform history. She declared his moment was at hand.

It is more than coincidence that Jesus’ mother surrounds his earthly ministry. She is there at the very beginning; there at the start of his “career” and she is there at the end… as she watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he, shares parenthood with God the Father, as the Word is made flesh. What does this mean in this season of the Epiphany? Perhaps it is a reminder that whenever Jesus reveals his divinity, he is simultaneously revealing something about his humanity and as the Word was made flesh, our sharing in his divinity?

You are My Son the Beloved; with You I am Well Pleased

...is God’s public proclamation that reveal through Luke 3:15-17-22, a one-on-one intimacy reserved for the praying Jesus…as the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. This is a special insight in Luke, for none of the other Gospels cite Jesus’ at prayer at this time.

Much lies ahead for Jesus from this point on. After living in total obscurity for his entire life, his work now begins. Jesus knew his destiny at twelve and publicly declared his intent at around age thirty. He was thoroughly aware that he was about to enter into the hardest endeavor in history. And so Jesus' baptism inaugurates his public ministry as he identifies with "all people," not just the elite or “chosen” insiders. By wading into the waters along with the broken and downtrodden and disenfranchised, he cites his compassion as he embraces the faults, failures, pains and suffering for all those who wait.

Why did Jesus allow himself to be baptized?  John was preaching repentance from the way of sin, which scripturally was defined more as a way of living than as an individual action. Likewise, repentance is a redirection, a changing of lifestyle-patterns that lead us away from destructive behavior. It is a new way of perceiving life. It’s not just saying; “God, clean up my past.” It is saying “God, I am no longer my own, I am yours.” It is not just giving to God what I’ve done, it is giving to the great I AM what I was, what I am and what I hope will be.

In many ways Jesus’ baptism leads us to consider the meaning of "vocation," a word that has lost much of its resonance through repeated use in both secular and churchly worlds. In essence, Jesus ended his “hidden years” and entered into the public crossroads of his ministry. He calls us to get off the sidelines and into the fray. It’s time to get out of our stupor and into what matters. Through his baptism, Jesus took a public stand that would cost him his life, but it would give life to us. Are we ready to get off the sidelines too? (Adapted from The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Weekly essays by Dan Clendenin, posted January 7, 2007)

It's Good to be King

 Matthew 2:1-12 describes Herod as king of his world; he reigns for his personal benefit. His power and influence spanned nearly a half century during which time he continued to build the great temple which pleased the Jews and the Romans, who were content that all was calm during his reign.

In a real sense Herod and Israel conspired together as they both pursued their common interests in which religious and political motives intermingled.   Each “scratched each other's back,” and bowed before legislative and religious laws. Despite more than “passing interest” in reports of a Messiah's birth, the chief priests and scribes and Herod turned a blind eye to what had happened.

 Both were unwilling to relinquish their world and accept the possibility that the Messiah has been born. It was more convenient if this was not true and they could keep their good thing going for a while longer.

While the Magi are not insiders, they were a force to be reckoned with, and not readily dismissed. Their arrival was more than a nuisance; it was an “international event”… the status quo was not prepared (willing) to accept the glory of God's heavenly kingdom whose power was love as opposed to Herod’s love of power....not now; maybe later; they had a good thing going and didn’t need another king much less a Messiah to spoil it.

Do we sometimes yearn for God’s Kingdom, while finding it hard to leave our comfort zone? After all, Herod’s kingdom was comfortable for the insiders who played the game. Is there a piece of Herod’s kingdom that resides in each of us?

 

We Need a Little Christmas Right This Very Minute

 

 

 

The news of 20 children and 6 adults whose lives were ended all too soon in an elementary school in Connecticut make it difficult to put words on paper right now.  The dashed hopes and fears of children and parents are more than we can process; It’s tempting to turn away to shield ourselves from the horror.

“How many things have we become used to in the course of the years, of the weeks, and months so that we stand un-shocked, unstirred and inwardly unmoved?  Advent is a time when we ought to be shaken and brought to a realization of ourselves.” So wrote Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, awaiting execution for being accused a traitor by the Nazis in 1945. Then, the great Advent question is when do we awake from our sleep and complacency?

The tragic events of the last 2 months make it clear that we are unable to muddle through alone. It’s no secret that we find it necessary to turn to one another. Isn’t this what God wants for us? In many ways we, like the virgin, nurture our fertile soil as we absorb our pain and suffering and that of those around us, and give birth to Christ as we share his love with one another.

Henri Nouwen writes that Elizabeth and Mary, as models for the Christian community, were filled with hope. Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled but fulfilled according to His will and not according to our wishes. The Christian community is the place where we keep that hope alive among us. He tells us that we need to wait together like Elizabeth and Mary to be present to one another; to keep each other at home spiritually so that when the Word comes it can become flesh and have a whole new life in us.

Perhaps the words of David Steindl-Rast make it possible to understand how what began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago can apply to today’s recent tragic events: “By focusing our human efforts on cultivating tender connections and caring relationships we can give birth to a world conceived by the Holy Ghost.”

Our readings are in Luke 1:39-45(46-55)

 

 

A "Dear John Letter" for Advent

 

 

Dear John,

Come on now! This is no way to usher in Christmas or as we now feel the need to call it, the Holiday Season. This is a time for cinnamon-flavored mull wine; the aroma of cranberry-scented candles and cute little Santa Claus Christmas (there’s that word again) cards. John, we’re not used to being told that our reasons for celebrating Advent is shallow. We’re not used to being called names like brood of vipers…(now that’s pretty nasty talk even for a kid from Brooklyn like me!)  We are not used to hearing that we are called to sacrifice in this Holiday Season (okay Advent), and not over-indulge after all it’s Christmas and “it only comes once a year.”

John, if you want to be helpful you might want to consider giving us some practical tips on how to prepare for Advent... like how to avoid Holiday weight gain, or how much we should tip the postman and letter carrier. Never mind grateful reflection on God’s goodness in being born in us again and again. Never mind, it’s God’s gift that transforms us and changes our lives…not now please. I’ve got to decorate the house…brood of vipers…give me a break!

Thank you,

You know who I am

Luke 3:7-18







 

Luke 3:7-18

Our Time in the Desert

Adversity can play a key role in honing our ability to hear what is beyond the usual scope of our ordinary consciousness. Facing stressful challenges outside the norm of our usual experience can heighten our awareness of events that otherwise would go unnoticed.

“Samuel Johnson put it “Depend upon it sir, when a man knows he is about to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” It is precisely for such clarity and insight that people seek out desert experiences such as solitary retreats, in which we step away from many of the usual supports of life, family, friends, familiar surroundings and routine, in order to be open to God’s call.

Unlike John-the-Baptist in Luke 3:1-6 , we don’t always get a chance to choose our desert times and places. They sometimes are provided for us in the form of illness, change in employment, failures in relationships, death of a loved one and even, natural disasters. These deserts all hold new possibilities for hearing the word of God at ever deepening levels.

 In past month much of our conversations here in Monmouth County NJ have been focused on the ravages of Hurricane Sandy. In recent weeks our Bible Study and Men’s Group have referred to having had our “spiritual nerves” more sensitized and “closer to the top”.

We, God knows, didn’t choose Sandy but the environment around us shifted as the ocean’s surge and its deluge paradoxically created our desert and the opportunity to let our spiritual ears tune in to God’s voice, through our displaced neighbors near and far.