2nd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7) - June 22, 2014 - Mire and High Water

The psalmist wrote, "Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; / let me be rescued from those who hate me / and out of the deep waters."  What had the psalmist gotten himself into and why?  If we read the psalm from the beginning, we know he claims to have been accused falsely and has become alienated from family members.. He may have been accused of stealing: "What I did not steal / must I now restore?" he says in verse 4. He also claims to care deeply about the temple.  Could the accusation stem from something he intended to offer at the temple—that whatever he offered was not his to offer?

What we can say with certainty is this: the psalmist appears to be isolated from others and hated by them.  He admits to doing some things that were wrong in verse 5.  Now he cries to God for help: "Answer me, O Lord, for your / steadfast love is good; / according to your abundant mercy turn to me . . . Draw near to me, redeem me, / set me free . . . "

In today's gospel reading from Matthew the situation Jesus finds himself in is very similar to that of the psalmist.  He's been falsely accused of being the prince of demons ("Beelzebub").  He knows anyone who follows him will be smeared with the same condemnation as well.  Jesus tries to reassure the disciples by describing God's "abundant mercy:"  "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. . . So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows."

At times our lives may be as desperate as the psalmist's or as desperate as Jesus knows the disciples' lives will become. To be stuck in the mud, to be up to our neck in deep water--we can relate to these colorful choices of images.  They can match our experience when we get into a conflict with someone with whom we disagree or with someone who holds us in contempt unfairly.  Jesus' description of family relationships being broken apart because of his ministry offers us a unblinking look at the cost of discipleship for the folks who followed him.

We, too, may find ourselves having to deal with water that is not only up to our necks, but is also choppy.  Choices we make and those other people make can be the source of conflicts and painful partings of the ways. When we fear a choice we are about to make will lead to pain for us--even though we are almost certain it's the right thing to do--we would do well to remember Jesus' assurance of God's care for us.

"So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows"--who are held securely in God's most loving regard.

I struggle with the reading from Jeremiah recounting his feelings about his persecutors and with Jesus' words about not coming to bring peace but a sword. In their historical contexts they are reasonable. But we must be careful how we apply in our own contexts.  When should we become righteously indignant and take action that may cause a situation to blow up?  Think Jesus' overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple? Or when should we act as a reconciling presence, a non-anxious presence, even if others are losing their cool?  Think Jesus gently redirecting Martha as she complained about her sister's lack of help: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and anxious about many things . . ."

Discernment of when, where and how to act in a conflicted situation often isn't easy.  The cost of being Jesus' disciple in such situations can be high.  Just as acting in an ethical and moral way when the context is corrupt or oppressive can be costly.  Yet we are called to be Christ's heart, hands and feet in the world.  We are called to work and pray for God's reign of peace with justice.

Frank Logue, an Episcopal priest and writer, reflected on the readings we heard today and the cost of discipleship:  "When your faith leads you to make public stands that are not popular, opposition will come. Problems will arise. This is to be expected. But we also know that we do not face these problems alone.

“The anchor has long been a symbol in Christian art for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Though storms may come, we have a sure and certain hope that gives us purchase on the rock. Hold fast to the faith that is in you, knowing that Jesus said, ‘Even the hairs of your head are counted. Do not be afraid.’

“Or to borrow the imagery of the psalmist, when [what’s] all around begins to seem like deep mire, count on your relationship with God to provide the firm ground on which you can stand. Jesus did not promise you a life of no battles, but he did promise the victory."

The Rev. Canon Frank S. Logue, “Facing battles with the promise of victory,” Sermons that Work, Episcopal Digital Network, June 22, 2014.

Trinity Sunday - June 15, 2014 - Three in One and One in Three

How is God for you?  When you think of God, what comes to mind?  How have you experienced God?

David L. Beck* - a Presbyterian pastor – wrote about a conversation with two children.  He called their words “the best help” he received in understanding how we can understand what “Trinity means:

“Rather than insisting that scripture make the doctrine of the Trinity explicit, perhaps we should allow the Trinity to remain implicit and affirm it out of our own experience, our own living with God. The best help I ever received in understanding how the idea of the Trinity may evolve from our Christian development rather than be imposed as an abstract formula came from two four-year-olds (one of them my own) with whom I spent a winter's afternoon18 years ago while their mothers were shopping. Somehow they decided that they were going to explain to me what they knew of the divine. They did it with such sincerity and enthusiasm that I still remember what they said.

“I needed to know they advised me, that first there was God and God loves. Long, long ago God made everything. God is everywhere and sees everything but you can't see God. On the other hand, they said, you can see Jesus or at least pictures of Jesus are because he was down here where we are.. Jesus is simply wonderful and loves us very much, children as much as grown-ups. If you can't see Jesus right now, it is because he is in heaven, but he stays in touch with us so well he might as well still be here. A lot of the time it seems as if he is.

“As they talked, however, they did not talk about God alone or Jesus alone, but of "God and Jesus." Together "God and Jesus" were a wonderful divine partnership who made the world a wonderful and beautiful place to be.

“From their perspective, nothing was missing. They had digested what was taught about God in the creation story and what was taught about Jesus in the Gospels. Had I shared with them the two parts of Paul's benediction, the blessing or prayer with which he ended 2 Corinthians, they would have understood it. After saying "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ," I would need to explain the word grace as "a wonderful gift from Jesus that leaves you very happy," and they would have been able to connect with that. I would not have to say a thing about "the love of God" because they already believed that God loved them; that part of the prayer simply repeats something they already knew and believed.

“What they would not understand, however, would be the last part: "the communion of the Holy Spirit. . ."  It takes an adult self-consciousness – the experience of an adult living and trying to believe but knowing doubt, trying to do the right thing but knowing failure, trying to be confident but sensing despair – to also know that there is a part of God that helps us through those obstacles, a part which is different from God's love or Christ's gift of salvation.

“Sharing in that part of God leaves us able to say, with the conviction of Paul, that "nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." God is revealed as a loving Creator, a compassionate Savior and a mysterious presence allowing us to overcome what we could not on our own. This is the Trinity. It is the last thing to be said about God, after we have lived and grown and struggled. Then we discover that it was the Spirit that allowed us to cry, "Abba, Father" in the first place and to perceive God's saving love in Jesus Christ.”

Here are my reflections of Pastor Beck’s story:  It makes wonderful sense to me that we can understand God as trinity of persons, because we experience God that way.  The unity of God's being can be more difficult to deal with once you really focus on those separate persons.  This a prime critique of Christianity by the other two Abrahamic faiths.

As I meditate on the meaning of the Trinity, the three persons of the Trinity represent a community, which we can enter through Jesus' mediation.  In an abstract form the circle called perichoresis can depict that community.  [Point out the stained glass panel showing this.]  Perichoresis derives from the Greek peri, "around" and chorein, which has multiple meanings among them being "to make room for", "go forward" and "contain."

The Rublev icon of three “persons” shows the Trinity in a more “human” way—a better way, perhaps. [Their bodies have equal weight or space; they form a circle, but there is an opening at the front center of the group for someone to join them.] This sort of community we can imitate here during our earthly lives, including here in our parish.  It's a way to understand Jesus’ great commission to us at the end of Matthew’s gospel as well.  Because we have experienced the divine inclusiveness, Jesus tells us to go into the world and lead more and more people into the circle of God's love.  Is this how you have experienced God?

*David L. Beck, ‘Sharing the Holy Spirit,’ Living By the Word in “The Christian Century,” May 19, 1999.

                        

Pentecost - June 8, 2014 - "The Exponent of Breath"

From the Book of Genesis:  "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters."

". . . then the Lord God  formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life."

From Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones:  God said to Ezekiel, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord . . . Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.  (Ezekiel 37)

From the Acts of the Apostles: "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."

From John's gospel: Jesus said to the disciples, " 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he has said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the. Holy Spirit.' "

Emily Dickinson wrote a poem called "Love." I believe "love" in this poem is synonymous with "God."   She wrote, "Love is anterior to life / Posterior to death, / Initial of creation, and / The exponent of breath."

Pentecost is a rather lame name for our celebration today.  Pentecost simply referees to the 50th day after Easter. Perhaps it should be called, Fire-Wind-Breath Sunday. For God works through these things to reveal God's self to us and to achieve life for all humanity.

My mind has been returning all week to the word "breath."   How tremendously essential our breathing in oxygen is!  The end of our lives can be marked by our breathing rate slowing and slowing until we are no longer breathing.   When breathing becomes difficult due to illnesses such as pneumonia, emphysema, or lung cancer, we can become anxious--often making it even more difficult to breathe.

So the expectation of wind blowing, resulting in God's breath entering a human, speaks to life and energy.  We call this energizing force, the Holy Spirit, and celebrate her presence among us.

Yet at another level, a very deep level, our breath can become a holy place, for recognizing God’s presence within each one of us.  The Jesus Prayer shows this very clearly.   Said in the rhythm of our breathing in and breathing out, we can quiet ourselves to find God's holy presence within.  It goes like this: "Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me."  Some add "a sinner."  In truth, all you really need to say is "Jesus."—or simply think "Jesus" with each breath.

Imagine, for a moment, the room in which the fearful disciples had gathered. Jesus' greeting of "Peace be with you" changed the tenor of disciples mood from one of fear to one of joy. But their joy did not show itself as the babble of languages, which led the disciples being accused of drunkenness.  Rather, they seemed to have held their breath for a moment as Jesus commissions them a way they could not have imagined even an hour before: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."   Then he breathes on them and declares the gift of the Holy Spirit.  He breathes on them not only to energize them for mission, but also to give them the awareness of God's presence within.  For only with God's presence within could they hope to be witnesses to God's forgiving love in a hostile world.

So we have two examples of God revealing God's self in our scripture readings today.  One appears quite lively with rushing wind and fire-like tongues identifying those commissioned to be apostles.  In tension with this is the story in John's gospel of Jesus’ commissioning the disciples with a few words and a simple breath.  If you were you among the disciples at that moment, in which setting would you like to be?  Your responses may break down along extrovert vs. introvert lines.  But the key thing to remember, I believe, is Jesus' breathing on the disciples showed how God's sustaining presence came to them—and comes to us.

May every prayer-filled breath we take show us Jesus!  Yes, God's love for us truly is the "exponent of breath."