16th Wednesday after Pentecost (9.19.2012): In the Name of Jesus...Come Out!

Psalm 72; Job 42; Acts 16:16-24; John 12:20-26

From Psalm 72:
4 He shall defend the needy among the people; he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.
13 He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall preserve the lives of the needy.
17 May his Name remain for ever and be established as long as the sun endures; may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed.

 In today's lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Silas cause trouble in the Name of Jesus: they ruin some people's "hope of making money" (16.19).

 The problem is, the people making money are owners of a girl who is possessed with a spirit of divination. She brings "her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling" (16.16). Their money-making, or as Aristotle calls it in The Politics, χρηματιστική (chrematistics) was a far cry from an exchange of goods for an appropriate price towards the end of supporting the activities necessary to living. They were masters of the art of accumulating coinage...for the sake of accumulating coinage (see The Politics, I.ix-x).

 From the lesson from the Acts, their motives in making money are not what causes Paul to pray in the Name of Jesus, casting the spirit of divination out of the girl, rather it is her constant, annoying cries: "These men [Paul and Silas] are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation" (16.17). After days of her screaming, Paul gets annoyed, turns around, and says: "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out. Along with the owners' chance to accumulate coinage.

 Paul and Silas are accused of disturbing the peace, and thrown into prison.

 
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

 
The Gospel reading from St John gives us some perspective: "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor" (12.24-26). Jesus is on his way to die. Jesus is calling us to make hard sacrifices, ultimate sacrifices.

 Pardon my back-tracking into the Hebrew Bible: Job has learned this lesson a very hard way, but he too has learned that the way to abundant living is the way of suffering and sometimes requires standing our ground against those who would speak “counsel without knowledge” (Job 42.3).



 My questions are: whose profitable economic opportunities are we willing to ruin? And, will it take us getting annoyed before we speak, in the Name of Jesus, against spirits that seem to be speaking truthfully about God but that ultimately allow for harmful, unnatural chrematistics--accumulating wealth for its own sake--to keep persons made in the image of God under the yoke of unethical economic practice? Or maybe a more probing question is: does our way of life take as a given the unethical treatment of human beings? Does our way of life assume that accumulating currency is at least one of the goals of life? Aristotle explains that this lifestyle is a marker of someone who views bodily pleasure as the goal of life, and so they order their whole life around earning excess currency in order to be able to afford luxuries (The Politics, I.ix.1257b40 and following).

 In the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul exhorts us to labor and work honestly with our own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy (4.28). Our excess is to be shared.

Something about the spirit of divination and fortune-telling is unnatural and ungodly, just like the art of accumulating wealth. I’m not quite sure of the correlation yet, but I think they are put side by side in the Acts story for a reason. Could what passes for politics in our country be labeled divination, or fortune-telling? Just like the girl in the story, our politicians scream (sometimes literally) what is true, all the while encouraging practices—like fortune telling—that rely on humans manipulating natural resources in order to achieve what is unnatural: an unlimited accumulation of wealth, an unrealistic progressivism. (The Politics, I.ix.1257b25)  Then they engage in actual fortune-telling: if you vote for me, our nation will prosper. I will create jobs. I will create a stable economy. I will create a Utopic State. If claiming to be able to create jobs isn’t equivalent to claiming to be able to work magic, I don’t know what is. What they could say is: If you vote for me, I will perpetuate our culture of accumulating wealth for wealth’s sake. I will work against nature to manipulate into existence various “hopes of making money” (Acts 16.19) that are a far cry from honestly working with your hands to secure the basic necessities for living and some extra to share with those who are needy (Ephesians 4.28).

Let us look at our culture in America. The cries of "and may God bless America!” ring in our ears, day after day, especially in these last months before our national election. But they are crying for the wrong reasons. Maybe it's time we turn around and exorcise the spirit that has her in bondage. It will cause trouble. It will disturb the peace. And we will most certainly ruin someone's "hope of making money" (Acts 16.19) in our unsustainable culture, maybe even our own.


Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.
Thanks be to God!

Participating in Holy Love

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

This is the Word of God.
Thanks be to God!

By participating in communion with one another, we actually participate in communion with God, because God is not lacking in any regard in being ever oriented in the posture we call Love. As such, God is the source of the Love shown by God's people: the People of God love because God is the LORD: the holy, ever-faithful covenant One who enters into relationship with God's people, making them holy.

The Latin text, Ubi Caritas comes to mind. Here is a beautiful musical setting by Ola Gjeilo, superbly interpreted by Charles Bruffy, conducting the Phoenix Chorale:

Here is the Latin text and an English translation:

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

      Where charity and love are, God is there.

congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.

       The love of Christ has gathered us together.

Exultemos et in ipso juncundemur

        Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Timeamus et amemus Deum Vivum.

         Let us revere and love the living God.

Et ex corde dilagamus nos sincero.

         And from a sincere heart let us love one another.

Amen.

         Amen.

Perhaps you could read the Latin text as saying that wherever you see expressions of what we call love, then those expressions must be from God. Or whenever we feel attraction to other persons, then however we act on that attraction--what many people call love--is a True expression of Love, is godly, and healthy.

I think this interpretation is faulty. Or at least it falsely equates Love with desire and acting on desire in and of themselves as Love. I think the Truer meaning of the text is that charity and love are the signals of God’s presence, the source of True Charity and Love. Love is not an emotion. God's essence can be described as being Love, and we embody the Love of God as God moves in and through us to Love God and Love each other truly, for the glory of God.

Congregavit nos in unum…

We do not come together to make love, but rather, Christ has called us together—regardless of our differences and misunderstandings—with His love. And we are to rejoice and be glad in this gathering, this Love that is outside ourselves and calls us outside of our selves. And when we rejoice in this true Love, this God, we cannot but revere and love this Love, our Living God, who creates in us a sincere heart from which we can truly participate in the Love of Christ, by the Spirit’s power, one to another, as this Love—bigger than us and bigger than our particular culture and our false definitions of love—gathers us together into God’s Self of Love.

I would ask your forgiveness for my inability to describe someone as ineffable as God, but that would be silly.  Could my writing be better? Yes, absolutely. We'll have to see if any future editing I do of this post actually gets any closer to approximately refering to reality, but until then, I pray I've gotten as close as I can at this moment.

God, draw us into Yourself and for Yourself.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

15th Shabbat after Pentecost: Pass the Peace, Please!

May the Peace of Christ be always with you!


Three years ago, I began to worship with a small Episcopal parish church at their said service of Holy Eucharist on a weekly basis. Before long, the Passing of the Peace became a very meaningful moment in the Liturgy for me. It became an object of sincere anticipation, as well a source of joy, which I lived off of, and for, the entire week between Eucharists. I can remember discussing with various people who went with me just how meaningful it was to them as well. It seemed to be a highlight of the service for many of my friends as well as for me. Looking back, I see that I am hooked on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but I think that the Passing of the Peace was what I first latched on to as something that signalled that something Beatiful, Good, and True was going on.

Think about the deep theological, and therefore, Real Life, implications:

after confessing our sin--that which separates us from God and each other--to God, we hear a declaration of the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, and follow it up by exchanging signs of that Peace: handshakes, huggs, kisses of peace. It doesn't matter who you are, or even if you know anyone else present. Christ died for all, Christ has borne all of our sin and suffering and rejection, and our peace is in Christ's Body. Therefore, we show outwardly what is the inward Reality. Because of the size of the small congregation that gathers at the 8:30 service, everyone can pass the peace to everyone. We all know and feel that Christ has reconciled us all to God and each other, before we commune together, before we offer our gifts, and ourselves, with Christ, on the altar.

In our culture of opposing factions, of a deeply-seated divide between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, old and young, the Church of Jesus Christ proclaims the Gospel: God saves us from our sin--all that is wrong and hurtful that separates us from God and each other--through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to live into our own forgivness and to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

I have a question for Christian communities which do not currently include a Passing of the Peace in their Sunday morning ritual, or order of worship, etc.:

 Might a meaningful, intentional practice of confession, a proclamation of forgiveness, and a passing of Christ's peace be a way forward through the mire of lies our culture feeds us: that we have irreconcileable differences, that the other "just doesn't understand", that we deserve to hold others at arm's length because they have hurt us?

I think it might.

Shabbat Shalom:  may the whole Peace of which the Sabbath serves as a sign and prophecy for those who choose to remember and observe it, the Peace of the Messiah, always be with you!


For a discussion of the implications of remaining faithful to a proclamation of Jesus' reconciling work in the midst of the culture war of our times, see Christ the Reconciler: A Theology for Opposites, Differences, and Enemies, by Peter Schmiechen. And for a history of ideas that has led, in part, to the seemingly irreconileable nature of today's cultural discourse, see Alisdair MacInyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory.

3rd Shabbat after Pentecost, 2012: Mysterious, green hope.

Mark 4:26-34

This week, many congregations in the Church across the globe will listen for the Spirit's voice in the Gospel according to St. Mark in two parables of Jesus in which planting, harvesting, and growth are featured. "To what can I compare the Kingdom of God?", Jesus asks. It has something to do with the way the earth brings forth fruit on its own, while the farmer is going on about the farmer's own business: sleeping, eating, etc. The next thing the farmer knows, the harvest is ready--having sprung out of the earth, budded, and flowered, all while the farmer was unaware--and he goes in for the gathering immediately. In another short parable that sounds a whole lot like a prophecy of Ezekiel's (17:22-24), Jesus talks about a tiny mustard seed, the huge garden plant that it will turn into, and all of the shelter and sustenance it will end up providing. All from a tiny mustard seed. And that's what we can compare with God's way of doing things. It's what we are praying for when we say,

Thy will be done,
Thy kingdom come,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.

For about three years, I've claimed the first of these two parables as my favorite of all of Jesus' parables. It might be because it's the first one I memorized to tell to a children's Sunday School class, and I mediatated on it intensely for a week and had some great theological discourse that followed with some spiritually astute first through fifth graders (then again, what child do you know that isn't spiritually astute?)  Or it might actually be because it is so hopeful. I should say, the Spirit gives me so much hope through this parable.

The Kingdom of God is growing. The Spirit is on the move. Just as the farmer is completely unaware of what is going on just underneath the surface of the soil, oftentimes, we are clueless as to what God is up to, just under the surface of our lives. But like the farmer, we plant, and then we go about our business. And all the while, growth is happening. The seed sprouts, the leaves form, the heads of grain ripen. And before we know it--we've actually been sleeping, eating, and living life, and have missed many of the details--the harvest is ready to be gathered, and immediately (thank you, St. Mark) the farmer puts the scythe to the fields. Mysterious, green hope. Thanks be to God.


For the fruit of all creation,
thanks be to God.
gifts bestowed on every nation,
thanks be to God.
For the plowing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while we are sleeping,
future needs in earth's safekeeping,
thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor,
God's will is done.
In the help we give our neighbor,
God's will is done.
In our worldwide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests we are sharing,
God's will is done.

For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit,
thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all that love has found us,
thanks be to God.

---

Words: Fred Pratt Green
Words © 1970 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188.


God: You are,
      and You are growing your Kingdom,
      and we don't even know it.
Forever sustain us with Your hope,
       and fascinate us with Your mystery,
       and green us for Your eternal Life.
Praise be to You: Father, Son, and Spirit.
       Amen. Amen. Amen.

Monday of Eastertide II

This is a prayer I wrote as a facebook status after morning worship this past Sunday. It embodies much of what I believe the Spirit has been teaching me lately, and the hope God has been forming within me, even as I have been becoming more and more painfully aware of and agitated by the gods of our current cultural milieu:

GOD, in our time of unease and social unsurety, may we ask better questions! By Your Truth, set us free to love and serve You, with gladness and singleness of heart. Help us to enter into the Joy of the knowledge that our ontological location as Christians is in the New Life of the Resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Remind us that we are not our own, to do with as we would like, but that we are your creation, your Joyful servants, through Whom you are acting to redeem all of Creation. May our unruly desires and affections be revealed as what they are: hindrances to your Gospel. And may we, with all Your saints, ever enter into the Joy prepared for us, beginning now in the eternal abundant Life promised to all who abide in Your Son, by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit. Awaken us to your will for our lives: to live righteously, soberly, and in loving communion with Yourself and each other. Sharpen and illumine our minds to consider carefully the effects of our social choices, that our works may please you, and that we may do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, rejoicing in the power of your Resurrected Son, who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns and Loves, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

An Holy Lent: Second Sabbath of Lent, 2012

So far, this Lent has been a bit different than any of the others I have observed.

I have not really settled on a particular discipline, neither in terms of adding a specific spiritual practice nor in abstaining from any particular food or drink item, or any specific pattern of fasting. Rather, I have been making sporadic choices to abstain in particular situations, whether it be a dessert that I suddenly have a desire for, or for a soft drink or tea during the week.

I have been rather lax in my reading for philsophy club, so I have resolved to keep up in my reading of the Odyssey. Perhaps that committment will result in an interesting blog post about connections I begin to experience between Lenten themes and Odysseus' journey home.

Today, however, I believe I have received a certain clarity about the particular focus God is calling me to this Lent. Truthfully, it has been coming for a while now, but it was brought into focus for me as I read Part I of Marva J. Dawn's Sexual Character: Beyond Technique to Intimacy this morning. I have wanted to read this book ever since I first saw it in her list of works on the cover of Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down: A Theology of Worship for the 21st Century Church, and today I am confirmed in my desire to read it.

So many of the same threads run throughout her works; her clarion call to listening to the authority of God and the place of God's Stories in the shaping of the countercultural character of God's people are but two that resonate with me. And so, I'll end this post with this passage from the ending of Part I of Sexual Character, which has to do with more than just sexual character, but with Christian character in general, and the responsibility of the Church, and every member of the Church in participating with God in the formation of Christian character via the engagement of Christian ethics:


"The main task of ethics is to enable us to ask better questions about the issues of our day. An ethics of character is especially helpful because it gives us tools to ask new questions out of its comprehensive inclusion of means and ends, rules and narratives, models and virtues, personhood and community. Especially important is the fact that an ethics of character enables us to ask new question out of the grace of God. We seek virtues and behaviors, not because we ought to, should, or must, but because they are modeled for us in Jesus, whose Spirit empowers us to follow in his way. We choose to live according to the design of the Creator becasue he invites us to the delights of such truthfulness. Moreover, we can invite others to participate in those choices, too, because we know that thereby they will be happier, more fulfilled, more whole.

This book is just a beginning. I pray that you will go beyond it to ask better question about sexual character, to develop a Christian community that nutures godly sexuality, to offer hope to those who are drowning in our society's toxic sexual milieu."

That's so Lent.


God, ever being, do Lent in us.
And, lift us by your Spirit to behold the face of your Son, Jesus, Christ,
so that we may be made into his likeness, from glory to glory,
and be shining lights in the darkness of the world around us.
We remember your Son's blood shed for us, and pray in his name,
the Name of our Salvation: Jesus, the Christ.
Amen.

Christmastide 2011-2012: Clueless Righteousness

This is the manuscript to a "Spoken Meditation" I shared with my church, First Baptist-Morganton, NC, on the first Sunday after Christmas, which also happened to be New Year's Day, as well as the celebration of The Circumcision and Holy Name of Jesus, The Holy Family, as well as the Solemnity of Mary, God-Bearer.

The Scipture lessons for the service that morning were:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Revelation 21:1-6a
Matthew 25:31-46

O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ. Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (from The Book of Common Prayer, a collect for Christmas)

As I was listening to the passage from the Gospel of Matthew yesterday, something caught my attention that has never caught my attention before. Not only did it change the direction of this homily slightly, but it also changed the way I understand, or do not understand, this story.

“What? There’s nothing puzzling about this story!”, one might say. “You feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. If you do, you get to be called ‘righteous’ and are sent to eternal life. If you don’t, well, you just get sent to ‘eternal punishment.’”

I do not think this assessment shows evidence of a fair hearing of this story. That summary might be what we expect to hear. It is a pretty popular image: the sheep and goats divided at the end of time when the Son of man comes in glory, the righteous and unrighteous dealt out their just, eternal rewards. And of course, we are the righteous ones in the story.

Now, what I had planned to do was try to drive home the point that we are failing to live up to the standards Jesus speaks of: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison. Because of course, we all—or at least most of us—fall short. We fail to do the most basic of things that this story tell us Jesus will be checking off his list at the end of time. And I was going to try to encourage us to recommit ourselves to doing those most basic of things, looking to the baby in the manger as the perfect example of how Jesus really was God’s self made into a vulnerable, hungry, thirsty, alien, naked, frail, outcast of a human being: “the least of these.” The least of all.

So hopefully, we would have gone out from this place ready to seek out those in need of ministry and minister to them as ministering to Christ. Seeing Jesus in every full, hydrated, welcomed, clothed, cared for, visited person to whom we ministered.

But the funny thing is, (and this is what I realized yesterday) if we would do exactly that: go out--strategically, intentionally “on mission,”—serving Jesus in the least of these, all of a sudden, we are nowhere to be seen in this story.

Because when Jesus tells the righteous—the sheep—that they have indeed been ministering to him when they minister to the least-of-these, their response is one of cluelessness: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food?” They are just as clueless as the ones who failed to minister to the least-of-these, who say: “Lord, when was it that we did not take care of you?”

They are all clueless. And that’s what I realized yesterday.

So I also realized that I could not encourage us all to make our lists of what to do, entitled ‘how to serve Jesus in the least-of-these’, and then go about strategically building the Kingdom of God. At least not on the basis of the scriptures we have read this morning. So. What do we do with this Gospel reading?

***

About those other scriptures.

In Isaiah, the prophet exults, rejoices in God and in God’s promises of hope. Even though the fulfillment is not here yet. In fact, he admits that things are not yet what they should be, but also says that he will not keep quiet, he will not rest, until things are made right and salvation shines like a burning torch.

And if you go back and look at that prophecy, the righteousness and praise are not manufactured or performed out of duty by the faithful. Rather, they organically spring up…like a garden causes the seeds planted to spring up. You also see evangelism in this text: all the nations see the righteousness and praise of God. There is also clothing going on in the Isaiah text. But this time, it is God who is clothing God’s people with righteousness. Isaiah doesn’t make his own robe of righteousness. He also doesn’t lose hope because God’s promises haven’t all been fulfilled yet. Rather, he rejoices in the hope that consummation is coming…

That’s what I see in the Revelation passage: the consummation of God’s promises. Jesus, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, of the Father’s love begotten, brings what was started in the manger and on the cross to completion. No tears, no death, no mourning, crying, nor pain, “for the first things have passed away.”

But we’re not there yet. We’re somewhere in the middle: between Isaiah and Revelation. We’re here with this story from the Gospel of Matthew. I think this story is telling us, among other things, how God is inviting us to be involved as God moves all of Creation from Isaiah’s prophecy to Revelation’s fulfillment. Point A to point B. But the text is more descriptive than prescriptive. It doesn’t really tell us how to get from point A to point B. It tells us that at the end, there are those called “righteous” who enter into eternal life, and those who are not, who enter into eternal punishment. But it also tells us that the righteous (just as much as the unrighteous) were clueless about the fact that in serving the least, they were serving Jesus Christ. They were clueless to the fact that they were being righteous.

So, what are we supposed to do with that? How do we minister to the least-of-these, and in so doing, serve Jesus, all the while without knowing it?

I don’t think I have an exact answer.

But I guess what I’ve learned by meditating on these Scriptures is that I don’t think you can treat the Gospel and the life inside God’s kingdom like a system where you check off your list and certain things happen. The Christian life is not a business, not a system to be governed by a board…of any kind.

I guess Mary figured something like that out too…that with God, you can’t expect the expected…sometimes you have to let the Spirit overshadow you and say “yes” to what God is doing inside of you.

It’s a good thing that our spiritual life doesn’t end when we walk out these doors. Because I think we all need to be wrestling with what these Scriptures call us to do, and who these Scriptures call us to be. And just maybe, while we’re wrestling with these Scriptures, celebrating the inconceivable mystery of the Incarnation, and the Holy Spirit is shaping us to be people who love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, just maybe, we will end up being righteous…and we won’t even know it.

Amen.


Come dearest Child into our hearts and leave your crib behind you.
Let this be where the new Life starts for all who seek and find you.
To you be honor, thanks, and praise for all your gifts this time of grace!
Come conquer and deliver this world and us forever! Amen!
-Fred Pratt Green, 1986

The Third Sunday of Advent, 2011: The Dream Isaiah Saw

I've been postponing an Advent post, but when I heard this song performed live this past Sunday at the 2011 installment of the annual Morganton Combined Choirs Concert at First Baptist Church-Morganton, NC, I figured it would be the best of anything with which to start my new year of blogging. By the second chorus, I was overwhelmed, completely undone by the Spirit's Word given to Isaiah, poetically rendered in English by Thomas Troeger, set to music by Glenn L. Rudolph, and performed by an 80-something voice choir, organ, brass ensemble, and percussionists, in an aesthetically Beautiful building:

Lions and oxen will sleep in the hay,
Leopards will join with the lambs as they play,
Wolves will be pastured with cows in the glade,
Blood will not darken the Earth that God made.

Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Life redeemed from fang and claw.

Peace will pervade more than forest and field:
God will transfigure the violence concealed
deep in the heart and in systems of gain,
ripe for the judgment the Lord will ordain.

Little Child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Justice purifying law.

Nature reordered to match God’s intent,
Nations obeying the call to repent,
All of creation completely restored,
Filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord.

Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Knowledge, wisdom, worship, awe.

-Thomas Troeger

Tears streaming down my face, I believe I perceived the Spirit pulling my soul to long for the fulfillment of God's promise given to Isaiah...in my life, in the lives of those I know and love, and in the life of our world. It is this particular longing that finds natural expression in observing season of Advent. And for those of us who recognize that all is not right with the world, I think it's the only honest thing to do, really...observe Advent before celebrating Christmas. Personally, I cannot but do just that; I feel the darkness, it is so real to me: the fang and claw, the violence of [both my] heart and systems of gain, the reality that Creation is not as God intends.

So, I pray with with Israel: (Psalm 80:19): "Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved," and sing, believing in the joy to come, "Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves" (Psalm 126:6).

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing,
through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Second Sabbath after Pentecost 2011: Our Joyful Gospel--Reflections on Eastertide and Pentecost 2011

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tipsbcfuB4

This post is a little late in coming, but I figured now was the time to write what I believe I've been hearing from the Spirit lately...

Ours is a Joyful Gospel. No, really! It is. I know, right? Hard to believe sometimes, especially the way we act...

Our Creator is redeeming fallen creation, and invites us to join!

Our Savior has passionately endured our just punishment, showing us the mercy of God, and blazing the Way for us through death to Life Eternal: knowing the Father by abiding in Jesus!

Our God's Holy Spirit is renewing the face of the Earth, working in us and through us, despite of our constant backsliding and failures, as a people of God being formed into God's community of reconciliation and goodness: the Church, made up of us who claim Christ and Lord and Savior on Earth and our fellow members cheering us on from a great cloud of witnesses!

The Kingdom of God is ever-growing, the Gospel ever-spreading, and regardless of our understanding, or misunderstanding, nothing...NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ.

The Gospel...our Good News...offers abudant, purpose-filled, Joyful Life to all who will listen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyyZg6BAnaA&feature=related

There is Gospel work (and rest) for all...what is your's today?

Triune, Joyful God,
make us into Your relational, Joyful likeness,
so that we may proclaim Your Joyful Gospel,
and live it out here and now, even to eternity.
Through Christ, Your son, Our Lord, who
rejoiced in Your Spirit,
Amen.

Sabbath after Pentecost: A Pentecostal Reflection

The following is still a work-in-progress (aren't we all?) based on the lectionary texts for the Pentecost Vigil, plus some. Technically speaking, these are lyrics (the "music" is in my head for the moment, and as such, I thought twice about posting it, because part of the meaning is in in the "music," which you can't hear), but here they are regardless.

Prominent are Ezekiel 37, John 17, Psalm 130; there are several other allusions, all Sciptural with the exception of the first line, which refers to a lecture given by C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.


I am crushed by the weight of your glory.
I am crushed by the weight of my sin.
O LORD, who can stand?
O LORD, who can stand
before You?

My failings rise up like a flood;
the darkness--surely it covers me!
I cannot follow.
I cannot follow
Your Word.

Refrain:
Thus says the Lord:
Rise up My people!
Rise up - out of your graves.
Come to the waters and never be thirsty again.
Recieve My Spirit; recieve My Life:
breathe my Breath in your lungs,
feel my Heart pulsing through you.
Let My Spirit bring you
Resurrection!

We have marred Your Image, O God.
We are but dust and dry bones.
All hope is gone;
we are cut off from
Your Presence.

We spend our time building white-washed sepulchres.
We spend our time chasing wealth, fame, and pow'r...
We spend our time fitting "gospel" into Our lives,
verses letting Your Story shape ours.
We spend our time
spending time
spending time.
O LORD, redeem it!
O LORD, redeem us:
us dry bones.

Refrain.



May we remember: Christ is with Us always,
even until the end of the age.
In the Name of God:
Father, Son, and Spirit,
AMEN.

Third Saturday of Eastertide: A Walk Worthy of God's Glory and Kingdom

A continuation of a devotional series of blogs. If you have already read the devotion I posted that was published in Gardner-Webb University's 2010 Advent devotional guide, some of this might seem familiar, as it should. I wrote this devotion in preparation for writing that particular one for the Advent guide. However, as this devotion is based only on the Thessalonians text, it has some things the other one does not, and as I was reading over it, its specific thrust seemed especially appropropriate for an Eastertide post.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

In chapter one, Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica, expressing thankfulness to God for them and affirming them for "how [they] turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come."

Verses one through two of chapter two seem to be an elaboration of verse five from chapter one, explaining in detail how both the Gospel of God had come to the Thessalonians "with full conviction," and "what kind of men" Paul and Silas and Timothy had "proved to be" when they had come to share that Gospel "among [them]."

These are the ideas that keep popping out at me as I read 2:1-12:

Vv. 1-2 After much suffering and amidst oppostion, Paul et al. preach the Gospel of God.

V. 3 There is no "error" or "impurity...[or] way of deceit" in their motives for preaching;

V. 4 they have been "approved by God," who "examines their hearts."

Vv. 5-8 They didn't abuse their power, but were gentle as they proclaimed the Gospel of God. They developed an affection for the church and the people became dear to them.

V. 9 Paul et al. worked as to provide for themelves and not be a burden on the Thessononians, and, (V. 10) "behaved devoutly," "uprightly," and "blamelessly" towards the believers.

V. 11 In sharing the Gospel of God, the evangelists "[exhort]...[encourage]...and [implore]" the people as a father would his children, all for this purpose, spelled out in verse twelve:

"so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God
who calls you into His own kingdom and glory."

Paul, Silas, and Timothy have gone through much suffering in their time of work of announcing, or proclaiming, the Gospel of God to the Gentiles. In the city of Philippi, they had been mistreated, but it seems that in these trials, God had been strengthening them for their work of evangelizing in the midst of opposition in Thessalonica. I draw the inference that it is by these sufferings mentioned in verse two that God had taught them to "speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines their hearts." Their hearts...which are free of any erroneous or impure or deceitful motive for exhorting the people.

Now, verse three could be read as being as being placed after the sufferings in verses one through two to show that, because they had endured the hardships to witness, their motives in preaching could be trusted.

I tend to think that while that inference might be true, it might also be true that it is, in fact, these sufferings that God used to purify their motives. That each suffering Paul went through was another journey through the refining work of God, who is a "consuming fire" (see Isaiah 1:21-31, Hebrews 12:29).

Paul and Silas and Timothy exemplify kingdom-of-God living in vv. 7-11, and how could they act otherwise? They have suffered for the Gospel (vv. 1-2), their motives are pure (God has searched their hearts...vv. 3-6), and we see the fruitful results of their ministry as a result of their faithfulness and God's blessing: they are a living witness of the Gospel they proclaim: they not only preach with their words of hope and salvation, they reassure people that there is something to all of this Gospel-talk by the way they behave.

Then you get to verse twelve. This is the punch-line, or at least it punched me pretty hard: all of this suffering, all of this concern over being pure of heart and motive, all of this Christ-like living and proclaiming, and exhorting and pleading, for this purpose:

"so that [the Thessalonians] would walk
in manner worthy of the God who calls
[them] into His own kingdom and glory."

God called the Thessalonians into "His kingdom and glory," and that's where God is calling us.

Don't miss what Paul and Silas and Timothy not only understand, but worked tirelessly in order to share with the Thessalonians: this call from God demands our walking in a way that is worthy of such a God.

Not that we ever could walk worthy of God on our own.

But this is the Gospel of God we're talking about here, the same Gospel the prophets had been heralding for thousands of years, the same Gospel to which the Spirit of the Law had given witness: love God, and love neighbor. And it is not us who are the workers of this Gospel in our own lives, but God (Philippians 2:13). Just as God had chosen Paul, Silas, and Timothy, brought them through trials, purified their hearts and motives, and worked in them to produce the fruit of the Spirit--in essence, made them worthy of their calling--God wanted to work the same thing out in the Thessalonians' lives, and in ours.

[Here is where I will insert new material. If the purpose of mission work is to share the Gospel so that others come to love, worship, and serve God, and walk worthily, et cetera, then why, so often, do we hear of Christians trying to entertain or attract an unbeliever into heaven? Entertainment shapes and forms people, but the shaping and forming it does leads to narcisism, not to the development of people who are willing to take up a daily cross and follow Our Lord. The Gospel is not entertaining. So what are we selling when we try to use entertainment as a method of evangelism? And, for that matter, when we plan a worship service around the unbeliever, (aka, using worship as a method of evangelism) who do we end up worshiping? Not God. If that were the case, we would plan the worship around God. I'll leave you to fill in the blanks. Hint: idolatry. Just a thought.]

God our Father, in Your love,
and by the blood of Your Son
and the power of Your Spirit,
make us, whom you have called into
Your kingdom and glory,
worthy of Your Self.
It is in your NAME we pray,
"Amen."

On the Eve of the 3rd Sunday of Lent, 2011

Every spring, millions of people in America
stop what they are doing to set
apart multiple times a week to
be shaped by a story.

The story is one of a journey,
and of conflict--of cosmic
proportions--the story is
celebrated by gatherings of
thousands, participation led
by trained professionals who
encourage active vocal praise
and exhortation, and broadcasts
that share the communal experience
with those who are homebound for
a variety of reasons.

There is intense loss and suffering
involved--felt and expressed in tears
and cries of anguish by the thousands
of participants--surprisingly, a majority
of which are men (or at least that's the
stereotype). There is also unbounded
rejoicing--especially at the final victory,
which lies at the end of the long, arduous
journey that leads through countless trials
of suffering and hardship. Much self-sacrifice
is required of the main characters in this story--
as well as those who follow it, allowing it the space
needed to shape their life--multiple gatherings
centering the story's text, actively participating
in the spirit of the story, praying for the ultimate
victory--for they have made the story their story--
most have chosen sides in the conflict, and have
vested vast amounts of emotional energy in the long
journey towards overcoming the final enemy.

At first there seems to be multiple competing parties
or camps vying with the hero for the victory, but towards
the end it becomes clear there is only one foe to vanquish.

When the victory is won and the musicians blare the hero's
hymn, grown men fall to their knees crying tears of
thankfulness and praise to the victor. Or they might dance
a dance of exultation or raise their voice as one in celebration:
the fight has been won, the battle is over!

Grown men and women, who teach their sons and daughters
that one of the most important things in life is the annual celebration
of the story, and how wonderful it is to talk about it all the time:
when you rise up, when you lie down, and when you walk in the way.

The victor has overcome.

Or victors, I could say.
Because the victor, or mascot, is actually a symbol of the team
of victorious basketball players who have completed the long,
arduous journey to the Final Four playoffs.

This victor isn't Christ, and the followers aren't the Church of Christ.

This isn't Lent, and we're not headed towards Good Friday and Easter.

This is March Madness, and it's Final Four or bust, baby.

So get your game on.

Yea.

Ash Wednesday, 2011

From Psalm 103, the eighth through the fourtheenth verse:



"The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always chide:
neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame;
he remembereth that we are dust."


God remembers that we are dust.



"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" are the words from the imposition of the ashes in the Ash Wednesday Liturgy.


The connection between these two texts was impressed upon me tonight.
Just something to think about.

Fifth Week of the Epiphany: An Advent Devotion

So it is in this fifth week after the Epiphany that an advent devotion I wrote for the GWU Advent Guide 2010 is finally revealed to the blogging world. Or, more accurately, to those who follow my blog:

***************************

The First Tuesday in Advent, Year One (BCP):

Psalm 5
Isaiah 1:21-31
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 20:9-18

*You really need to read the Scriptures before you read my devotional commentary. I suggest reading the Psalm between the Isaiah and the 1 Thessalonians reading.

The parable of the vineyard is one of those parables
I just don’t get. I don’t come away from it with a
simple “The kingdom of God is…” statement. But,
Jesus didn’t spell it out for us like that; he wrapped
up the Truth in a story – a story that is very
unsettling. For instance, why do the vine-growers
act the way they do? Who, in their right mind,
murders their boss’s “beloved son” and then
expects to get the boss’s inheritance? Regardless of
their reasoning, the way they are living reveals their
belief: the Owner is not a force to be reckoned
with. He’s gone “on a journey for a long time” (Luke 20:9).

Isaiah’s prophecy is strikingly parallel to the Gospel
parable: the righteous-city-turned-harlot is suffering
the consequences of its own sin. Its “silver has
become dross;” once the home of “righteousness,”
now its citizens murder and are completely without
concern for the helpless among them.

The psalmist praises: “You are not a God who takes
pleasure in wickedness” (Psalm 5:4). Those who
choose to turn away from God choose selfdestruction.
But the psalmist concludes Psalm 5
with rejoicing – rejoicing in the shelter the LORD
gives those who will look to God as their refuge in
the time of trouble.

Paul and company know all about trouble. They’ve
been evangelizing and have suffered persecution.
They’ve endured their trials – I imagine them
singing Psalm 5 along the way – and are able to live
and preach the Gospel “amid much opposition” (1
Thessalonians 2:2). They stick to their calling,
proclaiming the Gospel of God amongst the church
in Thessalonica by kingdom-living and kingdomspeaking.
Their purpose: “so that [the
Thessalonians] would walk in a manner worthy
of the God who calls [them] into His own
kingdom and glory” (I Thessalonians 2:12).

Maybe Paul and company need to visit the
vineyard in Jesus’ parable, or the harlot-city
described in Isaiah.

Or maybe they need to visit us.

Too often I share in the sinful attitude of those
vine-growers: forgetfulness – or willful
ignorance – of the Owner of the vineyard. Too
often my silver turns to dross; I grow oblivious
to the cry of the helpless and to the still, small
voice of God’s Spirit. Too often my walk is far
from worthy of the God who calls me. What
about you?

During Advent, we are invited to realize the
darkness of our slavery to sin, but also to hear
prophecies of the way things should, and will,
be: “Zion will be redeemed with justice and her
repentant ones with righteousness” (Isaiah
1:27).

God, make us repentant, redeem us, and make
us to walk in the Way worthy of You. Sing with
your Spirit a song of rejoicing in our hearts, and
shelter us even as You are consuming our
sinfulness with holy fire. Remind us that You
will come back after Your long journey, and
give us the Hope we have in our Christ: Jesus,
by whose suffering all bad is made good, and
all wrongs, right. Through Him we pray, Amen.

The First Monday after the Epiphany: A belated Christmas "meditation"

This blog post is the result of a "meditation" I wrote to share with my church, the First Baptist Church of Morganton, NC, on Sunday morning, January 2, 2011. The worship service was led by college students, and the text for my "meditation" was Jeremiah 29:10-11, although I reference more of the surrounding text in order to clarify context. Okay. I've already explained too much. I'm trying to work against that tendency. Oh wait, one more thing: we celebrated communion that morning as well, hence the reference that you will see. Here it is:

***

Israel has been exported. They are in a foreign land. They are hopeless.

They get this message from God:

"For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." Jeremiah 29:10-11

Did you hear that? "I will visit you."

God will visit the people who are hopeless.

Isn't that what we are celebrating right now? [God in a manger?]

Isn't that what we are getting ready to celebrate in communion? That God will come...that God has come...that "The Lord IS come?"

But...so what? That's the question we are faced with when we proclaim this message to the world. God really IS one of us! The Word is made flesh!

So what?

Maybe that's what Israel in exile said. Great. Another message from the LORD. Doesn't God see that we are actually here in this place thousands of miles from home, strangers in a foreign land, with all hope gone?

Maybe that's what the world says: God was born into a manger and a bunch of shepherds came and did this thing called "worship," all the while angels were flitting around singing in some dead language that nobody speaks anymore.

Maybe that's what we say. Not explicitly. But think about it. Do our everyday lives reflect a belief that God's incarnation...the Word made flesh...has any impact on the way we live, the way we act, the way we speak, the way we work, the way we play, and the way we rest?

Do we believe that this story we proclaim matters? God says, "I will visit."

God has visited. So what? We're still here in the 21st century dealing with school, jobs, money, vacations, problems at work, sickness, death, and all the rest. When we strip away the distractions of ipods, phones, computers, and other media, and reflect on where our lives are going, the result can be pretty depressing. We can find out that we're a long way from where God wants us to be. We're a long way from any meaning in our lives. As an individual, as a church, and as a world. We could find that we're a long way from home.

But...God will come. Just as promised. Just as already fulfilled. "Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in."

Or in the words of the prophecy given to Jeremiah:

"When when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." (29:12-14)

God will bring us back home.

***

"Where meek souls..." The Christmas carol referenced is "O Little Town of Bethlehem," written by Phillips Brooks (1835-1903).

An Advent Tonsillitis: The Second Tuesday of Advent

So...I'm sick (in light of that fact, be aware that this post will probably ramble or at times seem incohesive...possibly).

Tonsillitis, to be exact. Not strep...checked that out this morning. I'm having to put a lot of things on hold. A term paper. Piano juries. An exam.

My "daily office," or daily work, so to speak, has consisted mostly of sleeping since this past Saturday. That's five days of mostly sleeping.

How unproductive. But then again, I did pray for healing, now didn't I?

I think too often we want healing, or anything else, and we want it now. From my experience, that's not always how God works. It is sometimes. About a month ago, my throat started acting up, and I prayed, took medicine, ate apples, took a hot shower, meditated, etc. And it cleared up in the same afternoon. Not so this time. After getting back to Gardner-Webb campus on Friday night after caroling at a Hospice House, my throat started acting up again.

"Great", I thought. "Here we go again. Time for the checklist. Sleep in for a long time in the morning. Eat like a vegetarian tomorrow, pray for healing, take some medicine. It should be cleared up by the morning."

Wrong.

By the end of a sleep-filled Sunday (I did go to an 8:30 service, after which I promptly crawled back into bed), I was starting to realize that this illness was going to have a big effect on the end of my semester.

my semester. Did you hear that? Let me repeat just in case you didn't get it: my.

This sickness is interferring with my plans. I don't think I've slept this much in...well...since I was an infant. This is actually not that much of a wait. I'm assuming I'll be up and running by at least Saturday, which will be a week. A week is not that long to wait. But it has and will seem like an eternity of waiting. All the while, reminders of what should be happening keep dancing around in my head. You should be practicing. You should be working on that paper due Friday. You should be catching up on the Advent devotional guide readings. Ha. The last one is humorous. But it's the truth. But I believe. I believe that at the end of this long, dark, hellish night, there will be a bright, shining, cool, irritation-free, white-stuff-on-my-pharynx-gone, morning. And I will be healed. Healed from what ails me. For the meantime, I'm going to have to learn to give thanks in all situations. Meditating on the Trinity and the work of Jesus on the cross helps. Saying a Psalm or two helps. While rolling around all night with a fever, I thought of--once again, quite humorously--"Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bonds," a chorale harmonized by Bach. And the morning did come. And the fever was gone (I did take some nyquil).

This week of Peace has been a forced week of peace for me. I've had to let go of many things and just be content with being, as I allow healing to happen. It's nothing I can do of my own work...I just have to let the dr.'s wisdom, the medicine, the rest, and ultimately, the Holy Spirit of God, heal me.

I'm going to finish tonight's Advent devotional guide readings (available at www.gardner-webb.edu/advent), eat some salad and chicken soup, take a full dose of nyquil, and go to sleep. God willing. And just before I sleep, I will pray the song of Simeon:

"Lord, you now have set your servant free
to go in peace as you have promised.
for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,
whom you have prepared for all the world to see.
A light to enlighten the nations,
and the glory of your people, Israel."

Because, I have seen Christ today. In the midst of my Advent tonsillitis, I have seen the Savior. And then, I will imagine Revelation 7:9-17 (KJV), as I have every other night this semester, and fall asleep resting in the promise of a new heaven, a new earth, and a new pharynx. All under the reign of Christ, who is coming.

Amen.

First Sunday of Advent, 2010

A prayer written in the season after Pentecost, 2010.

You Who have called us out of sin and darkness into new Life:
stir Your church
with great power come among us
Imbue with power!
Enable disciples to choose
discipline.
May the Baptist people
truly be "people of the Book,"
and worship You in spirit and truth.
Forgive when we try to sell You and Your Gospel with gimmicks,
confusing evangelism with sales mangagement.
Forgive when we treat people as consumers,
and not as those made in Your Image.
Form us to be
your people;
Help us to "Repent,
for the Kingdom of God is at hand."
May souls be saved,
and systems be redeemed.
May your Word be preached,
and be present with those who need You the most.
All of this we ask through +Jesus Christ our Lord,
who, with you and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns,
one God,
for ever and ever.

Amen.


A prayer on the eve of the first Sunday of Advent, 2010.

Shine on us,
we who sit waiting in darkness.
But before you shine on us,
help us to see that
darkness is not dark to you...
in fact, darkness and light to you are just alike.
Make us to see you in the darkness--
we who sit waiting in the darkness.
Shine on us!

Through the Light of Life we pray:

Amen.

Twentieth Monday after Pentecost: Minding the Gap and the Corpus Christi

The following is a two-part excerpt (a scarcely edited excerpt) from my personal journal, recorded during a recent trip to England, which was a four-week study abroad class I took through Gardner-Webb University.

***

04 June 2010, Friday 7:55 AM

Last night, ... I went to a "simple Celtic celebration of Holy Communion" at St. Andrew's in Hove (Church of England). It was a wonderful experience. The entire service, the door to the street was open, allowing sounds of cars and people walking down and up the street in Hove to be a constant reminder of Mission. Several times I felt distracted from the "worship," but then embraced the outside noise of the "world" as a constant reminder of the mission of the church, the Church, and my mission. I became aware of the role of each Christian and Christian community as intercessors--standing in the gap between unreconciled man and God, pleading the case of the former, worshiping the latter, or holding out the way of the latter to the former--and as I shared in God's body, I painfully yearned for those outside of the walls to be a part as well.

At one point I thought, "We just need to drop all of this silly Celtic meditative stuff and go out there and start talking to those people."

But that's not standing in the gap. "Minding the gap," as the British rail service constantly reminds you [and you would be wise to follow the advise, lest you fall into the gap, between the boarding platform and the train, to an uncertain fate!].

It's not enough to go out into the world and talk to people. But maybe it is, if you are "talking," and sharing God, and your experience of being transformed in His constant presence.

It's not enough to spend all of one's days in the courts of the Lord, marveling at the "beauty of holiness." But maybe it is, if you are receptive to God's Gospel, and as a part of your response are intentionally "minding the gap" between God and the objects of God's reconciliatory work of salvation.

This is, possibly, the two-fold work of evangelism, which is to be undertaken both individually and corporately, within the context of both human- and God- community, holding out the God-way: the Gospel.

Mind the Gap.

***

Another insight I gained during the Celtic service started developing (developing more, I should say) at the priest's words of, paraphrased, something about our search for truth coming to an end in the Corpus Christi--the body of Christ, the person and presence of Christ. I am reminded of the Apostle Paul's (Colossians 1:17) words: "[Christ] is before all things, and in him all things consist." I find an end to my search for Truth in Jesus Christ. This doesn't mean that I believe I know everything with absolute certainty. It means that "my faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed," but in the person and office of Jesus Christ (Eliza Hewitt, 1891). I still have not, and will never, figure out all of the implications, truth claims, and imports into faith and practice that the person of Jesus makes in my life and the life of the world, but that's not the point. Many would misunderstand and call this position a "cop-out," or "way out." It is a way out...and in. Out of meaninglessness and despair and into the constant Joy of being reconciled to God and the world. Constant Joy, not necessarily happiness.

It is not a resting place of blissful ignorance. Many days are anything but blissful, and I wish I was ignorant of many hurts that are a direct result of my following Christ. The Christian worldview is logically consistent, but this coherence doesn't preclude tension. In fact, I find faith to be a constant exercise in the acknowledgment of tension. Part of my Christian faith teaches me that my understanding of the world and of God, although important, does not affect the Truth that I can or cannot perceive, but that I worship in spirit and truth regardless. I realize that while there are diverse ways of understanding the Divine Mystery, there are better ways of understanding; I believe those ways which are, in my estimation, the closest to the Truth as it has been revealed to humanity by its Creator.

Back to the words of the priest. In Christ--in His Real Presence, particularly within the context of communion--we [can] find an end to our search for truth.

I think that here, in this context, it is wise to consider the meaning of the word end. Not necessarily the end, as in the end of a race, but a "telos." An end as in a shaping force, the purpose, the goal, the thing toward which everything moves and around which everything is focused and centered. Possibly, an end as in a "resting place"--a ceasing from worry and strife and doubt--not doubt in claims or things, but a ceasing of doubt in the person of Jesus. More of a handing over of my doubts in trust. Like Thomas, who doubted, shared those doubts, then declared, "My Lord and My God" after encountering the Corpus Christi: the presence and person of the crucified and risen Christ, who invited Thomas to a very hands-on encounter.

Maybe Holy Communion is the closest thing we can get to an invitation to place our fingers in the Lord's wounds--as we consume reminders and icons of body and blood, and partake-as a community that is the Corpus Christi on Earth, that has its very real wounds-in an encounter with the crucified and risen Lord, and with Thomas, find our resting place, our end, our "telos," in the person of "[Our] Lord and [our] God."

-8:45 AM
6 June 2010
Sussex, UK
Day after Corpus Christi

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Two prayers and a hymn I wrote

August 24, 2010

God: today, may I live toward
the end of fearing You
and keeping Your commandments.
May my life today be glorifying to
You even as I want my
whole life to glorify You.

And, in glorifying You,
may I find Joy unspeakable,
and even now enjoy You,
as I desire to enjoy You forever.

In Christ's name I pray, "Amen."


August 26, 2010

God, increase my desire for You;
make me to burn with passion for You.

And when I can't feel a thing,
give me the grace to continue
to love You with all of my
heart, all of my soul, all
of my mind, and all of my strenth.

And to love my neighbor as myself.

Through Christ I pray, "Amen."



Hymn: "O God, my sins are great"
Hymnic meter: 12.12.4.12 or 6.6.6.6.4.4.8
Suggested hymn tune: DARWALL (click to listen)

O God, my sins are great; I cannot follow Thee!
Once more have I returned to seeking to be "free."
Fast bind my heart
with Thy strong bands of love unto your loving Law.

Your Law is constant Love; who can Your Presence flee?
It matters not how far we stray--You'll always be
the great "I AM!"
With faithful, covenant love You draw us to Your Self.

The Rock strong 'midst the strife, Thou Banner lifted high;
Our hearts and souls and strengths rejoice to see the sight:
Love conquers all!
Whate'er our circumstance we harken to Your call:

"Take up your cross today, and turn the other cheek.
Love not possessions; share them. Gird your feet with peace--
God's Gospel true--
with Joy proclaim, lift high My NAME and follow Me!"

Twelfth Friday after Pentecost: The Naughty Psalms

I guess as good Christians of the New Covenant we're supposed to blush at all of the Psalmnodic pleas to God to crush our enemies and bash their babies' heads against rocks and so forth. But sometimes I wonder if those who consistantly bash the Psalmists for honestly pouring out their hearts to God have ever been truly hurt themselves. If you've ever been hurt--I mean really stabbed in the back--by someone you loved and cared for deeply, or've been slandered by someone to whom you thought you could turn in time of trouble, or've been devastated by a situation that was out of anyone's hands but God's just when you thought you were striking up major divine brownie points with the big Guy upstairs...then...read one of those naughty Psalms; the tears will start flowing.

Names, and faces--multiple faces--will vividly fill your imagination as you read desperate lines pleading with God to save you from "their" malicious talk, "their" evil ways, and "their" devious plans to ensare you. You will start to sob uncontrollably when David speaks of his eyes giving out from having searched for God so long...to no avail...and of his tear ducts drying up from crying so much it hurts.

And then right in the midst of your angst session..."forgive me, LORD, and I shall be white as snow." Your anger has been allowed to draw back the curtain of your heart to reveal the deep-seated blackness of hatred, envy, and pride. You realize that God is God, no matter who your "enemy" is, whether it is your former best friend or the hatred welling up inside of you. Then comes the repentance, and the rejoicing. Oh, the rejoicing! There's nothing quite like a good, joyful ending to an otherwise depressing Psalm.

Not all of them are like that, mind you, and they shouldn't be. Far from all of our human experiences of depression and angst turn to Joy within the forty seconds it takes to read a Psalm...but one thing is always present in these "naughty Psalms:" God.

The Psalmist never forgets that ultimately, God is, whatever the temporary circumstances might be. God looks on as the poor, broken creatures that we are, spewing poisionous, hateful venom out of deep, painful wounds of hurt, ceaselessly pointing our fingers at others as a reaction against our own sinful state, buck up to The Almighty with shouts of "Where are You?" "Don't you care?"...God is God enough to hear us in our pain...and simply be God.


God, who lets us be angry, be despairing, be hopeless.


God, who then gives us a reason for rejoicing--actually, the only reason for rejoicing--God's Self.




Peace be yours;
we have a solid Rock,
ever-present regardless
of all else. May you
feel the Presence
drawing you towards
the Rock, and find the
Welcome that is always
in the Rock's cleft.

In Welcome's Name,
"Amen."